Social Networking Sites

Facebook out of all four social networking sites that I'm about to mention is the most currently updated in terms of features as well as probably the most famous amongst teenagers and older crowds worldwide. Since the emergence of the Facebook movie, Facebook's popularity, memberships and revenue has began to rise in numbers never seen. Since these innovations to Facebook, it has given its users more options as well as unique features such as the ability to video chat, timeline and much more. Facebook makes it very easy to connect with people through the find friends search or mutual friends search, groups, pages, subscriptions to pages as well as suggestions. Even though Facebook has made quite a lot of changes over the years, there still tends to be a lack of privacy for users which is a problem for most users.

Another social networking site that is popular is Myspace. Since Myspace has been beaten by the competition of Facebook, there has been a lot of changes which has actually turned away a lot of users to deactivate their accounts since Myspace has changed their site from a social networking site to communicate with users around the world to a more entertainment based community where fans can communicate with celebrities mostly in the music business. Myspace is definitely not what it used to be but it attracts people mostly for entertainment purposes. Both Facebook and Myspace share some similarities since they have borrowed some ideas and made them unique in a way to better their websites but the competition is fairly noticeable. 

Twitter on the other hand is more of a simple social networking site that does not rely on much features that Facebook and Myspace uses. Twitter however contains hashtags and sharing links in order to communicate along with status updates which is similar to both Facebook and Myspace just that both of those sites do not use hashtags. The goal for each user on Twitter is to gain as much followers as they can to gain more popularity and share common interests in their status updates or posts. Twitter is very simple but yet fun to use especially if a user has a lot of followers.

Lastly, Instagram is one of the newest social networking sites out there. Instagram is based on photography and sharing pictures within that community on Instagram. Similar to Twitter, Instagram uses hashtags as well as links and at signs with the username of a user right after the after sign in order to communicate and share common interests. Using Instagram is much more fun when users around the world follows your profile as well as noticing the amount of likes you can get for your pictures in order to gain popularity within that community on Instagram. Out of all these social networking sites, I find that Instagram is the most fun social networking site to use because it is simple but people communicate with pictures and less words. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words so a picture speaks for itself.

Social Networking

What are some ways (corporate and otherwise) that these technologies can be used? What are the benefits of these technologies to society? Be specific. Is there a "dark side"? Make sure to include your opinion of the way these technologies might evolve in the future.

Social networking can be used in many ways. Social networking has had an impact on society in a lot of ways in the past five years. In an article named, "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power", the writer talks about the use of social networking in politics. One of these uses is the encouragement of voters nationwide to vote for President Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 elections. With the use of social networking, his team was able to attract new, young and old voters as well as to understand his goals as president if he were to be elected and how those changes would benefit them. Social networking has also attracted others to share news as well as music much quicker.

The benefits of these technologies to society depends. One of them would be to reconnect with long lost friends and family. Social networking is also largely used for matchmaking when it comes to online romance. In article named, "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" written by Frank Langfitt, he discusses how social networking has had an impact on job recruiting and the way the process is being used to hire applicants. A social networking site known as Linkedin has had a big impact on the way recruiters hire applicants based on their profile on these social networking sites as well as their abilities that can be useful in a workplace. 

There is indeed a dark side when it comes to social networking. Over recent years there has been an increase in the number of suicides because of bullying online on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. Also, in the world of politics, a simple rumor of a politician can quickly spread and damage the reputation of that politician if there is not a quick reaction to address that rumor. There are a lot positives to social networking but there are some negatives as well. In the future, social networking may determine the way we work and think about a majority of things we depend on because within social networking sites many individuals share their opinions on certain things which people can agree on. So, far I cannot possibly think of any other ways that these technologies might evolve in the future since social networking is always rapidly changing especially with Facebook.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs are basically like online journals or personal websites open to the public that shares views about certain topics. Blogs are run only by one person which is the owner of that blog. Blogs can contain important information, tips, links to videos or documents that relate to certain things that others may find useful on the internet. In a paper called "How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere?" by Kathy E. Gill, she states that since blogging has been introduced to the internet it has changed the way we use the internet. This form of web 2.0 is even being used by professionals in professional ways such as presidential elections and one that we most famously recall where blogs were being used was in the Obama vs. McCain election.

Wikis however are more public compared to wikis. Wikis can be edited and have material contributed to that wiki by more than one person since its access to changes are by the public. Wikis are most noticeable for the en.wikipedia.org website which is a worldwide website that can be edited from anyone anywhere in the world at any time. The most common negative thing that this feature brings is that anyone can post false information to a wiki so there is no guarantee that the information provided on a wiki is accurate. However in an article called "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia" by Margaret Locher, there are many positives than negatives when it comes to using wiki and there are many reasons to this fact.

Blogs and wikis are very similar because they can both share information and they are both post friendly. Convergence is important in today's world because it helps connect people to ideas that others have and contribute other views to those ideas. Convergence is part of what creates a community and blogs and wikis fit perfectly in that category. Blogs can be used for collaboration in a various amount of ways. People can share posts and their views and that idea of a community will lead to more viewers and readers. Wikis are constantly changing throughout the day and there is always new information and ideas being used in wikis. Therefore, I am not able to think of anyways that wikis can be used that has not been thought of yet.

Project Description: Social Networking Sites and its Evolution

In my project I will be researching as well as discussing social networking sites and its evolution. With the evolution of social networking sites this changes how people in society adapt to social networking sites. This also changes the way how we view things with the influence of mass media and how we communicate. An example of this topic is the popularity of MySpace and the influence that Tom Anderson had over the general public with popularizing his site. Then there is the downfall of MySpace and the transition of MySpace users to Facebook or Twitter and the way that they communicate or use these websites. This topic is very basic but also it is very informing because it makes us realize how we have adapted to these evolutions and what makes these sites so successful as well as dangerous.