Background

With the advancement of technologies, social networking has been made more enriching. There are plenty of social networking sites out there to choose from, like MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Skype, etc. With these tools, we are able to communicate with our friends, families and loved ones even when we are apart from one another. I have friends who use it so often that they cannot be separated from their Smartphone or computers; basically they just simply cannot live without it. This is because we rely a lot on these social tools as they have enriched our lives. it is the same as your mobile phones, sometimes you feel frustrated when you forgot to bring along your mobile phones because all your schedules and contacts are stored on that phone. like the mobile phones, without the social network tools, we are unable to know what is happening to our friends, families and loved ones.

Focus

In this reflection, I will be sharing my experience on these Social Networking Software (SNS) and the importance of social networks for performing everyday tasks[1] and how these social tools impact our lives. below, I will describe some of the hands-on experience that I had with the course recommended applications, Twitter, last.fm and Foursquare, over the past few days. Twitter is new to me, as I have only used Facebook and Friendster, which is slowly fading away.

Reflection

Twitter – This is one tool that I have an account with but never really used it as people I socialise with are not on it. hence I did not have much experience on it. after using, I realised that it comes in quite handy when on the move, with the application installed on my Smartphone. You can just post anything that you want and share with others. Twitter is good for users who like to share short messages, allowing users to post shout outs which can go up to a maximum of 140 characters per post[2]. However I will not post anything that is too personal or sensitive on it has anybody who is on Twitter, including those not following me is able to see my posts. This case, I am not really comfortable with Twitter due to privacy, unless it is just some casual remarks that I do not mind the rest of the public seeing; it is also not ideal for discussing sensitive issues. Twitter will not work out well for me as most of my friends are using Facebook rather than Twitter.

Last.fm – I find this rather appealing. it uses a music recommender system called the “Scrobbles”[3], based on the types of genre the user listens to. last.fm also builds a detailed profile of each user’s musical taste and compile a list of users who have the same musical taste as the user[4]. This is also a form of social networking, which brings people of the same musical taste together. it also display information about the song that is currently playing which I thought is quite an interesting feature. I believe this will be a popular tool because everyone listens to music and this tool will enable the users to share their music with their friends.

Foursquare – This application allows users to “check-in”[5] at the locations they are at. it is fun as there are badges and “mayorships”[6] that users can collect. This form of geo-social networking[7] allows people who are around the same area to interact with one another. This tool is more useful for people who have Smartphones and data connection so that they may check-in once the system locate them.

After I came over to Australia, I realised that my Australian friends use more Skype for collaborative work. back in Singapore, we would be using MSN Messenger for such collaboration instead. I think this explains why Friendster is becoming more unpopular within my circle of friends. There is not enough supporting awareness, it was mentioned in a journal article, “…awareness maintenance and evolution can be considered a challenge“[8]. my friends moved from Frienster to Facebook as Facebook is able to offer more features than what Friendster could offer. Therefore, the choice of software that I use very much depends on the people I socialise with and on the work requirement.

Conclusion

These Social Networking Softwares have played a significant role in our lives as it is a decent and simple way to keep in touch with one another. it does not matter which social networking software we are using so long as we ourselves find it useful and people we want to socialise with are using the same software. it does not matter if people criticize them so long as the users themselves feel that the tools are effective. Ultimately, the whole idea behind these tools is to network people together, the choice is ours.

[1]  Beth E. Kolko, Erica Johnson, Emma Rose. Mobile Social Software for The Developing World. Springer Verlag. 2007

[2]  Wikipedia. Twitter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter.

[3]  last.fm. http://www.last.fm/about

[4]  Wikipedia. last.fm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last.fm

[5]  Foursquare. http://support.foursquare.com/entries/188223-what-is-a-foursquare-check-in

[6]  Foursquare. http://support.foursquare.com/entries/188303-what-is-a-foursquare-mayor

[7]  Wikipedia. Geosocial Networking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosocial_networking

[8]  Rita Suzana P. Maciel, et all Supporting Awareness in Groupware through an Aspect-Oriented Middleware Service. J.UCS. 2009

The Significance of Social Networking Software - COMP3505/7705