Blogs vs. Wiki's

Good evening readers,
Today I will be analyzing two major new media oriented applications - blogs and wikis! Both these web 2.0 applications have grown over the past years and are now widely used for both business and pleasure by a large variety of people. Blogging is basically what I’m doing right now. A blog is a personal page that allows users to state and express their opinions, beliefs, concerns and ideas. You can find blogs on pretty much any activity from cooking to travel to entertainment and many more. A wiki is somewhat different in that it is also a web page but allows all users to access it and modify and edit the information. Wikipedia, the largest wiki and also online encyclopedia was created by millions of public users. Because of such a large amount of modifying and editing that wiki’s undergo, this makes wiki’s a lot more factual than opinion oriented like blogs. Some famous blog sites include blogspot.com and blogger.com. Some famous wiki’s include Wikipedia and urbandictionary.com. Because anyone is allowed to edit wiki’s, moderators work hard to block spammers, hackers, and just people who fool around with the sites. Although both applications are free to access and contributors do not get paid, it can be determined that in the future this will change as these applications hold great prospective profits.
Convergence is a term used to define when technology and different types of new media are used together to provide simplicity and convenience to individuals. For example, convergence would be an online newspaper that allows users to comment and create their own blogs in response to the news stories. When two forms of new media are combined in this manner, it can also be called a mash-up. Convergence is important in today’s networked world because it gives the employees of large corporations the chance to be more accurate and efficient, as well as keeping them on the same page. For example, employers are now using facebook to analyze and gain information on prospective employees. Large corporations are also using wiki’s to keep the company on the same page and complete projects in a timely manner. Collaboration is the idea of working and producing in a team with everyone having the same amount of knowledge as their peers. Blogs can be used for collaboration by giving employees the chance to express their ideas and opinions to their peers and having the chance to receive valuable feedback. A good idea for a wiki that hasn’t been done yet that users could edit and modify would be how to build different items such as birdhouses, desks, and kid sized “go cars”. Another good wiki that hasn’t been done yet would be how to clear up minor ailments such as a morning pimple or a hangover. As always, feel free to comment or email me.
Sanjay R

Checking out some social networking sites.

Good evening readers!
Over the weekend, I was checking out some social networking sites and comparing them to each other. Social networking sites are websites that allow users to create a profile, upload pictures, chat, friend and meet other users as well as create blogs and notes. Some of the big names in social networking would be Myspace, facebook, twitter, friendster and youtube. Social networking sites rake in huge amounts of users every day seeing as how individuals have a psychological desire to fill their social needs. These sites allow all individuals to participate in social interaction without leaving the comfort and security of their homes. There are some however that argue the fact that social networking actually hinders a persons social life as it confines them to a computer rather than having the individual go outside and participate in real life gatherings and events.
I became a facebook user roughly 2 years ago before its boom, during the era the website was only open to college students. This has given me a chance to see the website grow rapidly as time progressed. The site eventually became open to all users and has since added hundreds of different applications such as music, tests, dating, and games in an effort to reach and cater to a large and diverse user population. During this transition, facebook lost sight of its ultimate goal of creating a private social site catered towards college students only. Facebook is no longer private as millions of profiles are open for the public to see as well as a recent trend of curious employers. Facebook continues to grow and is now the number one social networking site with 180 million users and over a billion hits a month (Data as of Jan 09).
Myspace, a place for friends, as its slogan says is a different breed of social networking as its competitor, facebook. Myspace has targeted the teenage, highschool population and gives users the option of using their own html abilities to create a background, put music and different images up. Myspace is often looked down upon when compared to facebook as it is seen as having a largely adolescent and immature user population. Myspace has also taken a bold move by now offering the ability to search for music on their site as well as music videos and the ability to look up artists. A few friends told me the major difference between facebook and myspace is the ease of picking up one night stand partners on myspace.
Friendster can be considered the mini-facebook as it had a similar user interface and profile layout. Friendster however, has a ton less users than the giant, facebook and also tends to encourage the meeting and "friend-ing" of random strangers more than other social networking sites.
The last social networking site I have chosen to examine is my particular favorite and gives me the most satisfaction out of any - Youtube. Now I know what your thinking, "Youtube is not a social networking site!", but hear me out first. Youtube has all the elements of a social networking site. You are allowed to create your own profile, friend, comment, and message other users, as well as join groups and of course - view and upload millions of videos. You can find almost any video on youtube from music videos, your favorite t.v. shows that you missed, stunts, pranks, sporting events, speeches, natural disasters and almost anything your heart desires (Except porn, youtube takes a strong stand against pornography).
Well that's all I have to say, as always comment/email me.