Social Networks Are Inherently Good.

This is a TED presentation, filmed in 2010, by Nicholas Christakis on his research in social networks.  He uses a great deal of visuals and has some very interesting findings that are well explained in this presentation.  One of the most interesting visuals that he presents is a dynamic representation of a network, focusing on obesity, over a 32-year period.  Dynamic observations are always more useful then static ones.  Comparison of M13 to M14 revealed some possible trends that could not be observed without having two temporally separate samples to compare.  The presenter finishes his presentation with the closing conclusion that social networks are inherently good.  For the networks to sustain there must be positive connections, because negative ones would naturally disconnect.

http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks.html?source=email#.UtE3Z8RO_oB.email

I agree with the statement that social networks can only exist if they are “good”.   What comes into question is the definition of good.  What is good for some is not so good for others. Terrorists have very strong and complex social networks.  This is because they are united by what they consider to be “good”.  This could also be extended to any organization or network.  What the network members consider to be “good” for them and their desires will be what holds it together.  Of course if the members believe the network is harming them they will try and separate themselves from it.  So, yes I agree with the conclusion that the members of any social network will only remain in that network if it is good for the members.  Unfortunately good is not a universally accepted viewpoint.

Social media has become the basis for all sorts of businesses nowadays…

Let’s take the transportation as an example. Sometime we have a very basic need. We want to move from point A to point B.

 

(Image from: http://cognitivedesigner.com/2010/10/val-an-introduction/)

Last weekend I had this sort of problem. I wanted to be “teleported” from Wrocław to Leipzig. See the map to learn where the “Point A” is  :)

 

You might say take the train! Yeah right. There is no direct connection. Therefore it will take me around 5h with a change in Dresden and cost around 60 euros. No thank you!

So maybe a coach? Yes that might work, but wait… The buses are crap in terms of comfort.. So again not thank you:)

Oh man. If you are so picky take a bike! Slower, more civilized and romantic form of travel :) but ... the weather is not particularly friendly and it will take me 4 days :(

I did my own research and I decided that carpooling can actually work :) You know what the carpooling is? Right?

 

(Image from: MotivatedPhotos.com)

I ask uncle google to find out with whom I can go to Leipzig :). Bingo here you go. Using service such as  www.carpooling.com. I‘ve founded Christian who offered nice comfortable seat in his brand new Ford Focus and It took only 3h and cost only 18 Euros! Great. Oh.. and that’s not the end of the story… I also save some greenhouse gases.

The point is: social networks can create new business models, new way we communicate, new way we travel, new way we live. You can see the grow trend, so in 2030 there would be more companies which take advantages of social networks…

The references :)

About the carpooling

See density of the carpooling network in Germany!

Against arguments:Social media marketing specialist, Mitch Joel examines the counter intuitive possibility of an increasingly anti-social Web.

Enjoy the weekend!

Michal Serkieza (HHL AW14)

Spatio-Temporal Social Network Analysis- The Future of SNA

Oh My God!! The topic feels a little geeky…. Yeah but I can’t help. Till now, we were entirely focusing on just people for Social Network Analysis. Who is having maximum between-ness, maximum indegree, outdegree, what is the density of the group. We even went miles high in analyzing who will be a better fit as a developer, finance director, marketing professional etc.

Well it’s just the start and certainly not the end where we should think. Two researchers Shashi Shekhar and Dev Oliver (spatial data scientists at the University of Minnesota) went one step ahead and tried to analyze Social Networks with two more variables. With persons, they added time and space. That makes it Spatio-Temporal analysis of Social Networks. They published a paper titled ‘Computational Modeling of Spatio-temporal Social Networks: A Time-Aggregated Graph Approach’.

I agree with them as it’s the real future of SNA and also responsible for future growth of organizations. Just think for a second that, if an organization is able to answer some questions like-

• How is trust or leadership changing over time?
• Who are the emerging leaders in a group?
• What are the recurring changes in a group?
• How long is the tenure of a leader in a group?

For personal relationships-

• How long does it take to elevate the level of trust such as a relationship changing from visitor to friend?

Besides, the previous questions are equally responsible for personal relationships as well.

These and others also can be answered through Spatial-Temporal analysis of Social Networks. This is a continuing research and some information can be gathered from the paper. Some organizations have already started work on the subject.

