Networking Insight

Oregon Football Player Kicked Off Team for Facebook Usage

Another story surfaces about poor judgment when using Facebook. According to reports, an Oregon football player was dismissed for using expletive and racist comments on his Facebook page. The player mistakenly concluded that one of his teammates was kicked off the team for an arrest. Therefore, he blasted the move as unfair and damaging to the team.

Not sure if the penalty was justified, however, it appears that the team had past issues with this particular player. So, his latest move on Facebook may have been the last straw.

Before posting anything on Facebook, you need to realize that most people can read what you write. This player was angry and may have reacted without thinking about his consequences. Social networking sites, like Facebook, are a great way to build your online reputation if used appropriately.

For more about this story, go to Holland dismissed from Oregon.

What do you think?

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Does Your Facebook Profile Reflect the True You?

Contrary to popular belief, a recent study by psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin and Johannes Gutenberg-University in Germany discovered that people's profiles on social networking pages seem to match their authentic personalities.

According to the authors of the study, "Online social networks might be an efficient medium for expressing and communicating real personality, a finding that may help explain their popularity."

The study's results make sense, especially since these sites are designed for you to mirror your offline relationships. Of course, there are those who use these sites to hide, commit fraud, and act like someone else. By and large though, people tend to use the sites as an extension of their offline persona. Also, your online brand is just as important as your offline brand.

To read more, go to Facebook profile reflects the true you.

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Social Networking Usage Rises With Younger People

According to research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, social networking has risen among all age groups in the past few years, especially among teens and younger adults. Below are some results from this study:

• 73% of online teens used social networking sites in 2009, compared to 47% of online adults. Breaking down online adults into older and younger demographics, 72% of adults 18-29 use social networking sites, compared to 40% of their counterparts 30 and older.

• Social networking adults in all age brackets favor Facebook by a wide margin, with older adults preferring it slightly more. Seventy-three percent of all adults 18 and older who use social networking sites have a Facebook account. Broken down by age demographic, this includes 71% of adults 18-29 and 75% of adults 30 and older.

• 48% of all adult social network site users have a MySpace account. The younger generation is much more apt to use MySpace, with 66% of social networking adults 18-29 having a MySpace account, but only 36% of the 30 and older bracket.

• Twitter and other status-updating sites are more popular with younger adults than older adults.

• Blogging is becoming more popular with older adults and less popular with younger adults.

The results of this study are not surprising to me at all. To read more, go to Social Networking Rises, Especially Among Younger Set.

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2009 Was a Busy Year for Spam and Social Networking Sites

According to a Cisco's annual security report, New Zealand is responsible for 0.06% of the world’s spam, Australia produced 0.74%, Brazil produced 12.13%, and the US produced 10.41%. In this report, Cisco "highlighted the impact of social media on network security and how social networking is creating opportunities for cyber criminals."

“Social networks has quickly become a playground for cyber criminals because members of these sites put an inordinate amount of trust in the other members of their communities and often fail to tale precautions to prevent the spread of malware and computer viruses.

“The annual security report also provides more information on the potentially devastating combination of minor vulnerabilities, poor user behaviour, and outdated security software that can dramatically increase risks to network security,” the company said in a statement.

To read more, go to Social networking sites were slammed by spam in 2009.

Are you being affected by spam on these sites?

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LinkedIn Finding Ways for Users to Connect More

According to the article, LinkedIn Wants Users to Connect More, the professional networking site is continually adding new features to create more ways for users to interact. Research firm comScore said that visitors "spent about 13 minutes on average at LinkedIn during October, while Facebook users logged about 213 minutes and MySpace users spent 87 minutes."

One way that LinkedIn is trying to do this is allowing third-party developers to create new applications for the site. Unlike Facebook, all applications accepted to LinkedIn must be professionally oriented. Based on this data, you can see why LinkedIn is trying to find ways to create more stickiness to its site. LinkedIn will soon be offering some new subscription packages that could incentive people to use the site more as well. 

According to the author of the article mentioned, LinkedIn is "mostly used by professionals to post their resumes and by corporate recruiters looking for talent." I disagree with this statement because LinkedIn has a thriving community of groups in which users interact and share their expertise. At the same time, LinkedIn is a great tool to make some new contacts. After all, that is one of the primary reasons to use the system. Also, it is true that recruiters use LinkedIn to find talent but users also use LinkedIn to find jobs.

What are your thoughts about LinkedIn? Do you think that it will lose out to other sites such as Facebook and MySpace?

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Singer Courtney Love's Legal Trouble Using Facebook

Singer Courntey Love, the widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Kobain, has had recent legal trouble by lashing out at her daughter on Facebook. Her daughter has filed for a restraining order against her mother because of what Courtney posted online. 

Interesting use of Facebook! Not something that I support, however, it shows you that online social networking is intertwined with everything. Also, what you say online is not protected so be careful.

To read more about this incident, go to Courtney Love's daughter files restraining order against her?

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How Social Networking Can Breach Confidentiality with Patients

Doctors in Britain recently were warned not to respond to flirting by their patients through social networking sites such as Facebook. By responding, this could violate their ethical duties. Some cases have been documented in which doctors have been propositioned by their patients through some of these sites.

It is amazing how social networking has affected everyday life.  To read the entire story, go to Doctors warned of patients' Facebook flirting.

What interesting stories can you share about social networking usage?

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Funny Animated Video about Friendster, MySpace, & Facebook

Social Networking Saves Honeymoon

In another feel good story about social networking, a couple that was given wrong information on their overseas honeymoon by Expedia reached out to their friends on Twitter and Facebook for help. What happened is that their Expedia travel agent assured them that they didn't need a visa when traveling from Frankfurt, Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia. Of course, they didn't have the visas so were destined to be stranded in Frankfurt.

Their friends reached out to Expedia with phone calls and emails. Here is what happened:

A sympathetic Expedia agent goes to bat for them, and the online agency admits its error, offers a full refund, picks up the tab for expedited visas and other costs, and throws in a jaw-dropping $3,000 credit for future travel.

Not a bad outcome and another story that shows the power of social networking.

To read more about this story, go to Visa snafu snarls honeymoon, social networking saves the day

Do you have any good stories to share about social networking?

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Parents Try to Find Daughter Through Social Networking

The parents of an abducted child have created a video that they hope will spread through social networks. They hope that this video will reach someone who knows what happened to their daughter. While this a very sad story, it is one that shows us the power of social networking and how it can be leveraged to help one another.

See the video below: