What does Twitter and Facebook feel like on the PS3 and the Xbox 360?
Everyone’s heard of how they are bringing the two worlds together: social networking is a coming attraction on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. It makes all the sense; gamers constantly keep in touch with their pals while they are gaming, and if they are not, they need to find pals to game with. Actually, going by the way social networking has been implemented on the consoles, the whole concept doesn’t seem to make as much sense over at Sony and Microsoft as it does in the imaginations of regular gamers. The implementations are nowhere near as powerful as Facebook and Twitter could allow it to be.
The native communications abilities available on the Xbox and PlayStation are passable to begin with. Xbox Live in particular makes it quite easy to keep in touch with friends you game with. PlayStation 3 has networking that is entirely too functional; you can’t even chat with friends who don’t play the same games you do. None of this lives up to the power of what Facebook and Twitter can do though, as was introduced on Xbox Live last week.
Sony has had a difficult time with its PlayStation Home networking concept in the past, and isn’t eager to rush into that space right away. For now they are just giving the console a firmware update to do Facebook better and communicate with PlayStation games better too. New features include, for example, the ability to automatically update your gaming achievements on Facebook.
As it happens though, social networking on the consoles really amounts to very little; you can’t connect with your social networking friends while you’re actually playing on the consoles. Here then is the rub: you can only network on Facebook and Twitter on these consoles, when you’re not playing a game. If you need in- game communications facilities, you still need a separate computer. It doesn’t feel cutting-edge at all now does it?
So Most Small Businesses don’t Twitter Yet?
“bCoz ^ is the way to go“, “Pastry smpls 2 b thnkfl 4 on Bleecker’s Thrsdy, and don’t drink and drive”: the first is a tweet by an independent movie theater running the movie Up, and the other is by a local bakery trying to keep in touch with their custom and get a following. The way small businesses figure it, the only way they can run against larger competitors is by making their message personal, with fun tweets sent out. Today might be a particularly valuable time to get in; Citibank did a survey of several hundred small businesses in the US recently and found that three-quarters of small businesses didn’t pay attention to social media, given how distracted they are by the tough economy. Twitter and Facebook certainly cost little for businesses to run; getting in now should be a good way to establish a custom.
But success in the social networking arena comes from finding a way of genuinely standing out. Some businesses don’t just use social networking to get in some cheap advertising; they read other people’s messages to try to see how to appeal to them. For example, a small clothing store found out through reading up on Twitter that sports fans like to catch the attention of the cameras when they attend a sporting event. The store came up with a shirt that had reflective-coated cuffs that caught the light quite nicely. They put the word out through Twitter, and sold a bunch.
The more buzzworthy a business website is, the more local blogs will point to it. That makes for excellent SEO, and can boost rankings on Google searches in your area. Innovative Twitter use is pretty good too; a plumber likes to put out word on his tweets, what areas he plans to be visiting the following day; a mobile ethnic food van put out word of the streets they will be passing through at different times the following day, and so on.
No one really knows how to measure the success of their efforts in social media. If only there were a successful Facebook app for this now.
Can’t we Settle this War over a Friendly Facebook Post?
Elder statesmen do it, movie stars do it, beauty pageant contestants do it and U2’s Bono does it; when you are as big as Facebook, it is only natural to wonder if it’s time to begin thinking about making a contribution to world peace. The initiative is called dot peace, and it’s a joint venture between Facebook and Persuasive Technology Lab of Stanford University will.Facebook’s idea is that its services happen today to be in the unique position of being able to help people get in touch and gain some much-needed understanding. The world is filled with entire regions that have traditionally lived lives riven by social differences: border disputes between India and Pakistan, Israel and all its neighbours, Russia and Chechnya, and so on; Facebook’s social networking abilities could help many people in these societies gain sympathy and respect for the dignity of the other side by talking to one another through the Internet, or so the idea goes.
