connected: social networking

CONNECTED:SOCIALNETWORKING

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Dedicated to Social Network Users

Define Social Networking2

Web Security and Privacy3

Technology vs Communication4

The Future of Networking5

History of Social Networking1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

>> Chapter One Opener 01 - 02, >> Start of Social Networking 03 - 06, >> BBS, AOL and CompuServe: Infant Years 07 - 08, >> Internet Boom: Networking’s Adolescence 09 - 10, >> LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook 11 - 12, >> Profits from User Generated Content 13 - 14

>> Chapter Two Opener 15 - 16, >> A Global phenomenom 17 - 20, >> types of social networks 21 - 24, >> Advantages of social networks 25 - 26, >> Disdvantages of social networks 27 - 28, >> facebook addiction disorder 29 - 30

>> Chapter Three Opener 31 - 32, >> Identity Theft in Social Networks 33 - 34, >> Anonymity in the Digital Era 35 - 36, >> Privacy Settings in Facebook 37 - 38, >> Which Networking Sites Are Secure 39 - 40

>> Chapter Four Opener 41 - 42, >> Technology Dependency 43 - 44, >> Computer Meditated Communication 45 - 46, >> Netspeak Internet Jargon 47 - 50, >> Impacts on Interpersonal Social Skills 51 - 52

>> Chapter Five Opener 53 - 54, >> Future of Web and Social Networks 55 - 56, >> The Next Big Social Network: Gowalla 57 - 58, >> Future Trends of Mobile Networking 59 - 60, >> A Transparent Society 61 - 62, >> Glossary 63 - 64

ConnectedOne of Five Chapters

Ch_1 *****01History of Social Networking

>> START OF SOCIAL NETWORKINg 03 - 06 >> BBS, AOL ANd COmpuSERvE: INFANT YEARS 07 - 08 >> INTERNET BOOm: NETWORKINg’S AdOLESCENCE 09 - 10

>> LINKEdIN, mYSpACE ANd FACEBOOK 11 - 12

>> pROFITS FROm uSER gENERATEd CONTENT 13 - 14

Start of Social Networks

1957The Internet was created in...

Being connected to the world has never been easy

and accessible than it is today. After the Internet

made it possible to contact people around the globe

with a click of a button, Social Networking exploded

into one of the biggest industries of our time.



1971 The first email is sent. The two computers were sitting right next to each other.

1978 BBS (Bulletin Board System) exchanged data over phone lines with other users.

1978 The first copies of web browsers were distributed through Usenet, an early online bulletin board, the birthplace of flame wars and trolling.

1994 One of the web’s first social networking websites, Geocities is founded, the concept was for users to create their own websites and it was categorized by one of the unique six cities.

1995 TheGlobe.com gave Internet users the freedom to personalize their experiences via interacting with others with similar interests and hobbies.

1997 AOL Instant Messenger is launched to the public, popularizing instant messaging.



20041997 SixDegrees.com is launched, allowing the step to profile creation and listing friends.

Facebook.com is launched, originally to connect U.S college students, first launched at Harvard College. More than half of the 19,500 students signed up within the first month.

2002 Friendster.com is launched, pioneering the online connection of real world friends. Its user based grows to 3.0 million users in the first three months, which is around 1 in every 126 internet users who owned a Friendster account at the time.

2006 Twitter.com is created. At the closing of the 2010 Japan vs Denmark world cup soccer game, it was noted that Twitter users published 3,283 tweets per second as a top record.

2003 Myspace.com is launched at first as a Friendster clone created by an internet marketing firm and the first version was hastily coded in 10 days.

2008 Facebook finally takeover Myspace as the leading networking website. Both social network sites are vastly more popular than Friendster.



2010 Social Networks Compared by users (in millions)

460

750

305

180

Friendster found its success in

Asia, where the site currently

finds 90% of its traffic.



It all started with the BBS. Short for Bulletin Board

System, the online meeting places were effectively

produced hunks of code that allowed web users to

communicate through a central system where they

could download files or games which several times

included pirated software and leave messages to

several other users. The system could be accessed

over telephone lines via a modem, BBSes were ran

and monitered by hobbyist, those who help nurtured

the social aspects and interest specific nature of

their projects, more often than not in the early days

of computers, was all technology related.

Moreover, long distance call rates usually applied

for those who were out of town, so many Bulletin

Boards were locals only affairs that in turn spurred

local in person gatherings. And voila, just like that,

suddenly those who were anti-social had become

social. The bulletin system was not a joke. Though

the technology of the time restricted the flexibility

of these systems, the end user’s experience, to

text only exchanges of data that went along at a

glacial speed, BBSes continued to gain popularity

throughout the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, when

the Internet truly kicked into gear. Indeed, some

Internet services, such as Tom Jennings’s FidoNet

which helped link numerous BBSes together to the

worldwide computer social networks that managed

to survive the Internet revolution. There were also

other avenues for social network interaction long

before the Internet exploded onto the mainstream.

One option was CompuServe, which was a service

that began life in the 1970’s as a business oriented

main frame computer communication solution, and

expanded itself into the public domain during the

late 1980’s. CompuServe even allowed its members

to share files, access news and other events.

Not only could an internet web user send a message

to their contacts through a newfangled technology

called the E-mail, users could also join any of the

CompuServe’s discussion forums with thousands

of other members on virtually unlimited important

subjects of that day. Those forums had proved to

be tremendously popular and paved the way for the

modern iterations we have today.

In several ways, and for many people, AOL was the

first Internet before the Internet, and its members

created their communities, were all arguably the

web service’s fascinating, forward thinking features.

There were no stopping the real Internet, and by

the mid 1990’s, Internet was moving at full speed.

Yahoo had just set up shop, Amazon had just begun

selling books, and the race to have a computer in

every household was on. During 1995, the site that

have been the first to fulfill the modern definition of

Social Networking scene was born.

BBS, AOL and CompuServe: Infant Years





1962J.C.R Licklider (1915-1990) introduced the Intergalactic Network.

