Social Networking More Popular Than Email

I was browsing around the internet and found some interesting stats from an article that was posted in March 2009 that showed that social networking was more popular than email in 2008:

New stats from Nielsen Online show that by the end of 2008, social networking had overtaken email in terms of worldwide reach. According to the study, 66.8% of Internet users across the globe accessed “member communities” last year, compared to 65.1% for email. The most popular online activities remain search and Web portals (with around 85% reach) and the websites of software manufacturers.

The far-reaching study also explored a number of other trends within the social networking space. In 2008, users spent 63% more time on member communities than they did in the previous year.

new BLinks on BLinks.org

I posted two new blinks today and created my account on the site. youthvoteMA is a site that I started my junior year of high school, and I think has potential to make connections in the Tufts community. "The site was created as a resource for students and anyone of voting age to get information and resources for registering to vote. It was created as a part of a Girl Scout Gold Award Project in Westborough, MA. The project is focused on providing the youth of Massachusetts with the information, resources and opportunity to register to vote. By developing this website, holding local voter registration drives, and encouraging others to do the same, the project will work to open the door for many prospective voters." I linked it to "education and literacy" and "CIRCLE," because CIRCLE provided me with much of the information I used to create the site.

The second BLink I created was for the Somerville Journal, a local newspaper in Somerville. I discovered that its parent company is the same as my hometown paper and many in MA. I thought that having the Somerville Journal on the site would be a great stepping stone to have them publish information about the site in the paper.

I plan to doing some clean-up of nodes later this weekend.

Experiencing with Blink

I browsed around the website. I tried to create my own profile using the same username for the other blog that we had (with myopenid). I am not certain if I successfully create my profile because it seemed like it didn't go through. I also couldn't upload my profile picture. It showed up to an error page. So, I think we need to fix on that.

One more thing that I am concern while using the website is that the page of making the profile is just not that great for me. I don't really like it. I think it's easier if there are indications of what to put in a profile, such as network, locations, interests, activities, contact info, education, etc. and at the end perhaps a little box of "about yourself" or "about organization." I hope you guys can picture what I'm trying to say here. But the indications can vary between organizations and individuals.

I know that we mention this in class already, but I think we should add a calender to the website somewhere. A calender that indications what is happening during this month. What are the opportunities or big events - show publicly because sometimes people are just lazy to physically browse or search what they need to do. Yes, I know that eventually there will be so many events happening at the same time - we can fix/change that after the website has gone live for a few months or so. OR we should have a calender of each person and each organization. I think it will be more efficient and organized.

One last thing, what is the actual home page? We can incorporate the calender in the home page - perhaps for new users to have a sense of what the website is all about.

record bugs and suggestions here

The "alpha" version of our website is here: http://myblink.org/. Please record any problems or suggestions as comments here. I have already suggested two items:

1. Make the tagline something like this: "BLink links organizations, issues, and people in the Greater Boston Area for social change."

2. Instead of using the word "node" anywhere in the site (for instance, "add a node," or "recent nodes"), use the word "BLink." You add a "BLink" to the map when you add an organization or an issue. Each dot on the interactive map is a BLink.

Changes in these items are welcome.

MDAO; Somerville and beyond

For a new node, I've added the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. I figured I'd share this, because I don't think many people would view this type of governmental organization as really doing much in the way of aiding Somerville's economic hardships, or any city within Middlesex for that matter, but after working with them for several months, I can tell you it is just the opposite. They have pursued several different initiatives and ideas to begin implementing new programs to either replace or in-conjunction with older ones, that will essentially save funds for years to come. For example, the juvenile diversion program that his run through the Cambridge Court House saves countless hours of the police from coming into courthouse, from the assistant district attorneys of having to go into the courtroom and prosecute the offenders, from the different advocates within the court, from the parents that must take time off from work and sit all day in the court, and so on. It's very much a rippling effect, that unless someone really knew about it, would never quite get the impact that it has in a financial manner.

I think being able to expand to other organizations and institutions that aren't solely in Somerville is still extremely beneficial, as there are many institutes like the MDAO that don't necessarily do work strictly in Somerville, but definitely do plenty to affect it. It's awesome to see that we now are moving in this direction, and I can't wait to see our final product as it expands with the reaches of Somerville and every hand that has a part in its makeup.

Identifying Overlooked Local Assets

Using the Asset Based Community Development Guide to Mobilizing Local Assets has really been a beneficial tool to assess the current standing of our map, helping me to identify the strengths and weaknesses as we approach turning the map over toward the users. On page 19, entitled “Connecting Organizational Assets to Community Assets,” there is a categorized listing of all different types of assets that might exist within an organization. The different categories include personnel, constituents, space and facilities, expertise, networks of connections, materials and equipment, and economic power. By analyzing these categories separately, we can think creatively about different ways to engage the community. For example, the “expertise” section is further broken down into “classes,” “educational workshops,” and “training courses.” Before reading the ABCD Guide, I had not thought about different community classes as a potential node on our map. However, an art class might be the ideal group to target for a social justice mural to be painted in the community, for example. Looking at the variety of different assets identified in this guide—expanding from just organizations, people, or ideas—can help us think creatively to ensure that this community map reaches its full potential.

