The "New" Facebook

Being that we are college kids most of us all have Facebook accounts.  As some of you may have noticed Facebook has undergone some changes over the past few weeks.  Facebook has completely remodeled the design of your homepage and profile page.  The changes have been receiving both positive and negative feedback.  I came across an article on CNN.com, “Users protest, defend Facebook face-lift,” (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/22/facebook.facelift/index.html?iref=newssearch) about how people are reacting to the new changes that have been made to the site.  Some people are claiming that they joined Facebook because it was a lot easier to use than other social networking sites such as Myspace. "The new version is cluttered and there's no continuity to it," Valerie Stayskal of Addison, Illinois, told CNN. "I don't like the tabs they've got. When you get to the news feed, you see all these fonts, and it's just a mess. Very hard to navigate."

The old version of Facebook was very easy to use; you had your homepage, which had the news feeds and your notification updates.  Then you had your profile page, which showed your “wall” comments, photos and other various applications.  But the new version is very different.  “Facebook's new look separates users' personal profiles into different areas of the site and provides more tools meant to make it easier to share information and photos.”  Because there is so much extra space on the homepage user’s fear that their profile will get filled up with ads. 

In the past few weeks CNN has received many complaints about the new Facebook format.  People have even started groups on Facebook petitioning to bring back the old format.  Others say that its important to keep updating social networking sites like Facebook or another networking site might come along and surpass Facebook because they are willing to make the adjustments to keep the site fresh.  

There are definitely more important things going on in the world today to worry about other than Facebook being remodeled but I must admit that I myself do not like the new changes that have been made to the site.  I say bring back the old version.  It was less complicated and easier to use than this new format!  This affects how people communicate using Facebook because if people no longer like the site, they are probably not going to use it as an online communication tool.  This will result in the company losing money.  After having the new format up for a week or two, they should have conducted a survey on whether the users preferred the old format or the new format.  But like everything else online, I'm sure people will get use to it and just accept the changes.

Facebook for Spies?

I recently came across an article on CNN.com about how CIA spies are now going to have their own social network site for sharing secrets. In an article by Larry Shaughnessy, “CIA, FBI push ‘Facebook for spies’ ” (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html?iref=newssearch) we learn that bosses from the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency are now encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site called A-Space. This social networking site is going to be used for the secret world of spying. It's a social-networking site that was created for analysts that are within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. "This is going to give them for the first time a chance to think out loud, think in public amongst their peers, under the protection of an A-Space umbrella," said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis.

The primary purpose of A-Space is to protect the United States by evaluating all the information that is available to the spy agencies. These social networking sites will not be available for the general public; the information on it will be highly classified. “Only intelligence personnel with the proper security clearance, and a reason to be examining particular information, can access the site.” The members of A-Space can have a lot of “friends” just like on Facebook or Myspace. But if you are not a part of the intelligence agency you are not allowed to become a member of this A-Space social networking group.

I think this is a very interesting concept. It gives these members the ability to share secrets back in forth about things going on within the CIA. It can be beneficial if they are able to work together discussing their cases by talking to each other on this site. They are able to log information like missing emails and share it with their fellow analysts. For example as Shaughnessy stated in his article, “Missing crucial data can have enormous implications, such as an FBI agent who sent an e-mail before September 11, 2001, warning of people learning to fly airplanes but not learning to land them.”

Source:  CNN.com

Friends Don't Let Friends Join MySpace!

While searching for articles about items in the news lately relating to the effect technology has on our society, I came across one about Myspace by: Helen A. S. Popkin posted on MSNBC News.  The article was titled “Friends don’t let friends join MySpace, Posting on networking sites is like a tattoo – only worse.”  The article focuses on a woman who was denied a teaching degree because of a picture she had posted on her MySpace page.  The woman, Stacey Snyder had a picture from a Halloween party with a drink in her hand.  The picture was said to be unprofessional and potentially offensive.  She is now suing for “her rightfully-earned diploma and teaching certificate, as well as $75,000 for damages.”

This article uses an interesting an analogy when referring to how it is almost impossible to take back things you once may have posted on MySpace. They say that it is like a tattoo you get that you regret, but a tattoo you can get erased with skin grafts.  The things you do on MySpace never go away, Popin says, “For the rest of your natural life, they remain just a few clicks away, waiting to be discovered, misinterpreted, and abused.”

I agree with Popkin’s opinions, what she said is very true.  People are not careful with what they are posting on their MySpace pages.  People have these one on one conversation’s with people via their comment pages and it seems like they don’t realize that it’s a public social networking site and that anyone can see these conversations.  What happened with Stacey Snyder could happen to anyone.  A lot of people miss out on job opportunities because of some of the pictures that they have posted on their Facebook or MySpace pages.  Employers are now using these social networking sites as additional resources when deciding whether or not to hire the potential candidates.  I do have a MySpace, and I feel that it is very important to be careful of what I post on there whether is be picture or comments.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18706138/

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

            The episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that we watched in class demonstrated how powerful of a role computers play in our daily lives.  In writing this episode, I think that the writers and producers were trying to show us, the viewers that the Internet takes over our lives.  In the computer lab scene, one of the characters is quoted as saying, “If you’re not jacked in to the computer world, you’re not alive.”  This episode is from over ten years ago and even then they knew what an influential role computers and the Internet would play in the future.  The computer teacher says that in today’s society more emails are sent than regular mail.  That is just one example of how computers have greatly changed how we communicate with people.  This technology makes your personal relationships impersonal.

            Willow, who play’s Buffy’s friend meets a guy on the Internet, Malcom, who she thinks is the greatest simply because he tells her the things she wants to hear.  But does she really know anything about him?  The computer can hide people’s identities and that can be a very dangerous thing.  So many people become brainwashed by these predators because they think they are normal people just chatting online.  But most of the time these people do not turn out to be who you think they are.

            The computer teacher asks Rupert Giles who is Buffy’s watcher, why he dislikes computers so much.  He says that, “the knowledge gained from a computer has no context, its there and then it’s gone.  Books have a rich smell; the knowledge from computers does not.”  This episode is trying to show us how much we rely on technology.  Technology is transparent.

            The producers demonstrate the effects of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in this episode.  Specifically with the relationship Willow finds on the Internet.  She finds this guy online and starts this impersonal relationship with him because she is lonely, instead of finding someone who she can have a face-to-face relationship with.  As we see towards the end of this episode Malcom is not who she thinks he is.  This shows that with every good and positive thing these technologies bring, they also bring something negative.