The battle to be the largest online social networking site is over with a clear winner and loser. This past Thursday (October 22), the recently anointed chief executive officer of MySpace told the Financial Times that the company is no longer competing with Facebook.
Former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, who became MySpace’s executive officer a mere six-months ago told the newspaper “Facebook is not our competition, we’re very focused on a different space.”
This announcement comes as MySpace (owned by Rupert Mudoch’s NewsCorp) has taken a severe – and now fatal – beating. Just this past September, Facebook had over 58 percent of the American social network traffic, while the older, and once larger MySpace’s share crashed to a low of just 30 percent – a substantial drop from their 66 percent score a year ago, according to online research firm Hitwise.
Looking at the unique number of people using each site, again MySpace has taken its lumps. Although MySpace is still one of the most popular websites on the Internet, it averaged about 100 million unique members worldwide, the new king of social networking, Facebook has about 300 million unique users worldwide.
In the six-months since Van Natta took the helm at MySpace, the comp
any has slashed costs and jobs, eliminating 30 percent of their workforce. They’ve also removed the least used features, which include the weather and classified jobs sections.
MySpace has also been known to have unusual – some may say downright odd – methods for determining membership. When Jordan’s Daily – Almost! signed up for a MySpace account, and had spent over two-hours customizing and designing the page for our reader’s engagement and interaction, within a handful of hours later MySpace deleted the account, without giving any reason whatsoever.
Although this international current affairs blog wasn’t deemed worthy enough to hold membership by the MySpace administrators, one can easily find profiles on MySpace geared towards get-rich quick scams from third-world countries (such as those your junk email filter usually catches), mail order brides from Russia, prostitutes peddling sex for cash, and even one profile which appeared to be someone selling babies from China to couples who couldn’t conceive, and were turned down by adoption agencies.
MySpace executive Van Natta told the Financial Times “the engagement with our users wasn't there.”
Perhaps that’s because those running MySpace did not have a clue as
Congratulations to Facebook – a company that takes the time to explore and understand their members and their needs – and a place where Jordan’s Daily – Almost! was welcome from day one. You can check us out on the new champion of the social networking world here.
MySpace may have lost the war, but they are not gone for good. The company is changing direction and trying to reinvent itself to bec
ome an online music distribution site. It has recently signed agreements with Apple Computer Corp. to run its own iTunes-type of online store, using the computer company’s iLike application.
Only in America could a person striving for one of the highest positions in the country end up looking for work online.
Sarah Palin has posted her resume on LinkedIn – a social networking site with over 50 million people for professional networking and to look for jobs.
The former Alaskan governor’s profile says she is interested in: “Job inquiries, expertise requests, business deals, reference requests and getting back in touch.”
Maybe the last item on that list will prove the most challenging for the Am
erican politician, whose old fashioned values conflicted with her own real world.
When Palin was Alaska’s state governor, she was very outspoken about teen pregnancy – she banned condom vending machines in public high schools, claiming that it gave teenagers the wrong message. The only way, according to Palin at the time, to avoid teenage pregnancies, was to convince kids to abstain from sex.
Though that obviously didn’t work in Palin’s own family, her young 16-year-old daughter’s impending pregnancy, and what appeared to be a hastily put together shot-gun wedding for the poor young man who got the kid pregnant, stole the spotlight from Palin’s vice presidential campaign.
So “getting back in touch” for the former governor and American vice presidential candidate may be quite the challenge – who wants to associate with someone who publicly expresses one set of values, but lives another?
Granted, it isn’t Palin’s fault her daughter got knocked up, but it does show just how out of touch her own values and beliefs are with those of society.
Ironically, Palin’s running mate during the same American federal election, John McCain, joined LinkedIn during the campaign, to participate in a section of the site called “LinkedIn Answers.” This section allows participants to ask and get responses from professionals. McCain was answering questions about the campaign, politics, and other topics to promote his presidential footprint.
However, Palin hasn’t joined the social networking site to just provide advice – she’s looking for her next gig.
This raises an interesting issue for social networking sites – what happens when celebrities join the site to network with us regular folk?
Many celebrities are already on most of the popular Internet-based social networking sites – just do a search on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even Myspace for your favorite singer, actor, politician, or sports hero and you are bound to find them.
For the most part, these online celebrity sightings are an arms-length kind of deal. The celebrity – or more likely someone who works for the celebrity – posts short, brief, updates promoting whatever that person is working on or appearing in. They very rarely – if ever – respond to people who message them. It is usually a one-way form of communications, where you get a quick summary of their latest news.
Sarah Palin didn’t join LinkedIn just to share advice or information with us non-famous types, she joined to network and connect with us normal types to forward her own career.
It’s like Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, or even President Barack Obama posting their profiles online, with the hopes of actually connecting with non-famous faces to get a job.
Now Palin isn’t the most famous person out there – she’s not wh
at is often referred to as the so-called “A-List.” She’s not in the same category as Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise or even President Barack Obama.
But she’s still a famous person, so how does she know that those who connect with her online are on the up and up? How does she know that out of all the nuts on the Internet – of which there are many – that the people attempting to connect with her online are who they claim to be, and that they have no intention of causing her harm?
Palin is risking more than her pride by taking out a virtual job-hunting profile online. She’s risking her life, and that of her family and friends.
One of the great things about the Internet is its ability to bring people closer together, from all walks of life and from anywhere around the world.
But when a person becomes famous – or maybe that’s infamous as in Palin’s case – you give up some of those freedoms, just to protect your well being and those close to you.
The Pope Mobile – a vehicle with a giant bullet-proof clear glass enclosure -- wasn’t created to encourage and allow everyone to reach out and talk to the highest of world religious leaders. It was created because of the few crazy nuts in society that could cause the Pope – and other famous people like him – harm.