The dot peace homepage lays out a large section dedicated to comments and friendships made in troubled regions around the world. This area regularly posts how many friendly connections have been made between the citizens of nations in trouble. Religious differences are not ignored either. Even when there is no war in a specific region, Facebook members still can talk to one another and form friendships across barriers of language, religion, beliefs .
These contributions are hardly to be disputed: the problem really is that Facebook is a company that looks out for its own bottom line; this kind of control could induce the company to exercise editorial choice over what gets discussed. It could also tempt the company to choose which topic to feature prominently, or which to reject as unpublishable. Perhaps the better idea in all of this would be to completely open up the company’s database of user posts to researchers and to allow them to gain insights into the real lives of people in a way no opinion poller ever could. Facebook does not consider this a possibility however. Is this a good reason why leaving major social movements in private hands can be a bad idea?
The Verdict is In: Social Networking Really Does Promote Social Behaviour
Some theories are so convincing, they seem self-evident: to need no evidence other than their own grandness. Consider the new-age pet peeve to do with the modern-day involvement in young people, with disembodied social experiences through cell phones and social networking. How convenient a whipping boy electronic communicating has become for the advocates of the clean natural lifestyle. To see people staring away for hours at a glowing rectangle on a cell phone or a computer truly is an irritating sight. But to try to explain the irritation with a fanciful theory that proposes that excessive computer use can impair people socially, cause the brain to vegetate and be the cause of all evil, would be to skip a step or two.
There has been an important study released by the Pew Internet and American life Project recently that quite handily dismisses these theories as fiction and conjecture. How does a study go about measuring social availability and social skills in people? To begin with, the study takes up the lack of social prejudices in a person as a measure of social availability and maturity. In real-world relationships, people are often reluctant to form trusting relationships with people of other religions, races or nationalities. Millions of non-Facebook users on the other hand, are hopelessly mired in these practices. Social network users are also found to place themselves in real social interactions as much as the off-line crowd, often more so. Anything that actually brings the people together from around the world can only be a good thing.
This is not to say that Facebook is a magic pill for social ineptitude in people. The study does admit that a sizable 6% of regular Internet enthusiasts remain socially unsuccessful. But this proportion of the ill-adjusted has always existed in the population. And this is yet another statement for how important it is to verify intuitive casual understanding with actual scientific research. Will parents sit up and take notice?
Everyone Knows Twitter is the Most Popular Social Medium – or do They?
For success in the world of social networking, exactly how aggressive do the marketing strategies employed have to be? Get this, the hub that seemingly captures the most news on every kind of medium, Twitter, gets less than 2% of all social network traffic today from US residents, according to statistics published on Experia. Twitter does grow with remarkable tenacity, posting a ten-fold growth this year; but where does that take it – to a grand total of less than 2%. So what does the scoreboard look like among the social network giants? Surely no one could have beaten Facebook and Twitter?As it turns out, Facebook is unbeaten in what is almost 60% of the market. We have all been regaled with news reports of the death knell of MySpace for about a year now – how they departed from their roots in music in attempting to become a major social networking hub, and were snubbed by users for turning their backs on their musical origins. MySpace actually is not doing badly at all; it finishes second with about a third of the market, though it’s user base has shrunk considerably. The surprise bronze medalist in the race is the relatively low-profile Tagged.
“Why Tagged?” one may ask. What have they done? How could they have beaten Twitter? Twitter gets such glowing press and the best that Tagged got to do all year was to get negative press for an e-mail scam earlier this year and their hard sell tactics in getting memberships up. Perhaps all the hard-edged tactics have worked. Not only is this company getting sign-ups, it is also retaining those members with great page view statistics, time spent statistics, and financial profitability.
Twitter finishes last in the top four. Has there been a data error totaling up the numbers? How does all the great press Twitter receives about addictive tweeting not get it better rankings? It is possible, in fact that Twitter is merely a master at working the press.
Are you addicted to your Social Network?
