Checking Out Some Social Networking Sites.

I tried to visit some of the social networking sites and the first one was "Second life" http://www.secondlife.com. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents.From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business. You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow Residents. Because Residents retain intellectual property rights in their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other Residents. The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in world unit of trade, the Linden™ dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden dollar exchanges. So, i was impressed by how many things you can do there. It can explore your creativity and imagination.

Next one was My space http://www.myspace.com. MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends' friends.You can share photos, journals and interests with your friends.

You can add or listen music and videos. It has forums, blogs, and IM.

And the last one was Facebook http://www.facebook.com/. Facebook is also a social networking website with a free registration. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves.

So,all three sites that i visited was almost the same a specially the "My space" and "Facebook". They have the same purpose(communication). The "Second life" little different it's more creative, but it is for the same purpose: communication.

Social Networking and Virtual Worlds

What are some ways (corporate and otherwise) that these technologies can be used?

In our time the Internet is one of the fastest growing methods of communications, used for a variety of reasons. Because people can remain anonymous in a virtual world they can also feel free to explore with different types of their identity. You can alter your style of being just slightly different or indulge in wild experiments with your identity by changing your age, history, personality, physical appearance, and even your gender. Building networks is of great importance as it allows us to build relationships between like-minded people. It is not surprising that MySpace and later virtual networking sites, such as FaceBook have become popular. Teens and young adults spend a great deal of time on the computer. Professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technology - like the kind found on the popular sites MySpace and Facebook.("Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt"). Another form of online social sites that is beginning to gain momentum in the ad industry is virtual worlds. These sites are hybrids between games and social networks. They allow members to develop characters called avatars and then explore worlds and interact with other avatars. One of the leading avatar sets is Secondlife. Toyota, CSI, and other big name companies have put a lot of money into developing sites in Secondlife.
A large hotel chain has built its own hotels in Second Life to test-market a new brand. They’re modifying their hotel designs based on suggestions from their users and how they react to these virtual models.("What’s Next? Your Future in Social Networking"vol 121, p. 42.) National Geographic is currently considering launching sites in Secondlife in order to spread awareness and encourage travel.

What are the benefits of these technologies to society?

Virtual social technologies reduce the cost of doing business. You can pull together an innovation very, very quickly by leveraging thoughts and expertise from around the world.

"Dark side":

NBC News: "The Dark Side of the Web is Second Life"

http://www.centernetworks.com/ second-life-dark-side
NBC News: "The Dark Side of the Web is Second Life" Written By Allen Stern - August 27, 2008 I am not an expert in virtual worlds but on the news tonight there was a segment on Second Life which I thought was worth sharing. The NBC news anchor starts by saying, "The Dark Side of the Web...is Second Life". The segment discusses how parents should keep their teenagers away from Second Life because of all of the sex, porn, drugs, and suicide that occurs in the virtual world.

My opinion of the way these technologies might evolve in the future:

I believe that in the future, social networks will be using everywhere and by everyone. I think it's will be improved in some way, and hopefully became more secure. But any way real life and real communication is better and more enjoyable thing!

Critical Book Review :"Rule the Web” Book Review Outline

I. Introduction
a) Background of the issue
b) Thesis Statement

II. Body of the Paper
a) Major Points
- Review or discussion of the book’s major topics
- Critical analysis of these major topics
b) Audience of the book
c) Book’s contribution to the topic of new media
d) Relevance of the Book

III. Conclusion

Baruch New Media - Our Class Wiki - So Far

I'm working on New Media Class Wiki : Marketing and Advertising using New Media. I added some graphics on Use of Data Mining in Marketing,Use of Virtual Worlds in Marketing and Advertising using New Media, also i made some contribution on Mobile Marketing: "AdMob Launches: First Mobile Pay-Per-Click Ad Marketplace" and Marketing and Advertising using New Media: "Are Virtual World Marketing Efforts Falling Flat?" and "Advertising on Blogs".
Today i found an interesting book about New Media and American Politics so, i desided to make some contribution on New Media in Politics.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Compare and contrast blogs and wikis.

Wikis are used for sharing information and sharing views on things. Blogs are ways to talk about you and give opinions on certain things.A wiki is a website that allows users to add, remove, or edit all content quickly and easily without the need for registration. A blog is like a journal entry where you can post entries daily about anything. One strength of the blog is that the most recent entry is listed first. One weakness of the wiki is that the content can sometimes be misleading.

Comment on the importance of convergence in today's networked world.

A major shift around the world is altering the way people communicate, learn and work, and the way in which businesses and economies gain new efficiencies and create new wealth. This shift has been described in many ways: information superhighway, information revolution, information society, information age and information economy. Each of these terms refers to the fact that information is changing; or rather the ways in which information is produced, distributed and accessed are changing. Technology is constantly evolving, forcing companies to come up with more innovative products. The customers are well informed about the market and very demanding. "Powerful new technologies provide great benefits, but they also change the way we live, and not always in ways that everyone likes."(Martin Baily).

How can blogs be used for collaboration?

Blogs can be used to share files, pictures, and even movies. Some body can live comments on your post, or you can follow some body's blog. Also,blogs can be used for collaboration among group project or team work.

My New Media Class – So Far

What kinds of technologies are part of the new media?
From the artical:"The New Media Technologies: Overview and Research Framework" we know that Five critical characteristics of the new media technolgies - the Five C's: communication, collaboration, community, creativity, and convergence. So, the technology that are use this five C's are part of new media. For example: Cell phones,gaming systems,ipod and Computer(wich i thing is main technology in new media).

How important is the Internet to the new media?
A new age is upon us - the computer age. There's no doubt that the Internet has changed how fast and the way we communicate and get information. The popularity of the net is rising at a considerable rate. Traffic, the number of people on the web is four times what it was a year ago and every thirty seconds someone new logs on to the net to experience for themselves what everyone is talking about. Since the late of 1980’s, the Internet technology could be available for the mass society, millions of computers, modems and telephones around the world access to this “Information super-high way, and use Internet to transmit all kinds of information. People can publish their work, develop their business, go shopping, take part in a collaboration which involves the people who are thousands miles apart from each other by using Internet.

Why and how are the new media replacing / enhancing the old media?
I don't thing that old media totally replaced by new media but it's using new media . For example books are available on internet (e-book), newspapers also can be read on internet but they are steel in old media too. We are living in "Information Age". Our generation has become one that wants instant gratification - we want it now, and we want it fast, so the best way get any news or information is go to the web.The Internet and the Web allow for the quick dissemination of information, but both false and true; unlike newspapers and other media outlets, there are often no quality control mechanisms on Web sites that would permit users to know what information is generally recognized fact and what is spurious.