His main idea involved a global computer network that allowed people to gain access to information from anywhere in the world. He had become head of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, convincing the importance of the Internet.



Although being different from the current social

networking websites in that it asks not, who could

I connect with? but rather, who could I reconnect

with that was once a schoolmate of mine? The

networking social site, Classmates.com had proved

immediately that including the idea of a virtual

reunion was going to be a good one.

Early website users could not create profiles, but

they could locate long lost grade school friends,

menacing school bullies and maybe even that prom

date they just couldn’t forget. It was a hit almost

immediately, and still even today the service boasts

some 40 million user accounts. That same level of

success can’t be said for SixDegrees.com.

Sporting a name based on this theory somewhat

associated with actor Kevin Bacon that no person

can be separated by more than six degrees from

another, the website sprung up in 1997 and was

one of the very first to allow its users to create

profiles, invite friends, organize groups and browse

at other user’s profiles. The founders worked the

six degrees angle hard by encouraging members

to bring more people into the fold. Unfortunately,

this encouragement ultimately became a bit too

pushy for several, and the site slowly de-evolved

into a loose association of computer web users and

complaints of spam-filled members. SixDegrees

folded just after the turn of the millennium. Other

websites of the era opted solely for niche, especially

for demographic driven markets.

A product of Community Connect Inc., which itself

was founded just one year prior in the New York

apartment of former investment banker and future

Community Connect CEO Ben Sun, AsianAvenue.

com was launched in 1999 by BlackPlanet.com,

and in 2000 by the Hispanic-oriented MiGente.

com. All three sites have survived to this very day,

with BlackPlanet.com in particular is enjoying its

success throughout its long run.

The Internet Boom: Social Networking’s Adolescence



Launch Year of major Social Network Sites

1997

Six Degrees.com

2002

Fotolog.com

Friendster.com

Skyblog.com

1999

LiveJournal.com

Asian Avenue.com

Black Planet.com

2000

LunarStorm.com

MGents.com

2001

Cyworld.com

Ryze.com

2003

MySpace.com

Couchsurfing.com

Hi5.com

LinkedIn.com

Tribe.net

Last.FM.

2004

Orkut.com

Dogster.com

Flickr.com

Mutiply.com

Catster.com

Hyves.com

2005

YouTube.com

Bebo.com

Yahoo! 360.com

Xanga.com

Ning.com

2006

Facebook.com

Windows Live Spaces

Twitter.com

MyChurch.com



In 2002, social networking really hit its stride

during the creation of Friendster.com. Friendster

used a degree of separation concept all similar to

that of SixDegrees.com, refined it into a routine

and dubbed it the Circle of Friends, where in the

pathways connecting people were displayed and

promoted the idea that a rich online community

can exist only between persons who truly have

common bonds. And it ensured there were plenty

of new ways to discover those bonds.

An interface that shared the exact traits one

would find at any online dating website certainly

didn’t seem to hurt. And, in just a year after its

launch, Friendster also boasted more than three

million registered users with a ton of investment

interest. Though the service has since seen more

than its share of technical issues, or questionable

management decisions, and with resulting drops

in its North American fortunes, however it remains

a force in Asia. Introduced just one year later in

2003, LinkedIn decided to take a more serious,

sober approach to the overall social networking

phenomenon. Rather than being a mere playground

for classmates and teenagers, LinkedIn was, and

still is, a networking resource for business people

who wants to connect with other professionals.

In fact, LinkedIn contacts are actually referred to as

connections. Today, LinkedIn currently boasts more

than 75 million member profiles. More than tripling

LinkedIn’s figures, according to recent estimates,

is MySpace, launched in 2003.

MySpace is no longer residing upon that social

networking throne in several of English speaking

countries since that honor now belongs to Facebook

in Canada and UK. MySpace somewhat remains

the perennial favorite in the USA. The site does so

by tempting the key of young adult demographic

with entertainment, music video and a funky, self

customize, fun, feature filled environment.

It looked and felt hipper than major competitor

Friendster right from the start, and it conducted a

campaign of sorts in the early days to show how

alienated it is, however, it is now the ubiquitous

Facebook that leads the global social networking

pack. Like many networking websites, by university

students who initially peddled their products to

other students, Facebook was launched in 2004 as

a Harvard only exercise and remained a campus

oriented site for two full years before finally opening

the social neworking site to the public in 2006.

Friendster, LinkedIn, mySpace and Facebook



2009

33%Facebook

67%Other Sites

2010

44%Facebook

57%Other Sites

Facebook grew by 1/3 from 2009 to 2010



Profits from User Generated ContentSocial networking led to a proliferation in user

generated content, allowing users to become mini

content producers. Users take photos and videos

that they upload to other sites to share with their

friends. What hasn’t been clear however, is just

how much these sites are making from the content

users willingly upload. Facebook comes out on top,

having made a huge 1.86 billion in 2010. This will

come in the form of advertising, as every piece of

content user create is basically another page on the

site which leads to more ads being placed, more

impressions for the advertiser and more clicks.

All that content users are producing all translates

directly into the revenue figures for the top five

social networks. What networkers are relinquishing

through ownership of their own content of course,

is the reach users get through the social platforms.

Networks invest in building the infrastructure to

facilitate sharing amongst communities and users

create the content that keeps it going, that keeps

communities growing and gets people talking. The

problem of course is that many people don’t realize

how much direct revenue they’re generating for

sites when networkers do this. More people turn

towards social networks to distribute their content,

away from blogging, where the content is within

their own domain. It’s clear that social networking

has led to a proliferation in user generated content,

thus allowing neworking users to become mini

content producers. Users take photos and upload to

other sites to share with their friends. What hasn’t

been clear is just how much these sites are making

from the content users willingly upload.

Facebook comes out on top, having made a huge

1.86 billion in 2010. This will come in the form of

advertising, as every piece of content user create is

another page on the site which leads to more ads

being placed, more impressions for the advertiser

and more clicks. All that content Faceook users are

producing translates directly into revenue figures

for the top five social networks.

