New Media Research Studio » Social Networking

Virtual Labs- confusion and collaboration.

Becky — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:38:57 +0000

Etsy’s “Virtual Labs” give the site a very interactive and collaborative spot. One problem I can see, though, is that it is very confusing to learn how to effectively communicate because of all the different ways to show items and talk about them and run the talks, etc. However, one thing it does do is show us those who are not only using Etsy as a crafty Amazon, but for a public square, where many crafters can meet and talk about their love of arts and crafts and actually help each other out. In the most relaxed definitions, it makes Etsy more socialist than capitalistic. There’s genuine compassion and respect for those who enjoy similar interests. And I really think that it weeds out those who are more interested in the act of crafting than just the selling of crafts and profiting.

This part of the site does seem a little blocked off from the buying/selling part, in that I don’t think it’s utilized as much (whenever I check, there’s hardly anyone in the rooms). It’s important to note that the site is still mainly running as Amazon does, people mainly sell for a profit. But this doesn’t mean that over time, Etsy can’t evolve into more of a social networking site than a marketplace. (That’s something only time will tell.)

Next, I want to look into the teams and how they utilize each other for the good of both the community and each member. This is all in an effort to wrap my head around the dynamics of the collaborative vs. capitalistic setup of the site. (But is it “vs.” or “and”?)

A Disney Life’s For Me

Jess — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:09:10 +0000

Investigating the Mouse Detective Way

To really zone in on the DisFriends world, I decided to be a friendlier part of the pact and actually conduct some interviews with some of the beaming members who I always see online and actively participating in the DisFriends community.

I tried to get in touch with the founder of the site and also his #2, but unfortunately, they seem to have no interest, or they actually are not on DisFriends as often as they should…?!

So, I asked these people these questions:

1. How long have you been a part of DisFriends?
2. How did you find out about DisFriends?
3. What made you want to be part of this networking site?
4. How do you like being on DisFriends? What are the benefits of being on this site?
5. Do you know any of your DisFriends friends in real life? If yes, how many?
6. Are you a volunteer for the site?
7. What do you love most about Disney?
8. Are you on other social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, myspace, Friendster, etc)?
9. Why do you enjoy coming onto DisFriends?

I’m not going to be explaining all the answers for all the questions, because that’s not really important. What is important are some particular answers that intrigued me greatly.

From the answers I’ve gotten, it seems that Disney fans are joining DisFriends because of the fact that it’s a broader spectrum for people to get in touch with other Disney fans and talk about their Disney love. Prior to DisFriends, all that existed were forums within Disney fan sites.

These forums were “[found to be] a bit cliquish and often times there was a lot of ‘drama,’” says DisFriends member, Leslie (Disnyfan83). Furthermore, she said she “never felt part of the group because [they] didn’t have thousands of posts like some people did.” Meaning that in these forums, sometimes a few people would be dominating a conversation, posting minute after minute, without letting any fresh voices come in.

Love

So, DisFriends is more of a democratic sharing of Disney love. You know people on an individual level (via profile pages) and you can engage in DisLove conversations whenever you feel like it.

From the question answers, there was also the (obvious) consensus that DisFriends is the place to be for people to share their love of Disney with a group of people that share the same love. Thus, making everyone feel like they’re part of a…community, meaning no one will be excluded here.

I think more notably, when I asked them about their love for Disney, why they became DisFriends members, the DisFriends I’ve corresponded with responded about very optimistic things:

“I love how timeless and universal Disney is. It transcends through time and differcult cultures bringing a bit of magic,wonder, happiness, and love to everyone’s life.” [I know she said "differcult" -- is it different or difficult?]

“[Walt Disney] lived the American dream – coming from nothing, believing in a dream, working hard and achieving it. A great Walt Disney quote is my mantra — ‘If you can dream it, you can do it!’”

“[I love] Walt’s outlook on life, and what he wanted to provide to all the world!”

It seems that they have an intense love for Disney, the man and the corporation. It’s great that these people are so proud to be a lover of Disney, despite the fact that Walt Disney was like the Rupert Murdoch of our day.

I guess it’s not surprising. It’s not. As I told my roommate about these people, hinting how extreme they are and talking about the Disney corporation, she told me that she wouldn’t care about the corporation and what it does. Who cares about the corporation? After all, Disney brings happiness to so many people…does it really matter how it achieves its success?

