Social Networking
Overview
Definition by Chris Goodell
A social networking site or service's focus centers around the concept of building an online community. You can think of it as an electronic form of the medieval village, or a new interpretation of the suburban neighborhood where you make friends based on similar interests. Under the social networking concept, these online communities are built through the individuals' establishment of links to other individuals based on things that they have in common. This could be through a previous friendship that they already hold, common interests or desired interests, a common location or residence, people who attend the same college or university, work and other social colleagues, and other commonalities. Most social network services are based on the internet and allow for many different avenues of communication and information sharing.
Recent Growth by Chris Goodell
Having become one of the more recent "buzzwords" of the new Internet (also referred to as Web 2.0), social networking has truly become a phenomenon in the past few years. Such sites have attracted millions of new users (or more suitably, "participants") who comprise a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicities, incomes and values. As the concept has gained so much recent traction and social acceptance, people have also begun to acknowledge its prevalence in everyday life. In addition to being able to make new connections with people sharing similar interests or common connections, people increasingly use the social networking sites as a new tool to stay in touch with their relatives, loved ones, and old friends, much in the way that the telephone previously became a new tool of communication for people separated by distance.
Niches and Recent Blurred Roles by Chris Goodell
While many of the social networking sites cater to a particular purpose, such as LinkedIn catering to a business connections crowd, the lines increasingly have become blurred. Newer sites, such as Facebook, have seen a proliferation in new users connecting to both work, friend, church and community colleagues. With this "blurring of the lines", a greater emphasis on privacy has also resulted, and the need for additional vigilance on the part of users regarding what information and pictures they choose to publish on the various social networking sites.
Popular Social Networking Sites by Chris Goodell
Some of the most popular social networking websites in North America are MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well as other more regional sites such as Nexopia (mostly popular in Canada). Additional other social networking sites in other parts of the world include Bebo (Europe), Orkut (mostly Brazil, but also other parts of Latin America), Hi5 (greater Latin America), Skyrock (Europe), Xiaonei (Asia) and Cyworld (Asia).
It is also worth noting that many of the more prevalent players in the social networking universe are popular in more than one region. For instance, MySpace and Facebook are both widely used in the United States and many parts of Europe. As well, popular Latin American-based social networking sites such as Orkut have become increasingly popular in the Pacific Islands regions.
Standardization Attempts by Chris Goodell
There have been some recent attempts to standardize the various social networking services and their information across sites in order to avoid the need to maintain duplicate login authentications, groups of friends and other contacts, but this has led to some concerns about privacy, along with the already existing privacy concerns in the face of increasing marketing and data mining activity. As well, considerations over how much unique user information should be shared from one site to another (as competitors operating in the same space) have hindered more robust attempts and implementations of these efforts.
Site Descriptions
Facebook by Chris Goodell
Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking sites in the United States. It is currently the second most popular site in the U.S., behind MySpace, with 36 million unique visitors a year. However, it has experienced a rapid amount of growth in the international markets, and is now the most popular worldwide social networking site.
Facebook differentiates itself from most of the other social networking websites in that the users' profiles are based around their true identities. The name attached to a user's profile is intended to be their real name, and their personal information is intended to reflect their real life. Of course the opportunity to connect with new people is still available in this respect, but the connection is based upon the the other user knowing who you are. People have argued that the majority of Facebook's growth has been due to this concept, as users desire to make connections with others already existing in their communities.
One recent development with Facebook has been the redesign of the website to allow additional connections. In this respect, the "News Feed", a listing of friends' online Facebook activities is found on the site's main page once a user logs in, and now shows activities to users with which only one participant might be a friend. This provides increased opportunity for users to make connections with others. Another recent development for Facebook has been the redesign the site's privacy controls to allow for more sophisticated and increased individual protections. A user has the option of sharing as much or as little of his or her online activities as they wish. This is not to say, however, that such activities are not still known or monitored, but more that they aren't necessarily made known to the rest of a user's online community.
A site such as Facebook, since it is based on users' real identities, could certainly be useful with respect to education in that it allows for increased connectivity among classroom participants. Students that share a clss could potentially add each other as a "friend" on Facebook, and this connection could allow increased online collaboration or communication. In addition to the aspect of increased communication, the social networking aspect of Facebook (imagine that) can also be helpful in that it can increase familiarity and amity among students, which could provide a more for a more effective and respectful class with students who know one another. It is important to note, however, that as a teacher, one should be vigilant about the information that he or she posts on Facebook. No one would want an embarrasing photo on Facebook to be printed out by a student and brought to class.
Here is a good tutorial video that explains what Facebook "is".
This is a link to a New York Times article that discusses Facebook's increased privacy concerns.
MySpace by Matt Bell
In many people’s eyes, MySpace is the social networking website that started it all. Launched in August 2003, it has inspired hordes of imitators over the past five years, yet held its place as the most visited social networking site in the world until finally being overtaken by Facebook in April of this year. Still, MySpace boasts about double Facebook’s number of members within the US, and its popularity isn’t likely to fade anytime soon.
