Social Web - Research Paper Example

? Social Web Submitted to, Submitted By, of the Submitted on, [July 14th, Information and Communications Technology is an essential part of every human being life in the present world. This report discusses that from the first blink of a human eye in the morning to the last before he retires into his bed humans are encapsulated into a life that belongs to a high-tech society that is socially bound via virtual social connections. This society that humans currently belong to is pretty advanced as compared to its contemporary times as technologically advanced communication means are inevitable in it. Social connections are an inevitable part of the lives of human beings now. This study is aimed at highlighting various aspects of these endless social connections that exist virtually. Besides pros there are several cons of maintaining these connections as well. This is a very grave issue as these side effects are negatively shaping the human society and leading it into a dangerous future. The current report mentions what negative effects these advancements are having on the individuals of the society and thus on the society as a whole. Some future trends of the so called social web are also highlighted along with addressing some measures that should be looked up by governing authorities. This is essential for a safer and prosperous future. INTRODUCTION Social Web is the new terminology with which the visual social connections of each digital device are connected to each other via the internet. The platforms that support the evolution and maintenance of the social connections are various and limitless. Examples of platforms supporting social web profiles are Facebook, Twitter, Orkut LinkdIn etc. The globalization of today’s world sees it as such that virtually every human being is connected to the web in one way or the other. People connected to the internet have the privilege of accessing all other sorts of information on it. Via the Internet anyone connected to it can stay up-to-date with the very latest information, can telecommute, check stock prices, compare prices and shop online, communicate with others in chat rooms or on bulletin boards, take different online learning courses, learn how to cook food, book airline, train tickets and even earn an accredited degree. BACKGROUND/HISTORY The roots of communications and information technology can roughly be dated back to the advent of ‘telephone’ by Graham Bell in the year 1875 (Saari, 2006). It is the tenure from the analog telephone to the most well equipped cell phones today that modified the lifestyles of their users’ en-route. Thus behavioral changes on the fronts of societies were also exhibited. American computer scientist Alan Kay said, "Technology is all that stuff that wasn't around when (you) were born  because the stuff that was around when you were born  was just part of the landscape. Like the pencil." Also, McLuhan (1960) said, "The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village"  Once, invented the technological changes went on at a very rapid rate, quick decisions were made regarding the changes in each decade. Presently, decisions need to be formulated that would cater to the long lasting consequences of the very advanced changes on the society. The social and economic impacts of these technologies are the most important changes that should never be overlooked. As said by mathematician Konsbruck Lee Robert, (n.d.) “Today, innovations in information technology are having wide-ranging effects across numerous domains of society, and policy makers are acting on issues involving economic productivity, intellectual property rights, privacy protection, and affordability of and access to information. Choices made now will have long- lasting consequences, and attention must be paid to their social and economic impacts.” The social impacts of Information and technology advancements have turned the present human society upside down from what it used to be just about a little more than a decade ago. The social boost to the human society began in the 1990s. This decade gave a boost to communication and information technology thus increasing the social media popularity on a whole. Scholars Kling, McKim and King quote as follows (2009), “Information and communication technologies have transformed our world in many ways; Yet, informal scholarly scientific communication forms a socio-technical interaction network in which communication is influenced by technology but defined by the social structures of scientists and their organizations. “ Having discussed how the advent of communications and information technology has led to the present day state of the human society, the study now proceeds to the present day concept of social web that is extensively prevalent in the high tech human society of the twenty first century. STRUCTURE OF A SOCIAL WEB The following diagrams depict the structure of the social web. In line with the figures presented on the right it can be ascertained that a social web is a phenomenon whereby people connected to a social network and interacting on it via comments or any other form of participation form a network or web. This notion is well addressed by figure1 (b). A social web is mainly composed of inputs from the users. This include interactions over the social web in the form of articles, comments, Participation in discussions, blog writing and personal profile uploads eic. Social web is a current existing fact that is here to stay and to emerge and transform with the passage of time. SOCIAL WEB TOOLS The tools/technologies that are needed to operate the “Social Web” phenomenon can be classified as follows: ‘Social Portals’, ‘Integration of Social Widgets’, ‘Web Design’, ‘Blogs’, ‘Wikis’, ‘RSS’, ‘Podcasting’, ‘Social Bookmarking.’ Social Portals Online websites that offer social profiles to be created and maintained are referred to as Social Portals. The most relevant examples of these portals are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Orkut etc. A webpage that hosts a person’s blog page is also an integral tool of social web similar to social portals. Social portals are essential components of a social web without which a social web is incomplete. Integration of Social Widgets Facebook’s like buttons or Twitter’s re-tweet buttons can easily be termed as social widgets. Widgets similar to these that can be embedded into personal blogs where readers can leave their comments. The widgets would also enable referring of the data on the blog on other websites and its sharing on the other. Web Design The better the web design of a website the more it is expected to attract more traffic. There are plenty of ready made web designs available online that can be used to formulate a webpage. A professionally designed web page theme makes it easier to integrate social media tools into it. Since they are the ‘most wanted’ thing everyone looks for in a site nowadays, visitors gt encouraged to interact at the well designed web page. SOCIAL WEB AND E-COMMERCE E-Commerce is conducting business activities online. The exposure of social web to E-Commerce enhances the prospects of a business environment to all the users that are connected to the social web. It enables comprehensive integration of business processes, provides several outsourcing facilities and also opens a grandeur horizon of prospective buyers for the business’ products. Brian Solis, one of the most published authors in new Media is reported to have said in the book ‘The Social web analytics ebook 2008' by Philip Sheldrake of Racepoint (2008), “Social Media is no longer an option or debatable. It is critically important to all businesses, without prejudice. It represents a powerful, and additional, channel to first listen to customers, stakeholders, media, bloggers, peers and other influences, and in turn, build two-way paths of conversations to them. Yes, conversations are taking place about your company, product and service, right now, with or without you. This represents priceless opportunities to build relationships and shape perceptions at every step. In the process, you become a resource to the very people looking for leadership, expertise, vision and solutions. The most important driver for outbound and proactive online relations is that it’s measurable and absolutely tied to the bottom line.” CONS OF SOCIAL WEB The human society, at present, is suffering from a number of drawbacks of the social web. A brief evaluation of the pros, that is done below puts a little insight into how these facts have negatively shaped the society into its current insecure and unstable form. Youth, on the whole, are the backbones of a society. They way they adapt to the changes in their surroundings are the ways in which a society is eventually shaped in the years to come. The PRESENT DAY youth are exposed to the internet and via it to unsecure data to a degree that has never been seen previously. The impacts this exposure on them are the most long-lasting. These impacts are usually more adverse than beneficial. This mainly is because youth lack the insight and experience of their elders and thus are very likely to indulge into a myriad of endeavors that may prove to be lethal for them and eventually for the generations to come. Since technological literacy is indispensible, the high-tech lifestyle that the youth adopt nowadays is embedded with numerous hazards to themselves and to their surroundings. The youth use the internet and remain signed into their social profiles round the clock. This can evidently be seen by the exhibit on the right. They often stay up at nights so that they may not miss any update from their connections over the internet. Besides health hazards the excessive dependence of youngsters on the social web has other various disadvantages as well. These include risk to their life and identity and also to their individuality. The social web is a platform where information can very easily be misused as there are no checks and balances in it. Youngsters enter their personal information on various chat software and other social networking portals. This personal information can very easily be misused by frauds that mask the social web. Anyone can easily fake any other’s identity over the social web and put the former’s reputation at stake. It is because of several reasons that the social networking portals on the social web are considered extremely hazardous to the youth. The excessive use of social networking sites can cause personality and brain disorders in children, such as the inability to have real conversations, limited attention spans, and a need for instant gratification, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and self-centered personalities. The fast pace of the sites may rewire the brain with repeated exposure because parts of the brain used for traditional, offline activities become underused.(Waldez, 2010) Studies show that teens spend an average of nine hours per day only on social networking sites (National School Boards’ Association, 2007.). Adolescents also attempt to see strangers personally without notifying their elders. They have no clue to these strangers’ original identity and thus become subject to physical assault most of the times. Unrestricted access to pornographic data over the social web has also become widely common. The society with adolescents having the above mentioned traits has been shaped such that the hours per day of face-to-face socializing have declined as the use of social media has increased. Both elders and adolescents who are hooked up to these sites frequently are prone to social isolation. Parents usually spend less time with their children and couples spend less time together even when they live in the same house. This is because they are busy socializing virtually over the social web instead of interacting with each other. (Sigman, 