Social Networking Technologies - Another Point of View

As everybody is talking more and more about social networks and how important they are for the humanity as well as for businesses, it is necessary to keep the need of adapting technologies in your mind, as well.

There are two main possibilities to socialize with each other either on an internet basis or face to face. When doing it the old fashioned way, you don’t rely on technologies. You just meet for a coffee or have a normal business meeting in the office and talk to each other. But nevertheless, the demand of having globalized networks becomes more and more important. You have to have telephone conferences or video meetings with other offices of your company or your customer through the whole world. Hence, you are depending on technologies like the newest telephone system or servers for your company computer network for virtual community.

When searching for information regarding social network technologies, you mostly end up finding interesting things like the article of:

“Social Networking Technologies: A “Poke“ for Campus Services” of Joanne Berg, Lori Berquam, and Kathy Christoph, published in EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, no. 2 (March/April 2007). The article deals with social technologies as a new strategy to communication on campus between students and academic services to simplify it and to provide a host for e-learning and campus activities, etc. The authors claim that it is necessary to identify good opportunities and to use them in a high educated world to get things changed. Furthermore, this article describes how they installed the social network technology at their campus in Winsconsin-Madison, USA.

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume42/SocialNetworkingTechnologiesAP/158119

„Social Networking 3.0“ of Wade Roush, published in Technology Review (November 18, 2005). The second interesting article describes some of the most famous networking technologies like LinkedIn and why they would have won the competition for "Internet Buzzword of the Year," if such a price would be regarded. The authors describe that supplementing one's everyday, real-life interactions with virtual ones through social-networking sites simply adds to the overstimulation. Additionally, they think that a membership in an online social network may replace the traditional belonging to a organization like the Boy Scouts or the local Neighborhood Watch in future.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/15908/

While still searching through the world wide web, I could not find something about the technology your computer is relying on when talking about latest social network technologies. Maybe it is due to my background that I expected real technology behind the meaning of social networking technologies in the beginning. But you have to dig much deeper into the ground to find information regarding these issues. Never forget that your nice and shiny laptop in front of you consists of the state of the art technology. The reason why you are able to use the normally described social network technologies is this device together with your internet connection. And what is true for the private is valid for the business world as well. The higher the demand of creating knowledge and sharing knowledge for a business is, the more important it is to have fast and safe tool to use for this purpose.

To achieve the necessary data velocity in the internet and to cover the flood of information exchange a further development of the semiconductor industry is unavoidable. According to Moore’s Law the data density doubles every 18 month. Thus, the structure size of the semiconductor chip of your needed networking tools has to get smaller and smaller. To achieve this request, the technology behind this structuring has to work on the edge of technology and to improve further.

Please, have a look on how this is done by reading the following articles of ASML, one of the world's leading providers of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or microchips:

„EUV Lithography: The next generation” of ASML, published 2005/06/01. With this draft a customer friendly way was chosen to explain how the new lithography technology is working to produce. In addition, it is described what challenges (new light sources, adaption of a whole industry) are still in front of us to meet the demand of us customers.

http://www.asml.com/asml/show.do?ctx=13559&rid=14010

“Enhancing hard disk drives with ASML technology” of ASML, published 2009/06/09. The second article of ASML tells a story about the enhancement of hard disk drives. Here, they explain their progress in developing a niche product in their product portfolio by working close with customers and engineers.

http://www.asml.com/asml/show.do?ctx=13559&rid=38726

By choosing these two articles, I hope that I have not bothered you too much with technology slang. Furthermore, I wanted to give you a start point for further research if you are more interest to know why you are able to social network at all.

In a nutshell: When computer networks link people as well as machines, they become social networks, as already Barry Wellman, Janet Salaff, Dimitrina Dimitrova, Laura Garton, Milena Gulia, and Caroline Haythornthwaite said in their article “Computer Networks as Social Networks: Collaborative Work, Telework, and Virtual Community”.

http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146%2Fannurev.soc.22.1.213

Such computer-supported social networks (CSSNs) are becoming important bases of virtual communities, computer-supported cooperative work, and telework. Thus, if businesses try to be successfully in future social networks are the business drivers as already posted by Lennart Bösch in this blog. But be successfully means also to have access to the newest and best technologies to be time efficient for instant. In my opinion, it is necessary to follow not only the latest trends in social networking but also to consider the latest technology developments behind it. Thus, you already know what to look for when installing a computer-supported social network in your business or organization.