If you’ve ever registered for a MySpace page, you may have noticed that you started out with one friend already - a hip-looking twentysomething by the name of Tom. This represents Tom Anderson, the president and public relations “face” of MySpace. Anderson helped launch MySpace while working for its original parent company, eUniverse, in California. EUniverse and MySpace were privately run until both were purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (which also owns Fox Broadcasting) in July 2005. The total sale price for eUniverse came to $580 million, most of which can be attributed to the value of MySpace alone. Brad Greenspan, the founder and former CEO of eUniverse, later claimed that News Corporation should have actually valued his company at $20 billion, and that Murdoch is guilty of defrauding MySpace’s owners and investors.
Most of us have a vague idea of what’s involved in social networking – friend requests, comments, etc. (If you have no idea what we’re talking about here, read Chris's excellent overview above, or check out this CommonCraft video). Anything technological that enjoys such a degree of popularity will inevitably be intimidating to some members of the older generation. Fortunately, customizing and maintaining a MySpace profile is pretty simple. True, the site does give users a large degree of freedom when it comes to “pimping out” their pages. Anyone can freely alter the look of their page using HTML, CSS, and even embedded music and video players. This has in fact led to lots of criticism of MySpace, because users with no idea what they’re doing can write really garbled and over-elaborate code on their profile that severely slows or even crashes their visitors’ web browsers. Don’t be one of those people. Keep it simple. You don’t have to do anything at all to your layout if you’re happy with the default look. If you’re ready to try something different, start out small and make sure you know what you’re doing. There are tons of HTML tutorials available online, but here’s one that seems to be more geared toward those with no prior experience. Here is a beginner’s tutorial for CSS design. Finally, a helpful tutorial on the MySpace interface.
Another defining feature of MySpace is the ability for musicians to create a profile and upload music for other users to hear for free, or even add to their profiles. Here is a guide to using MySpace as a music sharing/promotion tool.
So how does this apply to your classroom? That question is a source of intense debate. The huge majority of school-related Internet access points in the country have recognized the time-wasting potential of social networking sites, and installed filters to block their access. This is true of my workplace in Wilder Tower where I currently type this. Even conducting a Google or Wikipedia search for the word “MySpace” by itself redirects me to a “safe” website. Most educators see no educational potential in social networking sites, but there are a few out there willing to challenge that assumption. First and foremost, remember that it is very important for educators to maintain separation between their private lives and those of their students. Don’t be like this teacher, who posted an angry blog about one of her students on her MySpace profile that other students visit!
Some thoughts for organizations thinking about making a representative MySpace profile
One great example of a MySpace-inspired school project
LinkedIn by Matt Bell
LinkedIn is a social networking site for the business world, which means you won't find gaudy customization of profiles, or albums full of pouty mirror photos. Instead of friends, you establish "connections" with colleagues, classmates, and business partners. You can weasel your way in with that friend of a friend of a friend who works for Google, upload your resume, and brag about your strengths. Employers can advertise job openings and search for qualified candidates. If a potential employer visits your LinkedIn profile and sees that you went to college with his cousin, you may have an edge over a similarly qualified competitor. Another great feature is "LinkedIn Answers," which allows you to pose a question to an entire professional community at once.
Some great suggestions on using LinkedIn to further your self-promotion goals
Audio podcast on using LinkedIn as a business tool
Other Social Networking Sites by Chris Goodell
As mentioned previously, the fast-paced growth in social networking activity has led to a equally fast-paced growth in the number of social networking sites available to users. Outside of the American hegemons MySpace and Facebook, users in different parts of the world have taken to a wide range of different social networking sites, most likely due to local trends and which networks that users' friends and acquaintances are already using.
Some of these other social networking sites include Hi5, Orkut, Bebo and Nexopia. Each has a dedicated following of users, and also have distinct group of users from different parts of the world. Particularly, Hi5 and Orkut are popular in Latin America, and Nexopia has a dedicated following in Canada, while Bebo is popular in many European countries. For a more complete listing of all of the social networking sites (and other sites that might not fit the complete definition of what a social networking site is, such as blog sites) with an interactive ranking, please click here.
In addition to these regionally-popular social networking sites, additional sites such as Habbo have emerged which cater to specific demographic groups. In particular, Habbo is targeted at the teenage demographic, and has 31 distinct online communities based on region (although a user is not limited to making connections with others in his or her region). Another such website is Skyrock, which targets French-speaking people and is the most popular social networking site in the French-speaking world, and also BlackPlanet, which caters to the African-American demographic.
Additional Links
Here is a very useful site: http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com
Also, here are some links to some good networking sites which I'm sure most of you are members of:
*ok, so we're all members of this one, but I thought I'd throw it on anyway