2009) SOCIAL WEB BASED MARKETING AND ADVERTISEMENT. The inception of social media or the social web was initially meant only to enhance the connectivity of people. This field has shown a great progress over the last four years. Currently the social websites have emerged as a new horizon for computational marketing and advertisement. According to SEO & PPC Expert UK (2007) “Social networks make viral marketing and word-of-mouth marketing much easier than before. The best use out of social networks is not to make money ‘directly’ off them, but to harness their marketing potential and to use them to market your own business.” Google’s dominance over the internet is beyond doubt. Being ahead in all aspects Google enjoyed a long supremacy. Be it the economic share in the e-market or the market share of total internet traffic, Google has always proven to be invincible. Hats off to the social media that now it is no more an as impressive giant as it used to be. In August 2010, Facebook toppled Google as the top online destination. Google is at par with its new competitor, The Social Media. The social media offers some prominent features that highly influence the marketing and advertisement of the products. Few of them are as follows, Targeted marketing to the similar interest based communities. Replication of word of mouth at manifolds and within no time (Viral Marketing). Virtually inexpensive and yet, most effective. Real time results with guaranteed feedback. High connectivity with the market. Along with the Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a new factor that needs to be taken into account for the promotion and value enhancement of a website is Social Media Optimization (SMO). This is related to the socialization of website to a greater extent through social media. The impact of social media on businesses is observed by the fact that the top 500 fortune companies have their presence on facebook, twitter, yahoo etc. Most of them possess their own blogs. Rests of them rely highly on their constant reviews on big blogs like Mashable and TechCrunch etc. These blogs are the main source of breaking product news for the company. The giants have formal contracts signed with social media. According to Finley (2011), “The majority of companies studied found social media - such as blogging, social networking and online video - to be successful.” According to Gordhamer (2009), the businesses are experiencing at least four major shifts. ‘Selling and Marketing’ means ‘Making More Connections’. The enhanced presence on the social media ensures business. ‘Large Advertisement Campaigns’ are replaced with ‘Small actions’. Virtually everyone has its own network for broadcasting through social networks. Timely small acts pay a lot more than huge advertisement and marketing campaigns. No need to project a sophisticated, restricted and formal image of the business. To be ourselves holds more value on this media. The companies that are informal with their employees are more successful on the social media due to the freedom their employees exercise. The accessibility impact from ‘Hard Reach-ability’ has changed to ‘Be with everyone almost all the time’. Having exposed preferences of large audience make it highly possible to enter the communities with highest level of connectivity. CONCLUSION Social web is a phenomenon that is a need of the hour. The benefits associated with it outweigh its cons. Youngsters and adults are inclined towards the social web in an indifferent manner. The need of the hour is that social ethics be made prevalent on the social web. REFERENCES: Peggy, S. (2006). "Science And Invention - Who Invented The Telephone?." History Fact Finder. Ed. Julie L. Carnagie. UXL-GALE, 2001. Retirieved from: http://www.enotes.com/history-fact-finder/science-invention/who-invented-telephones Kay, A. Retrieved from: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Kay McLuhan, M. (1962) “The Gutenberg Galaxy”. Retrieved from: http://www.cas.edu.com  Lee, K. R.. Impacts of Information Technology on Society in the new Century. Retirieved from: http://www.zurich.ibm.com/pdf/Konsbruck.pdf Kling, R., McKim, G., & King, A. (May 2009).” A bit more to it: Scholarly communication forums as socio-technical interaction networks”. [Electronic version]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 47-67. Retrieved from: http://bst.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/6/444 Waldez, A. (September 24, 2010)The Disadvantages of Modern Technology among the Youth. Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/list_7229326_disadvantages-modern-technology-among-youth.html#ixzz1HJ8Lp7LC National School Boards’ Association.(2007). “Creating and connecting-Research guidelines on Online Social-and Educational-Networking”. Sigman, A. "Well Connected?: The Biological Implications of 'Social Networking'," Biologist, Feb. 2009. Sheldrake, P. (2008). The Social web analytics ebook 2008. Available from http://conversation.cipr.co.uk/posts/philip.sheldrake/the-social-web-analytics-ebook-2008 How Social Network Marketing Works. (2007). SEO & PPC Expert UK, Bing SEO Crawly| Google Consultant. Retrieved from http://www.theecommercesolution.com/blog/2007/05/01/how-social-network-marketing-works/ O’Neil, N. (2010). Google Vs Facebook: A Battle Of Colossal Proportions [Infographic]. All Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.allfacebook.com/google-vs-facebook-2010-09. Yuri. (2007). Social Marketing: The next edge in the internet marketing. Improve the Web. Retrieved from http://improvetheweb.com/social-marketing-the-next-edge-in-internet-marketing. Finley, K. (2011). The Business Impact of Social Media [Infographic]. Read Write Enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/07/the-business-impact-of-social-media.php. Gordhamer, S. (2009). 4 ways Social Media is Changing Business. Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2009/09/22/social-media-business/. Read More