The Future of Social Networking

image from http://matthewbuckland.com/

Do you wonder how social networking will look like in the future? FaceBook, Youtube, Blog or Twitter may be completely replaced with other social networking tools. Syracuse Blackboard may be only history of this development. Or, the change may not be too much from now! From the article of Craig Schmugar Future social networking sites will become more important because platforms will expand further. “Killer apps” will include mobility, presence, and location awareness, with the goal of making your physical life more convenient through your virtual network; you’ll have a traveling social network in your back pocket. Not only will you be able to know which of the friends in your network is online, but you’ll also be able to know which are nearby. Cell tower triangulation and global positioning systems will be able to pass along your location to whomever you allow. Location-aware services could match local businesses and entertainment to your interests based on your profile. Business travelers could more easily rendezvous with coworkers and clients at conferences and trade shows. The thrill of online dating could be heightened through the creation of location-specific communities, so you wouldn’t only meet someone online, but you could also chat with a prospective mate in the same room. Social sites will also be smarter, mining user information across the web. Social bookmarking site functionality such as Digg will be married with social networks and enhanced with self-learning technology such as Pandora or StumbleUpon and tagging functionality such as Flickr. The result is a more constant and refined stream of relevant information, which actually educates and informs the community in a much more efficient manner than occurs today.

Ref: http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/misc/threat_center/msj_future_social_networking.pdf

The darkside of Social Networking!

How many positive aspects of Social Networking we have perceived ? - building cyber community, joining hands in solving sophisticated problem, enhancing relationship etc. How about the darksides? What about when things go wrong? How about your pivacy? Have you ever thought of that?

"When it comes to social networking, it’s not what you know, or even who you know – it’s who knows you. And that’s pretty much where the trouble starts."

David Gewirtz

Read more about the darkside of Social Networking here!

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/d935d279#/d935d279/36

Social Networking Shows Year On Year Growth

Have you ever wondered how social networking would go? I am very curious to know that! It seems the trend of SN is always increasing. According to the article from NetAge the increasing trend of social networking growth has been apparent on the internet for the last 3 years. BMI-T forecasts that this trend will continue to show rapid growth in the future, as internet penetration increases in line with predicted reduced costs, and social network users increase due to its huge popularity. Currently, some 1.3 million South African users are involved in some kind of social networking, and it’s expected that this number will pass 4.5 million by 2013. BMI-T’s research showed social networking is currently more popular among both younger consumers, and higher income consumers. However, they predict that this will gradually change as social networking popularity increases, and internet access becomes more available for lower income groups. The number of South African’s using the internet is also expected to double from it’s current 4.5 million, to over 9 million by 2013. The graph below shows projected growth of social networking from PC’s in South Africa until 2013.



Ref:
http://www.netage.co.za/resources/93-social-networking-growth-predicted

Top 5 commercial social networks!

According to an April 2009 Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report sponsored by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), the following describes the Top 5 commercial social networks that NGOs use.

1. Facebook: Facebook was created in 2004 and is the most popular of the commercial networks by far, with 74.0% of nonprofits indicating that they use this social networking site. Facebook, Inc. privately owns it and people join networks organized by city, school, and region in order to interact with other members. People can add friends on Facebook, send messages, and post pictures. Originally open only to university and college students, it now allows free access to anyone 13 and older and currently has more than 200 million active users worldwide.

2. YouTube: Of the 980 nonprofits surveyed, 46.5% use YouTube for social networking. It is a video sharing website created in 2005 where users can upload, share videos, and view them. In 2006 it was bought by Google and now operates as a subsidiary of the company. Unregistered users can watch any of the posted videos, while registered users are allowed to upload an unlimited number. Registered users’ accounts are called channels.

3. Twitter: This site is a close third as 43.3% of nonprofits indicated they use Twitter. Twitter, created in 2006, is a social networking and blogging site that permits users to send and read other users’ updates, which are called tweets. Tweets are posts, no more than 140 words or less, that consist of status reports. Last year, Twitter had about two million users; this year the number has skyrocketed to 32 million users.

4. LinkedIn: Unlike the other popular social networking sites, LinkedIn focuses on creating and keeping professional contacts. According to the survey, 32.9% of nonprofits use this site. LinkedIn was launched in 2003 and allows users to search for jobs, has resources for hiring employees, and even has a category dedicated to nonprofits. It spans about 170 industries and has more than 40 million users.

5. MySpace: Of the surveyed nonprofits, 26.1% have a network on MySpace. Created in 2003, the website is very interactive, allowing users to create a network of friends, profiles, blogs, groups, music, pictures, and video. In 2006 it was the most popular networking site in the United States but was internationally overtaken by Facebook, its main competitor, in 2008.

Ref: http://www.wango.org/upload2009/OnlineSocialNetworking.pdf

Social Networking tools

These are some of the social netwoking tools.

Social Networking!

In this cyber generation, social networking is very popular, but it can still be very difficult to understand for someone new to social networking. The online environment has become an important and growing part of economic, cultural, civic, and social life, and the use of new Internet-based applications for collaboration and learning - including "social networking" sites - is becoming increasingly prevalent. Learning to use today's Internet, and specifically interactive web applications, effectively and safely is now an essential component of education, as these learning and social environments are promoted more and more. The development of information literacy skills requires that young people be able to safely and effectively use these important new collaborative tools.

My Space is one of the popular social networking tools.