Social Networking Recap & Advice

As a result of taking IDE 600, I have a better understanding of the world of "social networking." If asked to give advice about the social networking sites that are currently "out there," I would suggest the following:

1. Start with Facebook. I've found it to be a great place to create a profile to reconnect with friends from high school and college. There are many cool applications (like "Philadelphia Phillies Fans" or "Bumper Sticker") and others that can be avoided (like "Lick My Frog").

2. Do not use MySpace. It's riddled with annoying ads and annoying pages that people have created with music, flashing animations, etc. It's the "place to go" for the middle school generation but not for anyone else anymore.

3. Use Delicious. You'll never have to worry about losing your Internet bookmarks again. There's no reason to store them on a hard desk when you can store them online. Your bookmarks travel wherever you go (as long as you have an Internet connection and browser).

4. Use Jott. This is one of my favorite tools, because it translates voice into text. It's a great way to send personal reminders to yourself or send "voice" messages to friends via email.

5. Use feeds. (Google Reader is a good way to do this.) Feeds allow you to do "one-stop shopping." Rather than visiting many web sites daily, the information from many web sites (of your choosing) comes to you via your feed reader.

6. Avoid Second Life. Call a friend instead. Or go outside and play.

7. Start a blog or a wiki. Everyone has something interesting to write about (even if no one reads it!) And wikis all you to collaborate with others. Try Blogger or Wikispaces.

8. Marry yourself to Google. There is no better email "provider" than Gmail. Google Docs allow you to collaborate with friends and avoid the need for a "product key" on Microsoft products! Plus, what would we do without Google's search and map functions?

That list will certainly get you started!

I must say that I continue to find it amusing how many of these terms have become verbs. For instance, no one "searches" for something. You "Google" it. No one "sends a message" to a friend. They "Facebook" a friend.