The members of DisFriends have had impressive personal connections to Disney — one woman’s parents worked at a Disney park, met there, and married…another makes Disney techno music to share with everyone on DisFriends.

Do people know each other in real life in DisFriends? They may know a couple, but in essence, the DisFriends members really do want to become real life friends with those in their network. I think one of their goals is to acquaint themselves with everyone on the site and then move on to really meeting them at some Mouse Fest in the near future.

So, meet online then meet in real life at a Disney park. I guess that means you can get a buddy to ride on The Haunted Mansion with you.

Most importantly, the people I talked to genuinely just wanted to show off their 100-piece collection of Disney action figures, their room full of all Little Mermaid-themed objects, Disney pin collection, etc. without anyone really “judging” them. Rather, people who see this on the site are encouraging, happy, and complimentary. After all, they have their own Disney quirks too.

I guess that clinches it (some of it): Disney and Disney Networking Sites are spreading joy. People are happy. Should we just let it be?

The Other Me

David — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:08:45 +0000

After a rather uneventful night of dinner and several childish, but still entertaining, games with a couple friends, I sulked back into my apartment and sat in front of my computer, inspired to write about something our class has not yet discussed (unless my mind wandered for a bit and I happened to miss it).

Before Blogspot and Facebook, there was MySpace, a social experiment which, in my opinion, when very, very awry. But even before the MySpace phenomena, my dearest online friend was my Xanga. Though it is currently overshadowed by newer, albeit much better, social networking sites, the online journal was comrade and confidant to hundreds and thousands of teenagers to whom which puberty was too hot to handle. I was, unfortunately, one of those teenagers.

After a little deliberation, I’ve decided to share with all of you one of my less embarrassing entries from high school. Keep in mind that I was 15 years old at the time.

===xanga flashback start===

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Got back from snowboarding yesterday. Frost bite on my ass. Sore all over. Yep. It’s ALL good. It’s almost the new year. Let’s hope 2004 turns out to be a little better than 2003 because this year sucked. If I don’t try harder in Algebra 2, I will unfortunately (FORTUNATLEY for some of you) pass away.

In other news, I just watched the Shining. It was supposed to be a very good scary movie. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it as one of the best comedies ever. Bad acting (except for Jack Nicholson), unnecessary (not to mention overused) sound effects, and one of the most dragged on plots I’ve ever seen. (All of this was amusing to me in case you didn’t get the “comedy” part) But yeah, I had fun yesterday, so it’s all good. pCe out…

===xanga flashback end===

I remember trying really hard to be knowledgeable about movies so I forced myself to watch a bunch of classics because apparently, I found myself capable of appreciating the genius of Stanley Kubrick at 15 years old. And although I hated it, I went snowboarding (because all the other Koreans were doing it). I was trying to establish my persona through a medium where people weren’t able to discern who I was by knowing me, but only by what I wrote. I can’t believe I used to write “pCe” with a capital “C” in the middle.

I’m not sure where this entry falls into in terms of our class, but as it is related, I wanted to share it with you guys. Seriously, there are some entries I will never share with anyone because they are so incredibly embarrassing. I also realized that maturity only goes so far from 15 to 20 years old because now I spend all day on Facebook, which is essentially Xanga with pictures (or MySpace with clothes). Apparently, online networking sites are more popular than internet pornography sites now. That’s pretty crazy and interesting.

As for my experience with Google, I’ll share that a little later.

Blogging For Kids With ADHD

Mike — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:32:57 +0000

If the internet makes online dating and marriage counseling easier, why can’t it make stupid blogging assignments easier too?!?!?!

… Oh wait, it can.

Last week I discussed how the internet simplifies complex social rituals like dating and marriage counseling.The internet has also been simplifying itself in a way, with social bookmarking sites, RSS feeds, and more. Twitter is the internet’s simplification of blogging.

Instead of giving me free range to talk about whatever I’d like for however long I’d like, Twitter keeps my “posts” to a 140-character maximum.

Therefore, blog posting becomes easier and less time consuming, which in turn, makes it more attractive for a person to “tweet” (post) often. (Not to mention, in our busy society people’s attention spans amount to about 140 words before getting bored of a post.)