American President Barack Obama doesn’t ride around in an armored vehicle (nicknamed “The Beast”) surrounded by an army of body guards just because it’s cool. He travels this way because his fame makes him a target.
Although you can’t shoot someone over the Internet – at least not yet – you can still inflict quite a bit of damage over the net. It is easy to steal someone’s identity, destroy a person’s reputation by posing as them, or even just use the information they are foolish enough to put online to track them down in the real-world and then kidnap, rape, or kill that person or someone close to that person.
There aren’t any Pope Mobiles or armored vehicles with complimentary armies of body guards for members of LinkedIn or any of the other online social networking sites.
Love her or loathe her, Sarah Palin is taking a big risk by posting her profile on LinkedIn.
She has the right to use these sites just as everybody else. Hell after her fall from grace during the last American federal election, she can use all the help she can get. But whether or not a famous person can achieve the same benefits from these online social networking sites safely, remains to be seen.
A couple of months ago I launched a new project to drive more readers to this blog. I re-designed the site, added some rich media content, and ventured into the world of social networking.
It wasn’t all that long ago, where the term “networking” either meant a series of computers linked together, or in a more social context, “networking” was getting out to business-related functions to hob-knob with colleagues in your field or work sector.
Back then, networking was limited to professionals, usually involved wearing suits and ties to bland corporate functions, and having to endure h
ours of meaningless small talk just to get a business card so you could call them later from the office and really talk shop.
These days, everyone is on the social networking bandwagon - from kidsbarely out of diapers, to seniors looking for their next bingo hall run, and everyone in between.
Social networking is the act of surfing the web for sites which connect you to other people with similar interests, hobbies, employment, or histories. These websites are online communities, where you can share your thoughts, pictures, videos and just about anything else you want too - with complete strangers. The most common social networking sites are Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.
Prior to trying to tap into the social networks for expansion of this blog, I already used Facebook - it is kind of cool to reconnect with people from your pa
st, and to keep in touch with others far away. Though I try to keep my Facebook time limited to no more than an hour a day, as it can prove quite addictive - with the ability to chat, play games, or even just poking someone, it can be quite a time sink.
Little did I realize just how much of a time sink social networking could be. I created a Facebook Fan site, joined Twitter, and started using Digg and StumbledUpon to drive readers to this blog.
Previously, to all my new social networking, when I posted a blog, it would take no more than 30-minutes. I could write the thing in about 20-minutes, proof it in about five, and then post it and do one final proof-read in another five-minutes or less.
Now that I’m using various social networking sites, posting a blog takes over an hour! I still only need about 25-minutes in total to write and proof-read my work, but then it takes forever to market the thing online.
Not that I mind - social networking is very social, which makes it fun. But it is too easy to get caught up in all the social activity. From chatting with strangers about whatever the current topics are, to just finding someone interesting to follow, to trying to make sure you have a good ratio of friends and followers, to filtering out “bots” which just want to sell you crap you don’t need . . .
WHERE DO PEOPLE GET THE TIME FOR ALL OF THIS SOCIAL NETWORKING?
Where indeed?
There are some that seem to live on these social networking sites, they never sleep, eat, and quite possibly have a tube attached to their naughty-bits, so they don’t have to get up to go to the bathroom.
Some people appear to always be on - and I know they aren’t “bots” automatically sending out messages, because I’ve talked with some in real-time, and the conversation was just too real to be a computer algorithm calculating what to send next.
Some of these even have people have multiple accounts on multiple social networking sites, but have many of the same online friends and conversations.
We’ve all heard about the balding middle-aged science fiction computer geek, living in his parent’s basement, spending all of his time online and eating.
Whether that image was ever true, it appears anyone can quickly become a prisoner to the world of online social networking. I’ve encountered men and women that are obviously addicted to the online world - some with high end jobs, and some beautiful women that are probably forever single not because they can’t get a date, but because they never leave their home.
Technology can and does amazing things for humanity. It has closed geographic distances, building a truly global village, as instant communications are now possible with anyone, anywhere in the world at anytime.
But that has also created a technological boogie man of sorts, which allows us to evade and avoid the real world around us, living in the perfect fantasies we create in our online social networks.
Online, it doesn’t matter if you are fit or fat, wealthy or starving poor, have a successful career, or are struggling to find a job. All that you need is a computer, an Internet connection, and a bit of imagination and know-how, and you too can escape reality, and make your own world anyway you want it.
I don’t know about you - but although I enjoy being social online
, I prefer the real world of life, to that of the artificial world of the web.
Oh I’ll still partake in the online world - it is too pervasive in our culture to avoid, and it has grown readership of this blog, which was the ultimate goal.
However, I don’t want to be that dateless guy, surfing the net and ignoring my real friends in the real world because I’ve become enthralled with some complete stranger that I’ll probably never really meet or really ever know online.
And you never really know - that hot babe halfway ‘round the world that flirts with you online, could very well be your overweight, unemployed next-door neighbor - because anyone can pose as anyone online. Or worse, it could be your boss trying to figure out how far you’ll go online, to see if you’re a normal person with a healthy lifestyle worthy of that promotion, or some sick nut that should actually be let go.
Time to get a life - or at least get back to the life of the living.
Jordan H. Green began his never-ending journey for life-long learning while writing for the campus paper in university.
From student protests, to student politics, he eventually discovered his passion for knowledge -- and even more importantly, that he could write.
And write he did, for major big city dailies, small town weeklies, monthly magazines, even doing on-air work in television and radio -- Jordan mastered the media.
Jokingly calling this blog his place to "bitch and moan" he's once again mastering the media -- this time that new fangled thing called "the net."
Enjoy.
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