And by the way, forcing a company to develop new technologies means also to install new social networks due to collaborations with research institutes and new suppliers, for example.

Man Runs But Can't Hide from Social Networks

You know I really wanted to write about memes. I've been talking about memes to all my friends and I figured I could find a way to tie the memes in culture to the internet memes and then to the memes in business and show how concepts (memes) propagate through social networks in the business world...Maybe even make my own LOLcat photo to drive the point home...

Then I got sidetracked by this story:

http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/11/ff_vanish2/

That I found on this website:

http://gizmodo.com/5409785/how-do-you-hide-from-the-internet

What interested me was the result (perhaps unintended) of how well networking and utilizing the social networking sites on the internet worked to achieve a common goal with people who had no previous social connection and have never, and probably will never meet each other in person.

The story in a nutshell is that someone attempted to "disappear" in today's highly networked society. Wired Magazine offered a reward if someone, anyone could track down Evan Ratliff in less than 30 days while he hid in plain sight with a new fake identity. While extremely engaging and entertaining as a story what drew my attention in the article was how quickly, in just a matter of weeks, several huge integrated and fairly organized networks arose to track and hunt down Mr. Ratliff.

People all over the U.S. who had no ties to one another worked together, shared information and speculated on where Ratliff was, how he was hiding, and how to "capture" him.

Although personally I'm fighting the pressure to join the Twitter-azzi I could see in the article the immediate benefit of utilizing twitter to inform co-workers (co-conspirators?) of progress made during the day.

Facebook groups were made and joined, a wiki grew and blogs and websites sprang up to disseminate and coordinate information about Even Ratliff.

http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/11/vanish-the-hunters

How well would this system work in actually finding people who are missing or running from the law?

A quick google shows that Australian police are broadcasting wanted photos and videos through Twitter and YouTube in order to help capture fugitives and we know from experience that photos of missing people and fugitives are routinely shown on local news channels to help locate them.

But if Wired hadn't offered a reward would people have spent so much of their free time tracking Evan Ratliff down? Several people involved in the "hunt" mentioned that they started getting interested more for the challenge than for the reward and we learned that the reward money ultimately was donated so perhaps the monetary incentive was not the overriding one in this case.

But would people be willing to devote the same time and energy to more serious endeavors like finding some of the children who go missing every year?

There are websites online devoted to recovering missing children and they have modest success rates yet the coordination between people on a national scale as seen in the Wired challenge has not occurred. Is it possible? Are people willing? I'm not sure on either point.

In summery the power and ability of people to use networking to accomplish goals is not in doubt and stories like the Ratliff hunt only seem to highlight the perception that these sites online might offer a tremendous tool. The question is then how can someone tap into these networks in a sustainable way to use this amazing system?

-Jared Cardon

Social Networking & Storytelling

My eyes tend to glaze over whenever I see a new article on the imminent death of print media, but recently I read an interesting variation on the theme. In a Times article, Ben Macintyre argues that the internet is burying the art of storytelling right alongside the newspaper.

The basic argument is that the internet has damaged our ability to read. By reducing our inputs of information to staccato bursts of text, the internet has trained us to skim and skip. The thought of an uninterrupted stretch of text with no weblinks to escape through has become unbearable; we crave the instant gratification of knowledge and no longer possess the patience to wade through a novel, savoring the slow reveal. Though Macintyre doesn’t call out social networking by name, it’s clear that he views social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as particularly culpable.

The menace is two-fold. Firstly, social networking sites are an endless source of distraction. By allowing users to effortlessly socialize from their bedrooms, social networking sites (and more broadly the internet) have robbed us of the uninterrupted time and patience for deep reading. Secondly, and perhaps more worryingly, Facebook and Twitter with their short-format wallposts and tweets, have changed the way we read. We have come to expect our stories short and snappy in 140 characters or less. But novels, routinely stretching past 140 pages, still have the temerity to place high demands on our time and attention. And so Macintyre concludes that story-telling in general, and the long-form story in particular, has a rapidly dwindling shelf-life: “Like some endangered species, the story now needs defending from the threat of extinction in a radically changed and inhospitable digital environment.”