The Anti-Social-Network Social Network

After reading Jenn's post on social networking in advertising, and after seeing the advertisement which equated hotel lobbies to social networking it made me think about this article I read in the New York Times last week about a variation on social networking sites.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/the-anti-social-network-social-network/

The article explains that there is a new social networking site named By/Association which has striped down the facebook social networking format to create a site specifically for the expansion of "social horizons." The idea is similar to a hotel lobby as well were professionals and "creative types" can reach out to people outside of their industry to people that they might never have the chance to meet. I like the idea because its a professional environment which promotes social out reach beyond the "people you know" button.

It's also interesting that the site does not include pictures or profiles which have become standards in the facebook format or dating sites. I think its food for thought to maybe think outside of the "facebook" box.

Site Online!

I think that is very exciting to have the site finally be interactive and online, even if only in a test mode. I've explored Blink and clicked on just about everything. I am very glad to see a geographical map on the page that will hold 'Opportunities.' I know we had been talking about needing a geographical representation, but I wasn't sure where it would end up. I also like the idea that with it on this page, when events are created, they can be tagged directly on the map, so when people click on them, the map will tell them where it will take place. I think that the map is really excellent. We played around with it in the last class, but after exploring it a little further, I like how it functions. I'm glad that there is more focus on the nodes closer to the innermost circle, however, it would be good to be able to click on fringe nodes.

I think that there is clearly a lot of work to be done with the nodes themselves however. I understand the goal of the final assignment, to add more nodes and to interact with the site. However, I believe that it is equally important to clean up the nodes that already exist. Many do not have all the links to other nodes that we know exist. There are duplicates and typos which make the site look less reliable, and therefore less likely to be used and trusted as a legitimate resource.

More on Social Capital

It seems like all my classes are intertwining lately. While researching for my Senior Thesis, I came across this great article on the Government Technology magazine website, entitled "Social Capital: Technology's Impact on Society" by Robert Bell that referenced a lot of the studies we discussed in class such as Nie's work and Netville. I liked it a lot because it combined their conclusions with more updated information, which I know was a criticism we all made of the original pieces. I really enjoyed a quote Bell made about the new generations growing up with the Internet. He references another study writing, "The Net generation is in many ways the antithesis of the TV generation... Rather than leaning back on the couch as passive consumers of media, they lean forward to interact, choose and challenge." I am curious how such generational differences will play out on our network map, will our map help this Net generation more, or can it span different age groups? Anyways, the Bell article is pretty short and definitely worth a look. Check it out at: http://www.govtech.com/gt/734063?id=734063&topic=117673&full=1&story_pg=1

Clay Shirky video

Below is an awesome video discussing the effects web 2.0 has on coordination of institutions: http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html

The description of the video reads as follows:
In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning.

It is a great summary of a lot of issues we have talked about class, such as how institution costs are shed with these new online networks. Shirky also focuses on the power law distribution, and the value of the smaller end of the spectrum, something we have not discussed much in class. He explains that in normal corporations, employees who only contribute one idea are a waste of resources but on networks online, a user who only contributes one idea does not cost anything extra, and in fact, a bunch of users who do that is actually a very valuable asset. Similarly, while creating our map, although it is easy to focus on big nodes, all those smaller nodes are valuable too, even if each organization contributes minimally. Check out the video if you want to hear more!

Six Degrees

In my Social Theory class, we recently read a book called Six Degrees: The Science of A Connected Age by Duncan J. Watts, which was all about networks, and I kept seeing connections to our class. In fact, I actually wrote a blog post for Social Theory about what we were doing on Project PERIS. The post was prompted by the following quote: “Like ambiguity, an organizational failure can come in many shapes and sizes—people get sick, factories burn down, computer systems crash, and large numbers of employees may have to be laid off. Sometimes disaster comes from the outside and sometimes it is generated internally…Regardless of their origins, however, what all disasters have in common is that they disable a part of what was previously a whole, functioning system….And when critical resources have been lost, the most important asset an organization can possess is easy access to the resources it has left.” Watts wrote this in reference to a potential product disaster that occurred in Toyota plants and how the company minimized the consequences. By using a less centralized more connected network for all their manufacturing, when one plant burned down, multiple plants were quickly able to pick up the slack because they shared so much information. In contrast, no one expected the disaster in New Orleans and no organizations were prepared for the ambiguity of the situation. Furthermore, with a delayed government response, hierarchical organization was not just overburdened but impossible because the government who should be at the highest position was unable to coordinate other specialized response teams. Because responses to disasters are normally so centralized, in the face of a crisis without that leadership, the organization of other services broke down. If New Orleans disaster response was organized like Toyota with a more robustly connected system through all levels of leadership as opposed to a hierarchical system, the consequences could have been much more minor. I think the same lessons can be applied to Somerville. We are creating a more connected system.

