The Social Media

Social Media, we all know what it is and the first thing that comes to mind is Facebook. Like the rest of the crowd, I follow Facebook regularly or as some of us would put it, I am your resident stalker. Jokes aside though, I am not exactly your idea of a tech savvy kind of guy. Of note, there is twitter...What in blue blazes is twitter? Many people I know go on about how good twitter is and all but I had no idea of its existence. So, as the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat, though I did not die but I decided to check up on twitter.

At first glance, it looks like twitter is just a simplified version of Facebook, without all that fancy stuff like links and advertisements. The first thing that caught my eye was probably this:

A bird!? Seriously!? I guess that is why its called twitter. However what makes it really stand out though is the ability to easily follow a friend or associate's posts. In my point of view, it appears to be a rather blog with on the spur of the moment updates. Definitely not something I will use as I usually keep my thoughts to myself and do not see a need to babble everything I feel. However, I understand why it appeals to others. It allows people to feel that they are being heard, and that is not a bad thing at all.

Speaking of social networks, it can also be linked to what we call web 2.0. Basically, in web 1.0, all we as users can do is retrieve data that is found on the net. With the emergence of 2.0, we can do more than that, we can also contribute our own data up to the virtual storage for other users to retrieve. In short, we have the freedom of contribution bestowed upon us.

However, as with all things, with the pros, comes the cons... namely, spamming by immature people who assume they have the knowledge and authority to contribute.

I'm sure it is easy to see how web 2.0 is linked to the rise of social networking. With the ability to upload information as well retrieve it, there is an exchange of communication between boundaries and therefore, fits the goals of social networking.

As time moves on, the next thing coming up in the web is 3.0, which many believe that the web will be more independent and instead of focusing on the keywords typed by the user, it will try to infer from past information and display information based on the user's preferences instead.

Youtube itself seems to be trying to implement web 3.0 in to its interface. Evidence? Well...

Here's your evidence! And that ends this session! Till next time!