Are you online at all hours, compulsively checking every few minutes to see if you have any new messages? Does your family resort to sending you online messages to get your attention? Do you get very stressed when you are unable to login for a few hours or days? If you answered yes to any of the above, you just might be addicted and you might need to seek help. It is now increasingly being recognized that Social Networking can take over lives and verily turn into an addiction.
The typical reaction is to overreact and decry social media, blaming it for all societal ills. However, for most people social networking is just a handy tool to further one’s business or social goals. Only certain vulnerable people fall prey to social network addiction and for those few that are in the grip of this addiction there are ways to address the affliction.
As with most malaise, recognizing that it exists is the most important aspect of managing it. With children it is easy. All you need to do is to restrict their access. For grownups the strength and resolve to do this has to come from within. The first step is to monitor your time and set a limit. When the time is up, log out immediately with no excuses. Often we go online to avoid work that we just don’t feel like taking up. Being online gives us a feeling of doing something productive when we are in fact wasting time. Make going online a reward for finishing all your work. Don’t forget your friends and family. When you spend too much time online your family and friends get forsaken in favor of your online comrades. Online interactions usually are sanitized, free of the messy emotions that characterize real life and are very easy to get lost in but in the end it is the offline real world bonds that truly enrich your life friends.
Social networking participants at risk
With an increase in the number of users involved in social networking, the number of risks which they face has proportionally increased. As sites like Facebook and Twitter are getting exceedingly popular among people of all sectors, the hackers seem to be using this in their favor and have been invading a large number of networking sites.According to statistics, Carlsbad based Breach Security said the number of Web security incidents was up 30 percent in the first half of 2009. Also it was ascertained that 19 percent of the attacks were targeted at social networking sites and 16 percent on media sites and another 12 percent were aimed at retail, technology, retail and government/political sites. Compared to last year when only government networks were majorly attacked, the year 2009 has seen a large number or attacks directed at social networking sites.
As social networking users have now become very vulnerable to attacks there are several precautions users can take to protect themselves from extensive damage.
To start with, users can start making backups of all the files on their computers or laptops. If you are an extensive networker, it’s best to protect your data from complete destruction by keeping backup files of all your information.
The next best thing to a protecting armor from the hackers is the availability of online security software. Usually most computers come with security software and if it does not, it’s very simple to get it installed and has proven to be very effective against unwanted viruses and hackers!
Another very important but extremely simple solution when it comes to hackers attacking you in social networking sites is to not give out too many personal details unless completely necessary. Even though you are allowed some control over the security setting, its best to avoid giving too much information. The rest is a bunch of precautions we are all familiar with – do not open links to any unfamiliar sites in your e-mails as your mails are the most susceptible areas of attack and also update your security software regularly to ensure its effective functioning.
Even though attacks on networking sites have become a large cause for concern, this is not a problem we cannot combat as long as we are equipped to manage the attack, remain vigilant when it comes to cybercrimes and ensure we follow security procedures.
Increased users in social networking
With a large degree of advancement in technology, the internet today is not only used for checking e mail and browsing new web sites but to a large extent, for social networking. And understandably so, because looking at the quality of jobs we perform people seem to need some form of an outlet. And as travelling expenditures have become quantifiable the internet is the only way we seem to be able to stay in touch with our friends. And after the emergence of sites like Facebook, it has become a boon to use Facebook ,Orkut and lots others to feel connected.
According to statistics the number of users involved in social networking has increased to 55.6 percent in the year 2009. Specifically, 55.6 million adults or just less than 1/3rd of the population in the United States now visit social networks at least monthly. That’s up from just 15 percent of adults in 2007, and around 18 percent last year.
It was also noted that the number of internet users utilizing the net to check their mail leads the list. The number is close to 95% of the population. A large sector of the population sends or receives photos through the internet and that number is around 60%, while research products and purchasing them which used to be around 50% crossed 60% in the year 2009. The next largest section watches videos on the internet which constitutes around 30% of the population and around 30% of the population have been involved in social networking in the year 2009 while the number was around 15% in 2007.
