Hmm…I woke up this morning and realized I wont have to write another blog, but I think once you get a taste and overcome that uncomfortable stage you become more inclined to find out more about SNS and ICT and how they will be used in the future. This may be the end of 2P26 but I will be more open to micro blogging and discovering the world of new technology. Thanks for the experience it’s been great.

Future technological advancement for thought…This is not an advancement in social networks but definitely technology that is very well making the simple even simpler.

Use your hand gestures to control the television not a remote…

Throw away the traditional house key and use a digital door lock…

http://technologytoday.com/samsung-ezon-shs-1210-digital-door-lock/ http://technologytoday.com/gesturetek-could-revolutionize-remote-control-industry /

Reflecting back to FB the way I maintain my privacy would be to restrict individuals I am not close with to limited status where they can only view partial aspects of my FB where as family and peers that are close to me have full access to my profile. I do this because not everyone needs to have full access to my profile, it is mostly acquaintances that get the shaft to limited. The way I think of it is, when something really personal happens to you, you normally just tell your closet friend or family you do not personally broadcast it to the world. The people that I feel closet too are the people that I want in my life and those that are scattered off in the distance are people I will occasionally speak to but don’t place them in my personal social circle.

The information that I probably do not have access to would be anything to do with government like OSAP for instance. Yes I know the dollar amount but I’d want to know if my name pops up on their trace list of individuals that have outstanding debt.  I’d want to know what kind of financial status I am at and if I should be fleeing across the boarder anytime soon :) For the most part I never posted anything about myself online that I would not already have access too. I’m not really sure what else there could be, because products are only traced by bar code not by individual, and television goes by ratings but never who the demographic is, so I think my concern would be what kind of information the government has on me. Other than maybe my high school file, I’m sure there a few comments in there that I wouldn’t mind eliminating

The most important privacy issues that come to mind are my phone number and address. These 2 settings are important because I wouldn’t want some random person knowing my phone number or where I live. I feel that there is privacy and there is personal privacy away from the Internet. To me placing my name online would not phase me, but to have someone know my phone number and address violates my personal privacy. I consider privacy on FB as simplistic. It’s nothing extremely revealing about myself that my family, close friends and even co-workers have never seen before. That is who I am. The only information I currently share on FB, are my birthday, name, major, school, quotes, and pictures.  I share these because it reminds me of the simplistic profile of what you would put on a job application. It is not overly personal except for the pictures of course. Even my wall posts are never personal…it is more ‘hey what are you doing’ conversations or inside jokes. I know I have pictures that are tagged by others and I’m sure people that are not on my list have seen them, but I have no control over what pictures are posted of me. I don’t find it as a direct threat to my privacy though, I knew by placing pictures online my identity would not be safe because someone can easily take that photo and say it is them. I can control what I want and not want to place on FB and the many downfalls are friends posting pictures of me.  I have no control over what they are posting or who is viewing them. At the same time what fun are social networking sites if individuals have to be so conscious, formal and have that constant looking over your shoulder feeling to see who is looking at you. I think that for anyone who has Facebook wants to share their story and information with someone and those that have a problem with privacy should not have Facebook.

A lot of my searches come from Google, but the list of search words I frequently use are based on miscellaneous school assignments such as, ‘Identity’ and ‘Product Placement ‘which were most recent. I would assume that most of these searches are over the year but a few key words situated at the top of my  list are based on forensics, soccer statistics, medical research, random movies, Google map, My Little Pony(I’m a bit ashamed to mention but I had good reason for looking it up), and Zap2It T.V guide. From an outside perspective I have no idea what they would think, perhaps an active parent that is perceived as a science geek, with no sense of direction hence Google map. Those were just a few of my recent searches but they do seem pretty sporadic. I’m not sure if my search log could be considered useful information to third parties because most of my searches are all over the place. They are not consistent so I think it would be hard to obtain any kind of personal information. A third party could try to cater to what they believe are my interests, such as soccer for instance.  It is not like I search specific key words such as my surname, where I live, anything to really classify my age unless they observe ‘My Little Pony’ then I would be targeted as a 5 year old child. For the most part I would believe that from a third party perspective social networking sites like Facebook, MSN profiles, and Twitter accounts would provide a wider range of valuable personal information that can help marketers advertise to specific individuals.

The key word I choose was “Monster.”

 On Google, Yahoo & Live search engines each had Monster.ca as the first result. All the results were generally the same, but each had lists of job searches in different orders, and something called ‘Monster Cable Products’ in common. What I was expecting to find by typing ‘Monster’ into the search engines was children’s movies such as the more recent Monsters vs. Aliens and Monster Jam. However Google was the only search engine to present the Monsters vs. Alien link while Yahoo provided the link to a movie called ‘Monster.’ What I liked about Google was that they present video results in their search, which I never noticed before. Google seems to generate a variety of links that provide, text, video and picture where as Live and Yahoo only present text associated links. However what I found interesting was that Live was the only search engine to provide a consistent list of job searches along with a Wikipedia site that stated the definition of ‘Monster.’ I found this to be a bit odd because the site is based on a consistent list of job searches but then the 4^thlink down is Wikipedia’s definition of monster. I’m so used to Wikipedia being one of the first links, but it was also strange because it seemed out of place. On a positive note what I liked about these 3 search engines is that they provide ‘related searches’ at the right hand side or bottom of the page which can further help individuals find what they are looking for.

Before this class I never examined the way I used social networking sites, or how dependent social networks have become in society. What I learned most about in this course is myself and how I am no different than anyone else when it comes to utilizing the easy access of technology. One of the main things I found was that I rely on technology for a source of searching for information and circulating information at a quick speed. For example one of the first things we covered in class is how technology is convenient like ATM and self check outs at the grocery stores. I have been so used to living in a technological world that I do probably take the simplicity of Face to face interactions for granted. I learned the Internet alone has probably made me a somewhat lazier individual because with time and space I can access any information I desire and do not have to go to the library or a physical destination to acquire information. I have come to realize how dependent I am on technology to gain information for school and general everyday purposes. For example when I’m sick I search the Internet for information instead of calling a doctor.

Although the concepts that we have discussed in class seem pretty basic, by actually having to set up accounts and use different social networks actually helped me learn more about SNS. I definitely learned a lot more about Twitter. At first I had no idea what twitter was. I barely use my MSN and I thought Twitter would be another social communication network that would consume space on my desktop.  However, I found that the 140 character space is a great way to produce concise messages and give marketers and journalist easy access to portray messages to the public. With easier access to the Internet, there is always someone looking or socializing on some type of social network site.  Twitter is just another outlet to dump advertisements in, in order to reach an audience.  This helped me realize that it is hard to market to a specific audience anymore because so many individuals are constantly observing different things on the Internet that it becomes an area where marketers really have to research what social networks are most popular in order to reach an audience.  

Besides advertising purposes,  Twitter is a useful way to gain quick informational updates and various perspectives on groups that interest me. It serves as an excellent way to circulate information and entertainment value news to peers and others. In similar instances I found social bookmarking to be another useful tool to gain information. It is easy to share and obtain information, as well as surf key words for school and interest purposes to get extra insihgt on specific topics.

I thought Linked In was very useful in creating or even updating your resume.  It has a lot of useful guides that can be used in a resume such as professional experience and goals, specialties, websites, interests, groups that your involved in etc. I haven’t added any yet but I like the idea of the different applications that can be added in order to share information.  I found ’company buzz’ to be of interest to me, because it can provide me with insight on what my current job is like and what company’s  I might want to explore further before applying in the future.  A few other things I liked about LinkedIn was:

• that it formats the information automatically 
• Provides a percentage on the  right hand side for each section as well as an overall percentage of completion on the left hand side.  
• Has a news feed on your current company and other articles that you can send to co-workers.

I think I made my profile pretty public unless I clicked on something that restricted others from viewing. Right about now I think probably everything/everyone is public.  I haven’t gone through the settings yet, but I think the only reason why I would want my information public would obviously be for future employment, or recognition.

