You are here: Home > Uncategorized > Paris Hilton Music Download

Paris Hilton Music Download

08
Dec
2010

Online Social Networking as a Life-Sharing Medium

Over the years, technology has become increasingly important for people all over the world. One major aspect of this progression in technology can be seen everywhere nowadays, that is, Online social networking, which has taken over the lives of masses around the world to such an extent that for majority, it is considered a fundamental part of life, and has changed the way people interact and communicate with each other.

A social network service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflection of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service). It basically contains an online profile, which a user creates, and in which he/she can include details about him/herself such as of social connections &contacts, activities, interests, and various other online services depending upon each website. Online social networking services such as e-mail, online chats, instant messaging and various sites such as Twitter and Facebook etc. have made correspondence over the internet possible for people from all corners of the world. These sites allow users to share ideas, personal experiences, activities, events, and interests, in short, virtually anything, within their individual networks.

Christine Rosen, a senior editor of The New Atlantis and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, describes these online social networking sites as digital self-portraits, created from pixels instead of paints, because they depict a lot about us, i.e. basic details, photos, interests, activities and anything else we choose to tell the world. In fact, these digital portraits reveal a lot more than our canvas portraits. Other than that, these are interactive as well, and allow users not only to look at, but also to contact and respond to the life that is portrayed online. As painters constantly improve their paintings and apply retouches to them, online users of these sites also update, maintain and alter their profiles regularly.

Internet users can be classified into two types:- “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants”. Digital Natives were born in ‘90s, and are well-aware of the technology that is surrounding them, such as cell phones and computers. We could say that this group literally grew up with technology. The second group, called the “Digital Immigrants”, has immigrated to the internet. They wrer mostly born in ‘50s and ‘60s, and taught by the younger generation (digital natives) the basics of technology and internet. For the digital immigrants, communication mostly took place face-to-face, and cultural and family values were more important for them. To meet someone, they had to physically move and get to that place. Now, the younger generation -Digital Natives- socialize digitally, and are able to interact with each other even if they are at different corners of the earth. The latest “Voice over Internet Protocol” or “VoIP” technology, “Skype”, allows users to talk face-to-face with its video-calling feature, and it almost feels as if users are physically present in front of each other while talking.

Even though technology has made interaction and communication very convenient for its users, not everyone has the same technology, and some do not have access to technology at all. This creates a “digital divide” or inequality between technology users and non-users. There could be many reasons for this, such as the economic conditions of individuals or society as a whole, level of ICT education that an individual possesses or physical infrastructure etc. This is explained in the following excerpt:-

“The gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities (OECD 2001:5)‖. The digital divide reflects differences among and within countries in terms of access to physical infrastructure, such as computers and Internet or even conventional communication infrastructure, such as fixed telephone lines. Digital divides can exist between developed and developing countries (also known as the global divide), or within a country (known as the national divide) [ITU 2010:40]“.

To eliminate this digital divide, Negroponte has proposed the “One Laptop Per Child” (OPLC) project in order to provide children access to technology at a young age, and to create educational opportunities through self-learning. This way they’d be able to collaborate and share with each other more effectively, which would help in lowering the digital divide.

During the past few years, cell phones have become a very popular form of communication. In USA, almost 75% of 12-17 year-olds own a cell phone (while 4% report having two or more phones), compared with 90% of parents. Teens mostly use cell-phones to take pictures, (83%) share pictures (64%), play music (60%) and play games (46%). Other features include exchanging videos and instant messages, surfing the Web, participating in social networking through GPRS, sending e-mails and buying & selling items. [Lenhart et al. 2010b].

