My favorite story from Emily Liebert’s Facebook fairytales was “Lawyer Speak.” This story demonstrates how powerful Facebook is and why it is becoming a colossal tool that is changing society for ever. Lawyer Speak is about a girl named Rebecca that discovers Facebook and proves it to be one of the world’s most powerful networking tools. Rebecca’s experience with Facebook gives promise that Facebook can be properly instituted into business. She creates a group and ends up getting a job based on the contacts she makes with the group. She also is able to get her Alma mater to make a statement that her and other alumnus wanted because of Facebook.
I never knew Facebook could be such a powerful tool. I normally go on Facebook when I am bored and use it to kill time. Rebecca showed me that people can use Facebook to do some very productive things. This has me wondering if people will all find their jobs in the future through social sights like Facebook. Most job applications are already online so it makes since for Companies to use Facebook to reach out to qualified candidates while also gaining a scope into their lives. Facebook is a pretty informal way to connect with people. This shows that informal contacts via Facebook can be very important ties. These ties can lead to more opportunities than the ones that are presented from people that we actually know in reality.
I have a friend that received a summer internship at Morgan Stanley that paid $25 per hour through Facebook. I knew that Facebook could hand people opportunities but it didn’t fully sink in since I wasn’t blessed with such luck. Rebecca’s experience along with my friends are now motivating me to attempt to use Facebook to connect with even more people and to find some opportunities for myself.
I also learned from reading this that there are no limitations to networking. Web 2.0 has made the world smaller and we have to use every tool that is available to meet as many people as possible. This shows me that not only do I have to try and connect to as many people in reality as possible but I also have to be social while online. These Facebook success stories show that you never know who can help you even while surfing the internet. Stories like Rebecca’s make me even less likely to understand why some people decide to be online outcasts and avoid every form of social media. This reading leaves me with the question: Will Facebook in the future take more features from LinkedIn to connect people with more opportunities?
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
"The FaceBook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick
The Facebook effect by David Kirkpatrick chronicles the history of the precursors to the Facebook technology. This article identifies many programs that came before Facebook with a feature that Facebook either currently uses or a feature that has evolved from one of the early tools.
The article mentions America Online as one of these precursors. AOL was the first social media tool that I ever used and was an integral part of my first computer experience. I remember the days of AOL just like it was yesterday. Surfing the web while constantly receiving emails and instant messages from all my friends. It was a blast for the time besides from the insanely slow dial up connection. I can see how AOL was a building block for Facebook because AOL did an excellent job connecting people. Back in the day if you didn’t have an AOL user name, you weren’t cool. AOL was also the first instant messenger that I used which to this day I still prefer over email. In fact today I still use AOL instant messenger to keep in contact with many people and to share files even though Facebook which completely copied off of AOL’s instant messenger features has pretty much killed a large portion of the user base. Facebook added Facebook messenger in one of its later updates which served as a better instant messenger service because it allowed users to instantly talk with the multitudes of people on their Facebook friends list. Which is more convenient because everyone has their real names and Facebook has more users but the instant messenger lacked the many features that AOL instant messenger had.
The article also credits MySpace as a pre-Facebook. The article states that MySpace had the perfect timing and hit the world at the exact time that it was ready for this type of social Media. In my early years of High School everyone used MySpace and I used it as much as I currently use Facebook. When Facebook opened the doors to High School students, everyone I know shifted from MySpace to Facebook. Facebook was less complex then MySpace and had better security which is why I personally believe most users switched from MySpace to Facebook. MySpace had way too much going on and too many creeps to be frank. I believe the simplicity and organization that Facebook offered became their competitive advantage and is the reason why they won the war against MySpace.
Kirkpatrick states it is a rarity not to use social media in today’s society. I agree with this view because it seems like the majority of people that I know use Facebook and it almost makes one a social outcast or uncool if they exclude themselves. Whenever someone tells me they don’t have a Facebook I look at them like “what?” I wonder how far social media will be integrated into society. I am curious to know if Twitter can take off and get to the point that almost everyone has a Twitter? In the same manor that I look at people funny if they don’t have a Facebook, prior to enrolling in this class I would give someone the same look if they told me they use Twitter. It seems like only one in ten people I know use Twitter and I wonder how far Twitter can go.