Though Macintyre makes some points I am sympathetic with, his hyperbolic style and extreme position (“The Internet is Killing Storytelling”) undermines the importance of his observations. Social networking sites have had a fascinating effect on the way people transfer information, and it is definitely worth exploring the ramifications these changes have had on story-telling. But to declare the coming death of story-telling puts him squarely in the camp of cranks who foretold cultural doom when the printing press, electricity, radio, and television were first invented. It is shortsighted to claim that a change in the way we read and write could endanger story-telling, given that storytelling predates written language many millennia.

Taking a more balanced approach to the subject is Nicholas Carr’s Atlantic article Is Google Making us Stupid? Carr expresses the same doubts as Macintyre, but acknowledges the long history of similar technological developments and the people who opposed them. Even Plato, in the Phaedrus, complained that the written word would make people more forgetful.

Similarly, Joel Achenbach, in a Washington Post article, takes a more thoughtful look at the relationship between the internet and storytelling. He argues that the internet has made it more difficult for a long-form story to succeed, but that this will not harm storytelling so much as raise the standards for storytellers. To succeed in the harsher environment of shortened attention spans and competing distractions, storytellers have to sharpen their skills and stick to the point. The result is a leaner, more streamlined version of the story.

I found Achenbach’s take more convincing: the internet, and social networking sites in particular, represent a fundamental change in the way media is presented. When our reading choices are strongly influenced by articles our friends have linked to on Twitter or Facebook, or by online aggregators, writers who want to go viral need to carefully craft their stories. When your story has to compete against a sea of distractions in the form of tweets, blog posts, emails, and facebook posts, only the sharpest long-form stories can succeed. Still, both articles bring up some interesting questions, especially with regard to the future of storytelling.

There’s no doubt that storytelling will survive, but how will the novel as a form be influenced by the internet? Will a new dominant form of narrative arise? How have social networking sites affected the narrative structure and spread of gossip? And can social networking sites aid the process of storytelling?

1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article6903537.ece

2. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102804896_pf.html

4. http://professionalstoryteller.ning.com/

How Social Networks makes us more sociable!

A famous study published in 2006 by the American Sociological Review[1] stated that people had an ever smaller circle of people with whom they could discuss important things. In 2006, 80% of respondents said they confide only to their families whereas 20 years ago the figure was just 56%. Of course the mainstream media rushed to blame the internet and social networks for killing relationships between people. Hollywood has begun to develop disaster scenarios where people ony talk through avatars or clones, and only Bruce Willis can save the humanity.

Another study[2] from November 2009 published by the Pew Internet Center, an American "fact thank", explains that the people who can discuss important matters with an extensive and varied networks are also fans of internet and mobile phones. The study shows that regular users of online social networks like Facebook or Twitter, are more likely to communicate with people from different social classes, different backgrounds ... and so they have more ties, outside their families, within their network (15% for fans of internet and 19% for the followers of instant messaging).

The finding is the same for the mobile phone: regular users have more relatives (+15%) and friends (25%) to confide in than non-regular users. And their real-life contacts are still more important than virtual contacts: on average, they meet their friends 210 days a year, call them 195 days a year, send them Text Messages 125 days a year, send them emails 72 days per year and contact them by instant messaging 55 days per year. Contacts through social networks are made only 39 days per year.

The emergence of new trends like Real Time Web or Location Based Social Networks does not contradict these results, quite the contrary. The study also showed that Internet addicts and social networks did not remain hidden behind their screens at home with headphones and a can of Coke, but used the Internet in public places (parks, cafes, restaurants). They are just as likely to meet their neighbors and friends as the contemplative philosopher with his book. The only difference is that they use internet as a real time means to keep in touch with their mates or their followers, something they could not do before.

It has nothing to do with an alleged deterioration of relationships between people, it is simply the birth of a new form of communication that did not exist before and which perfectly complements the traditional way of interacting with others.

Romain David

---

[1] McPherson, Smith-Lovin and Brashears: Social Isolation in America : Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades, American Sociological Review (2006) http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/June06ASRFeature.pdf

[2] Hampton, Sessions and Ja Her, Social Isolation and New Technology, the Pew internet & American Life Project (2009) http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/18--Social-Isolation-and-New-Technology.aspx

Should Germany do the same as China and Vietnam and shut down Facebook?

