Not too long ago, getting news depended upon your daily newspaper and your dose of magazines and TV. If you had an opinion to share with the rest of the community, you rarely did get the opportunity unless of course you were part of the media elite or a revered critic in your own right. For the less influential though, projecting their take on an issue was a distant dream, yet. The established media had its own notions about letting the common man have his say – carefully guarded procedures and a wary control over public opinion meant that an outsider rarely made a mark on the literary scene.
Rise of Social Media
Well, the Internet changed all that. The marked media-shift has been born of nothing less than sustained efforts to change the way the world shares news. It’s no more the sole prerogative of the choicest few; information now flows instantaneously across the globe. The age of the Web 2.0 has finally arrived and is here to stay. You, the layman, can now not only write on topics close to your heart but can be heard and judged an expert if you have adequate following. Sites from Wikipedia and Slashdot to even Google count on the web savvy to become authoritative sources on a given subject. From Google’s revolutionary PageRank methodology to sites such as Alexa that work at par, tracking website growth and credibility has become as important as building them.
The cyber world is as chaotic as it can get, but with the advent of social networking things have become a whole new ball game altogether. From My Space to Facebook and Orkut, keeping in touch is vogue. It’s no more the time of exchanging boring emails, what with sites that allow interaction with the global community. The world never got any smaller. Open source portals have given way to a community that adds to a site’s content sans an editor. The arrival of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has been a mere preliminary. The Internet has undergone a revolution no less.
The Self-Contained Ecosystem
The evolution of other sites such as Digg and Reddit will be a precursor of things to come. ‘Digg’, was in that way a pioneer in evolving the global wired society by offering a social networking portal that catered to a diverse range of netizens. Digg allows upload of content with a voting interface and you may soon find yourself on the best seller’s list. The site relies on its users to play the ‘good sheriff’.
This means that there is in essence a self-regulated team wherein the ‘bad apples’ are voted out, after having said their piece. One can see social networking sites such as Digg encompass activities including private networks, iPhone and geography tracking and streaming live video. Why, you can even check on the whereabouts of your friends, children and family members with GPS tracking and mobile number tracking through the sites. Social lending is also catching up in a big way from Zopa, based in the UK, to Prosper, which is well known in the States.
In fact, one of the factors in Barack Obama’s successful democratic presidential nomination was his recognition and ability to ‘digg’ in to the social networking sites, raising his profile to even reach every individual in America. Digg and other such sites is a valuable contributor to the cause of Democracy - it defends the Freedom of Speech and this means one need not cower down to institutional or corporate pressures to temper the content that is posted.
Building Relationships
As with all human activity and commerce, the element of trust is the key to social networking. Development of trust leads to enhancement of human relationships and the society in general. Even the concept of streaming live videos is not just entertainment but can be construed as an effort to build trust - the very idea of being able to see someone live goes a long way in building interpersonal relationships.
In the age of frequent scamming, that is part of Internet commerce, social networking is fast becoming the unforeseen billion-dollar industry. Social networking sites, without doubt, add to the burgeoning trade and financial transactions over the net. With their niche products and clubs, like-minded people can now freely converse and interact to add to their collective security.
And then, there is, like in anything else, a caveat. Indeed, social networking needs to be employed with due caution – the good and the bad exists everywhere including the cyberspace. Learning to use the freedom responsibly is a priceless suggestion one would do well to heed. Sharing personal information sensibly is a prudent choice to make. There is however, no doubt that social networking sites are here to stay, and are indisputable leaders in making the cyberspace a global community in every sense of the word.
Rise of Social Media
Well, the Internet changed all that. The marked media-shift has been born of nothing less than sustained efforts to change the way the world shares news. It’s no more the sole prerogative of the choicest few; information now flows instantaneously across the globe. The age of the Web 2.0 has finally arrived and is here to stay. You, the layman, can now not only write on topics close to your heart but can be heard and judged an expert if you have adequate following. Sites from Wikipedia and Slashdot to even Google count on the web savvy to become authoritative sources on a given subject. From Google’s revolutionary PageRank methodology to sites such as Alexa that work at par, tracking website growth and credibility has become as important as building them.
The cyber world is as chaotic as it can get, but with the advent of social networking things have become a whole new ball game altogether. From My Space to Facebook and Orkut, keeping in touch is vogue. It’s no more the time of exchanging boring emails, what with sites that allow interaction with the global community. The world never got any smaller. Open source portals have given way to a community that adds to a site’s content sans an editor. The arrival of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has been a mere preliminary. The Internet has undergone a revolution no less.
The Self-Contained Ecosystem
The evolution of other sites such as Digg and Reddit will be a precursor of things to come. ‘Digg’, was in that way a pioneer in evolving the global wired society by offering a social networking portal that catered to a diverse range of netizens. Digg allows upload of content with a voting interface and you may soon find yourself on the best seller’s list. The site relies on its users to play the ‘good sheriff’.
This means that there is in essence a self-regulated team wherein the ‘bad apples’ are voted out, after having said their piece. One can see social networking sites such as Digg encompass activities including private networks, iPhone and geography tracking and streaming live video. Why, you can even check on the whereabouts of your friends, children and family members with GPS tracking and mobile number tracking through the sites. Social lending is also catching up in a big way from Zopa, based in the UK, to Prosper, which is well known in the States.
In fact, one of the factors in Barack Obama’s successful democratic presidential nomination was his recognition and ability to ‘digg’ in to the social networking sites, raising his profile to even reach every individual in America. Digg and other such sites is a valuable contributor to the cause of Democracy - it defends the Freedom of Speech and this means one need not cower down to institutional or corporate pressures to temper the content that is posted.
Building Relationships
As with all human activity and commerce, the element of trust is the key to social networking. Development of trust leads to enhancement of human relationships and the society in general. Even the concept of streaming live videos is not just entertainment but can be construed as an effort to build trust - the very idea of being able to see someone live goes a long way in building interpersonal relationships.
In the age of frequent scamming, that is part of Internet commerce, social networking is fast becoming the unforeseen billion-dollar industry. Social networking sites, without doubt, add to the burgeoning trade and financial transactions over the net. With their niche products and clubs, like-minded people can now freely converse and interact to add to their collective security.
And then, there is, like in anything else, a caveat. Indeed, social networking needs to be employed with due caution – the good and the bad exists everywhere including the cyberspace. Learning to use the freedom responsibly is a priceless suggestion one would do well to heed. Sharing personal information sensibly is a prudent choice to make. There is however, no doubt that social networking sites are here to stay, and are indisputable leaders in making the cyberspace a global community in every sense of the word.
Comments
Post a Comment