Social Web

Social Web

Michael Loy

INF 103 Computer Literacy

Ins: Mortoza Abdullah

July 29, 2012

LinkedIn is for people you know. Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for people you want to know. Author Unknown – Via socialmediatoday.com & Via Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

The Social Web is a vast, ever changing phenomenon. Its creation has enabled users to experience many new ways to use technology to interact with others. In this paper, I will discuss what the social web is (a definition, if you will), the past (the beginning of the social networking era), the present (what sites are mostly being used today and their features), and the future.

The Social Web: A Definition

The social web can be defined in many ways. One person might consider the social web to be purely talking to people through instant messaging, or corresponding through e-mail. However, it is much, much more than that. The social web, according to Dana Boyd and Nicole Ellison, is a place where users can do the following three things:

1. Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system

2. Create a list of other people who use that site “users” who have common interests

3. View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

Many of these contact lists, or groups, are most often people who the person is a friend with offline. For example, someone would have their significant other, their close friends, and family on this contact list. This enables the person to keep in touch with people when they are not actually with them. Another term thrown out there is “networking.” Networking is when common interests bring two total strangers together.

Social Web is the second generation of the World Wide Web, which focuses heavily on the user-generated content, communities, networking, and social interaction. It combines how websites and software are developed to support social interaction. This includes online shopping, gaming,...