This Week's Reading

This week's reading is from a workbook that's whole focus is to help organizations connect with their surrounding community and learn to utilize whatever assets the community has to offer in order to form strong community-based projects. It lists three main goals, all of which essentially boil down to strengthening both communities and organizations through interaction with one another. After reading this, what I found to be extremely encouraging was how relevant our project is to the goals this workbook pushes organizations to achieve. BLink's whole purpose is to build connections. With BLink, communities, organizations, people, businesses, etc. can all communicate with each other and hopefully combine resources to make everyone more successful in achieving their goals. BLink will foster strong community-based projects. The reading talks about the importance of relationships with local residents, marginalized residents, associations, local economy - the list goes on. And BLink, I would say, provides organizations with the opportunity to strengthen their relationships in every one of those areas. It's cool to see just how important our project is to community organizing. One of the pages in the workbook actually encourages organizations to draw out their own map of connections, complete with existing and potential lines!

Social Isolation and New Technology

Last month, the Pew Research Center released their findings on a study they had done to gauge whether or not internet and mobile phone use led to social isolation. This is particularly relevant to our discussion about Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone book. Putnam upholds the thesis that social ties are weaker now than they were 50 years ago (using the demise of bowling leagues as his star example.)

The argument now against Putnam's premise is that it is outdated; Bowling Alone was written prior to the explosion of the Internet, before Facebook or MySpace or Twitter. Putnam is crippled in his discussion now because of the ubiquitous use of social networking sites and the impact they have on our daily communications.

The Pew study updates Putnam's research, yet also negates it. The basis of the study was to explore issues that have not been probed directly in that study and other related research on social isolation: the role of the internet and mobile phone in people's core social networks.

Ultimately the results find that Americans are not as isolated as had been reported earlier, and I found a few points especially interesting and convincing:

• Whereas only 45% of Americans discuss important matters with someone who is not a family member, internet users are 55% more likely to have a nonkin discussion partners.
• In-person contact remains the dominant means of communication with core-network members. On average, there is face-to-face contact with each tie on 210 out of 365 days per year.
• Email, social networking services and instant messaging promote "glocalization" -- that is, they are used as frequently to maintain nearby core social ties as they are used to maintain ties at a distance.
• The use of social networking services to maintain core networks is highest among 18-22-year-olds. Thirty percent of 18-22-year-olds use a social networking service to maintain contact with 90% or more of their core influentials.
• Users of social networking services are 26% less likely to use their neighbors as a source of companionship, but they remain as likely as other people to provide companionship to their neighbors.
• Owners of a mobile phone, frequent internet users at work and bloggers are more likely to belong to a local voluntary group, such as a neighborhood association, sports league, youth group, church or social club.
• Compared to those who do not use the internet, most people who use the internet and use a social networking service, such as Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn, have social networks that are about 20% more diverse.

As someone who falls within the 18-22 year old demographic, I must agree with Pew's findings on our high rates of social networking use. In the future, I'd like to see them extrapolate this data across age demographics as well as comment on the quality of these interactions.

Social Networking in Advertising

I saw this billboard advertisement in the O'Hare airport when I was flying back to school after Thanksgiving vacation. I took a picture of it because I think it is a great representation of social networking online interacting with social networking offline.

There has been such a huge push to get companies in on the social media bandwagon. From Twitter to Facebook pages to mobile applications like foursquare, companies and people are interacting on the Internet. While these interactions are important and provide a new and dynamic way to engage the consumer (or the business), it is important to remember that we do still exist in a real, non-virtual world where we interact with people face to face every day.

I think Marriott does a great job of bringing it full circle by associating their hotel lobbies with social networking, because it is. It was the original. The black-and-white movie era hotel lobby was a place of intrigue and romance, and it has been replaced by our virtual existences. By combining the two images into one advertisement, Marriott captures the attention of the consumer with a successful advertisement.

Meeting with Tufts and UMass Boston

Just before Thanksgiving Break, I had the opportunity to meet with a few UMass Boston students about their uses of the software. Since the class associated with BLink is completely different than our class, it was really valuable to have insight into their uses and perspective on the software.

There were a few major differences between the two schools. First of all, UMass Boston has a strong reputation for remaining very engaged with the organizations in their communities on a consistent basis. Therefore they were very invested in the organizations they added to the map. They also added fewer organizations, but there is more information available about the organization, including names of administrators and phone numbers and best ways to contact them, etc.

Secondly, they deal with a diverse population of community members, and many of them don't speak English. There is a desire to have the BLink website available in Vietnamese as well as other languages so that the entire community can access and benefit from the site.

Thirdly, they see a huge opportunity for this site to be a collection of resources that community members need, such as where to vote, how to get a state ID card, who to contact in different situations, etc. There is a lack of centralization with all of this information and if you don't know what you're looking for or how to find it, it can be very difficult information to access.

Other topics discussed included privacy setting issues, as well as different Facebook applications (such as games).