It all started when I read a quite sarcastic article on the webpage of Financial Times Deutschland that is called “Shut down Facebook”.

http://www.ftd.de/it-medien/medien-internet/:das-letzte-schaltet-facebook-ab/50038759.html

Apparantly, the Chinese government is blocking Facebook since July this year and also for people in Vietnam it is getting more and more difficult to access the webpage. And the Financial Times journalist thinks it is a fabulous idea and the only way to protect people from dumbing down (“Volksverdummung”), because nobody needs to know either when your friend is “off to bed” or the advice from Dr. Toast. Furthermore, the suspicion was raised that it was China itself who invented Facebook to stop the rest of the world from being economically productive. A great explanation of the fact why China is on the way to become the next superpower and why Vietnam is in a phase of economic revival.

Well, we all lerned in class that social networks like Facebook are useful when you are looking for a job or want to stay in touch with people. On the other hand, the great impact on our behaviour has been shown and it is a great way for any company, enterpreneur or even politican to be in a dialogue with potential and actual clients or voters. I found a nice article about that topic using HHL’s database Business Source Complete (Ebsco) that was published in a Journal called Accounting Today. It is called “The social networking revolution - You can't afford to ignore social media” and talks mainly about the benefits of Social Media Marketing.

This part is perfectly clear to me, but still I had the question in my mind if people who are using Facebook are really enjoying any benefits or just wasting their time. Personally, I consider it more as entertainment. If I have time, i check my account, if not that’s fine too. But a lot of people are different. Especially my Facebook friends who have a job and are not students are online all the time. How is that possible? And could they be more successful in their jobs if they were not online the whole day and comment everything? Luckily the Finacial Times article provided a little hint that a new survey has provided evidence to the hypothesis: who is not on facebook is more successful in his job.

Consequently, my next step was to look for that study. And it was quite easy to find more information about it. I can recommend the article that was published by the Welt, another big German newspaper.

http://www.welt.de/webwelt/article5187737/Facebook-Verweigerer-sind-erfolgreicher-im-Job.html

The psychologic institute of the University of Zurich conducted a study with 1,000 participants and came to the conclusion that people who are not on Facebook enjoy a better mental health, are more conscientious and focused as well as more successful in their working life. Another survey of the San Diego University came to the result that more that 57% of the US college students confessed that they are members of social networks to get attention, because of self expression and narcissism.

To refer back to the Financial Times article, maybe there are some right points besides the ironic criticism of Facebook. Maybe Germany could improve its economic productivity by shutting down Facebook or at least blocking it at the workplace. Then we would all be more successful in our jobs and contribute something to overcome the current economic crisis.

What would Mrs. Merkel think about that?

Kristin Büttner(M10)

Risks of Social Networks for Companies

After scanning some websites on the internet and after reading the blog contents so far I tried to find more about the risks of social networking tools especially for companies of a large size. In order to determine if the social networking is really such a big thing for companies I searched for some studies or surveys which would prove this fact beyond the presented articles on the blog. There I found a survey conducted among German companies. That shows that companies are willing to use social networking tools:

http://www.compliance-magazin.de/markt/studien/novell130608.html

The main aim is to improve team work productivity among their employees. The number of those companies is constantly growing and the usage of blogs, wikis, instant messaging tools etc. is a becoming a common thing. Further on it states that many firms are focusing on solutions which seem to be cost efficient like databases for knowledge management or document management tools.
Many of those applications which are already available on the web seem to be a risk for companies. First there are the risks from inside with information outflow via blogs, twitter, etc. No firewall or further means can stop employees from using those networks to chat about company’s performance if for example the company is going through hard times with expected layoffs or other negative consequences for the employees. Or workers could take “revenge” on their supervisors via blog entries after receiving negative performance evaluations. The following article focuses on those risks for the companies:

http://www.hrhero.com/hl/092509-social-networking.html?TOPIC

Additionally, as the following article from the Forbes magazine shows social networks like Xing, LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebooks, etc., are gateways for hackers or intruders willing to harm the businesses. The following article shows the described problem:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/13/social-network-security-technology-cio-network-social-network.html

Risks from inside and from outside through new social networks tools seem to be a serious concern for businesses. Unintended communication with the global communities without any coordination from the top management and threats from competitors willing to use the available information on social networking websites are a major problem. Nevertheless the trend is laid, and companies are trying out new ways in how to improve their performance by the usage of the available social networking technologies.