What users are relinquishing through ownership

of their own content of course, is the reach they

get through the social platforms. Networks invest

in building the infrastructure to facilitate sharing

and networking users create the content that runs

it and keeps the communities growing.

2009

33%Facebook

67%Other Sites

2010

44%Facebook

57%Other Sites

Facebook grew by 1/3 from 2009 to 2010



Estimated Revenue For Each Site (2010)

1.860BILLION

Facebook

945MILLION

YouTube

288MILLION

MySpace

243MILLION

LinkedIn

45MILLION

Twitter

ConnectedTwo of Five Chapters

Ch_2 *****15Define Social Networking

>> A gLOBAL phENOmENOm 17 - 20 >> TYpES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS 21 - 24

>> AdvANTAgES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS 25 - 26

>> dISdvANTAgES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS 27 - 28

>> FACEBOOK AddICTION dISORdER 29 - 30



To the average networker, a Social Network is

an application that resides within their desktop or

browser. It consists of a login page, an account, a

profile, and games. There are a very sophisticated

hardware and software that must constantly run

in order to enable these applications to function

properly. Several program apps, such as Twitter’s

messaging-client, are installed programs on the

user’s computer, called client-based applications.

In the world of computer interactions, there are

two different types of that we refer to, a client and

a server. User’s computers are the clients and the

computers that deliver application to the users are

the servers. The servers collect information from all

users of application. Based on the user preferences

and social connections within the application, the

server will share the information with other client

end users. The application server will receive and

store photos, for instance, and then based on the

permission granted by a networker who uploaded,

grant access to several other users.

Social Networking is an experience of exploration. To wander into this digital realm, is to embark on a journey leading to the unknown. There are countless, possible routes explorers can take, paths that lead to discoveries, streams that flow with consciousness and crossroads where others await. It’s the experience that counts. And the destination, is the surprise...

A global phenomenon

Countries with the highest Numbers of Internet users (In millions)

USA

CANADA

BrAzIL

AFrICA

rUSSIA

CHINA

PHILIPPINES

AUSTrALIA

UK26.2

239.9

75.9

43.6

420.0

29.7

30.6

51.4

20.3





how many Networks do You Belong to?

Delicious Foursquare Corotflot Ember App Hyves Identi.ca Twitter Mixx

W3 Blip Smugmug Photobucket Slash Dot YouTube Scribd Github

reddit FacebookGowallaTwitter Gdgt retweet SlideShareSoundcloud



Viddler WordPress Vimeo Last.fm Friendster Bing rSS Squidoo

Xing Tumblr Design FloatBloggerGowalla Google Talk WordPress Deviant Art

Yahoo Buzz AppleBebo MobileMe Feedburner Behance Share This Google Buzz

With the innovations of web based technologies,

social media can be found everywhere on the web,

changing the way human interacts. Therefore, the

demands for social media icons are raised within

the web community especially for web designers

who create commercial sites or themes.



Types of Social Networks

Hobbies: One of the most popular reasons many

people use the Internet is to conduct research on

their favorite projects or topics of interest related to

personal hobbies. In most cases, when people find a

website merely based on their favorite hobby, they

also discover a community of people from around

the world who share the same passion.

Professional Networks: These networks can help

the user by enhancing their careers or industry. If

they happen to be a field technician for a mobile

phone company, they might even consider getting

involved in their firm’s online community.

Information Communities: Are made up of people

seeking answers to problems. An example is, when

the user is looking for the best investment products

to build for retirement, the user will perform a web

research beforehand and then discover unlimited

blogs, websites and even forums filled with people

who are looking for the same kind of information.



Goal: Socializing Goal: Career andbusiness opportunities

Goal: Soulmate Goal: Get back in touch

Linked in

Social Networkers communicate with other users using applications like blogs, chats and messages.

Online Communities Business Networks Online Matchmaking Alumni Networks



Networking applications can provide an amount of

medium for businesses to interact with their past

or current and prospective employee and within the

customers to advertise their product. This particular

advertising medium has proved to be more effective

than the word of mouth influence. Together with

this, social networking sites also allow us to identity

and connect with our present and past friends who

we may have lost contact with. Networking sites

have often been used to promote blogs, or to post

updates. It is because of its capacity to make life

exciting has caught the attention of people.

Social networking has gained immense popularity.

With the current community spending a significant

time at the workplace rather than the outside world,

social networkers fullfill their basic needs for social

interaction through computer mediated language.

Those who participate in this are called nodes and

the relationship of these key actors are ties.

A social networking site comprises of nodes which

are all tied by specific interdependencies, values,

ideas, financial exchanges, friendships, kinships,

conflicts and trade. The ties can be of any order,

it can vary from the ties of a family holds among

its family members or the trade ties between two

organizations or perhaps between countries. There

are three known types of social networks being,

primary, secondary and tertiary. Social Network are

open in nature and primarily used by the younger

generation to search for friends and relationships,

which in a way are informal in nature.

What is Social Networking?



Primary - includes friend circles, family members and relatives.

Secondary - has a broader base and includes classmates, schoolmates and colleagues.

Tertiary - has the widest range of contacts and includes strangers.

SECONDARY

TERTIARY

PRIMARY



Advantages of Social NetworkingNeeds to Connect: To connect is the most basic

human need because socialing plays a vital part.

Social networks helps people to socialize both in

their interest group and with diverse people. This is

why social networks are so successful as they are

a platform for the people with similar interest to

interact without the restriction of boundaries.

Needs to Share: It is a basic need to share either a

user’s opinion or expertise. Social networking sites

helps social networkers with their knowledge and

expertise and is also very helpful for those who

need that knowledge for various purposes.

Identity: Social networking redefines the identity

of a person in a social context manner, someone

who belongs to a particular interest group which is

a part of a social network represents a character of

the person’s personality and then this becomes an

integral part of the identity.

