Web 2.0 and Social Networking

1. Web 2.0 and Social Networking Faculty Retreat September 20, 2008 Bob Fulkerth

2. Web 2.0 and Social Networking • What is Web 2.0 and Social Networking? • How can we use social networking tools in our courses? • Should we ?

3. Social Networking now more popular than porn • http://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?p=239 • Bill Tancer, a global research manager at Hitwise, has analyzed data from more than 10 million Internet users to determine some of the most relevant Web search trends. In addition to finding intricacies in people’s behaviors related to natural disasters, fears and buying behaviors, Tancer states that searching for social networking sites has overtaken the search for Internet porn.

4. SN more popular than porn • He said surfing for porn had dropped to about 10 percent of searches from 20 percent a decade ago, and the hottest Internet searches now are for social networking sites. • As social networking traffic has increased, visits to porn sites have decreased, said Tancer, indicated that the 18-24 year old age group particularly was searching less for porn.The theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don’t have time to look at adult sites.

5. What is Web 2.0? • (Wikipedia) • Web 2.0 is a living term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs. . .

6. What is Web 2.0? • Amazon sells the same products as competitors such as Barnesandnoble.com, and they receive the same product descriptions, cover images, and editorial content from their vendors. • But Amazon has made a science of user engagement. They have an order of magnitude more user reviews, invitations to participate in varied ways on virtually every page--and even more importantly, they use user activity to produce better search results.

7. What is Web 2.0? • While a Barnesandnoble.com search is likely to lead with the company's own products, or sponsored results, Amazon always leads with "most popular", a real-time computation based not only on sales but other factors that Amazon insiders call the "flow" around products. • With an order of magnitude more user participation, it's no surprise that Amazon's sales also outpace competitors.

8. What is Web 2.0? • Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in any meaningful way, since many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have existed since the early days of the Web.

9. A student in my class writes • “I work for the State of CA . . . research department. • I primarily work on mapping GIS projects and the dept's intranet web site . . . • So, for the mapping stuff right now I am focusing on creating and maintaining SQL databases that interact with Google Maps API & GUI web page for the end users.

10. A student writes • . . . and I like making many sorts of custom plugins (usually php and "web 2.0" stuff) for the dept's needs. I know nothing about their engineering issues, but they come to me when they need IT products that accomplish what they need (yes, this does usually mean writing stuff myself, unless there are suitable products out there), for the dept to purchase. • Often times this dept's IT budget is too low to purchase anything, so it's not uncommon for the dept engineers to request that I re-invent the wheel).

11. What is Social Networking? • Internet definition: • A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to post. They communicate with each other by voice, chat, instant message, videoconference and blogs, and the service typically provides a way for members to contact friends of other members. • http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=social+networking+site&i=55316,00.asp

12. What is Social Networking? • Intro and history: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=social+networking+site&i=55316,00.asp • See http://www.commoncraft.com/video-social-networking for a video introduction to social networking

13. Some of The tools of social networking • Wikis • Weblogs (blogs) • YouTube and others • Social networking sites: facebook, myspace, linkedin, Plaxo • Virtual space: http://secondlife.com/ • Twitter: www.twitter.com

14. The numbers • In April, Facebook caught up to MySpace in worldwide unique visitors (actually nudging past it with 116.4 million unique visitors versus 115.7 million for MySpace). Now the worldwide comScore numbers are out for May and Facebook continues to blow past MySpace with 123.9 million uniques (up 6 percent), versus 114.6 million for MySpace (down 1 percent). • Facebook also boasted more pageviews worldwide (50.7 billion versus 45.4 billion).

15. Wachovia • To connect its 100,000-plus employees, the financial services company is rolling out a slew of new collaboration tools . . . . Under the plan, Wachovia is adding wikis, blogs, instant messaging, social networking sites, and other Web 2.0 technologies to traditional methods like e-mail . . . • Beyond connecting employees around the world, Wachovia's collaborative environment is designed to attract -- and retain -- younger Generation Y employees who expect access to Web 2.0 tools at work. "They grew up in the flat world," said Fields. "They're used to playing video games with kids in Poland."

16. Wachovia • Fields said that many of corporate America's young workers' engagement levels "fall off the table" after about a year on the job because "we give them no means of input." • To change that, Wachovia is giving its Gen Y workers a role in helping its Enterprise 2.0 makeover succeed. Younger employees are assigned to teach senior staffers about the benefits of using collaborative networks.

17. Big Blue gets it • As part of IMPACT 2008 -- the industry's largest SOA customer and business partner conference -- IBM is hosting a 72 hour online jam for the global SOA social network to discuss issues, challenges and ideas related to SOA. • The SOA jam is being moderated by industry leaders, academics, analysts, IBM Business Partners and employees from around the world.

18. Big Blue gets it • "Currently, we have a thriving SOA community with more than 120,000 architects and developers, over 134 universities contributing to our SOA curriculum, and over 5,000 Business Partners building SOA skills, solutions, and practices to help our clients," said Sandy Carter, vice president, WebSphere and SOA strategy, channels and marketing, IBM. • "Building on our successful pilot program in China, IBM is expanding its SOA social network as a way to share best practices, accelerate SOA projects and bring together the business, IT and academic worlds across roles and industries."

19. Big Blue gets it • IBM's SOA social network spans more than 120 countries, including rapidly developing markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the Middle East • Specifically, these groups will be able to host virtual meetings in Second Life as well connect face-to-face with other members in the SOA social network through local chapter meetings that are being coordinated by IBM. The SOA social network also aligns members according to their role in the organization which results in powerful subgroups of developers, CIOs and architects, for example, across the world collaborating on the future of SOA. . . .

