Ethnicity and Social Networks

According to the online publication Target Market News, "Among American adults, there appear to be some significant differences in how the ethnicities perceive social media and their effectiveness in facilitating cause involvement. African Americans and Hispanics are significantly more likely to believe that they can help get the word out about a social issue or cause through online social networks (58% and 51%, respectively, vs. 34% of Caucasians). They also subscribe more readily to the belief that social networking sites like Facebook . . . "  more . . .http://targetmarketnews.com/storyid06201102.htm

What is Social Networking?

Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online.

This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences about cooking, golfing, gardening, more . . . http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com

Twitter in the News

I found this article today in the New York Times that concerns Twitter - the social network. It is similar to my most recent post, but according to the Times, the company is doing just fine. The article states:  "ASPEN, Colo. — Twitter is facing a federal government investigation, competition from Google+ and the departure of two of its founders. But Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief executive, has a message for the naysayers: the business is growing just fine.

“We’re growing faster than we’ve ever grown,” Mr. Costolo said 

Tuesday at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo.

People send a billion Twitter posts every five days and 400 million people — not counting Twitter apps — visit its Web site each month, he said". more . . .http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/twitter-is-still-whistling/?ref=socialnetworking 

A new online business community (Small Business) OGoing.com

I found this interesting story about a new online business community that offers membership as low as $49.00.  The community allows members to connect to other social networks such as  Twitter and Facebook. The site literally says, "Ogoing.com is an exclusive small business social network. We help promote your business, build online visibility, attract new customers and jump start sales." So, there is some exposure to be gained by signing up as a Small Business owner. more . . . http://blog.ogoing.com/?tag=/business-social-media

A movie about Social Networks

I was a bit surprised when I came across this movie on the internet. It appears to be an insightful movie about the people we can meet on Social Networks. The article states: " Incredibly, it turns out. "The Social Network," which premieres tonight at the New York Film Festival and opens nationwide Oct. 1, is an epic tour de force about the people behind the site that defines our time. There's backstabbing and betrayal, there's tragedy and triumph. There are heroes, there are villains. "The Social Network" is not simply a movie about a Web site. It is a movie about people and the great lengths to which they go in their quest for power."  more . . . http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/review-social-network-thrills-jesse-eisenberg-justin-timberlake/story?id=11714837 

Online communities get real

A study of online communities by UK think-tank The Work Foundation has found that the web is much more localised, more honest and less chaotic than original predictions thought.

So-called social software - e-mail, messaging systems, weblogs and shared online diaries - is allowing people to make the net work for them and bring the virtual world home.

New phenomena such as weblogs have allowed people to share their interest and passions with a wider audience but often provide a quite mundane and honest view of life.

"Increasingly technologies allow people to find out about others in the real world and keep in touch with their day-to-day lives," said the report's author Will Davies.  more . . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2946188.stm

LinkedIn in the News

These days the “other” social network everyone is talking about is, of course, Google+. While we were all busy chattering on about Circles and Hangouts, however, professional-tinged network LinkedIn quietly became the second-most popular social network in the United States, after Facebook. That pushes poor MySpace back to No. 3, in the US — but not worldwide.

According to a report from CNN, LinkedIn’s America-based web traffic during the month of June was 33.9 million unique visitors, based on numbers from comScore. During the same time period, MySpace managed to amass 33.5 million US visitors, down from about 34.9 million visitors in May. more. . . http://news.yahoo.com/linkedin-now-no-2-social-network-us-124606590.html

Repost: Connecting Twitter to Facebook

Connecting Twitter to Facebook - A video tutorial

This link is a tutorial that shows how you can connect your Twitter account to Facebook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfRCA_jaTcs

Negative Publicity: Facebook in the news

I found an interesting article in Bloomberg Businessweek earlier on today concerning Facebook. Its an old article fromMay 17-May 23, 2010, but it says a lot about what is happening on Social Networks today. The story was provided in the Technology section of the publication and the heading says "Facebook's Washington Problem." The main concern is information sharing: "Since its start in 2004, Facebook amassed one of the world's richest stores of facts and figures related to consumer behavior. The status updates, product-related musings, friendship connections, and entertainment preferences shared by more then 400 million people worldwide make the site attractive to marketers and Web publishers . . . " The story also implied that The social network is facing a privacy backlash that could prompt congressional hearings. P33

Turntable.fm spin

I found an article in the Boston Metro last Thursday about a new online community that draws approximately 80,000 daily users each week. Its called Turntable.fm. The article titled "Bringing something new to the turntable" says "Welcome to your newest social-networking and music addiction." That's not all. It also say's "If you get 1,000 people to click that they like the songs you play on Turntable.fm, then you can use an avatar that looks like Deadmau5." Interestingly, you must have a friend on Facebook who has logged onto Turntable.fm to try it. So this appear to be a tightly knitted online community. Personally, I do not know if any of my friends are on Turntable.fm, but I can ask. If I do, then I can "either enter a "room" or create one." (Source: Boston Metro June 30, 2011,p.14) I am not too much of an online music fan, but who knows what I might find.