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What you need to know about social networking

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Holly Swenson

September 26, 2010

What you need to know about social networking

I chose this article for my report because I thought it was very interesting and I thought I could really learn a lot from reading it. It is called What you need to know about social networking and it just does that, tell you things people really don’t know about social networking and teaches you how to use them correctly and all there is to know about them.

First it talks about how social networking really is not just for teenagers that most may think but it really does span over many generations. The first social networking site was SixDegrees.com and was created in 1997. Then came more like BlackPlanet, Friendster, and MySpace. But today as everyone knows Facebook is the most popular. It is very interesting to me because out of these sites I have only heard of MySpace and Facebook. It states in the article that in the United States, the number of adults with a profile on a social networking site has more than quadrupled in the past four years. And also the time spent on social networking and blogging sites has grown more than three times the rate of the entire overall global Internet growth. When thinking about this it really comes into perspective that social networking is really that big, people from all over, rich, poor, celebrities, and even the president of the United States has used social networking. It puts it into perspective a little bit how large and how much social networking has really grown.

A section in the article I read talked about how social networking really has benefited in politicians because they use them and they actually connect better with their voters and can target them a lot better with their campaign. It states that more than 35 state legislative caucuses across the country are using social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, and MySpace. They allow them to have direct communication with their voters, legislatures are even using social media as a tool that can influence the debate, help build recognition, gain support, and motivate. I thought this was very interesting because I think that social networking sites really would help politicians and I think it’s a great tool for them to use, that’s where their audience is. It was interesting to think about this because I never thought social networking really would effect politicians like that, very interesting.

A section in the article I really enjoyed is where they give advice to others on what you really should know about these social networking sites before you set one up. They give eight things to know and go into depth on really what you need to know and all about the things you will encounter when setting one up. I think this is really beneficial and great advice for new users to these sites that really don’t know the little things like know the tools. For me, I really had no idea what it was all about when I set up my Facebook page. I did know certain things about it through word of mouth, but I didn’t know the technical side of it. Like privacy settings and the different tools that you use or even, just like they talk in the article, is knowing a plan for what I was doing on the social networking sites I was on. Its good to have a plan because keeping up with these sites like blogs and twitter you need to be on them everyday putting time in and updating your posts and things like that or else you will be out of date and the purpose really wont be relevant anymore. Also it could get overwhelming and all pile on. It soon becomes not that much fun anymore when it becomes stressful like that.

The thing you really need to know about all of these social networking sites is that just knowing the security risks and how you make your profile or blog as public or private as you want. I think there is a lot of problems with young teenagers signing up for these sites and they don’t really know how to block their profile in Facebook for instance, and then they write things on their page that they don’t want others to know thinking their profile was private. I think this article is really great because it helps those who really don’t know much about social media and all that it entails what it really is all about. I think that in the era we are in we really have to be careful what is put out there because it is so extremely easy to put it out there.

Overall we really need to research and learn more if we don’t know enough about social networking because it can be so much fun to use but also can be very complex. If you have the knowledge and know how to use these social medias correctly it can be really fun and can possibly benefit things like careers or research. Knowledge just needs to get out there about these things because this is what we are all about today, kids, teens, adults and even seniors. Everyone is involved now and it is growing like crazy. Knowledge is power and power can change the world.

 Works Cited:

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT Social Networking. By: Dorsch, Meagan, Greenberg, Pare, State Legislatures, 01476041, Jul/Aug2009, Vol. 35, Issue

The Growing Technological World

Blog post 3

September 19, 2010

The Growing Technological World

When reading the readings for today staring with Grant Chapter 6 I really kept thinking about my childhood and what we had for a video camera in my household. It was very large it recorded onto a VHS tape it was very heavy and it rested on your shoulder. You did not have a screen to view what you are seeing, you just look through the lens and while it is resting on your shoulder. My parents brought it everywhere! it is amazing to me to think about what we had back then to all the various options to video now. Cell phones, cameras, I-flips, recording onto a DVD or USB port access. It is amazing how it has evolved in my lifetime so far.  It is also very interesting to me to think about how television was back when I was a child. We had very minimum channels and that was it. No TV on the Internet on your computer, no cable, no T-VO, no DVR’s, and no dish network. It has evolved so much in a very short amount of time. But when I think about watching TV back then I never had a problem with the amount of channels we had, I loved the shows that were on. Its just funny to me to think just how different things are now, we just adapt into new technologies and new things going on around us.

When going on in the chapters if Grant thinking about the digital world and how all of that has come about and just exploded into this amazing technology in television development. There is no more antennas’ to move to get the right reception, no more snow when the connection just wasn’t right, this is what I had to do as a kid. Just the picture alone now of television on these amazing TV’s is just amazing. I always remember thinking as a kid god I hate messing with the antennas to get the right reception and never really having a good sharp picture even when watching movies. The quality of the picture today is just crystal clear; it makes television viewing so much more fun and enjoyable! I found a great site on the things happening with TV Technology and I found it very interesting http://www.tvtechnology.com/.Also just thinking about 3-D movies and how that just exploded in a short amount of time and has really expanded into many really great things. Now it is possible to buy a 3-D DVD player and you can buy a 3-D DVD and you can watch the movies you love in your own home and it will be 3-D. I personally have wanted this and wished for this since I was very young. I think its great. Since it’s still fairly new its expensive and there are not many DVD’s made in 3-D yet but there will be more to come, I’m sure of it. 