I do not want to spoil your imagination so think high. Read the paper and article for more information.

Links-

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/spatio-temporal/docs/Shekhar-position.pdf [Published Paper]

http://readwrite.com/2011/01/17/your_social_graph_researchers_identify_new_opportu#awesm=~osDfziWuJC1hyO

I hope that people who are interested in the SNA will work on this aspect of social networks as well.

Sulabh Gupta [M14 Exchange Student]

Watch What you do on social media platforms 'cos someone might be stalking !

  The importance of  social media cannot be overemphasized . While many have used the platforms for successful professional networking ,it has also been a debacle for others .I  got this comment from an article. '' One major retailer looks at applicants’ Facebook and Twitter accounts and one person who was going to be successful following his assessment centre was rejected because he commented on Twitter afterwards that, ‘He wasn’t sure if he wanted the bloody job after all’. (http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/social-networking.htm)
  Many job opportunities have been lost due to postings or comment online because you don't just know who is watching you .As potential managers and MBA graduates , I advise friends and classmates to rather use these platforms  to create a brand  and a positive image .
 While many see facebook as just connecting with friends and '' strangers'', many head hunters and recruiters use these media to really get to know your personality and who you are outside work. Organizations also use it as a medium to promote their brands and allow potential candidates to network with graduates and recruitment staffs . As an example please follow this link http://bit.ly/bpgradcareers 
   As someone said '' Facebook defines who we are,Amazon defines what we want and Google defines what we think'' -Turing's Cathedral by Geroge Dyson .
 After Prof Tunnard's SNA class , I asked myself and some friends - Are we really safe with these social media? Your answer surely is close to mine I guess !  

 You can read more from this article :http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/social-networking.htm

 Cheers .

 Ademola Taiwo

Social networking is great but it cannot replace the offline socializing

Nowadays, social networking is creating a lot of buzz and there are tons of companies putting focus on this aspect, even the governments are using social networking to get public support and attention, which is a great thing.  It is really amazing how well people are informed and updated of what is going on around themselves and the globe.

In June 2013, when the Saxony region was heavily affected by the biggest flood of the decade, hundreds of volunteers got together to bring food supplies, to bring sand sacks to help reinforce the flood control lift.  This initiative was organized through Facebook only but the result was really amazing!
Social network does help people get together virtually and imitates the real offline  interactive activities among people.  Social network is influential, viral and powerful, however, will it replace the offline socializing in the future?

My answer is no.

Yes, 20 years ago, nobody would have thought sending emails will dominantly replace writing letters.  Yes, 10 years ago, when Mark Zuckerberg first introduced Facebook, nobody would have realized the immense power of Facebook - it simply created another lifestyle of human being.  Yes, you may criticize my standpoint by saying that 30 years later, people will socialize primarily through social network, but, still you cannot change my view.  Let us see how our society will develop in this respect in 30 years then :-)
Below is an article I found really interesting which I would like to share with my fellow classmates, and I like the comments of the article.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111903341404576482431024246652

You may call me "old school" but I don´t mind.  Nothing against Prof Tunnard´s lecture, though.  I love the topics and enjoyed every minute of the class, but, I still hold my belief that offline socializing is necessary for human beings, and face-to-face communication is important.  At the end of the day, we are living in a real world, not a virtual one.  Offline socializing offers us THE opportunity of direct impression of the others.

Let us just imagine, if one day, everybody chats with each other by sitting in front of the computer or using mobile apps, we simply let machines talk to machines, umh, a real 21-century world, age of machine, isn´t it?

Probably I will receive debates even before Monday, which is good...

Wish everybody a nice weekend with lots of readings about social networking, books, articles, M14 blogs, hahahah!

See y´all!

Christine (Jin) Zhang (M14)

Will Social Media replace E-Mails in future?

Anytime, my vote is yes!!!! Now please do not start debating; we already have a debate on Monday. Just keep this thought in your mind and enjoy your weekend. This might also help in our debate preparation as e-mails are the part and parcel of our lives and also the nerves of any organization.

Just think, instead of sending an email and copying so many people in CC (or might even BCC), you just need to post something on your social media and it’s shared with everyone. If you want to share it with specific people, make a group (I know almost all of us have some Google Group or Facebook Group, or at least I have). If it can be seen by anyone, but requires special attention from some people, tag them. Need any help?? Ask a question and you’ll have answers instantly. Plethora of information to share with everyone. I know many organizations which have started their internal social networking sites (but not sure, how much they are popular among the employees).

