Second Reality

Does Second Life make anyone else nervous or is it just me? After learning about this phenomenon I have wondered who is playing in this game and if I know anyone involved. Granted, I still don't know enough about it so it might not be as crazy as a I am thinking it is. While watching the slide show explaining this virtual world I saw that the average user is in their thirties. I don't see how that is possible, not that I am arguing with the stats.

I always assumed that after college people go out into the real world, get jobs, and start a new social life that involved going outdoors. I can't help but be confused about all of this. People are seriously going on Second Life and building a whole new reality for themselves which they apparently take very seriously. I know am being highly judgmental of the whole thing but I can't help but feel sorry for people.

Our society is so focused on who can get ahead and successful we are in terms of material things and now this pattern is even hitting us on the internet. So if we can't get where we want to be in real life we now have a Second Chance at doing so in the virtual world. I don't know about everyone else but it all seems like too much pressure to me.

Blogging: PR nightmare or dream?

Articles read:
-Blogs Will Change Your Business
-Bloggers Send a Warning Shot to Corporate America

It seems today that blogs are helping businesses as well as hurting them. Good PR is considered to be a valuable asset to a company- one they are willing to spend enormous amounts of time and money on. It seems that blogs are now capable of ruining or boosting any established name a company has made for itself within the privacy of our own homes. And my opinion is just as important to consumers as the tag line that their marketing team spent all night creating.

How can that be? Well, I guess there are people out there who want to hear what I have to say. I was always convinced of the opposite. It has been reported that only 27% of Americans bothering looking at blogs, and yet they are able to make a huge impact. I guess as the trend continues more and more will become more aware of the blogging world. I guess the best way businesses can handle such a phenomenon is to join the crowds before its too late and their name starts being a keyword in these online journals before they have even bothered to sign on. By being online a company has the ability to reach customers in a much more personal fashion, as opposed to an ad, and can do it for a much cheaper price. (i.e. $0.00) So it must be better to be safer than sorry, might as well beat your customers to the punch.

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Hey everyone, check out my friend Sarah's blog

Where Everybody Knows Your Name...No, seriously

Articles read:
"Inventing the Innovative Commons" (textbook)
"Social Networking targets the enterprise"

The internet was created through an open system where "hackers", which in the past was known as someone developing the web rather than trying to break into it. These hackers had a dream that the internet would be a public good for all to use and share information. The book "Smart Mobs" presents this idea as "nobody owns and everybody uses".

Before reading about this history I took a look at the article by Ephraim Schwartz discussing different technologies that can help businesses expand their social networking capabilities. At first glance these programs really scare me. These programs look for ways to expand businesses by going through email, internet chats, and profiles. Something about this is all very sci-fi and creepy to me. Whatever happened to old fashioned businesses where you knock on someone's door and actually shake their hand? Are those days over?

It seems like they are to me. Now we can have access to as much information as our mouse can click on, is nothing sacred any more? How does real life social networking continue to have value when my competitor can reach my new client through software while I have been trying to wine and dine the same business for months? Originally hackers felt that the internet would be a medium open to the public for all to reap the benefits. Now the internet's capabilities are probably at a level that these people could have never imagined. I fear that now our never ending abilities are making us weaker rather than stronger because it seems there is no way to gain an advantage. Everyone has access to the same opportunities making it harder to get ahead. It's wonderful that we are able to connect with so many people but at the same time, I think we are facing a situation where all of our connections are starting to cheapen because there are just so darn many of them.

That's great! So now what?...

Articles read:
"Valdis Krebs on Social Network Analysis from 1987 to 2007"
"A Practical Guide to Social Networks"

The slide show on Valdis Krebs points out that Social Network Analysis can be valuable in presenting patterns and links in a visual manner. What was once invisible has now been reavealed to us. How great! We can see why a company can have high turnover rates, how a business is set up and how that affects their effectiveness, we can even see how performance can be measured and discover that a slight drop can be due to the annual Christmas party. Wow, how valuable, isn't that neat?

Think of how innovative we can be now, think of all of the organizational changes we can make to be at the top of our game. Although I guess there is one problem, how are we going to do that? And are we really going to go through with all of these changes?

While interning at a local non-for-profit one summer I was told to make a chart with the company's employees names so that in the next meeting a board can be set up with the hierarchy so could be viewed, switched around, and ultimately reshaped. No problem, I heard the meeting was a success and the board was a real help. That happened in May and I left in August, I heard through the grapevine that everything is still the same. Of course this is isn't true in all cases. The Practical Guide to Social Networks tells us how Fannie Mae and Novartis, among others, were able to enjoy great accomplishments through social networking. There are now great tools that can help us in business but what I found most crucial is how we use them. We can chart, diagram, and reorganize all we want but what is most important is the people within these networks. It is crucial that we don't forget that we are ultimately the power behind these networks that cause that to succeed or fail.