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.

Virtual Teams are the way to go...

It seems virtual teams are how today's company's are running. It makes it easier to communicate with others without having to be in the same place. There are many positives to doing this, in that people don't need to leave their families or do extensive traveling. However, I still find there is an issue that is important to consider. First, you are not getting the same face to face communication with the people you are working with. In a way, you are sometimes working with a faceless person. I think this virtual teams are crucial fore businesses today to help get things done at a faster pace, but I still think in some ways communication is becoming less important.

According to an article from MIT Sloan, there are 10 rules for helping make virtual teams more productive. Some of these rules even work with this issue, in that when working with a virtual team, you should start with a group of people who know each other. Another is increasing the amount of communication between workers. With these tips I think communication can become as important as it used to be. Who knows what will happen next...

Where should I network?

Facebook? LinkedIn? Ryze?

There are multiple networking sites... but some are more related to social networking, while others are more for business networking. I think there is a different between networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, and LinkedIn and Ryze. According to ABC News "social networking sites like Friendster and MySpace... social networking business model(s), while attractive for users, has not yet proven a consistent money maker. (Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch?)" I don't believe the social networking sites will move into the business networking arena. Facebook, for example, let's people add photos and has applications depending on someone's interests. How many people post pictures to do with work or are more likely to have a business application over an application called "Would you rather..." or "Graffiti?"

I also found it interesting to use some of these sites, such as LinkedIn as a way to keep in contact with old business associates and remembering people you have worked with. Whenever I thought of business networks online, I thought mainly of Monster.com, in which you found jobs, rather than keeping in contact with people to make new contacts. I think this is a strong way to keep networking, and also enforces my belief that Facebook and MySpace will have a hard time trying to make its way into a business networking area. How can they move in that direction when even their business applications relate to sport fans and common interests in music?


... If anyone is interested more about online networking, I found a blog all about online networking sites. Some even include LinkedIn, Ryze, and Second Life. There are tips, courses, recommendations, and more.

Are you the Queen of Googlers?

How much information is there out on the internet about people? Too much it seems in some cases. Dr. Scott Haig was seeing a potential patient and found she had been searching information about him. "Susan had chosen me because she had researched my education, read a paper I had written, determined my university affiliation and knew where I lived. It was a little too much — as if she knew how stinky and snorey I was last Sunday morning."

What constitutes as invading one's privacy? One blogger, nicoles7183 said: " AN IDEA: Don't put anything out there that you do not want certain people to see!" I definitely think this is true, but what about when, as in the example of the doctor, you can find out where someone lives or personal information you didn't put out there for people to see. As I've mentioned in past blogs, I think you need to be careful of what you do at work because you are being tracked and don't put information about yourself on the internet that you don't want others to see. But there is other information somehow getting out and who has control of that?

You can Google someone and almost find something out about everyone. That is kind of scary and especially in the case of Susan, who needs to be assured that she is getting someone who can help her. Yet she is getting information that isn't relevant to Dr. Haig's profession and shouldn't be available to a potential patient when it isn't their business. What should be done about that? Further, what can be done about it?

Second Life Wedding Bells and On the Go

I was searching the internet for information for a project in another class and I happened to see an article relating to Second Life about a woman who had a virtual wedding in Second Life. The article compares Second Life to Facebook, MySpace, and even matchmaking sites that connect people to each other in different ways, especially on Valentine's Day.

Anyone interested in virtual life on mobile phone?! Well you might just have that chance! People who want to be in Second Life on the go may be in luck!

Not quite sure what to think of all this; any thoughts?

Chat to Virtual

(http://secondlife.com/whatis/)

They've done it! Real world and chat rooms have met The Sims!

Does this seem familiar? From experience, this reminds me of The Sims game. You create characters and live their lives through school, works, activities, etc...

Currently I have only heard about Second Life and other virtual worlds and done a little research, but from what I've read, it seems to be the same basic concept, except that the other characters are controlled by other people throughout the world.

When thinking about Second Life, it seems to add to the idea that face to face communication is not being used as much and will continue to do so. According to Gartner research firm it is predicted that "by 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users will have a "second life" in some sort of virtual world." If this is the future of communicating and networking, it will seem more like a game. I can't help but look at videos and pictures of this and think of playing a game. If this becomes a common view, communicating will not be taken seriously and where will we end up? What is the future of communication and networking?!

Check it Out!

Atlas is a band from New Zealand. They just recently released their first album in November, 2007. They are not well known, but is an awesome band and you should listen to them! This is one of their songs, called "Crawl" and it was filmed in Britomart, which is in downtown Auckland.

Fly with the Best

I was working on my first assignment and as I was reading the different company blogs, I was noting down what the different ones were like and how they were the same and how they were different. They were interesting in their own way, but once I got into the Southwest Airlines company blog, I couldn't stop reading the blogs. As a flier of Southwest, I was curious of what the blog would be like, especially because they are so different and very fun. I got the same type of feeling when I read the blog posts.

They have a variety of different types of blogs, varying from humorous pick up lines, to the integrity of the airlines, to how a woman became an employee for Southwest Airlines. I've been flying with southwest for almost four years now and every once in a while I've seen southern singing flight attendants, ones who crack jokes throughout the whole safety speech, and those who have random conversations on the intercom. Even the labels of the blog posts were interesting, such as "nutty stuff" and "under the hood." I got the same entertaining, friendly feeling reading their posts. Most of the posts from other companies were written by CEO's and higher management, but Southwest posts were written by a variety of employees.