Well, I think people against it will just bombard their comments. OK, I know that it has some downsides as well. Think, your boss hitting the dislike button (Oh! Is it invented yet??), the comments of your boss on the post. Or make it even better, your boss posting on your wall to do this work asap (and your peers liking it, or your girlfriend disliking….). Your personal and professional life intermingled and you just trying to make away through it. Well plenty of points against it as well.

Rest I leave it to all of you to think about it, but I’ll say that if a special type of social network can be made for professional life (not LinkedIn please) than it’ll be a great tool for any organization’s success. At least if not everything, time will be saved.

Here are some great thoughts on the above topic; I hope you’ll like them.

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1467313

http://benwerd.com/2010/02/03/how-social-networks-can-replace-email/

http://businesslife.ba.com/News-and-Blogs/Business-Life-Blog/Will-email-at-work-be-replaced-by-social-media.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/12/11/5-ways-social-media-will-change-the-way-you-work-in-2013/

http://www.idealware.org/articles/Is_Email_Old_News.php

Wishing you folks All the Best for the debate. Take it light and enjoy your weekend.

Sulabh Gupta [M14 Exchange Student]

The. Perks.Of.Being.A.Wallflower

After a lot of brain storming and exploring the web for an idea for the blog, I threw my hands up in the air and started watching this movie “The. Perks.Of.Being.A.Wallflower” which undoubtedly is a beautiful movie, but what struck me was the portrayal of a misfit/an introvert by the protagonist and how he develops a network of friends PAUSE rest you can watch for yourself  J

The character of the protagonist is what gave me an idea to look for how a social network in general and in organizations gets weaved for or woven by an introvert.

There are lots of thought provoking articles on our beloved search engine that discuss ideas ranging from hiring an introvert, creating personal brands for introverts,  to whether introverts are better leaders than their arch rivals extroverts.

I couldn't help myself from posting two engaging articles in this post.

Below is the one which talks about out the flawed representation of engagement by social media channels. The whole program underneath these channels works out to capture where all the bees are swarming and not why. When the whole world is going gaga about communication and socialization, there are exceptional few who ponder over the real purpose behind this kind of behavior.

http://channelandplace.com/2013/10/28/engaging-introverts-in-social-media-four-strategies-that-skirt-extrovert-bias/

And fewer who are exploiting the benefits of online engagement technologies to reveal the true talents within the organization. It is interesting to note that how corporations/organizations are embracing the networking technologies to extract the most influential ideas out of the introverts, who wouldn't have spoken up if it was done in a traditional manner of face to face communication.

http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/ANowDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=51335

Leaving  you with stimulated grey cells ;)

Vyoma  Tomer  [M14]

Will we lose our privacy on the Internet to governments AND companies?

(Posted on behalf of Maximilian Weber)

There is one company called Palantir which is building "software that allows organizations to make sense of massive amounts of disparate data". Founded in 2003/2004 by Standford graduates and PayPal alumni in order to fight terrorism and cybercrime, the company was initially backed with USD 2 million by In-Q-Tel (the CIA's venture capital fund) and is already valued at USD 8 billion, just 10 years after starting the business. With the overall goal to "enable people to ask the questions they need answered in a language they understand", the company “sells a powerful line of data-mining and analysis software that maps out human social networks for counter-intelligence purposes” (please see http://www.palantir.com/what-we-do/).

By doing so, Palantir’s service and software is of great interest for CIA, the FBI, the U.S. Special Operations Command, the Army, Marines and Air Force, as well as the police departments of New York and Los Angeles. In order to understand their high interaction with the government organizations in the U.S, especially in connection with the current NSA discussions, please feel free to read http://timshorrock.com/?p=1811. By taking a closer look at the company and its growth prospects, data mining and analysis seems to evolve to a huge industry and interest field for large corporations like JPMorgan Chase and News Corp as well (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/08/16/cia-funded-data-miner-palantir-not-yet-profitable-but-looking-for-8-billion-valuation/).

