|
Making Social Networking Matter (Authors @ Mashable)September 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pmSource:Mashable! New versus old. That’s the divide currently being managed by Facebook across its membership. From the vantage of Compete.com, the new option offered by the network has its fair share of adopters. But many are reverting to the original, too. It is said that in mid-August, Facebook saw 60% of its users venturing to try the new site. Sounds good, right? Sure. Of course, the company has made it a point to perform a gradual rollout of the update, so the general trend to click for the refresh does steal some of the wow from the above mentioned figure. Furthermore, 40% of users who have trialed the update are choosing to go back. There are two lessons to take from this. First, if users are given the option to make an impermanent move, many will play, but some won’t stay. Second, Facebook is smart to have made this choice available. It’s completely sensible. The update is a big change. Particularly for developers. And Facebook has already incurred its fair share of negative press from the user-powered Beacon marketing adventure. So something of this scale is better to lay softly on the membership. Something along the lines of, “Hey, check out this new candy we got. No contracts or long-term agreements. Honest. If you like, you like. If you don’t, no problem.” Facebook touts more than 100 million users. It surely wouldn’t want to tick off anywhere close to half that pie. It’ll inevitably have to force some holdouts, for the simple fact that it has to manage its Platform, and the cloud isn’t like your local OS. And more broadly speaking, it’ll be some time before Facebook clocks a near complete majority for its summertime launch. Several months more, perhaps. But a swift mandate wouldn’t have done kind things to its reputation among users. It would have only created a headache for those not ready to “buy in” to the release. In all, the adoption rate seems pretty good. Not great. But good. —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Facebook JavaScript Now LiveSee Your Future Facebook Profile Now at new.facebook.comFacebook Platform Goes Open SourceMore Details Emerge on Facebook’s User-Driven Translations ApplicationUnofficial Facebook IM Application in the WorksPlaxo Adds OpenID to Version 3.0Facebook, Meet Yearbook: CampusRank
Have a digital camera on hand? More likely than not, I think. If you’re free to experiment, and feel up to demo, take three photos of your mug and send them the way of Big Stage. There your profile will be displayed in three-dimensional form as part of a custom, automated design called “@ctor.” The reason for this is to create an avatar to use “through a diverse array of online media, networks and communities.” The way Big Stage is being presented today is understandably very simple and straightforward. It helps create the “digital you.” But the technology behind the curtain isn’t so elementary. 3D imagery, albeit not photo realistic imagery, constructed from a series of digital photographs requires some work. There are names like Rocketon and Meez that inhabit the avatar creation market, but Big Stage is intensely personalized. Some might say exceedingly so. If a flat, two-dimensions view of your face isn’t quite enough, and is too limiting for the purpose of, say, creating a video clip with you as the character, Big Stage goes far in assembling the adaptation you might otherwise prefer. Want details on what it is Big Stage derives its powers from? The company explains thusly: Big Stage’s life-like avatar creation system stems from advanced stereo reconstruction technology funded by multiple government grants, including the CIA, as part of a nine-year cumulative research project at USC. Quite a lot of effort for avatars, you might say. Is it wasted? Not quite, if you take into account the purpose behind the project. It is an effort to pursue the concept of a virtual world. By logical extension, a Web user’s virtual self is involved. And if characteristics of the virtual self are to be refined while at the same time maintaining at the end user side of production an intuitively designed and largely automated system, this beta delivery by Big Stage is really just a measure of progress. A pretty substantial one at that. If Big Stage were in a more experimentalist position than it is now, its release to the public wouldn’t be so intriguing. But what it requests of the user makes it too small a hurdle not to want to leap over. At least not those interested in the virtual paradigm that is graphically rich. One last technical point to make to curious testers about the release of Big Stage in its current form is that it is Windows XP- and Vista-compatible only. Mac users will have to operate on Intel-based machines running either of the two most modern Windows platforms. An IE 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ install is required as well. —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Virtual Karaoke & Mashups with Sims On StageStage.FM Launches New, Embeddable Flash PlayerLeWeb 3 Needs Start-Ups for Paris CompetitionIs Stage6 Making a Comeback Next Week?Shockfolio Launches as Home for ArtistsFameCast Raises $4.5M in FundingmTracks Gets Funded, Launches Beta Site
This is a guest post written by Marion Freijsen and Adrie Reinders, authors of “The N Factor: How Efficient Networking Can Change the Dynamics of Your Business,” as a part of the Authors@Mashable series. This is the first of 3 posts followed by a one-on-one live Q&A. The N Factor was written to show career-minded people and entrepreneurs that networking is imperative for one’s success. Networking adds true value to your business and does not need to be all-consuming as long as you apply some basic thoughts and principles consciously rather than leaving it to chance. Using anecdotes from our careers, we take you through a guided course of the world of Networking, offering suggestions and tips on how to start building and maintaining a network consciously and proactively. The use of modern technology is covered in one extensive chapter since we see this as a critical extension of more traditional ways of networking and one that will be used more and more in the future. With the rise of the Internet, it has become easier to find information about people. It has also become much easier to spread your business further afield than was possible in the past, but you must have a different attitude and care that whilst you cross country’s borders, you don’t cross cultural boundaries unwittingly. This is one of the many areas where technology can really help you prevent major gaffes… as long as you do your homework! These days, many people are meeting each other online instead of following more traditional methods of meeting each other in person. This little shift alone has made it possible for people to maintain more contacts and find out more about them than was ever possible. But it does not take away the need to at some point meet others in person, or to get to know them more closely. Those collecting hundreds of cards at a conference or thousands of names on their LinkedIn or Plaxo address books are not truly networking - they are “collectors” rather than “connectors.” Networking is not only about the ability to connect to people - it is also about the ability to use those connections. We call it a “two-way-street” - networking is not something you do by yourself, you always need your counterparty to be in there with you, to want to help you and assist your advancement. You only achieve this willingness by doing something in return, or even before you ever ask for anything. This is true networking - there are no shortcuts, you need to invest time and effort in order to reap the benefits of the connections you have made. Technology is great for helping you find who you wish to connect with, doing background research, as well as maintaining contacts and keeping them organized. Take your average event or conference. Rather than going there and just hoping to meet that one person in the thousand that might be of importance to you, do your research. Find out who is going, and then select no more than 10 names of people you’d like to meet with and find out as much about them as you can. This will help you get the conversation started as well as impress them with the fact that you actually took the time and interest to learn more about them. Tell us about your networking experiences. How do you take your online relationships offline? —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Report: Microsoft Considers Buying 5% of FacebookThe Social Networking Awards 2006 - Call for Sponsors and SuggestionsIllegal Music Downloading at an All Time HighBebo Banned in 2000+ New Zealand SchoolsTUC Joins Discussion of Facebook’s UK BanHear Steve Wozniak Speak at the Social Networking ConferenceZoodango Launches: Social Networking At Starbucks?!
|
Source:
Source:
