Wednesday, March 10, 2010






Assignment #4

Social Networking


Do you have a facebook, myspace or twitter? Usually the most common question I hear asked when people first meet each other and are trying to get one another’s contact information. Even I have asked this question many times.






Twitter, facebook and other networking tools basically get your message out there. Whether you want to post what you're doing on twitter, trying to keep in touch or make fan pages on facebook or posting your videos on youtube, it's a way of communicating with one another. Businesses are also using these social networking sites as advertising for jobs as well as to get their products out in the market and become known. These businesses are also using these sites to get demographic information or in other words finding out what their customers like and dislike.


One successful social networking website is Facebook. Facebook is so varied in how it can be used. Most of us, myself included use Facebook as a means to communicate with friends and family, however some people use this site as a way of advertising their businesses or causes.



Another group of people using the social networking sites include celebrities. Betty White for example will now be hosting Saturday Night Live because of a Facebook fan page being posted on their site. According to MTV News, after Betty White appeared in a Snickers Superbowl ad, fans started a Facebook page attempting to get her on SNL as the host. It worked. Over 500,00 people joined the fan page and because of it the actress who believed the producer of the show didn't even know who she was, heard the message loud and clear: People want Betty White as the host.



Another example of social networking would be YouTube. YouTube is a website where you can upload videos of yourself to say or share whatever you want to the world. I don't know how many times I have gotten a text or call saying "hey check out this video on YouTube, you're gonna laugh." This networking site truly has made people famous for the most mundane things. For example, a few years ago just a regular guy became hugely known for singing a song in German. Now if you look at how many views he has received, you'll see it's over a million. When this video first came out however, it was way more than this. This just goes to show how social networking can really get your image, message or basically anything you want out to the public.






These two examples definitely go hand in hand with what we learned about the Long Tail and Creative Commons at the beginning of the semester. Both showed how technology is growing so quickly. I mean you can go on the Internet today and literally find anything about anything, there really is that much information out there. When it comes to Creative Commons, this is the site where people can tweak others' work as long as proper credit is due. It's plain and simple: social networking is the way to get what you want out in the world whether it be jobs, a message, a stupid video you think is funny, your brand or your products, this is the way to do it. Technology is the way of the world. I mean how many of you have a facebook, twitter or myspace account? You're a social net worker if you do.




Sources:

Images:

Facebook Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ernestolago/4111045667/

Myspace Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlauria/147072591/sizes/o/

Twitter Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7son75/2573812829/

Advertising Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnygoldstein/54449934/


YouTube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8xvK-tD8Jg

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/twitter-could-become-a-recruiters-best-friend/?scp=6&sq=twitter&st=cse

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/08/28/facebook-to-nonprofits-more-pages-fewer-apps/tab/article/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/business/smallbusiness/12guide.html?_r=1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/feb/10/peter-horrocks-social-media

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=168485

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1633478/20100308/story.jhtml


4 comments:

  1. I liked your example about the numa numa guy. I watched that video back when I was in high school, it was so popular! All it really takes to make something big nowadays is a network of social friends - one friend tells their friends, who tells their friends, and eventually word gets out there! Good post!

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  2. I really liked how you really made it feel like everyone uses these social networking sites for very important and also very random things. Most people try to just believe that Facebook and Twitter and all that are just good networking tools and business tools, I liked how you remembered that a lot of people just want to goof around most of the time with these "tools" to do random things too. I liked how you were playful with examples you used with like bringing up Betty White's SNL appearance and the Numa numa guy. Good job.

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  3. haha, that video of that man singing!! Good job on your blog. I never thought of YouTube as a social networking site. YouTube has made alot of people famous since it was launched and im sure that twitter and facebook has too.

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  4. I agree that a lot of people use social networking sites to get their point across. Also, I agree with how YouTube has exploded as a big social networking site. My friends and I always refer different videos that we find funny or informative to each other using it, so it has became a big deal.

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