Oh the Internet!

What would the world be without the internet? As I sit at my home computer with an internet connection that is currently non existent, this question springs to mind. Now normally I’d consider myself to be highly un-reliant on the Internet. Today however, I’m having second thoughts. I’ve been asked to write up an article on something that I attended over the weekend. My deadline is two days, three at most, to have a 700 word article and accompanying pictures. I have the photos; they just need to be uploaded to flicker. I have the majority of the article written; I just need to be able to access my email to double check sources and add some extra information. However, there is a slight hitch. No Internet means that neither of these tasks can be completed. What this means is that I’m going to be slightly more rushed than usual over the next couple of days trying to get everything done. The Internet has wormed its way into everyday life. Slowly but surely it has managed to make itself in-disposable, which today, I learnt is not a good thing. How this happened, I’m not sure. When it happened? I wouldn’t have a clue, but it has, and it’s a tad annoying!

Time for a History Lesson!

Let us take a trip down memory lane to class number two of Web Media. It was nearing the middle of winter. The sky was dark with rain clouds and we were all miserable. Ok I made that last part up. I can’t actually remember what the day was like (or the weather for that matter) but I do remember one thing, learning about the history of the Internet. It was originally developed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as a way to share information on research, and went by the name of ARPANET. During it’s early beginnings it was only used for emails and FTP sites. As the years progressed the early developments evolved. During 1980, physicist Tim Berners-Lee proposed a prototype that allowed researchers in his organisation (CERN) the ability to use and share documents.

A bit of extra research shows that he did a more than just that. In 1989, he proposed a global hypertext project that was to be known as the World Wide Web. This project would allow people to work together by “by combining their knowledge in a web of hypertext documents.” Then on the 25 December, 1990, with the help of colleague and a young student staff, he “implemented the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet.” This guy created the language that makes up the Internet. How cool is that?

Facebook: You know you have a problem when...

… you start referring to Facebook games in a way that suggests they are major player in a war against productivity.

Here’s one dedicated to those stupid Facebook games that manage to consume so much time without me realising, until it begins to get dark out side. Restaurant City, Farmville, Bejewled, Pet Society, Geo Challenge (and now Country Story), are the major players in the battle for time between sworn enemies: Procrastination and Productivity. They are weapons designed by geniuses that manage to reach beyond common sense to a place where competitiveness is fueled and nurtured.

These games have very little to them. When you think about what the do, or rather what they don’t do, you realise that they are completely pointless. There is no greater accomplishment then beating your friends who have also been drawn in to the battle. So you are all there having the same problem, thinking the same thing “just one more and I’ll beat them!” It’s crazy! It makes no sense! However, it happens. It seems the way they do this is by feeding your competitive side and allowing you the opportunity to indulge yourself in an ideal lifestyle. Who wouldn’t want to own a successful farm? Or open a classy restaurant, which you didn’t have to work in if you didn’t want to, and make a few thousand on a daily basis? If someone gave me that opportunity I probably wouldn’t say no to it. However, reality is a tad different to cyber space, and I’m sure running a farm, or a restaurant, isn’t as easy as the game makes out. It’s always nice to dream though!

Facebook and the 104.

“Procrastination is a behavior which is characterised by the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time.”

It often comes as a result of thinking “I’ll just check my email and see if there’s anything new,” when you know that there will be, and you know who it will be from. Yes, facebook. I have never spent as much time in my entire life practicing this behavior since joining up to the social networking website over a year ago. I signed up because I kept getting friends request from people asking if I’d to join their network. Since then there has been no turning back!

The website was originally set up by a Harvard student back in 2004 called Mark Zuckerberg. It began as a hobby project that developed and spread at first through dorm rooms, then to Stanford and Yale and now it’s everywhere! Fathers use it, uncles, brothers, mothers, daughters, and even grandmothers. In fact the oldest known member on facebook comes in at age 104. Ivy Bean is a great grandmother who began using the Internet just over two years ago from her care home in Bradford, England. Her facebook account clocks her in at having an impressive 4,958 friends (which could soon be 4,959 if she decides to accept my request).