So Twitter enables us to give accurate information on happenings in our life without sacrificing time or energy, AND it is more attractive to readers who choose to “follow” us.

Wired Magazine actually refers to Twitter as “ESP” because rather than presenting readers with daily or weekly posts, the author can provide real-time information about what he or she is doing at that precise moment. (This also works via TEXT MESSAGE in case the author is away from his or her computer!!)

Some people might go overboard with this service and share every detail of their life over the program.

But many people find it a fun way to keep tabs on their friends’ lives.

Everyone is using it! Even politicians to update supporters on their campaigns

Fire departments to update town residents on emergencies in the area

And even churches to assemble congregations for Sunday e-Worship!

Twitter is a powerful tool that is simple and practical. While it does restrict our lives to a 140 character maximum, we must realize the value in short-form posting, because frankly, no one wants to read your 5,000-word post about how you went to the mall yesterday. (No offense.)

So keep your friends in the know, keep it simple, and keep it Twitter.

We Are The World…

Lynn — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:14:37 +0000

…or at least we will be.

Toothpaste for Dinner

Is that what we’ll be like in our future jobs? Liek, OMG?! It’s fun to play around and talk like that from time to time but is it here to stay? Just wondering…or jw.

***

The panel discussion we watched brought up the fact that we will all (well, ok maybe not all) be in managerial positions in the very near future and we will usher in this new technology to the business world in an overwhelming way. I think new technology, no doubt has, and will certainly continue to have an amazingly efficient impact on the business world. What I don’t think people realize sometimes, however, is that we may try to over compensate for the past’s lack of technology. There was a woman at the discussion who commented that she was required to post to a blog for her company and take part in all sorts of daily technological routines she thought was unnecessary. I think while the older generation still holds these high positions at corporations, they try to seem so hip and “down with the net” that they ignore that some things may be best handled the old fashioned way or maybe they don’t need to be handled at all. Sometimes it takes a balance of the new technology and our old fashioned ways to maximize potential. I feel we get more out of this class by coming in and seeing one another to discuss our posts. It will take time to find a proper balance but as we grow closer to entering the industry and as we take technology classes, we weed out the unessential technological outlets.

***

Politicians blogging–and not this “campaign manager blogging for them thing to reach out to perspective voters then stop thing,” but really blogging. How cool would that be? We could communicate with our elected representatives via the web. No more beating around the bush and doing things that aren’t in the interest of the community. If we don’t answer our cell phones, e-mails, or IM’s our friends or family members know they’re being ignored. If an elected official doesn’t take action about issues he knows community members feel strongly about, they know they’re bring ignored. He’s out of there. I’m not saying that’s anywhere near possible right now but it’s an interesting idea to sit on.

***

One of the panelists said he believed the web is not public because you can be taken from you in a second. Someone can come in and delete the comment you make on their blog. True, but that’s their right. You can’t stroll into someone’s home and call them all sorts of names and get upset with them if they ask you to leave. So what can you do? Make your own blog and express yourself there. I think the web as a whole is a public sphere but like the outside world, it has its private and it’s commercial spaces. It’s interesting because having to crate your own blog is like being escorted to the designated protest area from the RNC. I personally don’t think it’s fair and in order to be democratic all comments, including hateful, hurtful ones should be left up…but alas, I don’t make the rules.

***

I think it’s interesting that we have so much technology that can easily promote organization and gathering for a cause and we use it to further alienate ourselves. We spend our days on Facebook applications sending bumper stickers instead of spending time in Facebook groups brainstorming ways to support our candidate in the upcoming election. We spoke last class about how some of us use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and attend events. True, we do. But after seeing this video I can also see how it alienates us. It’s become about getting you to view my pictures, and read about me, and write on my wall because if I don’t have more comments than my ex he’ll think that I’m not having as much fun without him and meeting new people. OMG. We’ve become even more self-involved. We all fall victim to it. Who doesn’t love “1 new notification?” Even the name “MySpace” and “YouTube,” as a panelist said, promotes the self instead of the community. I’m all about individualism but I think we need to come together from time to time for the greater good. Not until i saw this vide did I realize how separatist social networking sites could be. It’s a shame because there is so much opportunity for us to collaborate and make new, wonderful things.