And this is actually the scary part of this. With companies growing that fast, setting up that much of knowledge and saving that much information about the users of the Internet, it can be assured that this data will also be shared/sold to corporations and more parties of interest. Therefore: a) should we be afraid that we are not just monitored by the governments, but also by large corporations as well? b) Will our privacy on the Internet disappear in the next years? What is your opinion?

What Is The Future of Social Media?

We are "struggling"..ah, no I mean "studying" the Social Network Analysis course and I am sure that some of you are busy preparing for the debate on Monday; so I guess something about the social media in the future can give us some useful ideas about how our social life will be in the coming years.

The below video will help you imagine about the future of social media by introducing about the current development of social media and giving you ideas about how it is in the future.
--------------------------------------
The future? 

The nature of human being is curiosity. We are curious about others (maybe that's the reason why social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. have a huge chance to develop fast and robustly;)). We are curious about the world and new things happening everyday. Especially, most of us are curious about future (that's why there are a lot of fortune-tellers ;))).

So what will the future be? How will the life be in 10 years, 20 years or even 100 years? Let's look at the past to see once more how our way of communicating has changed, particularly in the era of technology.

Let's think about 15 years ago? In 1999, what did we do at weekends? You could go out, chatting with your friends, go fishing, shopping or travel around. How did you contact with your family and friends? Maybe through fixed telephone network. Maybe letter. At that time, if you had a mobile phone, I guess you must be...fabulous. A mobile phone which is as big as a brick may have been called .."a smartphone".

So how is our life now? What will you do at weekends? (Of course, Social Network Analysis of Prof.Tunnard ;)), but I did not mean it :)). We still chat with our friends, but of course via Facebook, Skype, and Twitter. We still shop but through Amazon and Ebay. We even still go fishing but with... the games on your smartphone. We still "travel" and "see" what people do, but through Youtube and Instagram.

That explains why the way we connect and communicate will be very different in the future. With the development of technology, the communication among people promises to change a lot in 15 years. So first, let's start with some images about the future of social media by pressing "Play" button of the below video, and "free" your imagination ;).

Wish you all happy weekends with little worry about the debate on Monday :)

Victoria (Quynh Trang Bui - M14)

Social Networking between China and the world

Have you noticed there are several articles on China in the “SNO course library”, “Article”folder which Prof. Tunnard provided? China is always a big topic, by all kinds of reasonsJ.

Everyone is familiar with Amazon, how about Alibaba in China? Alibaba is the biggest competitor of Amazon in China and maybe later in the international market, and it’s going public. Alibaba has made a lot of miracles in Chinese market, but definitely it will face huge challenges in the oversea market, one reason, you can image, is the Chinese Website unblock policy. (read more in the article: Alibaba The world's greatest bazaar)

You may not find many Chinese friends on your Facebook or Twitter, as these websites were blocked since 2009, instead, similar social networks in China as Sina Weibo, WeChat have quite larger customers base. You can quickly have a look at the rankings of customers last year(Oct. 30, 2013) or find the article here: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-largest-social-networks-2013-12

  Facebook (1.15 billion MAUs)

  YouTube (1 billion MAUs)

  Qzone (712 million total users), China

  Sina Weibo (500 million total users), China

  WhatsApp (350 million MAUs)

  Google+ (327 million MAUs)

  Tumblr (300 million monthly unique visitors)

  LINE (275 million total active users), Japan

  Twitter (240 million MAUs)

  WeChat (236 million MAUs), China

The good thing is that there will be a free trade zone in Shanghai to unblock these websites, to make foreigners ”feel like at home”, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said making Facebook available in China is keeping in with his company’s goal of connecting the world.  Let’s expecting it! 

(read article here:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/24/us-china-facebook-idUSBRE98N04020130924 )

Guoying Wang (M14)  HHL

Social Networks in the Music Industry

Anyone with a keen interest in music can produce their own these days. Whether you have a basic sense of rhythm or not, you too can reel out bars of endless noise and/or melody with music apps like Adobe Audition, Garageband, Cakewalk Pro Audio and others.

Platforms such as myspace and soundcloud provide budding musicians with opportunities to showcase their work, both of covers and original pieces. Now put yourself in the shoes of a talent scout for a major media label. Sifting through all the content in cyberspace presents a challenge in finding the right talent to promote. This is often hindered by the fact that musicians and fans are networked heavily amongst each other so popularity is not necessarily a safe factor to go by.