Low Costs: It is usually cheap to use online social

networking websites since most of them are usually

free of charge. While personal use is rather simple

and for anyone, its functions are underestimated.

Viral Nature: Social networks are viral in nature as

much affect is not required to build it.

Connections: One person is friends with another

who have other friends. There is a lot of potential

in such a situation. By using a social networking

website, a networker can get connected with these

people to form a web full of connections. As long as

one gives as well as receives, connections work and

become valuable in the long run.



how Social Networks Work

Create and publicize your profile

1Manage your profile information

2

Build your connection list

4Communicate with your connectionsvia messages, emails, blogs and chat

6

3Browse the connection graph

Join groups and accept invitations

5



disadvantages of Social NetworkingTime Consuming: At many times social networking

turns out to be time-consuming while not giving

much in return and comes out less efficient.

Not Always Productive: Social networking is used

in order to gain knowledge and expertise but many

times it becomes a platform for entertainent or fun

and loses its original productivity.

Target for Marketers: The networkers who belong

to a social network create their social groups with

similar type of needs and interests, it becomes a

marketer’s easy choice or target.

Undesirable Interactions: In social networking there

are undesirable or social interactions which makes

it boring and create fatigue. If one is interested in

business social networking then different levels of

social interaction might help.

Lack of Anonymity: Sharing a full name, location,

address, age, gender and other types of information

maybe be an issue and put the user at risk.



12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

% 0 5 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

1 Data abuse pr data forwarding or lack of data protecting that state,

companies, or individuals (52%)

2 Private affairs become public and result in a lack of privacy (10%)

3 Personal profile data and images are accessed by employer, and

resultin job related disadvantages such as losing a job. (9%)

4 Recieving advertisments or spam (5%)

5 Lack or loss of personal contacts, superficial communication

improverishment of social relations. (7%)

6 Stalking, harassment, becoming a crime victim (3%)

7 Commercial selling of personal data (5%)

8 Data and identity thief (2%)

9 Defacing of profiles and data integrity (3%)

10 Internet addiction, increase of stress and health damages (1%)

11 Unrealistic, competition and exaggeration of self-representation (2%)

12 Friends can get a negative impression of me (1%)

companies, or individuals (52%)

improverishment of social relations. (7%)

resulting job related disadvantages such as losing a job. (9%)



Is there a thing as too much Facebook? Several experts are say yes, since many people are spending an extreme amount of time on this site. Psychologists are exploring ramifications Facebook has on the lives of people. The amount of time spent is considered an addiction.

Doctors have named the social networking obsession as Facebook Addiction Disorder. Psychologist Dr. Michael Fence described the condition as a situation in which a person’s Facebook usage time overtakes and interferes with daily activities such as sleeping, waking up, getting dressed, and is overly harmful to physical social activities. Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, the director of Stanford’s Impulse Control Disorders Clinic, did a study and he noted that a person’s drive to compulsively use the internet is similar to that of other impulse control disorders.

It was characterized by the repetitive and irresistible urge to perform a pleasurable act that will lead to personal and professional problems and become otherwise intrusive in one’s life. While Facebook Addiction Disorder is not yet an actual medical diagnosis, there are currently many studies taking place and many therapists are noting a rise in their clients who are hooked to the point of social dysfunction.

Facebook can show two faces to its community. The first one is a fun, happy, pleasant, beautiful world that millions of people around the world visit. It is especially appealing to be in this type of fun, loving atmosphere when their real day-to-day lives are not well. People posting on Facebook present only the best of their lives and some have take liberties with describing how wonderful their lives are.

The second face of the social network is compulsive and voyeuristic in nature. Everyone wants to talk with you and send you gifts on Facebook. This website makes you feel very popular having hundreds of “friends” listed on your page. Everyone is interested and has a comment to make regarding what you are doing and saying. People who are on Facebook excessively each day may want to stop and think about the amount of time that they are spending with “friends” that they will probably never meet in person. They should consider how that time could be better spent doing activities with their families and friends in person rather than in front of a computer. Facebook, if used in moderation, is an exciting site to visit to keep in contact with old friends, family and to make new friends.

Facebook Addiction disorder



175,000,000 USERS LOG INTO FACEbOOK PER DAY

ConnectedThree of Five Chapters

Ch_3 *****31Web Security and Privacy

>> IdENTITY ThEFT IN SOCIAL NETWORKS 33 - 34

>> ANONYmITY IN ThE dIgITAL ERA 35 - 36

>> pRIvACY SETTINgS IN FACEBOOK 37 - 38

>> WhICh NETWORKINg SITES ARE SECuRE 39 - 40



What exactly is social networking identity theft?

It is a form of cybersquatting using social media

sites. If you have ever attempted to join a social

networking website or tried to apply for an email

and discovered that both your first or last name

were already taken, may or may not have been

social networking identity theft. In several cases,

multiple individuals simply share the exact same

name, but sometimes a cybersquatter wants to

control your e-persona for various reasons. Either

someone out there shares your exact name and

happened to register first, or else somebody took

your name so that you cannot have it, or wants

to sell it back to you, or wants to pose as you in

order to disrupt your life.

The most damaging happens when an imposer

wants to pose as you in order to disrupt your life.

This disruption can take on several forms. They

may harass and stalk you, or even to harass and

stalk people that you know. They may steal your

social media identity for financial gain. Thieves

can use email accounts and other social medias

to extract funds from others or open accounts.

Identity Theft in Social Networks



60% of social networkers users are either not confident or unsure of their website’s provider’s ability to protect their identity.

50% of social networkers aren’t very confident and even sure that their networking website of contact list of friends only includes people they know and can trust.

44% of networkers said if they discovered a social media provider did not adequately protect privacy or security, they would continue to use the social network site.



manage. It is imperative to spend a few minutes

and lock down your profiles so they can’t be seen

by everyone in the world.

