Reflections on Social Networking

As I reflect back on the material that we have covered this semester, I definitely have a better appreciation on how social networking and blogs can be used for business purposes. Before this semester I considered blogs and social networking just for social purposes and casual reading. While I think that currently social networking and blogs are best used in applications that are not directly tied to business, such as socializing, political discussions, and social good/volunteerism, I do see the potential for greater uses in business.

I think as time goes on, we will see business figure out how to make better use of social networking. I see tremendous potential with sites liked LinkedIn to build business relationships with people that have a similar interest in business. While I am not bullish on the use of Second Life for business, there will definitely be business applications where virtualization will be used in the future.

I cannot foresee all of the new ways that social networking will be used in the future, but I would like to hear about the ways that you can think of.

Social Networking for Social Good

There are various ways to use social networking for social good, depending on what an individual's passion is. For example, if one is interested in helping the cause against AIDS, they can use social networking to work with other people who share the same passion, but that they might not ever meet because they live in different cities or states.

One great way to use social networking in your own neighborhood is to help elderly or other people in your neighborhood who might need help, as discussed on fatdoor. This is a great way to get linked up with people who may need help in your neighborhood, because many elderly and people who need help spend almost all of their time in their home and you do not get to meet them and find out their need for help.

The concern I have is that dishonest people could use this to get connected to people that they are supposedly helping but are really trying to take advantage of, just like some people looking to take advantage of teenagers use myspace to find out about them and connect with them. So jsut like other social networking applications this one has a disadvantages as well.

UGC Predictable trends & Suprises

The world of User Generated Content (UGC) is growing and this week's readings discuss some predictable trends and suprises.

Back in November 2006 Gemma Simpson pointed out that YouTube was the fastest growing website. This is not a suprise becuase YouTube is a fun wesite to see entertining videos and it illustrates the entertainment value of UGC.

Current TV, a venture led by Al Gore is not that popular however, this is also quite predictable. Current TV is essentially a television version of YouTube with random UGC videos playing one after another. The reason it is not successful is that the videos are not easily searched or shared, which are two things that help make YouTube successful, so I'd rather see Gore spending his time build clean energy windmills.

A suprising fact was the credibility that other place in UGC. I was suprised to find that 62 percent of IT professionals place more value on UGC than traditional sources. I find this suprisong because we do not know the credibility or the motives of the UGC poster. For example, what if my girlfirend works for HP and I try to gain points with her by making up a story about by Dell laptop bursting into flames and post it as UGC on a computer review site.

I do not disbelieve every UGC posting but never just accept it as pure fact either. So is the best way to determine the credibility of UGC is to see other people sharing similar info? If so, what is to prevent one guy from pretending to be others?

Politics and Social Networking's Minefield

While social networking can be a benefit to today's politicians, such as the example of voters using it to organize grassroots level support for Barack Obama, for most established politicians it is more of a minefield.

It is a minefield because politicians used to be able to control their message and image through the media and individual voters really did not have a forum to voice conflicting opinions. Now with social networking, the individual voter has a forum and while social networking can be used to support candidates or share positive information about them, it is negative information and criticism that will spread faster through the Internet. One piece of bad information spread through social networking can blow up and ruin a candidate's campaign, therefore it's a minefield.

An example of negative imagery spreading through social networking is a YouTube video of John Edwards getting ready for a debate. While this is not something that will ruin his campaign, it is certainly negative imagery that he would prefer not be spread through social networking. Edwards' communications manager comments that once a negative message is out there a politician and his advisors need to decide whether to try to counteract it or simply ignore it, which is often a difficult decision.

How much of an impact will social networking have on the 2008 Presidential Race?

Resumes and networking

Based on this week's readings, it looks like resumes and networking are still the keys to getting a good job. I disagree with Darowski's claim that the blog is the new resume. I think that a personal blog can supplement a resume, but not replace it. The article by Hansen descirbes how recruiters use social networking liked LinkedIn to recruit candidates from the passive job market. I can really see that this is a good use of social networking as a person will be typically be less engaged in face-to-face networking when they are in the passive job market compared to when they are actually actively looking for a job. If one does get contacted for a job through LinkedIn, their resume will be important in getting their job. So a job searcher should still focus more on their resume and networking than blogging

Online networking opportunities and limitations

In this week's reading I see the opportunities and limitations associated with online networking. If someone is an entrepeneur and is looking for other people to start a business with or connect with, I think the gobignetwork provides a good opportunity to connect with someone to then have discussions with to see if there is a common interest in moving forward.

For someone who is just trying to use online networking like linkedin.com to find a traditional job, I see limitations. As noted in one article "How does one extract strength from such weak ties?", I see online networking as always being weaker than personal networking. Someone will always steer an employer towards a candidate that they know personally over one that they just know online. Actually, I prefer it this way....if we get to the point where online networking takes precedence over personal networking, I think there will be negative consequences.

Collaboration software: Productivity enhancer or not?

In this week's readings there, two authors had very different opinions on the use of collaboration software in virtual teams. A Business Week Author wrote about the use of an online collaboration software known as Basecamp, which helped a market research company improve productivity 300% over the old way of using e-mail and telephone in virtual teams, so the article was very positive towards the use of online collaboration software/tools. In contrast, Bernie DeKoven wrote about web conferencing and how it is primarily used for meetings that are informational and political in nature, and very little real work gets done in virtual meetings, as most work takes place outside of the meeting. He did not see coworking technology tools improving productivity, as he said that most work gets done "informally, spontaneously, and most often between a few people who share a similar interest in getting something done."

While the authors have different positions, I think the reality is in the middle somewhere and will gradually move towards improved productivity through using online tools as virtual teams become more familiar with them and they become more engrained in a firm's processes. I do agree that collaborative websites like Basecamp (or Microsoft Sharepoint - that I am more familiar with) do boost the productivity of virtual teams, but 300 percent is an exaggeration and there are still times when getting things done the old way as noted by DeKoven is more appropriate. DeKoven's view on web conferencing is too narrow, in certain situations, suchas reviewing a document or strategy, these tools can be quite effective. Web conferencing tools are not as effective at boosting productivity as online colboration websites (like Sharepoint) but can boost productivity if used appropriately in my experience.