20. What is a wiki? • For the answer, we go to . . . A wiki • A wiki is software that allows registered users or anyone to collaboratively create, edit, link, and organize the content of a website, usually for reference material. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. These wiki websites are often also referred to as wikis . . .

21. What is a wiki? (wiki.org) • . . . for example, Wikipedia is one of the best known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for Knowledge Management. • Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work". • "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication of "wiki", a Hawaiian word for "fast".

22. My Course Wiki

23. Google Wiki: GGU web strategy

24. For courses . . . Sites.google.com www.pbwiki.com http://itm198a.pbwiki.com

25. Google Sites: http://sites.google.com/

26. What is a weblog? • A weblog, sometimes written as blog, is a Web site that consists of a series of entries arranged in reverse chronological order, often updated . . . The information can be written by the site owner, gleaned from other Web sites or other sources, or contributed by users . . . Generally, weblogs are devoted to one or several subjects or themes, usually of topical interest. . . • A weblog may consist of the recorded ideas of an individual (a sort of diary) or be a complex collaboration open to anyone. . . .

27. Examples . . . • http://slashdot.org/ • Terry Connelly’s weblog: http://connellyoncommerce.wordpress.com/ • http://blogs.oracle.com/shay/2006/05/eweek_jdeveloper_is_hard_not_t.html • Self serving? Sorry • http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/tcc08-college-course-in-social-networking/

28. Your weblog . . . • Wordpress: • www.wordpress.com • Site: http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/Hosts/

29. Mashups = 2.0 capability • “ I am focusing on creating and maintaining SQL databases that interact with Google Maps API & GUI web page for the end users.” • “In general a mashup is any web feature that builds on services provided by other sites.” • http://fullmeasure.co.uk/mashups/ecsitemap.htm

30. Mashups = 2.0 capability • Examples • http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/rentrent.org/date • http://blog.deconcept.com/ytmapmashup/ • IBM says it’s ok for business: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23838.wss

31. Mashups: nonprofit use • One example of a nonprofit putting mashups to good use is the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, an organization dedicated to solving New York City's hunger problem.

32. Mashups • http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/archives/page9338.cfm • Using a combination of Google Maps' free application programming interface (API), geographic data obtained from ArcWeb, and its own information regarding the locations of New York City soup kitchens, the Coalition Against Hunger was able to build an interactive, online map that visually displays the locations of the city's nearly 1,100 unaffiliated charitable food providers along with information such as their addresses and phone numbers.

33. My Space

34. Are you afraid to look at your kid’s My Space site? You probably should be.

35. Linkedin: http://www.ggu.edu/student_services/caps/career_planning

36. Facebook

37. Plaxo

38. YOU TUBE

39. YOU TUBE http://mashable.com/2006/07/17/youtube-hits-1-million-videos-per-day/ • YouTube announced on Sunday that it now serves 100 million videos per day. What’s more, the site served 2.5 billion videos to nearly 20 million unique visitors over the course of June. • According to the latest Hitwise stats, the company has a 29% share of the US multimedia entertainment market and YouTube videos account for 60% of all videos watched online. . . they now receive 65,000 uploads per day.

40. YOU TUBE • Financial Planning: 2,030 • Tax: 45,300 • Marketing strategy: 5610 • Teams: millions • College president: 3,750

41. YOU TUBE and College Presidents • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXSMUcUHxk President greets students • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p28pDmyFVM President welcomes coed

42. iTunes University

43. Second Lifehttp://secondlife.com/

44. Second LifeInformation wk online Sept 20 • “Going forward, Linden Lab plans to align itself to serve three target markets: Consumers, which is the market the service is best known for today; the enterprise, and education, Kingdon said. Within each market, Linden Lab will identify sub-markets, which Kingdon called "use cases," and focus individual business units on how the company can best serve those use cases. For example, one of the top use cases in the consumer market will be live music, and a top use case in the enterprise will be virtual learning.”

45. Second Life Second life in education http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses Second life in business Cisco has a few hundred employees in Second Life. They have several sims that they use for user-group meetings and meetings among their own international staff. They do customer education and training in Second Life, get feedback from customers on products, and do presentations using PowerPoint, video, and streaming audio. They hold events that combine people in the real world with avatars in Second Life -- a type of event that Second Lifers call "mixed reality."

46. Second Life Cisco is involved in the Second Life Corporate Business Council, a group of 30-40 big businesses -- many of them competitors with each other -- using Second Life for business. The companies are grappling with some similar questions and problems doing business in Second Life.

47. Second Life http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/09/technology/fastforward_secondlife.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2006111016 . . . Reuters, which has now assigned a reporter to operate full-time inside Second Life. The Reuters reporter, Adam Pasnick, told CNET that his assignment has caused so many waves he's been getting interview requests from Poland, Colombia, Brazil and New Zealand.

48. Second Life http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/09/technology/fastforward_secondlife.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2006111016 W Hotels has built a prototype of its new Aloft hotel brand inside Second Life. It was featured in the Times, among many other articles. W President Ross Klein told me that while the company originally just wanted to test out concepts, the PR value from all the stories written about Aloft in Second Life has given the company a "hundred-fold" return on its investment, just in positive PR. Even IBM (Charts) CEO Sam Palmisano can now be seen lurking around Second Life.

49. In the future • The lines between social networking and formal education will blur. • The empowerment of users via easy-to-use tools is radically changing expectations. • Credentialed social network owners could become educational entities. Opportunities for partnerships? Social Networking sites will continue to be driven by casual use, but will continue to find uses in business and professional arenas.

50. What can I do in a course with these tools? • Student/instructor weblogs • Use a wiki as a repository for information and communication, terminology • Search YouTube, iTunes for relevant course information and use it • Support course projects that use these tools. (What are appropriate criteria?)