Mashable

Mashable is a website created in 2005 by Pete Cashmore. This website is dedicated to all things technology, social networking and internet culture. On the website you will find all different kinds of articles related to internet websites like Facebook, and what they're doing as a whole currently. There are different links related to Social Media, Technology, Business, Entertainment, etc. and all of these links take you to to different articles related to the topics. This website is a good way to keep up with what's going on in the internet world, from the inside. They also feature numerous different videos shown through YouTube ranging from cell phone advertisements, interviews with the CEO of T-Mobile, and Kate Upton talking about the prom. This website and it's accompanying YouTube site are interesting for people of all ages.
Below is the featured video on their YouTube site currently. It is an add for T-Mobile's new "hands on iPhone". Check it out and also look around the website and see what it's all about.

Do you think this website is helpful? What did you find interesting about it?

Sources: http://mashable.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/mashable/featured
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashable

Willing to Pay the Price?

Do you ever think about the real price you are paying when you log onto Facebook or Twitter? Do you think that you are losing anything by staying plugged in 24 hours a day? I never really thought of there being a cost to social networking because it’s free, right? In the blog “The Addiction and Cost of Social Media,” the author Sam Fiorella questions if our access to these sites really comes free of charge. He argues that social media outlets keep their doors open constantly to track and analyze our behavior and habits by saying “if you’re not buying the product, you are the product.” It’s an odd way of thinking about it but he does have a point.

Fiorella states that the biggest cost of social networking is time. Everyone’s internet usage is different but as a whole most of the time spent online is on a social networking website. Nearly 121 billion minutes were spent on a social networking outlet in the United States. It makes you wondering, is this time being used in a constructive manner? Probably not. Another cost that we pay, according to Fiorella, as social networking consumers is emotion.  He argues that social networking encourages people to post about everything which leads to “over sharing.” People posting all day everyday on Facebook never consider that social networking sites may not be a constructive outlet. Whether we notice or not, social networking takes a toll on us. Some studies show that Facebook can cause depression in some people. The last cost that Fiorella names is privacy. He says that the more data we publish online, the more access advertisers have to your personal life. It is a little disturbing that everything you do online can be tracked and recorded.

Why do you think we are so willing to pay these prices for a social media outlet? Do you ever think of the price you’re paying daily?

 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-fiorella/social-media-addiction_b_2749102.html

 

 

Meaghann Smith

Facebook Revenue

Have you ever stopped and wondered how in the world a site like Facebook is able to stay afloat?  All we do on Facebook is post status updates, upload pictures and videos, etc.  To date, all of this is free of charge.  Who pays the salaries of those that update the software or tracks your every move? 

 Answer: ADVERTISING!

Companies pay top dollar to advertise on Facebook because they are able to target customers based on the information they share, status updates given, friends list, geographical location, etc.  In the first quarter of 2012, advertising was responsible for 82% of Facebook’s revenue (money.msn.com).   Other ways that the company is able to generate revenue is through games like Farmville where users can pay for supplies, equipment, and livestock.  Facebook just recently added a new feature that allows you to send gifts to your friends for their birthday (for a fee, of course)!

Unfortunately, there is no way to shut off ads on your Facebook profile page but there are ways to “influence” your settings.  Here are some steps provided by Facebook:

·         Add more of your interests in your profile to see more of your favorite advertisements.  {My favorite?  None at all…}

·         If you see an advertisement you are not interested in, click the “X” on the ad to close it on your page.  Facebook will kindly track your movements and “try not” to show you similar ads again.

What do you like (or not like) about seeing these advertisements on Facebook?  What are your thoughts about Facebooks new ad system where they are directly linked into your News Feed?

Like the one below, for Lake Norman Preparatory Academy, which was on my News Feed?  How in the world does this relate to my interests?  This is a Mecklenburg County school, grades K-8. 

Sources:

http://money.msn.com/technology-investment/post.aspx?post=869a1b6c-0bb7-47b3-ac0a-25d10f6a5404

https://www.facebook.com/about/ads/#change

Social Networking Safety

Safety is a big issue that is occurring in social networking sites. With the increase in technology, hacking is becoming a bigger issue. Social networking sites also make it easier for predators to find their prey. Do you know if your social networking site is safe? Have you taken the proper steps to make sure that it is safe? These are a few questions that you should ask yourself. The last thing that anyone wants to happen is to be the victim of a crime because their social networking sites are not properly secured.  

Here are a few precautionary steps to take to make sure that you are not a victim of someone hacking your networking site.

Facebook:

• ·      Make a private profile. Don’t allow everybody to have access to viewing your account. You don’t want the weird stalkers to know all about your life!
• ·      Limit who can find you! Make sure to block search engines the ability to link to your profile as well as deciding who exactly you want to be able to find you.
• ·      Turn on your Timeline Review. This allows you the opportunity to have to approve comments and pictures that people are posting on your wall. This is extremely helpful because you don’t know what people are going to post and this allows you the option to decide if you want it to post.

Twitter:

• ·      Make your profile private. Having a private profile doesn’t allow people to have access to your tweets, they have to ask for permission to be able to follow you, and once they do follow you they cannot retweet you.
• ·      Turn off your location! Make sure that when you are tweeting that your location is not attached. This allows for people to always have access to your whereabouts, which makes them easier targets to become a victim.
• ·      Don’t connect your Twitter account with your Facebook account. Not only is it annoying to have Twitter hashtags on Facebook but it also gives out your information from your Twitter.

Instagram:

• ·      Make your profile/pictures private!
• ·      It is also important to look at which apps have access to your Instagram account. Unless you are using those apps to help you create cards, websites, magnets, etc. then you should make sure that you do not allow them to access your account.
• ·      Make sure that when you upload a picture to Instagram that it doesn’t automatically share it on your other social networking sites.

In order to be able to protect yourself to the fullest, you should check your privacy settings on whatever social networking site you are a member of!

http://www.itworld.com/security/349386/12-simple-steps-safer-social-networking