Social Networking

Social Networks can be used to identify individuals and single out products (i.e. Bands, Actors, Companies, etc). According to Online Classes’ “50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom”, Twitter can be used to share ideas with your peers, better connect with your teachers and to keep updated with news contents. The article also explains how you can follow companies that you would want to work for as an intern or after you get your degree.

Corporations can use social websites as a way to recruit, and update employees on current company events. For example say there is a company picnic, and on the company blog everyone can post what they are bringing or something simplistic as clarification the office being closed on Columbus Day. According to C.G. Lynch in “Twitter Tips: How to Find Job Posts on Twitter”, Companies have turn to twitter to post jobs. I think this is revolutionary. If people could create a professional profile for themselves and follow companies then it would better the application for both parties.

There are many benefits of social networking technologies in society, mainly the opportunity to share ideas about jobs, news, health, and maybe even to meet people. The dark side would be falsification of information, so nothing is really granted. For instance people trying to look for relationships online but have fake profiles. People with blogs giving health advice that have limit education on health.

In the future people will have multiple profiles for social and work, and like the NY Times article “Tweeting Your Way to a Job," by Laura M. Holson, more jobs would be strictly online and the meets rooms will be discussion boards and the office will be the company blog.     

Checking Out Social Networks

Social networking sites have become very prominent in this age of technology. Two of the forerunners are MySpace and Facebook. Myspace, the predecessor, is very informal. It was made as a medium to express oneself in a colorful boisterous way. There are themes that can be used to create a page that expresses the personality of its designer. Users were encouraged to use aliases instead of real names. The entire purpose of a MySpace page was to see what new way a person has recreated themselves. Facebook on the other hand, was made as a more professional site. On Facebook people are highly encouraged to use real names. When signing up for the website, users are encouraged to use email addresses associated with organizations in order to become a part of said organization’s network. One is allowed to choose certain “likes” that help to connect them with other people who share the same ones. You are able to list things that are of interest to you and Facebook automatically shows you friends that are interested in the same things. This website is completely centered around networking and making connections with other people. Facebook even has a “friend finder” that suggests people that you may know and an application that suggests you “reconnect” with a friend you haven’t sent a message to in a while. While these two websites are both for networking, Myspace is more informal and juvenile made to show off your personal flair and compete with friends to see who can come up with the most creative name and page. Facebook, however, is more formal and professional and has now become useful in the workforce- becoming a useful tool in the hiring process for many employers.  Friendster is informal like MySpace but you cannot design your own page. It has a wide section named “Classifieds” that is geared toward selling its users a wide variety of items. This website is mainly about posting pictures, having fun, and going into the classified section to get services that range from dating to real estate. Friendster seems to be about buying goods and advertising services. It is a Craig’s list of sorts only with a profile alongside the market. Twitter is another networking website. This website is very informal. It is used to “follow” people that you are interested in- not just your friends. Most of these people are celebrities. On this website people are allowed to give step by step quick updates that tell what they are doing throughout the day. The people that you follow tell about your interests and allow you to feel like you know the person. There have been many races to see who could have the most people follow them. Now, twitter has been used to raise money for different charities, but it is not essentially for that purpose. Twit pics allow you to post pictures of yourself in addition to these quick messages users can post. Twitter also allows users to win free merchandise by “following” different designers and brands. There are many contests that may read “the first 50 people to follow –insert brand name here- win a gift card” etc. This is a way to advertise on these websites and encourage people to become followers of a specific page.

Blogs v.s Wikis

In this new “plugged in” world, jargon such as “wiki” and “blog” are no longer unique to techs. But what exactly do these terms used so frequently mean? Well, both blogs and wikis offer a plethora of information at the click of a button. The topics cover a wide range of subjects, from hobbies to professions, interests to obsessions. However, they are not exactly the same. For the most part, blogs or web logs are created and maintained by one individual. One blog will have regular entries all pertaining to its main topic. The information on the blog can be factual but is mostly the opinion of the author. A wiki is an encyclopedia of sorts. A topic is chosen and all the information on the wiki is about that topic. However, it may have many different contributors. Anyone can be an editor on a wiki page or create one without any particular knowledge. All the information on a wiki is meant to be factual- but it can sometimes be opinionated we are human. Wikis do not have regular entries, but as new information about the topic is discovered it will be updated accordingly. Blogs and wikis both enable communication from multiple people and have a platform for feedback. Blogs use comments, and wikis use editor for feedback. Blogs can be filtered, as opposed to wikis where anyone can say anything. Convergence is very important in today’s networked world. Most internet pages have links to other web pages. Now people in two different countries can interact with each other easily. New developments and new information is shared on the internet everyday at every moment. .  Convergence is very important in the world we live in today just look at the example of “Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid” by Michael Wilson where neighbors communicated with each other to end a drug raid. This is also a proven way blogs can be used to collaborate. Blogs can be used for collaboration by creating a link between the blogs that share the same interest. If there is a task at hand, such as raising money for a charity, then a collaboration of businesses using a blog can help exponentially. Blogs can also spread information quickly. If collaboration happens using a blog, then it will be more effective than other media such as mass emailing. According to Melissa Gerry “blogs have become more popular and it was estimated that more than 7% of Internet users had created a blog and more than 30 million people look at them on a regular basis”.

   A new use for wikis I would like to see is a media wiki like where different people edit a movie; I think that would be interesting.

Social Networking: Better or worse than the real thing?

In my term project I will be discussing the positives of Social Networking, and the Negatives. There is going to be an in-depth look at all of the beneficial outcomes social Networking can cause. I want to research a good portion of stories about long lost relatives connecting lost ties due to social networking. I also want to look at the bad side, like all the crimes that are committed due to the ease of accessing someone information on the web. At the end of this paper I want to prove to the reader that even on the internet strangers can still post a legitimate threat to them, maybe even more than in the streets.

Describe New Media

According to Lecture notes “ Old media v.s New Media”, technologies that are examples of new media are eBooks, Wikis, Blogs, Podcast, Youtube, forums, VOIP, and Museums on the Web. According to Lecture notes “New Media”, the unique characteristics that differentiate new media from old media are, Communication, Collaboration, Community, Creativity, and Convergence.