I learnt the following:
Social media connects people geographically and allows access to a massive and international audience.
Social Networking allows individuals of all age groups to connect and communicate around a common interest using online tools and social networking issues, for example using LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace.
Some potential uses of Social Networking:
- For people to share photos, videos, and information of interest
- Helps to raise awareness about a specific issue (e.g raise funds for a social cause)
- Helps users "do things together" and in a collaborative way (e.g using Groupware tools to write an article; using wikis to work on a common project; using VOIPs to communicate from geographically distant locations)
- Allows collaborative searching of information using Twitter and Social Bookmarking (e.g. Delicious)
Some constraints of Social Networking:
- Information overload
- Internet connection and speed
- Data privacy and security issues (need to protect data and IPR through tools such as the Creative Commons Licence)
Current issues on Social Media
- Increasing use of mobile phones to use social networking
- Use of geotagging to create maps
- The new era: Web 3.0 with potential web applications not yet technically feasible