There are various social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. After using all 3 of them, comparing them was pretty interesting. Facebook and Myspace were very similar in their features, such as friend chats, photo albums, applications, status updates, friend comments, etc. Myspace is stronger in the Music and Entertainment category by allowing musicians and other performers to create their own pages with their music or videos and helps to promote themselves. Facebook has something similar with “Fan pages” but it does not allow the person to post music that can play directly from the page. Twitter was the most different from the others because it is a microblogging site. Twitter allows users to write anything they want such as what they are doing right now or how they are feeling, in 140 characters or less. Users can “follow” their friends and even their favorite celebrities, which allows the user to read tweets from those people. Communication through twitter is fast and information spreads rapidly. The use of “Trending Topics” allows users to see and contribute to the most talked about topics of the day.
March 12, 2010
Social Networking
Corporations have been frequently using several social networking sites for marketing purposes in order to develop new marketing strategies. Social networking sites such as Facebook, collect information about their users in order to customize features to an individual’s liking. The advertisements on Facebook are directed to that specific user based on the information collected. Companies have also been advertising new products/services through social networking sites and also promoting events.
The benefits of social networking sites are easily visible. These sites have allowed people to communicate with friends and family from all over the world and information can be sent to others efficiently. Corporations can reach numerous demographics at once through social networking sites at a minimal cost.
The “dark side” of social networking sites isn’t as clear as the benefits. In 2006, Susan B. Barnes wrote an article titled, “A Privacy Paradox: Social Networking in the United States.” She addressed the privacy issues involved with social networking sites. Studies showed that pre-teens and teenagers voluntarily gave out private information on social networking sites, such as full name, birthdate, hometown, etc. This information can easily be visible by anyone with an account on the site, which brings up concerns of identity theft and the dangers of sexual predators. Many users post up inappropriate pictures of them drinking and partying, but don’t realize that these pictures may affect their chances of getting a job or can even bring up concerns at their schools. Another issue with social networking sites has to do with the marketers collecting information. Most users do not want their information collected without their consent, but don’t realize that once they agree to the terms of the site, they have somewhat given consent to release the information.
Social networking sites, good or bad, have been an important factor within the past years and will continue to be. Videochatting/video streaming sites have been rising recently, such as Oovoo and Ustream, which leads to the possibility of more integration of video into other social networking sites.
February 26, 2010
Blogs vs. Wikis
Blogs and wikis have both become very popular over the past few years. Blogs are basically online journals that can be viewed by others. It has allowed people to communicate themselves through writing, whether it’s about everyday activities, specific topics, or just random stories. Allowing it to be public brings people from all over together with the same interests and express feelings with each other through comments. Wikis are more like online communities where anyone can contribute and share. Anyone that is a member of the wiki can edit posts made by others, or add new ones at any time.
Since wikis involves contribution from many people, it is a better source of collaboration. A blog is more of a personal page where only the creator of the blog can edit posts, and others can only comment. A blog can be collaborative through blog rolls with links to other blogs that may be related or just interesting to the original blogger.
Old vs. New
Media has developed tremendously over the years and the transition from “old” media to “new” media has slowly been occurring. What we consider as old media may include print production such as newspapers and magazines, radio, and written letters, phone calls, and televised news. New media includes social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, online blogs such as WordPress, Blogspot, and Blogger, online video sites (Youtube, Hulu), email, and many other things.
The distinction and transition from old to new media is most directly connected to the growth of the internet. The Internet has made things a lot more accessible at faster speeds and more ease. It is easy to distinguish between the two by seeing the abundance of new media around. So many things have been converted to virtually online only and it is very difficult to defend yourself now without a computer and internet access.