The article mentions America Online as one of these precursors. AOL was the first social media tool that I ever used and was an integral part of my first computer experience. I remember the days of AOL just like it was yesterday. Surfing the web while constantly receiving emails and instant messages from all my friends. It was a blast for the time besides from the insanely slow dial up connection. I can see how AOL was a building block for Facebook because AOL did an excellent job connecting people. Back in the day if you didn’t have an AOL user name, you weren’t cool. AOL was also the first instant messenger that I used which to this day I still prefer over email. In fact today I still use AOL instant messenger to keep in contact with many people and to share files even though Facebook which completely copied off of AOL’s instant messenger features has pretty much killed a large portion of the user base. Facebook added Facebook messenger in one of its later updates which served as a better instant messenger service because it allowed users to instantly talk with the multitudes of people on their Facebook friends list. Which is more convenient because everyone has their real names and Facebook has more users but the instant messenger lacked the many features that AOL instant messenger had.
The article also credits MySpace as a pre-Facebook. The article states that MySpace had the perfect timing and hit the world at the exact time that it was ready for this type of social Media. In my early years of High School everyone used MySpace and I used it as much as I currently use Facebook. When Facebook opened the doors to High School students, everyone I know shifted from MySpace to Facebook. Facebook was less complex then MySpace and had better security which is why I personally believe most users switched from MySpace to Facebook. MySpace had way too much going on and too many creeps to be frank. I believe the simplicity and organization that Facebook offered became their competitive advantage and is the reason why they won the war against MySpace.
Kirkpatrick states it is a rarity not to use social media in today’s society. I agree with this view because it seems like the majority of people that I know use Facebook and it almost makes one a social outcast or uncool if they exclude themselves. Whenever someone tells me they don’t have a Facebook I look at them like “what?” I wonder how far social media will be integrated into society. I am curious to know if Twitter can take off and get to the point that almost everyone has a Twitter? In the same manor that I look at people funny if they don’t have a Facebook, prior to enrolling in this class I would give someone the same look if they told me they use Twitter. It seems like only one in ten people I know use Twitter and I wonder how far Twitter can go.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wikinomics by Tapscott & Williams
Wikinomics by Tapscott and Williams analyzes how corporations are starting to use new forms of technology in their business processes. For example, Geek Squad agents communicated with one another and traded tech tips through playing Battlefield 2 online. Fortune 500 companies are starting to use wiki tools like Social Text to increase the efficiency of communication in the workplace. The article claims that wiki’s are more productive and easier to use then email because wiki’s can cut out the multitudes of hours spent sorting through junk.
Robert Stephens saw a great profitability in Geek Squad because most people don’t want to deal with complicated technology. I can relate to this because I consider myself an advanced computer user but I still hate fixing computers. Whether it’s my own computer or someone else’s computer; I do not enjoy fixing them. I find myself in fits of rage whenever something is seriously wrong with my pc even if I am able to figure out the solution. I use to get paid to fix other people’s computers but the agitation didn’t feel worth it. I understand Geek Squads niche and why they are able to make so much money. Technology is fun when it is easy to use and when it doesn’t frustrate one but when it does it can be one’s worst nightmare.
I found it amazing how Geek Squad workers were using a video game to communicate and to learn things from each other. I can relate to this as well because I use to play a lot of online games and I feel like I learned a lot from the different people that I interacted with. Online gaming can be a type of networking and is a better way to bond with people online then most other online tools because when people play on the same team in a game, it is almost the same feeling as when people are teammates while playing a sport. I use to play Battlefield 2 and from playing it I can relate to the way some of the agents were connecting. There is no better way to connect with someone online then shooting at one another. The video games is one example of how the Geek Squad workers putting good use to social media. Video games as well as wiki’s demonstrate how social media can be used in the workplace to share ideas between workers, customers, etc.
From having the chance to use Social Text in this course and from in Computer in Management I can see how this can be an effective tool in corporations. Social text provides a great way to share with my classmates and professors. I think firms can use this same tool to increase efficiency in the workplace and to gain a competitive advantage over the competition.
