Ben Couste

Gowri Ramachandran
Josh Young
Robert Idol

Outline
1. Profiles
2. Reasons for use
3. Effects on business
4. Other consequences
5. Psychological effects

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I
Gazillions of user accounts: Hotmail 370M,
Facebook 600M, Twitter 200M
Flickr has 5 billion pictures, Facebok had 50+ billion
(in July 2010)
Twitter users generate 65M tweets a day
Pushing the limits of scalability in computing,
inventing new technologies on the way

 Huge userbase
Devices! (hint: diversity)
Snowball effect (protests in the Middle-East and
North Africa)
Aka Justin Biebers rise to World Domination

 Certain sites have higher penetration rates in

different countries
Russia still uses ICQ and VKontakte
MSN is preferred over AIM across the pond

 Rampant piracy in Russia

No effort from the company to respond to takedown
notices
China has its own giants, such as
http://www.baidu.com/

 Profiles link users to other members

o Extensive network results
o Social networks important
Public display of connections
o Explains reliability of identity

 Social networking sites vs. dating sites

o More serious deceptions easier on dating sites
Shopping cart of potential (soul|play) mates at your
fingertips!
http://www.adopteunmec.com/
Successful (corporate) model
All sorts of creative solutions

Uses for Social Networking

Online interactions sometimes focus on meeting
similar people
Question
Keep in touch with an old friend or
someone I knew from high school.
Check out a facebook profile of
someone I met socially.
Get information about people that
live in
my dorm, fraternity or sorority.
Get information about people in
my
classes.
Find out about a party or event at
MSU.
Have a face-to-face encounter with
someone that I learned about
through
facebook.
Find people to date.

Table : Mean responses to how likely respondents were to do the following. Higher scores equal more likely (Lampe et al., 2006)

Find casual sex partners.

Social Networks as a
Business
Its all about advertising
Brand recognition

Advergames
Monetization of information
o The users are the product - they willingly provide
information which can be used to target ads
o Google Analytics
o

 Brands are eager to direct their customers to a

social page than the traditional corporate site
Do you connect to brands through social media
sites?

 New ways for to reach consumers

Previously corporate web sites
Companies can create accounts on social media
websites
o Can create fan pages on Facebook or MySpace
o Twitter allows companies to spread information to
followers
Rewards for "like"ing a page
Taco bell
Smirnoff Vodka
UNC snoop dog
Food trucks

 Let your customers do your marketing

o Zynga (Farmville)
o Minecraft
o Will it blend?
o OK GO
Social media networks allow companies
to access younger markets and
particular demographic groups.
Companies can reach consumers who
uses mobile devices for product or
company research.

 Are corporate social media pages more or less

personable than a standard website?
o I choose to "like" something
o "You have 5 friends who like this

Privacy Concerns
Burglary is increasingly plausible:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?
id=6331815n&tag=related;photovideo
Facebook is increasingly being used in divorce cases

Personal information is available

Personal opinion groups impact relationships
o

 Defined as, the use of information and

communication technologies to support deliberate,
repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or
group, that is intended to harm others.
Most common among teenagers in middle/high
school.
Extreme cases in recent memory have resulted in
suicide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br7nbQSIyhg

Bullies might exhibit the following:

Pretend they are other people online to trick others
Spread lies and rumors about victims
Trick people into revealing personal information
Send or forward mean messages

 90% of teens are

online.
Emergence of popular
social networks have
facilitated the growth
of bullying

 Strong links between

bullying, depression
and suicidal
thoughts and
attempts
Cyber bullying
victims are nearly
twice as likely to
have attempted
suicide as were nonvictims
Recent suicide at
Rutgers University

New Jersey law that

mandates antibullying training for
teachers, administrators
and school board
members.

Some worry new laws

are unconstitutional and
limit free speech.

http://www.the33tv.com/n
ews/kdaf-facebookwhitehousecyberbullyingstory,0,7265899.story

 Parents?
o

Monitor internet usage

Schools?
o

Most Cyber Bullying takes place away from campus.

administrators struggle with the limits of school authority in
dealing with off-campus cyber bullying

Government?
o

Safe Schools Improvement Act proposed by Congress

What about bullying that results in suicide?

Survey: 69 percent of adult respondents said harassing someone

over the Internet should be a punishable crime
o Phoebe Prince example
o

Questions?

Questions
1. Facebook is commonly used as evidence in these legal cases.
2. Name any three of the notable social media types we have
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

mentioned.
Which age group (young, middle-aged, old) is particularly targeted
by companies who use social media sites?
Is it easier to present false information on a networking site or a
dating site?
To which country does Vkonatke provide services?
Are college users more or less likely to interact with users online
whom they know offline?
What are the most common reasons for college users to use
Facebook?
Are dating sites being replaced by social media sites?
Who can help create a solution to cyberbullying?

References
Donath, J., & Boyd, D. (2004). Public displays of connection. BT Technology Journal,
22 (4), 71-82.
How American companies use social media. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://thinkup.waldenu.edu/sales-and-marketing/marketing-and-publicrelations/item/12002-how-american-companies-use-social-media
Krudy, E. (2010, March 19). New York food trucks turn to Twitter. Retrieved from
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/19/us-usa-twitter- idUSTRE62I4P220100319
Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfeld, C. (2006). A face(book) in the crowd: social searching vs.
social browsing. Association for Computing Machinery, 167-170.
Mohajer, S. (2009, May 15). Foodies flock to Twitter-savvy food trucks . Retrieved
from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30769388/ns/technology_and_sciencetech_and_gadgets/
Smalera, P. (2010, June 27). Are dating web sites past their prime?. Retrieved from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/06/26/AR2010062600189.html