Social Networking

Social networking can be used in a number of way in the business world. First, and most important, is basic networking. We can easily connect and communicate with others with so little as a name to search for. We can see resumes and all kinds of information about a person with just a click, and find people through them as well. We can create groups that pertain to a certain subject matter and invite people so we can meet them. The possibilities are endless. Online virtual worlds can also be used for many things. IBM's Virtual World for its Employees: IBM Learning Programs Get a 'Second Life' by Ed Frauenheim talks about how IBM trains employees using "second life" so that they don't have to come in for training. This way they can train tons of people no matter where they are in the world. This can allow for virtual meetings where one person can be in the U.S. and the other as far as China. IBM trains a bunch of people easily and cheaply. Another advantage of this technology is that the users can replay what they have learned, as many times as they want until they have learned it.
There does remain one "dark side" to this technology, which is the lack of real human interaction. Everything becomes virtual in the online world. We no longer have the regular social practices of seeing eachother and shaking hands, small talking, courtesy. Many will see this as a bad thing for society. We cannot lose the most basic of interactions between eachother or we will become a lifeless society.
I think the future will only bring more things to the internet world. Everything will be online from virtual shopping to eating to maybe even going clubbing and dating. It will be a very different but interesting world to live in.

Social Networking Sites

The emergence of New Media has brought with it a new type of social communication in the form of Social Networking Sites, such as Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster. I personally only use Facebook as it covers all my needs and almost all the people I associate with are on it. I have looked at the other websites too. They are all pretty similar in essence with the basics such as creating a profile page with ones picture and interests and allowing people to communicate in different ways. The differences between the different pages are the layouts, some added uses, and the fact that depending on who your associate with your friends might be on a certain one only. Facebook has made its way to become most popular among highschool and college students and is slowly to take over the whole population from big to small. Myspace is more for teens and has a more teenage touch to it like customizing your page with different colors and layouts. I prefer facebooks uniform look as it is easy on the eyes and makes use of it much easier. Friendster is similar to facebook but also includes some of the blogs and entertainment features that are seen in Myspace. My problem with Friendster is that I don't know anybody who uses it so it does nothing for me, and Myspace is slowly joining it as my friends get older and stop using it. The most important things to consider when joning a social networking site is 1: Where most of your friends are registered 2: the layout of the pages and 3: any additional apps the sites provide that may be of use for you. Facebook and Myspace both have applications for Blackberrys and iPhones that are useful on the go. I use the facebook app on my blackberry daily since I'm not always near a computer. Nowadays everybody is a member to a few of the sites, that way they cover all the people they know no matter where they are members. So, ultimately comes down to personal preferance.