So all in all, not only is the internet being put to good use commercially in terms of purchasing products but has brought in a new perspective to the concept of social networking making it possible for anyone to communicate from one part of the globe to the other.
The Importance of Quality services
“Right specifications, right time, right price”, “First time is the right time”, “Customer satisfaction”. These are several catch phrases that go with every business in any industry. Just as it is important that a company’s financial policies, marketing strategies, and not to mention its products are well designed and established, it is also imperative for the company to lay down clear quality assurance steps and follow them.
As we have all observed, a lot of the industries are still reeling under the disastrous blow of recession which has hit a large sector of the industries worldwide. It is at this stage that the decisions a company makes, establishes it as a large successful multinational company or an organization that is satisfied with remaining at the middle level without ambition for further growth. How much of its quality is the company willing to compromise on? Does your company go the extra mile to ensure complete and efficient customer satisfaction and implement structured processes for all your services? In short does every individual who buys your product feel the worth of his money? If we have established all of the above then it is time to shut down all forms of quality assurance as they play no role!
The next question what is quality assurance and how can we establish efficient quality control systems?
Quality in short refers to the products or services made as per the customers’ requirements to establish customer satisfaction while Quality assurance, or QA for short, refers to planned and systematic production processes that provide confidence in a product’s suitability for its intended purpose. Quality assurance can be carried out in numerous ways. For instance customer surveys usually give a majority of the inputs. Identifying regular customers and then getting in touch with them regarding the quality of services provided usually gives a fair idea of where you stand in your services. The regular customer will be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business properly. The level of service provided to your customers can also be inspected by calling your own customer care helpline! Audios and video recordings can also substantiate the research project for your quality assurance.
Quality assurance, as we have seen, is the biggest pillar of any business. It is the main aspect of any business that should not be ignored or compromised on as it defines the level of success of your business. It is on these lines that Agriya runs its services and processes on. Agriya as a company prides itself on the depth of the knowledge in all its products and quality services of its technicians.
In all the products launched such as Rayzz, iSocial, Mugshot and Kootali stepwise planning has been undertaken to provide good quality. With our helpful support technicians on standby to assist you in any way, in depth knowledge center and customization options, even Rayzz Video is the perfect solution to start your own video sharing website. Not to mention , Agriya’s readymade social network software called Kootali contains all the features you would expect in a professional social network package, friends, albums, sending messages, groups, events and more! All in all, Agriya’s systems and its mantra in quality goes hand in hand with all its services to make sure you have an enjoyable and high ‘quality’ experience!
Stay ahead in the nutrition field by launching your own social networking site
“Health is wealth”. It is important to uphold the value of a proper diet to lead a healthy life. Good nutrition means getting enough micronutrients (Vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats). Many people consume more calories than the body needs. This can lead to obesity which is a great risk factor for many diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.We all know that Prevention is better than cure but, no one really follows it. Our eyes start searching for a solution only when we get affected by any problem. If you’re a nutrition professional and want to earn money then this is the right time to attract people who are searching for a solution to keep their health in good shape.
As people are moving towards the internet for solutions to all of life’s problems, it is a good idea to help people by launching a nutrition based website. Starting a site is not enough to attract visitors; you need to impress them by offering essential features to socialize with others who possess the same difficulty and ascertain the perfect solution for nutrition related issues.
Kootali, a social networking script helps you start a social networking site and provide counseling for taking a proper diet. Also, you can offer a separate space on site to find detailed nutrition information, diet advice, tips and tools for blood sugar control etc and help users stay healthy.
You can even expose your nutrition products throughout the world. Now it’s possible to make audio and video a good marketing tool, through the video and audio features available on the Kootali site. This marketing technique will attract the attention of media lovers and help you earn more money as well.
It doesn’t stop with this, you can post news about current openings in the nutrition field and help nutrition graduates find a position as nutritionist, dietitian, nutritional trainer, dietitian manager, food service director etc.
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