While cell phone is used for more personal and limited interactions, people adopt social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to expand their social circle and meet new people from all over the world. Unlike on cell phones, people can share content, stories, blogs, music and videos in a wider and more open environment on these site. Given below is a short summary of why people use social networking sites in order to communicate with people:-

“First […] social networking users are much more likely to reconnect with people from their past, and these renewed connections can provide a powerful support network when people near retirement or embark on a new career. […] Second, older adults are more likely to be living with a chronic disease, and those living with these diseases are more likely to reach out for support online. […] And finally, social media bridges generational gaps. While the results can sometimes be messy, these social spaces pool together users from very different parts of people’s lives and provide the opportunity to share skills across generational divides” [Madden 2010:6-7].

Users can share their “mind” through such sites as Facebook and Twitter, and show their “sight” through “YouTube” or “Flickr”. Thus, social networking sites have combined most of the aspects of communication in order to provide an enriching and interactive experience to their users.

The era of the web can also be classified into two categories: Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. In Web 1.0 phase (the older version), people were likely to visit forums and chat rooms, as well as download and share music illegally provided by individuals, and search pages or simply surf the internet for various purposes. In short, we can say that “file-sharing” was the prevalent trend during that era. Another important thing to be noted here is that during the Web 1.0 phase, people visited chat rooms while using their nicknames. Whereas in Web 2.0 phase, the advent of social networking sites led users to use their actual names and surnames, along with providing personal information with it as well, such as hobbies and interests etc. In this phase, users not only indulge in “file-sharing”, but “life-sharing” as well, posting pictures, stories and self-experiences on these sites. It can be observed that the Web 2.0 phase has introduced some major changes as compared to Web 1.0 phase.

Some of the most popular social networking sites in use today include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Given below is a short history and description of each of these sites:-

1. Facebook:-

Facebook was created in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates, and is the most used social network worldwide, with 500 million active users as of July 2010. It was initially created for the university students to interact with each other, but shortly opened its platform to the rest of the world. Users can freely express their views, join fan pages & groups, play virtual games online, upload photos, videos, music and send messages alongwith a wide range of other features. Facebook is now a vital part of a majority of individuals’ lives around the world and has become a main medium of communication and interaction as well as “life-sharing”.

2. YouTube:-

The second type of social media that has taken the world by storm is the famous video-sharing site called “YouTube”. It was founded by Char Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim in 2005 as a “digital video archive” where users could upload music videos, tutorials, movies, fictions and serials as well as videos related to their own life and experiences. It also allows users to comment on videos uploaded by other users and discuss them. The main purpose of this video-sharing site is o broadcast yourself and your activities, as its name suggests: “YouTube-Broadcast Yourself”.

3. Twitter:-

Twitter can be described as a “social status update service” or a “micro-blogging service”. On Twitter, users can blog about their activities or interests and receive replies or comments from their “followers”. It is a hub of celebrities like Paris Hilton, who regularly update their followers and fans on their recent activities (this is known as tweeting). Unlike other social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter uses text as the main medium of communication instead of photos and videos. According to Berlin Johnson, Twitter has got three elements: Social networks, live searching and link-sharing. It also allows users to tell the world about their daily life history, such as that done by Queen Rania of Jordan.

Social networking sites, such as the three described above, have facilitated communication and interaction to a great extent by providing numerous features and possibilities for its users. A significant change can be observed that occurred while moving from Web 1.0 phase to Web 2.0 phase, most of it positive, but care needs to be taken and caution exercised by individuals whn it comes to sharing life over the internet to avoid dangers and risks associated with it. Once users post information on these sites, it is kept in a database from where users cannot remove it, even if they delete their online profiles. This information could be used against an individual in future. Thus, it is time to take measures to control information and share it in a safe manner and environment with minimal risks.

Reference:-

“Social networks sites and life-sharing”

“Dario De Notaris (PhD in Sociology and Social Research, University of Federico II, Naples, Italy http://wpage.unina.it/dario.denotaris; dario.denotaris@unina.it | Researcher at Osservatorio Giovani www.giovani.unina.it)”

About the Author

University Student, Pakistan.

Paris Hilton – Heartbeat (REMIX) [MUSIC VIDEO] 2011 + Download