The site that I chose to blog about from the list of Web 2.0 Award nominess is facebook. I chose this because I think that this site has had the greater amount of influence over social media than any site. Although facebooks has a disclaimer at this time saying you must be 18 years of age to use, it is easy to open an account and there are many minors who also use facebook. Facebook is a way to communicate and share photos with people from all over the world. Each member has a profile and what is called a wall. The profile is set up by the member and included any personal info the member wants to share such as birthday, hobbies, religion, marital status, etc. Member of facebook can search for other members. It is a great way to stay in touch with family members or old friends. There is a simple way where you can request particular people to be your friend. After the other member accepts your friend request, it is easy to "chat", share pictures, and communicate with one another. Members of facebook have what is called walls. Friends can write on each others walls about anythng they like. Members can give status updatesas often as they want. I have noticed that tonight a lot of people are posting political things. I assume that this has to due with the DNC going on right now. When people post on walls, it is out there for everyone to see. There are privacy settings that can prevent others from seeing your wall. There is also a way to send private messages. There are also games that people can play.
What I like about facebook is the ability for family members and friends who live far away to stay connected with one another. Pictures can be posted. Althought I havent figured it out yet, video clips can be taken as well and sent to one another. Staying connected is my favorite thing. What I dislike about facebook it all of the political and religious hatred posted on facebook. I dont understand why people make facebook their soap box. It can be contoversial and people can post pretty inapproprate things. Teachers also have to be very careful if they have facebook. This is where ones past can come back to haunt them. It is possible for anyone to find an old picture and "tag" another with the picture. This essentially means the picture is placed on that persons wall (the one who was tagged) for all to see.
Some people do not like the idea of being on a camera. I do not skype for this reason. I prefer to type and see pictures. Facebook is a very usefull network for connecting people without a camera. It is also useful for companies and businesses. Businesses can have their own page and members can "like" it. This allows the business to keep people updated on sales, coupons, etc. It seems like big business and local business all tend to use facebook to help promote their products.
Although I think facebook could be used in schools, it would need a lot of modifications first. Maybe a smaller and seperate network could be created just for schools. At the present time, there is not enough of security measures and no way to prevent inappropriate content from being placed on it. It is too risky and not really approprate for children. However, I think that if a kid friendly version of facebook could be created, it could be a very valuable tool. Kids could interact with other kids from across the country (or even the world). There is also at this time no use for facebook in a library.
The link for facebook is facebook.com. It is free but you have to sign up before you can view profiles or create your own.
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