I highly recommend reading Southwests' Blog. If you ever have enjoyed their flights or don't really know about the company, this should give you a good idea of what they are about.

Who says...

...the internet makes people dumb? According to Doris Lessing, a recent winner of the Nobel Prize, the internet are making people stupid and that people aren't reading anything of importance. The younger generation "who have had years of education... know nothing of the world, have read nothing" and "know only some speciality or other. (Lessing)"

I disagree with this. I feel that the internet has opened more people's eyes to what is going on in the world. It has also given people another source to find information about absolutely anything. I never read the newspaper throughout my life. Since I've come to college, I've started reading it, and that is due to the internet. My homepage is Yahoo! and every time I open the internet, there are different stories on the front page and I often sift through the different headlines to see what is different in the world or something that just interests me. Now when I go to school, I pick up the free newspaper to read what else there is going on that I may have missed.

Many people, as well as myself, now use search engines such as Google, or online encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia or Ask.com to learn about different subjects. A key tool in the use of the internet is interest in a subject. Things I hear or learn about peak my interest, which causes me to look online about the subject. Along with that idea, the internet is more accessible than libraries or other sources. How can the internet be seen as something that makes people more ignorant of what is going on in the world when it is probably the best source of information and the most updated?

Blog to Blog

Carolyn's most recent blog post talked about NIKEiD and again I am going to agree about some of the comments she made about customization of shoes as time consuming and expensive if the other blogs I've read are correct. Also from some of the discussions in class, I've heard about how this process of customizing your shoe and getting it shipped to you can take up to a month. There was also a comment about having problems with getting the right product and having to send back the product multiple times. This just reinforces my belief that this doesn't sound like a good idea. I feel this is breaking away from the Nike image.

Social Networking... Targeting?!

"Corporate social networking software measures, reads, and evaluates e-mails, instant messages, and calendar entries, capturing the names of message authors..." When I first read this, a whole different thought came into my mind than what the article talked about. I immediately thought about how businesses are watching, or you could say targeting, each employee. With the new technology innovations, companies are becoming more watchful of each employee. They track everything an employee does in their system and judges their character and work performance basically based off their personal life.

I just recently read an article in the paper that talked about a handful of employees that got fired for porn searching over 19,000 times in 2007 at work. I think in some cases, such as this, it is important to watch over your employees, because you obviously don't always know what they are doing. In such situations, it's evident that employees are not getting work done. Although this is only one example, I do think there are many situations where this would be an invasion of privacy. When I first heard about companies searching possible new graduate employees on facebook, I thought, well OK, maybe they want to see their work background or perhaps where they are from. Then, of course, I heard about companies not accepting some people based of pictures or comments, and then I thought, what do you expect from someone who was just in college and wanted to enjoy the rest of their freedom?! In some cases, it's necessary to search what employees are doing. My one question is where do you draw the line? How much searching is too much and constitutes as invading one's privacy?

Important or Self-centered?

"Self-obsession, politics of hate, and the same hunger for fame that has people lining up to trade punches on The Jerry Springer Show (Blogs Will Change Your Business)." How would you describe a blog? I know of many people who have blogs and that is fine. However, I find that blogs are just another way for people to blab on about themselves or just random, pointless thoughts for endless hours. I understand the interest and importance of blogs when people went abroad or just wanted to keep memories because it's a good way to remember your experiences, but other than that, I find them a waste of time. And as one of the articles pointed out, not many people even read blogs anymore; about only "27% of Internet users in America now bother to read them."

I never thought about using blogging to help a business, but when thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. Before, people were given some kind of form to fill out and send back to the company, often with an already stamped envelope. But when looking at that way of getting feedback, it is a huge inconvenience for many people. With the internet today and with many people being so chatty about the most random things, it is an extremely easy and quick way to put your thoughts out there about a product or service.

I still wonder, however, how many people will actually do this. Personally, I still don't have that much interest in blogging, other than perhaps writing down memories, but those would be for me and my friends and not out there for the public eye to read. However, I wonder if this will drag more people out to read blogs. I think that blogs will be good for businesses in getting more feedback on how they are doing and what customers think of them. I don't think it would make much of a difference, but then again, that could be due to the fact that I don't really like blogs. What are your thoughts?

Why use it if you don't like it?

Many of the articles talk about social capital and the value of social networking. The “Social graph-iti” article relates more to how programs, such as Facebook are social networks. One comment made in this article is that Facebook is going to be the next Google, but I find that untrue for a few reasons. I feel like Facebook is just like having a phone or AIM in a sense, because it is used worldwide and is just another way to communicate and share interests with others. I know it is meant in a way that it is going to be as big as Google, but since it seems to be only used for that one purpose, I don’t believe they are going to have the opportunity to become as successful. I also find it interesting that MySpace is used a lot more than Facebook. I know many people have MySpace pages, but I never hear of people using it. People are always talking about “facebook-ing” someone rather than messaging or finding someone on MySpace. At the same time, people talk about how annoying Facebook has become with the Mini Feed and the Applications, however they are being used more and more often. Why is this? Why does everyone talk about something they don’t enjoy, yet use it even more?

My First Blog Post

Hi. I am a student at American University using this blog for a business class.

“On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.”