It is not unusual for an identity hackers to friend

a potential victim especially when the thief poses

as somebody the target may know, or someone

who is within the target’s social circle. Once the

thief has been accepted as a friend, he or she is

in the target’s inner circle and gains a great deal

of insight into the target’s daily life.

There is excessive trust in the social networking

world today. People have entirely dropped their

sense of cynicism when logged onto their sites.

Apparently, the users see no reason to distrust.

Generally, your list of friends are people who you

know, like and trust. In the digital world, your

guard is as down as it will ever be. You can be

in the safety of your own home or office, hanging

with people from all over, in big cities and never

feel that you have to watch your back.

It is reported that one third of social networkers

have at least three pieces of information posted

on their pages that could lead to identity theft.

Names, addresses, birth dates, mothers’ maiden

names, kids’ names, pets’ names and also phone

numbers are among the various types of data that

could help a thief piece together your identity.

Almost 80% of those polled are concerned about

privacy issues on social networking, yet almost

60% are unaware of what their privacy settings

are and who could visit their data. One third of

social networkers admitted that they actually use

the same password for all their social networking

accounts. Almost all social networks have privacy

settings that networking users never venture to

Anonymity in the digital Era



ThERE IS AN ExCESSIvE AMOUNT OF TRUST IN ThE NETWORKING WORLD.



privacy Settings in FacebookFacebook is distinctive among several other social

networking services sites in two ways pertinent

to personal privacy. Users are required to identify

their accounts authentically through their system.

According to its usage, Facebook networkers may

not impersonate any person or entities, or falsely

state and misrepresent yourself, your age or your

affiliation with anyone else. Such bold statement

means that the information users provide on their

profiles is particularly very sensitive.

Secondly, Facebook is organized around a system of

networks that correspond to physical locations and

institutions. The site maintains countless college,

high schools, regional, and work networks across

the globe. Membership in such networks, while not

required, is recommended by Facebook and allows

the general location of users to be recognized.

Networks determine the default level of ‘‘public’’

exposure afforded a new profile. When a new user

is registered on Facebook, the user is provided with

a blank profile template consisting of a number of

pre-determined response categories. This include

basic information and personal information. The

default privacy settings for a new user is that the

entirety of this information is viewable by anyone

in their network. Their profile is also viewable by

anyone who is friends with the user on Facebook.

While anyone who is not connected to that user

via network or friendship cannot view the user’s

profile, by default they can still locate them using

a global search function as well as view a version

of the user’s profile consisting only of their display

photo, name, and network affiliation.

Facebook.com has always provided the options for

managing the precise level of access to particular

groups of people and to particular sections of one’s

profile, two settings are of particular interest. It is

considered a profile to be private if either the user

has decided to change their default settings so that

their profile is no longer accessible by others.



WhICh NETWORKING SITES ARE SECURE?

Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor



BeboBebo.com is the only networking site that defaults

user’s profile to private. Setting must be manually

changed to be public. The user can limit the ages

of people they want contacting them by setting a

minimum and maximum age. There is also a nifty

link of a video on the user’s profile explaining the

safety concerns and privacy settings.

LinkedInNew security features LinkedIn provides includes

the ability to view your profile as others will see it,

and make changes. Security setting are present,

however, identity hackers still hijack a new user’s

LinkedIn profie by capturing cookies created and

then stored on their computers.

FacebookFacebook has now allowed 13 year-old networkers

to create their own profiles on the site, personalized

privacy settings give Facebook the name of one of

the most secure social networking websites on the

Internet. Facebook continues to make advances in

the customization of user profile settings, sharing

photos and protecting the user’s information.

TwitterTwitter must now establish the comprehensive

informational security program that is reasonably

designed to protect the privacy, confidentiality and

integrity of non-public consumer information. This

website has the best track record when it comes to

caring about their user’s security.

myspaceMyspace values privacy and in fact, it gives the

user complete control over their profile’s privacy

settings. The user can also limit who can access

their page or block individual members. The user

can also have the ability to report spam messages

and account misuse. Myspace will remove profiles

that lied about age to obtain membership.

FriendsterFriendster’s privacy settings allow your friends to

view your full profile while a limited profile is still

accessible to other Friendster members. One plus

to this social networking website is a direct link

at the bottom of profile pages and a report abuse

button on group and profile pages.

ConnectedFour of Five Chapters

Ch_4 *****41Technology vs Communication

>> TEChNOLOgY dEpENdENCY 43 - 44

>> COmpuTER mEdITATEd COmmuNICATION 45 - 46

>> NETSpEAK INTERNET JARgON 47 - 50

>> ImpACTS ON INTERpERSONAL SOCIAL SKILLS 51 - 52



Technology dependencyTechnology could be traced all the way back from

evolution of mankind. The early humans invented

the usage of stone weapons which were essentially

fractured rocks that would be used like a modern

day axe. The discovery of fire, clothing and shelter

were major technological advancements. Invention

of the wheel later catapulted the advancements in

transport and energy. The discovery of iron and the

steel was a major revolution as well.

This is the greatest creation of mankind’s and has

been around since the beginning of time, from the

stone wheel to the Internet and social networking

sites. Many people think technology is encompassed

in the computer and the Internet. However, the

truth is that people uses technology in one way or

another on a daily basis.

Technology has become the foundation of people’s

existence. In simple words, technology has become

the lifeline of the individual user. In the current era

of technology and information driven processes, it

is easy to witness how interpersonal communication

has become entwined with social networking sites.



The Never Ending Cycle of Technology

Clothes DryerDVD player Wireless Router Laptop

Air ConditionerStereo Freezer Standard TV

Water HeaterCooking Range Ceiling Fan Door Bell



Computer meditated LanguageWhile people participate together in virtual online

communication they assess how much they feel

that they are present in a physical setting. Social

presence theory states that CMC creates a sense

of intimacy or we are together feeling through

an emoticon system. CMC is the best choice to

resolve uncertainty in a virtual communication.

There are misconceptions that CMC as a method

of computer communication lacks the ability to

convey one’s emotions, feelings and expressions

in the same way face to face communication can.