This article http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/do-social-networks-really-help-musicians.html discusses the implications of this conundrum and describes what one particular media label (A&R) is doing to find and promote talent efficiently. It provides some very useful insights for musicians to take into account when networking to bring exposure to their work.

Although the article is an interesting exercise in the use of social networks, it does not tackle the reality of music publishing where central labels are increasingly being done away with. Musicians are increasingly establishing themselves on an independent level directly with their fan base. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the individual Joe/Josephine in the street to still find new music that they can connect to. For an outline of the way music distribution is developing see this previous blog entry here http://crtunnard.blogspot.de/2012/12/how-social-media-has-revolutionized.html.

Mal

Spoilers! or Does the Mousetrap still work in the age of Social Networks?

Agatha Christie’s famous play continues to enjoy its record breaking run of 62 years (and counting) in London’s West End partially because of the now mythical request the cast puts to the audience after every performance: "Please keep the Whodunnit a secret". Of course you can find out who done it by reading the story or listening to the audioplay but most will be able to enjoy the play without knowing that the murderer of course is… (Ha! Had you there J )

Now, how does something like this work in social media – you can’t control it, right? If we’re looking at TV series or movies, with different air dates around the world but one internet it is easy to spoil the fun for others. This is particularly true for pre-screenings where TV networks and film distributors have to walk the fine line of promoting their product but also guarding against secrets being disseminated and stopping people from watching. I still hold a grudge against Spiegel Online for spoiling John Harrison's true identity (Trekkies know what I'm on about).

The linked article describes the ingenious way in which the BBC approached this task before Doctor Who’s 7^th season. I hope that you may find it interesting, it describes what I (and the author) think is a pretty smart way of using social networks for marketing without spoilers. It also has Doctor Who in it. What is not to love about that?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2012/08/25/trusting-social-media-and-the-asylum-of-doctor-who-fans/

HHL’s resident Whovian

Helen (M14)

Enjoying Professor’s Tunnard’s class? 

Worried about the debate on Monday? 

Like George Orwell?

Read “The Circle,” by Dave Eggers (Oct., 2013), and read it now. Imagine if Prof. Tunnard’s “headlines” from 2022 actually happened. What if one social network ascended to such a prominent role in the global society, that it actually began to define that society.?

That’s what the Circle is about. It’s a dystopian novel of how social network domination could happen, and what it would look like. The story follows a new hire at “The Circle” (a firm based in Silicon Valley, of course), and how her understanding of her role and her company’s role in the world changes as she advances in the company.

There’s person-cams. There’s drones. There’s free lunch. And there’s some great slogans like "sharing is caring," "secrets are lies," and "privacy is theft."

This book will definitely help those who are picked for the “social networks WILL drive companies”-side of the debate, and it brings up a lot of relevant concerns to what that would mean.

http://www.amazon.de/The-Circle-Dave-Eggers/dp/0385351399/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389270107&sr=8-1&keywords=dave+eggers

Enjoy!

Procrastination and Multitasking

While I am in class, I wonder whether being on facebook and twitter at the same time will influence my acedemic performance. Actually, one of my new years' resolutions is to be LESS involved with multitasking (listening, taking notes, communicating on facebook, texting, emailing etc) during class and be present not only physically. I try to turn off my laptop, put away my phone (while continuously catching myself reaching into my bag to see whether theres a message....I think people know what I am talking about) while I am in class. However, for SNA it's really tempting to want to do exactly what I think is impairing with my goal to turn everything off, and yes, I am still listening to Prof. Tunnard right now.

So, I was interested whether there are any studies out there and I found one and here it is:
http://www.academia.edu/1810511/Negative_impact_of_social_networking_sites_on_academic_performance_of_students

It seems that the resulting procrastination deriving from dozing off via social networks has an overall impact on academic performance in the long run.

Take a look at it for yourself and enjoy!

Isabell (HHL M14)

Here's the #hhlp9 network, one day later. Need to get more people tweeting the hashtag so it will be picked up

here's yesterdays image--the first one. Not bad or a start

Need Social Network Analysis mapping tools for German SM sites

Has anyone found tools to do network maps of Xing and Studivz?

HHL is Tweeting

The P9 class is helping me do a social network analysis experiment. If you want to join in, just tweet using the hashtag #hhlP9.