Robert Stephens saw a great profitability in Geek Squad because most people don’t want to deal with complicated technology. I can relate to this because I consider myself an advanced computer user but I still hate fixing computers. Whether it’s my own computer or someone else’s computer; I do not enjoy fixing them. I find myself in fits of rage whenever something is seriously wrong with my pc even if I am able to figure out the solution. I use to get paid to fix other people’s computers but the agitation didn’t feel worth it. I understand Geek Squads niche and why they are able to make so much money. Technology is fun when it is easy to use and when it doesn’t frustrate one but when it does it can be one’s worst nightmare.
I found it amazing how Geek Squad workers were using a video game to communicate and to learn things from each other. I can relate to this as well because I use to play a lot of online games and I feel like I learned a lot from the different people that I interacted with. Online gaming can be a type of networking and is a better way to bond with people online then most other online tools because when people play on the same team in a game, it is almost the same feeling as when people are teammates while playing a sport. I use to play Battlefield 2 and from playing it I can relate to the way some of the agents were connecting. There is no better way to connect with someone online then shooting at one another. The video games is one example of how the Geek Squad workers putting good use to social media. Video games as well as wiki’s demonstrate how social media can be used in the workplace to share ideas between workers, customers, etc.
From having the chance to use Social Text in this course and from in Computer in Management I can see how this can be an effective tool in corporations. Social text provides a great way to share with my classmates and professors. I think firms can use this same tool to increase efficiency in the workplace and to gain a competitive advantage over the competition.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Brian Solis. Engage. Chapter 1: The Social Media Manifesto and Chapter 2: The Case for Socializing Media, by the Numbers
Brian Solis’ Engage chapters 1 and 2 address how social media is helping to make every aspect of life easier and to make the world smaller. Both of these readings state how social media is a chief catalyst in globalization and how these new forms of media are connecting people and ideas from anywhere in the world.
Chapter 1 highlights the infinite uses for social media and how social media can be instituted into any form of business. Solis sheds light on how something so simple can improve the efficiency of performing so many tasks. Customer service is greatly enhanced by social media. He states that “socialized media puts the “customer” back in customer service.” Sites like Face book make it so much easier for firms to conduct business and reach out to their customers. From being an avid facebook user, I see how effective firm’s can market and talk to potential buyers and clients. Social networks work so well because they aren’t complex. They are all easy enough for even novice computer users to be able to enjoy. Solis stated “the tools are just extensions of you and your expertise and artistry.” The simplicity of these systems are contributing to the mass growth which now see’s great multitudes of the earth’s inhabitants using some form of social media tool.
Chapter 2 analyzes more of the global impact that socializing media is making. Solis highlights the vast growth that sites like Twitter have made in the past couple of years. He hypothesizes by his numbers that eventually social media will expand to almost everyone. He is implicitly stating that due to the vast growth, this is now a medium that cannot be ignored for future success in conducting business. Solis notes that social media has “become more mainstream with the passage of time.” I see this change in actuality because now my parents have a facebook which was unheard of a few years ago when I was still in High School. The fact that older generations are also using these tools means that socializing is become easier globally and now we can talk to people across the globe and across all ages with ease.
Chapter 1 highlights the infinite uses for social media and how social media can be instituted into any form of business. Solis sheds light on how something so simple can improve the efficiency of performing so many tasks. Customer service is greatly enhanced by social media. He states that “socialized media puts the “customer” back in customer service.” Sites like Face book make it so much easier for firms to conduct business and reach out to their customers. From being an avid facebook user, I see how effective firm’s can market and talk to potential buyers and clients. Social networks work so well because they aren’t complex. They are all easy enough for even novice computer users to be able to enjoy. Solis stated “the tools are just extensions of you and your expertise and artistry.” The simplicity of these systems are contributing to the mass growth which now see’s great multitudes of the earth’s inhabitants using some form of social media tool.
Chapter 2 analyzes more of the global impact that socializing media is making. Solis highlights the vast growth that sites like Twitter have made in the past couple of years. He hypothesizes by his numbers that eventually social media will expand to almost everyone. He is implicitly stating that due to the vast growth, this is now a medium that cannot be ignored for future success in conducting business. Solis notes that social media has “become more mainstream with the passage of time.” I see this change in actuality because now my parents have a facebook which was unheard of a few years ago when I was still in High School. The fact that older generations are also using these tools means that socializing is become easier globally and now we can talk to people across the globe and across all ages with ease.
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