During a person to person talk, one heavily rely

on non-verbal signals to complement. To add this

diminution to the computer meditated language,

typography cues using the keyboard are used to

convey a variety of expressions and emotions.

Computer Mediated Communication is defined as

any communicative transaction that occurs through

the usage of two or more networking computers.

This term have been used traditionally regarding

to communications that occur through computer

mediated formats such as instant text messages,

e-mails and chat rooms. CMC has also been applied

to other forms of text based interactions.



Common Text Emoticons

O:)Angelic

:DLaughing

>:[Discontent

:)Happy

:-\Undecided

:-&Tonguetied

:’(Crying

;)Winking

:-SIncoherent

:-6Exhausted

:OSurprised

:<Depressed

:(Sad

:-VShouting

:[really Down

:#Sealed



Netspeak Internet JargonInternet and social networking media continue to

play a role in overhauling on the English language.

Slang jargons have gained more popularity among

English speakers and network users. In this year,

several web related words had been added into

Oxford Dictionaries included OMG, LOL, TTYL, WTH

and several others. Beginning the month of June

2011, more vocabularies that were influenced by

social networking were added into the dictionary.

The newest study revealed that regional slang is

alive and as well, on Twitter.com. Certain dialects

have distinctive slang, for example, the Southern

“y’all” which researchers have shown is used on

Twitter as well as in everyday conversation. Spoken

slang such as Pittsburgh’s yinz and the Southern’s

y’all have moved from spoken word to tweets.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that regions

are now developing their own Twitter based (i.e.

not spoken but only typed) dialects. “Koo” is a

Northern Californian Twitter dialect, for instance,

while “Coo” is very specific to Southern California.

The commonly used LOL is taken by Washington

DC’ers. Researchers say that the different dialects

appearing on Twitter are influenced by both the

140-character mlimit as well as regional dialects.

This has very interesting implications for linguists

and for those who are studying the evolution of

Internet based communication. Regional dialect

have been existing for centuries, but text-based

dialects seem to be something new. If Twitter is

influencing the language, this will affect the use of

the restricted space of 140-characters.



Regions are developing their own Twitter-based

(not spoken but only typed) dialects. “Koo” is a

Northern Californian Twitter dialect, for instance,

while “Coo” is specific to Southern California.COOSouthernCalifornianDialect

KOONorthernCalifornianDialect



Twitter Jargon

PLZPlease

BTWBy The Way

L8RLater

G2GGot To Go

LMKLet Me Know

TNXThanks

CYASee You Again

BTWBy The Way

OMWOn My Way

SUPWhat’s Up

NE1Anyone

HTHHope That Helps

IMHOIn my Honest Opinion

ASAPAs Soon As Possible

KKOkay

W/EWhatever



OMGOh My God

TTYLTalk To You Later

LOLLaugh Out Loud

SRYSorry

SRSLYSeriously

NPNo Problem

WBWelcome Back

NTHNothing

NMDNevermind

RUOKAre You Okay

LMAOLaugh my Ass Off

TCTake Care

WTHWhat The Hell

IDKI Don’t Know

URYour

JKJust Kidding



With this development of technology over time,

communication has become one aspect which has

been evolved immensely. Communicating today is

very different than what we used to do in earlier

days. And it is going to be even more different in all

the days to come. Among communication mediums

or interpersonal communication is the one which

has been influenced directly with the application of

technology on our current life.

Human communication simply refers to the act of

exchanging messages between two or even more

persons. More precisely, it could be said human

communication is the face to face communication,

like two or more people talking, interacting. Human

communication is also an essential part of daily

interaction. Benefits of communication are obvious

as they enhance aspects of our social lives.

Social Networking has influence on interpersonal

communication and this also changes the rules

social interaction. People fear losing one critical

element in communication, the human element.

Technologies such as Social Networks often offers

quick communication, and making it fairly easy

with a large group of people.

Interpersonal communication is very diminishing in

many ways. Networking’s impact on interpersonal

communication is multi-faceted, and should be

tempered with the benefits of technology. Now

the question is why interpersonal or even human

communication is this significant. The simplest

answer is because we are all human and when we

interact with each other in person; it is way more

effective than doing non face-to-face methods.

Impacts on Interpersonal Social Skills



Effectiveness of Communication

Most EffectiveCommunication

Least EffectiveCommunication

Face to Face

1

Video Conference

2

Telephone

3

Written Notes

4

ConnectedFive of Five Chapters

Ch_5 *****53The Future of Networking

>> FuTuRE OF WEB ANd SOCIAL NETWORKS 55 - 56

>> ThE NExT BIg SOCIAL NETWORK: gOWALLA 57 - 58

>> FuTuRE TRENdS OF mOBILE NETWORKINg 59 - 60

>> A TRANSpARENT SOCIETY 61 - 62

>> gLOSSARY 63 - 64

Future of Web and Social NetworksAccording to a recent study, 47 percent of adults

own a social network site. Few technologies have

grown as fast and had such an immediate impact on

our culture, communication and even commerce.

This panel assessed the near future and considered

the next 53 percent, or what happens when social

networking may become ubiquitous. This examined

some of the challenges faced by individuals and

organizations as networking tools expands.

Users need a new cultural toolkit to deal with the

realities ahead as more people spend more time in

social networks. Now there are serious implications

to moving your sociality from a medium like this,

talking face-to-face in person, which has laws of

physics, that we have a cultural toolkit for. It is

usually considered as, space confines who can see

you and time makes your speech ephemeral.

On the internet sene, space collapses and it’s not

considered ephemeral. It is there and we do not

yet have the cultural toolkit to deal with socializing

like this in such environment. The unpredictability

of the social Internet were discussed by panelists.