—-> my LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tracymantziouras

I commented on Youskeh blog. For some reason it would not allow me to post my comment. But the post I commented on, or tried to comment on was “Another New Tech on Cell Phone” I thought that the post was very informative in explaining and providing the new advances that are occurring in Japan. It was also helpful in providing a picture to correspond with the text. Throughout the post I thought it definitely portrayed his knowledge, curiosity and fears about technological advances in Japan. The overall tone/style is very much structured like an essay format that we are all used to, but it still provides the reader with a sense of who the author is.

Trackback: http://youskeh.blogspot.com/2009/02/another-new-tech-on-cell-phone.html 

Still having difficulties with commenting so here is my comment: “I love the way you incorporated/share new technological advances that are happening in Japan. It definitely shows your curiosity for new advancements in tech and how it can affect you back home. “

MOBLOGS: Are blog entries that are updated from a cell phone or other mobile device and then published onto a blog. Today this doesn’t sound like anything new because everyone does it. Taking pictures at social events like a concert a hockey game a party or on vacation and sending those pictures via cell phone to your blog where you can still be socially connected with friends and family back home.  It is also useful for tourists because you have easy access to cell phone where you can send pictures to your blog or even to fellow employers for business purposes. http://www.micropersuasion.com/2004/09/pr_threats_and_.html This link provides some  of the the advantages/disadvantages of Moblogging.

PHOTOBLOGS: Stepping away from the general flickr and facebook photoblogs I stumbled on a site called photobucket. The site has billions of images that individuals can comment on as well as  Moblog. Photoblogs are an easy way to share photos with others and generate feedback on what was funny, bad, good etc about it. This can work for not only potential photographers that want feedback but also in the business world. Businesses can use photoblogs to gain public opinion on what they think of the photo or how they might interpret it’s meanings. This can be useful to marketers because it lets them know first hand what works and does not work. www.photobucket.com 

VIDEOBLOGS:  The most common videoblogs I can think of are you-tube videos. You tube allows anyone to showcase their opinions, talents, concerns etc. The majority of the time it sounds like a bunch of nonsense that is not relevant but a lot of people find similar interests in what others say through videoblogs  and can further observe their favourites and past videoblogs.

AUDIOBLOGS: To me audioblogs remind me of the radio, because just like a radio we listen to it with no imagery and as individuals we can also call in and give our feedback on songs, saying it was good or bad so that radio stations know what will attract majority of target market.

Dumb & Dumber

Jackass:Shoplifter

McFuneral..lol

Family Guy

Tommy Boy

Feel free to add to the list…. Enjoy!!

I typed the word ‘soccer’ into Digg, Delicious and Diigo….and found that with Digg the majority of information was you tube videos of tricks, best penalty kicks, worst moments etc. I enjoyed Digg site the best because it was most entertaining and highlighted some really amazing talents as well as past times. I think most of all it shared a lot of my interests with freestyle soccer and infamous FIFA/Euro moments. I found Delicious and Diigo to be a bit similar because they both came up with FOX Sports, ESPN, and FIFA (no surprise with FIFA, shows up no matter what) websites. However, some of the differences were that Diigo had soccer tips, betting tips (a bit surprised on this one) as well as specific game matches. Compared to Google there was a significant difference. When I typed ’soccer’ into Google it automatically shows Canadian soccer associations and networks where as Delicious and Diigo had a variety of U.S websites. I didn’t check all the pages but from the sites that I saw on Delicious and Diigo majority were American/International bookmarks but there was nothing that stood out as Canadian. The similarities with Google were that they all contained links to FIFA.com and provided some type of news feed to soccer. The bookmarking exercise did make it useful to know that Delicious and Diigo seem to be more Americanized. Overall, soccer is an international sport so whether it is an American/Canadian website, does not really make a difference in this case. I think there is some information that can be useful but things like regional information… I wouldn’t be looking at U.S websites to get a better understanding of what is going on in my hometown….but the SB sites are excellent resource for finding information that is not always available or easy to find on sites like Google. 

Below is a clip I found off the Digg site!