The sources I used for my blog entry are the well known Forbes Magazine, the Compliance Magazine, which is a major German publication on Governance, Risk and Compliance issues and the HR-Hero.com website. This homepage is an information source for HR legal issues and is a portal from a law firm in West Virginia. Especially this page is very interesting because it has very defensive point of view on the social networks in terms of employee laws and also highlights the problems companies have to cope with.

Karol Ceynowa (M10)

Social Media Marketing?

Here's a short White Paper by my friend and colleague Steve Hurley on how marketers can use social media.  Will this be the norm in 2020?

Socializing Solutions

Cyber Bullying on Social Networking Websites:

This week, November 16th - 20th, is the National Anti-Bullying week and the major theme for the 2009 campaign is "Cyber-bullying." Bullying that has been an on-going issue on school playgrounds has lead to a wider opportunity for bullying; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through various technologies. Cyber-bullying is where children and teenagers use electronic means of communication, such as text messaging, email, social networking sites, and web pages to threaten, harass, humiliate, and embarrass another peer. A 2003-04 survey conducted by i-Safe America shows 1 in 4 students have been bullied online more than once. There have been a few cases around the world in recent years where children have committed suicide instigated through cyber-bullying. The question is debated about who's responsibility is it for preventing cyber-bullying?

In the article by Katie Rock, "MySpace Suicide Sparks Debate on Cyber-Bullying Law," it is stated that social networking sites need to invest in social responsibility to prevent its users from experiencing bullying online. Sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter need to be regulated by the creators in order to protect its users. In recent news, social networking websites are being criticized to create a safe environment and play a proactive role in assuring the safety of children when using their sites. Internet analyst, Jesse Hirsh states, "there is the issue of legislation in terms of the tools for law enforcement, but there is also the responsibility of these online environments to really protect their customers."

I agree, that social networking websites have a responsibility to regulate and monitor in order to keep the young users safe from cyber-bullying. Recently Bebo, a social networking website created in 2005, adopted the help button "for children to report concerns about grooming and bullying" (BBC News, 2009). Other social networking sites have take simple measures to report abuse online, but there has been no further initiative.

It is debated that the responsibility of children's safety on social networking websites should be monitored by their parents. Parents need to be aware of what is going on in their child's life, and have open communication; playing a proactive role in their child's social life. "The First Amendment grants the freedom of speech, but parents have the authority to educate their children about acceptable behavior, both live and online," (Tammy Andrew, 2009).

In my opinion, it is right to say that it is 100% parents responsibility to make sure that their child is safe and behaving well towards others. It is up to the social networking website companies what initiatives they want to carry out, either just complying with the law or contributing more to the society by continuously improving measures to prevent such unsafe environments for young users online.

Written by: Gursatbir (Poonam) Gill

Sources:

- Katie Rock, "MySpace suicide sparks debate on cyber-bullying law." National Post, 2008.
- BBC News, "Network sites need help buttons." 2009.
- Tammy Andrew, "Cyberbullying and Freedom of Speech." Suite101, 2009.
- iSafe: Cyber Bullying: Statistics and Tips

Facebook cemetery coming soon?

While trying to find an interesting topic to blog about I did some reading on many different subjects and issues ranging from new technologies like wireless electricity, to revolutionizing business models where banking (making payments, sending and receiving money) is conducted through a simple SMS message in Africa, to how social collaboration has been used to undertake complex projects like NASA space exploration.

However, after accidentally entering a forum on the internet where a lot of people had criticized Facebook for some recent-made changes to their site (Facebook calls them improvements--?) and since most (if not all) the people in the class are Facebook users I ended up choosing a seemingly more trivial but also more generally interesting topic (in the sense that it might affect and thus interest a broader number of classmates).

At the end of October Facebook introduced new types of “suggestions” which appear on the right-hand side of the home page and remind you to take some sort of action with your Facebook friends that haven’t used the site for a while or haven’t been very active. The profile picture of one of your friends appears and a message recommends you to do things like suggest friends to this person or write on his or her wall. Considering that, according to Facebook´s founder Mark Zuckerberg’s blog, by mid September of this year the service had reached 300 million users worldwide and the fact that the site is approaching its 6th birthday on February 4th 2010, there are an ever increasing number of Facebook members who have, during this time, passed away and whose profiles are still “floating” around the site.

The problems and complaints started to arise in various sites and internet forums when these new “suggestions” started popping up in people’s facebook home pages, recommending them to interact with deceased friends or family members.

