What will happen next?

Every new piece of technology seems to surprise me. Some things I can envision happening with phones, but some things are just so random and out of the blue, that I can't imagine what will come next. Throughout the semester we have talked about different ways to network and different kinds of technology. Much of the time we talked about what bothered us about some of the technology, but no matter how much annoys us, this trend is going to keep on going. Something different will come about for phones, cameras, the internet, social networks; that is going to change the way we function in our day to day lives. How it will affect our lives, we don't know, but it's happening all the time.

There are many things I find over the top when it comes of some of the inventions, but there is no stopping it. All we can do is work with each things and find ways to improve it. All we need to learn now is how to deal with everything that will be coming because at the rate things are going now, we will be having to deal with so many changes at one time in the future. Just something to get you thinking...

Social networking sites driving away networking community!

(theBivingsreport, A Blog by The Bivings Group, Facebook Applications Analysis - Part3)

According to one blogger, there are many challenges with social networking sites. There are some things that personally bother me about networking sites, but I never realized how much of a negative affect they had on users. Some problems are stalkers on these sites, the bombardment of advertisers, and the fact that there are tons of different sites out there that it makes it hard to compete with one another. One that I find interesting, that also is a problem with cell phones and blackberries are that social networking sites are a distraction from work.

After everything we have talked about in class, I've become more careful what I say on that sites I visit often. I've become more aware of the privacy issues on these sites and updated those to make sure only friends can see what I do and say. At the rate these sites are going, they are going to become less and less popular until they were something of the past. However, when they go down, will others pop up knowing that they are most likely going to follow the same path?

What will cell phones do next?

(Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition Debuted; mobiledia.com)

The new word to describe cell phones: MoSoSo (Mobile Social Networking Software). People are obviously not using phones just to talk and text. They are sending photos, using GPS to meet up with other people, and many other uses. The most interesting is connecting to campus safety to make sure you will get back home safely. I think some of the new tools can be very useful in phones, however there are concerns with the results of these tools. A couple are self-absorption and the threat of hackers.

Personally, I think there is a bigger issue which we have discussed in the past, and thats the lack of face to face communication. Although this is the direction of technology and seems to be non stop, I think there needs to be a balance between technology and face to face communication. In terms of phones, I don't know where you should draw the line. Being on your phone constantly seems like it can be a distraction, so how much is too much?

10 Myths of Networking

I was opening up the web to check my e-mail, and an article popped up on yahoo about the top 10 myths of networking. I started looking through it and thought it was interesting. These myths are...

1. Networking means meeting as many people as you can.
2. Networking means telling people about your business whenever you get a chance.
3. Networking is hard work.
4. Networking should start when you're job-hunting.
5. Networking is for schmoozers.
6. Networking is only for entrepreneurs.
7. Networking is a waste of time.
8. Networking is expensive.
9. Networking is phony.
10. Networking is a thing of the past.

If you're interested, check out the link above to see more about the myths and what the truths are about networking today.

It's more truthful than you think!

A big question is how truthful are people being on their blogs. Are they truly representing themselves? Is this person putting their truthful opinions about this product? According to the article "How will Facebook change politics," political messages used to talk down to people. Now, people are blogging about politics. I think this goes for anything, not just politics. When companies used to sell products, some of the main ways they found out how they were doing were by sales and if a person decided to give feedback about the products. Not much to go on!!!

However, today you can blog about whatever you want. Blogs were started as a way for a person to put down their thoughts about absolutely anything. I think people are more likely to write what they think than make up something, even though there are those who do make everything up. In the example of companies, they can check out these blogs or even have their own blogs for people to put comments on how they are doing or how they like their products. It's easier and faster, so why not?

"Are political blogs a social network in themselves? I would say so (Sunny)." I think any kind of network that allows people to write comments about their opinions is a social network to some extent. I mean we are writing blog posts because we have to for a class, but wouldn't you say you are putting your truthful opinions into what you are writing?

My Blog Resume?

So apparently your blog is a new way for companies to look at a person for a potential job. Is this a good thing? I think right now it looks like it could be, but then again when you started a Facebook account, you probably never thought it could be used against you when job searching. I'm guessing the same could be for blogs, however, blogs could be helpful at the same time. I think it's similar to social networks in that you need to be careful in what you put out there, but at the same time, your thoughts could get you notice.

According to nytimes.com and monster, there is a list of 10 simple rules when looking for employees, some of which include the person's attitude, sense of humor, and someone who you can change in terms of skills. It is hard to find a person that can be changed in terms of personality, but you can train them in certain skills. You could easily see someone's attitude or sense of humor by looking at their blog and getting a feel for what they think about certain topics. Blogging is a new way to compete with people who are searching for the same type of job.

Social News Meets Business

Social News websites are starting to pop up in the internet. These sites are a way to pick out important news and see people's opinions and other comments on the issue. According to the article 'A Beginer's Guide to Social News Websites,' "these social media channels will give you a platform to showcase your content and website to a large audience." It takes topics that get the most attention. A popular example of this is Digg.

(Digg.com: What is Digg? Take a Quick Tour!)

I think these sites can be helpful towards businesses. First, blogs in general are very random and not very organized. By having this kind of site that limits what it brought in, could make it more organized. Second, it picks important topics or products, especially things that get some attention. This could be helpful to businesses because they can go to a specific cite and get more reliable information and opinions on something that can relate to them.

Digg is one example of a site that does this and as the photo shows above, you can pick and choose what kind of information you want to look for.