You never know how people will adopt and adapt a

tool when it is offered to them. Dave Recordon of

Facebook offered that nobody would have guessed

that people would go overboard by sharing all their

personal photos. “It changed things,” he said. “It

was one simple thing. Now you have this new way

to look at your life.” Facebook hosts more than 15

billion photos now. Recordon noted how Facebook

and other social networks are influencing politics

as well. “It has a large impact on elections all over

the world,” he said. “The key point there is that

the human neocortex might exist so we can track

who’s my friend and whos not.

That kind of reciprocal social status management

is at the heart of social groups. It’s a core human

feature. We have all this cognitive capacity, but

that cognitive capacity is a secondary artifact to

the fact that we need to keep track of our social

environment very exclusively. What the Internet

has done is make social networks and all of the

sociality that goes into everyday life visible.

It is predicted that in the future people will not

simply build their identity into a place like Facebook,

but instead they would also be able to maintain a

personally homebase similar to a blog as their own

identity. Two hottest technologies online, Twitter

and Facebook, are the fastest and integrating real

time delivery of activity streams. At the moment,

Ambiance, Automation and Emergence are three

forms of value emerging from the Real Time Web.



Ambiance: The Internet is made up of web pages

linked together, but hovering around many of those

pages are now social media signals like blog posts,

bookmarks, tweets and other URL links that refer

to a page but aren’t visible when you’re looking at

it. Most of us use Google to find pages about things

we’re looking for, but Google prioritizes historical

inbound links and the text on pages.

Automation: We probably should have started out

with this, but what’s the most obviously valuable

example of value in real-time information delivery

in recent internet history? Blackberry and the push

email. We tend to assume that the real time web is

something we’ll be looking at constantly, because

it’s constantly bringing new information. The real

time web could very well just do its thing and notify

us, in real time, of important events.

Emergence: One of the things that will be good to

automate is the emergence of topics. Tweetmeme,

a groundbreaking new service, other than Twitter,

has already been talked about enough to have more

than 220k results appear in a Google search.

Real-time is a set of technologies and practices that

enable web users to receive information as soon as

it is published by its authors, rather than requiring

them or their software check a source periodically

for updates. This is fundamentally different from

real-time computing since there is no knowing

when, or really if, a response will be received. The

information types transmitted this way are often

short messages, status updates, news alerts, or

links to longer documents. The content is often soft

in that meaning it is based on the social web.

The Real Time Web



Twitter is currently labeled as a microblogging

service site with an estimate of 114 million users,

which is, despite of its huge user base, only a tiny

part of the web blog trend currently sweeping the

internet, and only seems to get bigger each day.

However, due to the ever expanding domain that

is the internet despite Twitter and Facebook both

only being a few years old, neither are considered

news or remarkable anymore.

The hype they once had a few years back is now

since long gone. So what the trendsetters of today

are asking themselves is: Who will be the next

Twitter or Facebook? What will be the next hype

which will take the internet and its users by storm?

Some people claim that the next social networking

trend to rampage the ‘internets’ will be all location

based social networking.

Meet Gowalla, a location based social networking

service which won the Mobile category interactive

award in the 2010 South by Southwest festival

in Austin, Texas US. Gowalla is a primarily mobile

web application that allows users to check in to

locations that they visit using their mobile device.

This is achieved either through the usage of the

dedicated applications available on Google Android,

iPhone, Palm Web OS and BlackBerry. Checkins can

be pushed through Notifications to iPhones, and by

linking accounts, to Twitter and Facebook. Users

will create “Trips”, which links up to 20 related

spots, falling into categories such as Nature Hikes

or Pub Crawls. Spots and Trips can be “featured” by

Gowalla, and with this comes a special status and

icon, along with being highlighted on the website.

Featured spots tend to be local landmarks such as

Buckingham Palace in London, while featured Trips

are chosen for being unique and exciting. Checking

in, users may receive virtual “Items” as a bonus

and these can be swapped or dropped at Spots.

Users become “Founders” of a spot by dropping an

item there. Items form a key feature within the

game and each user has a vault into which they

can place items they want to keep.

Upon first glance location based services, such as

Gowalla might seem like a interactive version of

a scavenger hunt, but there is so much more. A

location-based service is either an information or

entertainment services, all made accessible with

mobile devices utilizing the ability to make use of

the geographical position of the mobile device and

can be used in a variety of contexts, few examples

are health, object search, social entertainment,

work and also personal life.

The Next Big Social Network: gowalla



Gowalla is a mobile web application that allows users

to check in to locations that they visit through their

mobile devices. This step could be achieved either

by the usage of dedicated applications available on

the Android, iPhone, Palm and BlackBerry. There

is currently no way of checking in through the

standard website, only through mobile devices.



Gowalla can include services to identify a location

of a person or even objects, such as discovering

the nearest cash machine or whereabouts of a

friend or employees. It could also include parcel

tracking and vehicle tracking services. It can also

include mobile commerce when taking the form of

coupons or advertising directed at customers.

This application will also include personalized

weather services and location-based games for

entertainment. The possibilities for Gowalla and

its relatives are endless and many believes that

this kind of service will be the next thing to hit

the internet. But all is not well in the kingdom of

location based networking. Many people have been

quick to point out some of the shortcomings that

might stop the likes of Gowalla in its tracks, and

hinder its prophecy of domination on the software

mobile device market right now.

What is certain is that this app has potential and

that it’s something new and worth the time being

updated on. Promoters of location based network

suggests that once technology and user base has

reached a certain level then services like Gowalla

has the same potential to explode and become the

next big hit in the universe of Networking, question

is if it has what it takes to be the next big hit.



Future Trends of mobile NetworkingThe explosive growth of mobile devices further

enhanced the global interpersonal communication.

As mobile phones today become more powerful,

technology experts are seeing significant shifts on

how people will acutally use their devices in the

future. So here are some of the most important

evolving trends on mobile social networking and

communication. Predictions of the mobile network

is that as the next generation of devices will

democratize the utilization of mobile email.

Today, only high end mobile phone users can

effectively utilize mobile emails. But now with more

carriers offering highly integrated devices, more and

more people will be able to enjoy fast and reliable

mobile email and mobile social networking.