I really enjoyed chapter 8 because I liked the charts and how they showed the online video sources and the top online brands, ranked by time spent viewing per viewer. This was really interesting to me because I didn’t know much about a lot of them listed. Personally I didn’t know there were ten different kinds of online video sources. All I think of when I think about online video sources I think of YouTube.com, HuLu.com, and MSN. Also with the ranking of the top online brands chart was really surprising to me because YouTube.com was towards the bottom of the list and I thought they would be close to the top. HuLu.com was the first, which I am not surprised with that but it was a very interesting chart.

I also thought Chapter ten, talking about radio broadcasting and how people are redefining the term radio because it has changed and evolved so much into a generic term for audio entertainment supplied by terrestrial broadcast frequency, satellite, internet streaming, and so much more. When thinking about media convergence and just media in general for me at least, I kind of forget about radio. It is definitely still going strong with the satellite radios and XM Radio and all of the different kinds of music you can listen to on these new radio technologies. It’s just not in the media as much as the others. I do think the evolution of how radio has progressed over the years is very interesting and it really has made a transformation. i really wanted to research more into the history of radio broadcasting because I really don’t know much about it and I just was interested to learn more about it and there was one site that I thought was great and I leraned a lot. Check out http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/radio.htm. I learned a lot and I thought it was very interesting how it has developed.

I also enjoyed reading the chapters in Briggs. “It has been said that technology can become effective only when we start taking it for granted.” I liked this quote a lot because it makes a lot of sense. We have to take it for granted to really enjoy what it can become and what it is capable of.  I also enjoyed the chapters on blogging and when Briggs said that blogging has changed the world of journalism, it is very true and this is the first time I have thought about how blogging has affected journalism in that way. Blogging has affected more than I ever thought. I haven’t done much blogging in fact the blogs we made in this class was my first blog but it is interesting to think how it could really have a big impact on things and different forms of media. I learned about Microblogging. I have never known what that was before I read this chapter and I think it is really interesting and convenient for those who use it.

Overall I learned a lot from the readings it makes me think about a lot and just think about how much everything has changed so much! It’s amazing what we had back then to now. If we were in the past looking at the future to year 2010, I think we would all be very shocked and probably have disbelief in all that we have now. 

Holly Swenson

AAHHHH TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!

Clay Shirky “Here Comes Everybody”

Reviewed by: Holly Swenson           

AHHH TECHONLOGY!!!!!!

Have you ever really sat down and thought about all of the technology that is around us that wasn't there not too long ago. Have you really thought about all the things on our cell phones we can do now and the development of the internet. Think about NEVER going on facebook or twitter or any other kind of social network again, would it be difficult for you? I know it would be for me. The way we can communicate with people all over the world with a click of your computer you could be talking and viewing someone in Africa. It is that simple now. There are so many new and amazing things out there. For an example I found a really good website that really allows you to keep up to date on  some of the things that are going on in this technological world it is http://www.cnn.com/TECH/  These things we are so used to and we don’t even think about it anymore we just do it. taking a step back and realizing how things are working now In this technological world is a really amazing thing.

In the book by Clay Shirky titled “Here Comes everybody,” he recounts how social tools such as facebook, blogging, wordpress and twitter, file sharing, and Wikipedia like group conversation and group action in a way that before they only could be done through being at an institution. Shirky talks about how that with the arrival of these new online social tools groups can form without such a time cost like it was before. I think this is also very important to think about because it is very true. Its amazing to me now to think about that and the point he makes in his book because its crazy all of the things we can do now. 

I wanted to research the actual definition of social networking because I really wanted to know what the official definition is and if it’s still true. On http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/, they say “Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will.”  I think this is really different than the definition I had in my head. To me when I think of social networking I think only communicating with people online, I would not think of neighborhoods and subdivisions. Interesting.  Its crazy how many people we can stay in contact with online through these social networks. I also think about my grandparents and how in the world they can keep up to all of this, nothing they have ever known or ever taught. Its easy for us to adapt because we were raised and learned on computers in school and it is just all around us our whole lives, but the older generation I think about a lot and just wonder do they know what’s all out there and what we are capable doing now. Its amazing to me.

Another thing I really liked about this book is when Shirky mentions the fact that the power of the web and its networks is that they make it extremely easy to form groups.  Joining facebook now is no problem, my dog has a facebook! When I was younger I really wanted a facebook but you had to be in college and have a college id to send to them to have them verify if you were In fact in college or not, then you could have a facebook. Myspace.com was a little easier to get but too had its disadvantages. For me I really was thinking about this book and thinking about all that Shirky has said and it got me thinking about what other kinds of social networks are out there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites shows a long list of other social networks I didn’t even know existed. It was interesting to see all that is out there and other options other than just facebook, myspace, twitter, and blogging.

I also enjoyed how Shirky’s book really has an interest in activism rather than others that don’t really express as much and are more for worried companies or CEO’s. In this book he really makes aware everything that is going on and doesn’t sugarcoat it.

I really enjoyed this book and I think I got more out of it than I thought I was going to. It made me think about the things I use everyday as my daily routine and how my parents did when they were my age. Its amazing. I think Shirky did a really good job at putting things into perspective. He paid very close attention to detail with everything he talks about and describes in his book. I really enjoyed his style of reading and understood it very well which I always a good thing when reading something for class, but I really enjoyed it. I liked Shirky so much and this book I decided to find out more about him and what he is doing today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites shows a really good biography of Clay Shirky. He is and has done some amazing things in his life. I really enjoyed reading his bio after reading “Here Comes Everybody,” it really gave me a better understanding of the author and where he is coming from and how he developed all of his knowledge on the subject. It was very interesting.