According to a recent blog post by Max Kelly, the head of security at Facebook, they “understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them” and that is why Facebook encourages friends or relatives to contact the site in such cases to have the profile of the deceased person “memorialized”. Once the account is memorialized, people will no longer see that person appear in their Suggestions. Other changes would also be undertaken by Facebook to protect the deceased’s privacy while still allowing friends and family to view photos and leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance. Some people are already calling this Facebook’s virtual cemetery and in the future it might become yet another possible source of income for the company. In the beginning it might be through advertisement (for example flower shops offering delivery on the pages of people recently deceased) but later they could start charging for the space like any private cemetery. If you want your remains stored there (your virtual remains that is, or your profile to remain visible) after you pass away … you might end up having to pay for it...

On a last comment, it is important to note that some of this modern, hugely successful companies and technologies like Facebook are so recent that they still haven’t fully understood how to deal with some very important issues like user privacy or the complex impact they have on people’s relations. For them (the companies) as well as for us (the users), it’s still largely an on-going and exciting learning process.

Mark Zuckerberg’s blog: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?blog_id=company&blogger=4
Max Kelly’ blog: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?blog_id=company&blogger=190200044

The new post-Weber, post-Ford organizational model

Isn't this perfect timing?  Just after I talked to you all about how company structures are changing as SNA becomes a widely-used tool of analyzing organizations,along comes a very interesting (and readable) article on how SNA fits into the so-called post-Fordist world.  Ford's ideal of vehicles being mindlessly assembled in long lines of repetitive tasks has had a long run, but is it over?  Only the debate will tell us!

Here's the link:
SNA and new organizational models

THE HIDDEN POWER OF SOCIAL NETWORKS - GETTING ON TRACK OF HOW SOCIAL NETWORKS WORK.

Dear classmates,

it was an exiting and interesting journey that has led me to the following website which is the final result of my search: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/08/social.networks.connected/index.html.

The site provides insight into the power of social networks and the magnitude of the subconcious impact those sides have on us. YES, ON YOU, TOO!

But let me start at the beginning of my journey rather than the end. I read an article in the financial times that Barack Obama used an innovative social network strategy to raise funds of record size, win over and mobilize young voters, and engage in a campaign with such a hugh success that this circumstance will change the way social networks will be used in the future. I included several of those links, if you are interested to read more about it. But this is NOT what the link above is about!!! (For instance, an article of the New York times, Washington Post, and the INSEAD Knowledge website. The latter is an organization that cooperates with the famous INSEAD institute. See links below!)

When reading those articles, I asked myself, do social networks really have such a high impact on us and how strong is this impact?

Again, I used google search entering 'social network + politics' and I stumbled across the link mentioned in the very beginning (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/08/social.networks.connected/index.html.)

This link brings you to the CNN website reporting on social networks and the effects of internet plattforms such as facebook and twitter on our daily behavior. Amazingly, it shows how the opinion of a single person can create a new accepted standard among members of a group connected to this person. The acceptance of the new standard can lead to tremendous effects on every member. The examples used in this article are those of obesity, epidemic of diseases and many more. I can only ask you to have a look yourself AND also to click on links provided within the articles and to use the video and slideshow option, as well. It is really worth looking at! In addition, see the link to the book 'connected' of Havard Professor N. Christakis and Associate Professor J. Fowler of the university of California. (http://connectedthebook.com/index.html). EXTRAORDINARY!

How does this information help? Understanding how social networks work, can help in many ways. The author provides several examples of how social networking can bring small groups together to protect their interests, how detecting sources prevent the spread of epidemic diseases and how to protect young people from creating an unhealthy body image.

In business the first principle can be applied. Currently, companies of a certain industry are represented by unions to protect their interests against goverments. The problem is that the bigger the company, the more they pay to unions and the better they are represented. Conflicts of interests between smaller and bigger companies are seldom addressed. The bigger companies mainly win. An internet based network could provide a totally new approach to the way smaller companies are represented in the future. A well organized network could result in a dispensibility of unions and companies can fight for their interests themselves without the bias of unions.

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Ben Neumann (M 10)

Obama's social network:

1. New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/technology/09iht-carr.1.17652000.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2;

2. Washington Post http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2007/10/06/barack_obama_social_networking.html;

3. Insead Knowledge http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/HowObamausedsocialnetworkingtowin090709.cfm]

Dates from social network pinched, but nevertheless the user's rates rise!

