February 6, 2012 Computer Club (2pm): Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and
LinkedIn. Overview of top social networking sites. Why are they so popular?
How are they used? What are some good examples of Facebook sites?
Why do many people have Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter accounts?
Why should I jump in (or not) and get my feet wet?
Facebook is a social utility that connects people with
friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends,
family, and news of all sorts.
Launched:
February 2004
Facebook was founded by
Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and
fellow computer science students Eduardo
Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.[8] The
website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students,
but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League,
and Stanford University. It gradually added support
for students at various other universities before opening to high school
students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. On February 1, 2012, it filed its IPO, stock will soon be available,
and about a thousand Facebook employees will become millionnaires.
Recommended MOVIE: Social
Network.
Features:
ê
Users
can create profiles with photos, lists of personal interests, contact
information, and other personal information.
ê
Users
can communicate with friends and other users through private or public messages
and a chat feature.
ê
Users
can create and join interest groups and "like pages".
ê
One
of the most popular applications on Facebook is the Photos application, where users can upload albums
and photos.[88]
Facebook allows users to upload an unlimited number of photos.
ê
KEEPS
growing and evolving.
Tour, register, create your own Facebook page.
ê
Go
to Facebook.com; Register; Create your own page.
Discussion: Why sign up for an account? Who has one?
What kind is it?
ê
Stay
connected with friends, colleagues, special interests, news
ê
Examples:
Twitter is a social network used by millions of people. Thousands
are signing up every day to send short messages to groups of friends. Twitter describes itself as “a service for friends, family, and
co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick,
frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”
Tweets are text-based of
up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Tweets are publicly
visible by default; however, senders can restrict message delivery to just
their followers. Users may subscribe to other users' tweets – this is
known as following and subscribers are known as followers.
Founded: Created in March 21, 2006 in San Francisco as a small group communication tool at Odeo; Spun
off as its own company in April 2007.
Discussion: How is it used?
o Twitter for community: friends,
family, special interests
o Twitter for business: job-hunting,
best brands, customer service
o Twitter for sharing: music, videos,
photos
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 80 million members and growing
rapidly. LinkedIn connects individuals to their trusted contacts and helps them
exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of
professionals.
ê
Reconnect: “Find past and present colleagues and
classmates quickly.”
ê
Career:
“Discover inside connections when you’re
looking for a job or new business opportunity.”
ê
Get
Answers: “Your network is full of
industry experts willing to share advice.”
Former co-workers, project
teams
Interest groups –
business, community, special
Company job listings
Apps (of course!)
“Share what you are doing”
links to Twitter; Can add links to websites,
blogs.
Google+ is
in beta. It is a networking tool that
lets you create circles of friends, so your friends can be in one or more
circles and you can share information with designated circles. For example, you could set up circles for
family, friend, computer club, garden club, book club.