On her recent birthday, she was at the sites 5,000 friend limit. On the other social networking site she uses, twitter, she has over 47,000 followers. Rather epic I’d say! This social networking gran is quite the inspiration showing that you’re never too old to start using the Internet and you’re never too old to start a facebook (or even twitter) account.

Tweet tweet.

Here we go. A post dedicated to that site I seem to be so commonly associated with these days. That’s right guys: Twitter. People often ask what the appeal is to this site. My reply to them is simple: “it’s useful.” It’s a microblogging website with over five million users signed on from around the world. There are links to breaking news stories and major events posted as soon as they are available to a global audience. Up to date information of what’s going on in the world can be accessed with a couple of mouse clicks in the right places. All that’s required is the ability to get your message across in 140 characters or less. Nothing flash or over complicated. It’s simple. It’s brilliant! It came in handy over the weekend too. Unable to find a place to watch the big Tua vs Cameron fight, twitter was the first point of call for getting a result. Less than half a minute after the fight had ended, there was a status update posted by a friend in Gisborne using the TweetDeck “Shane is OUT. Tua WINS” that I read on my phone. The site is accessible from almost anywhere there’s an internet connection available which means you can get (or even give) updates almost at the drop of a hat!

I think it's cool, but what are your thoughts?

The inevitable post.

It had to happen sooner or later. Having to sustain a blog on social media without mentioning it at least once is just crazy! - Especially if you're me. So here it goes: Twitter.

Whether you love it or love to hate it, there’s no denying that this website is something special. With over five million registered users, a number that’s continually on the increase, accessing the service to answer the simple question “What are you doing?” Twitter is “without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now.”

According to the great Google, Wikipedia and Gigaom are the top two places to get a brief historical overview of the microblogging website phenomenon. They can tell you who started it, where, when and how by using words, which is cool, but slightly boring. This does it so much better:

It has been referred to as being an annoying, complete waste of time, for self absorbed people looking for an outlet on countless occasions which indeed it may be. However, there are some useful aspects to this site. Businesses have the opportunity to get themselves known to over five million people. Political parties can do the same thing, and with a lot of free time, no social life, friends or family, so can you!

The Internet: Once it's out...

It seems as though things done on the spur of the moment for a bit of fun can sometimes have a way of creeping back and reminding you of your bad judgment call. Just ask Miley Cyrus. In the early months of 2009 she appeared in the news over a photo that made its way on to the Internet showing her making slant-eye poses with her friends. I’m sure Vanessa Hudgens could vouch for it as well. In her case it was a series of nude photographs that an Internet source says she took for her boyfriend Zac Efron during 2007. Can you see the common factor in both of these instances? I’ll give you a hint: it has nothing to do with them having their careers start on the Disney channel. Figured it out yet? It was the fact that the damning information was leaked by a third party over the Internet. It could have been by someone looking to make a quick buck or a genuine mistake by a friend. Either way once the photos hit the net it made world headlines. Cyrus and Hudgens' reputations gained an extra little something that’s going to haunt them for the rest of their careers.

In class we have been discussing the importance of being aware of what information the Internet can provide about you. “What happens when someone types your name in Google and hits return?” The potential of what those results could bring back could have huge implications. For future employers it could be the deciding factor in whether you get the job you applied for or not. It’s so important to manage your online reputation these days. Keeping a critical eye on what’s going out there is paramount, from now on, the judgment calls we make is what’s going to define our careers. So next time you do something somewhere, and someone captures that special moment, just think: if it’s something that could be a problem in the future, do what you can to stop it from getting on to the Internet. However, if that fails then you may want to have a damage control plan ready to use.

Sites with helpful tips on reputation damage control:
_____________________________________

5 Steps for Successful Social Media Damage Control

Your Online Reputation Damage Control