Hi all,

after I have studied a few web sites, I found an interesting article on the homepage of the FTD. The article with the following link is about social networks and their security and can be found in the Financial Times Germany from the 28^th of October 2009.

http://www.ftd.de/it-medien/medien-internet/:soziale-netzwerke-hacker-stiehlt-daten-von-schueler-vz/50029390.html

It is incredible, that within a few weeks a second dates theft happened at the famous VZ-networks in Germany. A hacker had stolen over 100.000 dates of the schülerVZ network and sent this information to a public institute. However it was the first time that complete private information, which is only visible for you and your friends, was spied out.

Consequently I thought that the user rate of such social networks would now decline or the increase would be flatter. On the contrary the popularity of social networks reached a new record with 24.6 million active users per month. These are 3.6 million people more, than a year before. Remarkable is the increase in the user’s figures at Facebook. This network tripled the amount of accounts in Germany during the last year.

I am really astonished that it is possible to get all this information. I believed that the operators learnt out of the first attack, what to improve and where the gaps are. I had a profile at studiVZ, but I extinguished it during the last days. Additionally it is very common in Germany that people in human research and recruiting departments of companies try to find your profile and get further information about your behavior, hobbies and friends. I knew this from a friend, how worked for several months in the HR department of a car manufacturer. There are also several articles written about this topic in the FTD, see for instance http://www.ftd.de/karriere-management/karriere/:spuren-im-netz-partybilder-bringen-bewerber-in-bredouille/556430.html

So pay attention, what you include in your profile and to which pictures you are linked ;-)

Have fun!

Latest from the New York Times

Check out these SN stories from today's New York Times.

I'm Innocent. Just Check my Status on Facebook (Facebook as alibi in a criminal trial)

Clicking for a Cause (Social Media and Charitable Giving)

How to Market Your (small) Business With Facebook

Auf wiedersehen, and an interesting video

Dear All,

I had a great three days, thanks to your interest and energy.  I'm looking forward to seeing your blog posts.

If anyone want a short informative history of how the Internet developed, click on this link someone sent me just today  .http://vimeo.com/2696386

Bis Januar,
Prof. T.

Hello M10 Class

Welcome to the Social Networks in Business course blog. More information to come.
Prof. Tunnard

Interesting article on Facebook, Journalism, and Trust

I find this thought-provoking. Click on the headline to read.

Winter greetings to all in M9,
Prof. Tunnard

Our Course in the Press

In WiWi

http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=wrdfgt#/page42/

and FT Deutschland

http://www.ftd.de/karriere_management/karriere/:Manager-Fortbildung-HHL-mit-Networking-Kurs/446341.html

Social Networks and Corporate Governance

Hi All,

I have studied financial journals and found one interesting article about the SN and Corporate Governance in modern world. Here is the abstract:

We analyze frameworks that link corporate governance and firm values to governing boards' social network and innovations in technology. Because agents create social networks with individuals with whom they share commonalities along the dimensions of social status and income, among other attributes. CEOs may participate in board members' social networks which interferes with the quality of governance. At the same time, social connections with members of a board can allow for better evaluation of the members' abilities. Thus, in choosing whether to have board members with social ties to management, one must trade off the benefit of members successfully identifying high ability CEOs against the cost of inadequate monitoring due to social connections. Further, technologies like the Internet and electronic mail that reduce the extent of face-to-face networking cause agents to seek satisfaction of their social nee& at the workplace, which exacerbates the impact of social network on governance. The predictions of our model are consistent with recent episodes that appear to signify inadequate monitoring of corporate disclosures as well as with high levels of executive compensation. Additionally, empirical tests support the model’s key implication that there is better governance and lower executive compensation in firms where networks are less likely to form.

The article can be found in our library in the European Financial Management Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2008, pp. 633-662. The author is Avanidhar Subrahmanyam.

Good luck.

Facebook and Google are tearing down walls between homepages

Dear all,

have a look at these two new tools developed by google and facebook:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/google-friend-connect-now-available.html

http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=174

Both projects aim on making the SN of their pages available all through the net, meaning that you can change your information on other websites by just logging in to google or facebook. Seems to be an interesting step into a more connected information exchange. So be careful which pictures of us you put on your accounts :-)

ps: sorry, for some reason I can't make the links clickable...

Share the Joy!

Best wishes for the Holidays--all of them (Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas.) Click on the headline to see how to celebrate it with your social network.