Although services on demand are now already

integrated on mobile devices, the scope and quality

of available services are fairly limited. Following the

current increasing sophistication of mobile devices

and continued build up of data transfer capability,

mobile service on the demand can become a high

point of future mobile networking. Finally, future

mobile devices could become technology appliance

which can be on all aspects of mobile computing.

It is very possible that the next generation mobile

devices can store large volume of data and can

establish high speed internet connections on web.

These technology updates will pave the way for

full integration of web services, social networking,

mobile communication and traditional media. These

new features are now present in most high end

mobile devices. Next step is the popularization of

the technology so it can be enjoyed by all users.

The potential benefits of Mobile Broadband are

far more than just bandwidth. In the future, it

will be possible for everyone to access, and share

information and engage in social gaming activities

in a mobile networked world through any terminal,

at any time, from any location.

Despite the industry’s expectations, the evolution

of MobileBroad band is influenced by irregular

development in four following areas: services and

applications, terminals, the price, and networks.

With the convergence of the industry, services

and applications, terminals, and pricing have, over

recent years, reached optimum conditions and also

achieved revolutionary breakthroughs.



Younger consumers are the most likely to particupate in social networking via mobile - 66% of mobile social networkers are under 35 years of age.

Facebook is the most popular social networking site accesssed via a mobile - 92% of mobile social networkers visit Facebook.

Twitter sees the most frequent mobile usage, with half of its mobile users visiting the site daily.

mobile Social Networking gains Traction

MAC / PC Social Networking Users

Mobile Social Networking Users



The future of social network has implanted the

idea of wearing a gestural interface that augments

the physical world with digital information and

lets users use natural hand gestures to interact

with that information. In other words, having a

mirror, pocket projector, camera and a cellphone

connected to website on your person, would allow

the world around us to become like a computer

displaying certain information and also perform

several particular tasks on request.

Making a viewing box just using your fingers and

thumbs, for example, would take a photograph

in a sixth sense world. Such developments have

been in progress since the beginning of this year.

However, these have also been met with serious

debates over people’s personal privacy and raised

more than just a few concerns.

It is still difficult to say or predict if and how when

such technology will ever enter society and become

a major part of user’s daily lives. Nevertheless,

several concept ideas are emerging to give us an

idea of what such technology may be like.

A Transparent Society



Face Recognition: Imagine holding up your phone

or other digital device against a person you’ve just

met or passed by. You’d instantly have information

returned about that person within seconds, gleaned

from an automa tic web, public profile and social

network search. You’d discover common friends,

talking points and then have the ability to add

them to your network. By a semantic scan, you’d

discover negative or positive comments on Google

or elsewhere relating to this individual.

Goodbye to Privacy: Privacy is already an issue

of concern, now and for our digital future, says

Buckland. We’re still working out the ethical and

moral framework. We may even see a backlash

from society angry at this intrusion. It may, end

up being okay because you will be in control, you

could refuse access to SN or don’t tweet. But there

will be information about you that you won’t be

able to control too. There’ll be inevitable abuse and

misuse of the information, which will hopefully be

manageable in the near future.

Databases and Directories: Discover who lives

where and how you are connected; then phone

them, e-mail them, add them to your network right

then and there. Get other news about the suburb

and other socio economic information. You’d be able

to hold up your phone in a crowded room and work

out who is connected to whom. You could instantly

gauge your primary and secondary networks and

instantly know who you should chat to, what the

conversation are, and what to avoid.


Ch_5 *****63Glossary

glossaryBulletin Board System: Also known as BBS, a computer system running

software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using

a terminal program. A user can perform functions such as upload,

downloading software and reading bulletins.

B

CompuServe: First online service to offer Internet connectivity, albeit

limited access, as early as 1989 when it connected its proprietary

e-mail to allow incoming and outgoing messages.

Common Text Emoticons: An emoticon is a short sequence of

keyboard letters and symbols, usually emulating a facial expression,

that complements a text message.

Cybersquatting: Known as domain squatting, is registering, trafficking

in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the

goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

C

Hardware: Hardware is a general term for the physical artifacts of

a technology. It also mean the physical components of a computer

system, in the form of computer hardware.

h

Mobile Application: Mobile applications, known as an application or

called an “app”, is a computer software designed to help the user to

perform singular or multiple related specific tasks.

Microblogging: A broad-casting medium in the form of blogging. A

microblog is different from a traditional blog in that its content is

typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size. Microblogs

allow users to exchange elements of content such as short sentences,

individual images, or video links.

m

Networks: In information technology, a network is a series of points or

nodes interconnected by communication paths.

Node: A node can be any device connected to a computer network. On

an IP network, a node is any device with an IP address.

N

Identity Theft: The fraudulent acquisition and the use of a person’s

private identifying information, usually for financial gain.

Intergalactic Network: The first conception of what eventually become

the current Internet. J.C.R. Licklider coined the term in 1963.

I


Ch_5 *****64Glossary

Secondary Network: This network includes the broader base range, as

classmates, schoolmates and colleagues.

Servers: A server is a software framework that is dedicated to the

execution of procedure types such as, programs, routines, scripts or

supporting the construction of applications.

Socia Media Icons: Every website has one thing in common, presence

of Social Media Icons and Buttons. Eye catchy social media icons will

surely draw more attention from the website and visitors will feel the

urge by clicking on these icons.

Software: Computer software, or just software, is a collection of

computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for

telling a computer what to do and how to do it.

S

Tertiary Network: This network connection contains the widest range

of contacts and including strangers.T

Virtual: The term has been defined in philosophy as that which is not

real but may display the salient qualities of the real.v

Real-Time Web: The real-time web is a set of technologies and practices

that enable social network users to receive information or updates as

soon as it is published by its authors.

R

connected: social networking

Documents

social networking websites

types of social networks

advantages of social

big social network

interpersonal social

internet users

internet boom

networking sites