The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Social Networking - Part 2 Adam Turner © |
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The rise of social networking gives everyone the chance to be a critic. This is the second part of Adam Turner's report. |
Social networking is all about sharing, whether it's sharing content you've
created
or just sharing your opinion on someone else's masterpiece.
When it comes to sharing photos and video online, the most popular sites include
Flickr ( www.flickr.com ) and YouTube (
www.youtube.com ). Both let you
create a free account, upload your creations, write a description of them and
then set restrictions
on who can view them online.
Both Flickr and YouTube are great ways to share happy snaps and home movies with
family and friends, but they're also the perfect platform for broadcasting
to the world. YouTube in particular has evolved into a global soapbox, open to
anyone with a video camera and something to say.
No Streaming
YouTube videos can easily be embedded within other websites, so people can watch
your video clip from your website rather than needing to visit YouTube. This
means you don't need to pay for expensive web hosting capable of handling video
streaming. Video clips on YouTube are streamed at a low resolution, so you can
create your clips using a webcam or even a video-capable mobile phone.
Such technologies have allowed online audiences to become active content
producers rather than merely passive consumers. Predictably, just like
Australia's to YouTube. This is where other social networking sites come into
play, such as Digg ( www.digg.com ) and delicious (
www.delicious.com ), which
let people recommend sites to others. Digg allows users to nominate webpages,
photos or videos which they think are of interest. Other Digg users can for vote
or against the nominated content as well as leave a comment.
Anyone can view Digg, either looking at the most popular content or a real time
feed as new content is added. You need to create a (free) account if you want to
nominate a site, add your vote or leave a comment.
Digging online content is a simple process, you just enter the web address,
write a short comment and then nominate a category to file it under such as
technology, business, entertainment or sport.
Each category is then broken down into sub-categories. You can subscribe to RSS
feeds for the different categories and subcategories, making Digg a useful way
of keeping up-to-date with what people find interesting rather than just what
the mainstream media is currently focusing on.
delicious is an online bookmarking system, similar to Digg, which allows you to
see which websites are popular. When you sign up for delicious you're given the
option of importing
your browser's bookmarks and adding a delicious button to
Funniest Home Video Show, YouTube is swamped with mildly amusing clips of babies
falling over and men getting kicked in the nether regions. If you sift through
the rubbish you'll find, like the internet in general, there are some treasures
hidden there.
You can search YouTube for specific words, just as you can with Google, but
YouTube also features channels and community groups — making it easier to find
content on specific subjects. Politicians have embraced YouTube as way of
bypassing
the mainstream media to directly reach people, while community groups such as
Greenpeace and Amnesty International have also harnessed the power of YouTube to
get their message across.
Do the spade work
Of course the world won't come clamouring to your doorstep just because you've
posted a video
your browser's toolbar. When you bookmark a new site using delicious, you can
write a short comment about the site and add descriptive keyword tags.
Now you have access to your bookmarks from any Internet enabled computer, but you
can also search through the entire delicious catalogue, looking
for popular sites according to keywords. You can also see a list of the most
popular sites, plus explore categories in search of new sites.
Many online services get a feel for what you like based on the habits of other
people with similar interests. The more you use such services, the more accurate
their recommendations become.
Same, Same
Amazon ( www.amazon.com ) is one of the best examples of such "suggestive
selling",
recommending books and movies you might like based on other customers who have
previously bought the same things you've bought. Music services such
as Rhapsody ( www.rhapsody.corn ) and LastFM (
www.last.fm ) work on similar principles to
Amazon, comparing your musical tastes with those of other users in order to
recommend new music that you might enjoy.
Everyone's a Critic ( www.everyonesacritic.net ) lets you create a list of your
favourite movies and then see a list of recommended movies based on your tastes.
Social networking is working its way into your lounge room. Video recorders
powered by TiVo and IceTV can examine your viewing habits and recommend new
shows based on what other people are watching. Australia's IceTV even lets you
see a list
of the most popular programs, based on which shows its users are recording each
week.
Thanks to the rise of social networking, you can now leverage the power of
opinions to find your own treasures among the trash.
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Stranger Danger Social networking is a whole lot of fun. But be aware that just about anything you (or someone else) puts on these sites can come back to bite you. For instance, the daily papers and news web sites will do a trawl on the likes of FaceBook when they need a picture of someone who is in the news. For instance, take recent stories about Australians who have died overseas. There's even identity theft - sometimes the information you leave on these sites is enough for someone to pretend that they're you. Think carefully about what you put on-line and make sure that if it's available to EVERYONE that you don't mind that EVERYONE will see it. And remember that in most cases you no longer own the information. Don't forget that a lot of things that people put on sites such as YouTube can be illegal and therefore punishable by law. Don't be a Cyber Bully. |
Note: Adam Turner © Permission to
copy or quote extracts from this article may only be done with the written
permission of the author.
Reprinted from the December 2008 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
