ANDREW NELSON’S, CHRIS PAWLUKOWSKY’S, BRANDON HOBSON’S, AND LINDA TIBBITTS’ BUSINESS REPORT
Prepared for Therese Viscelli Professor Kennesaw State University
Prepared by Andrew Nelson, Chris Pawlukowsky, Brandon Hobson, and Linda Tibbitts BISM 2100 The Control Freaks
April 20, 2007
MEMORANDIUM TO: FROM: DATE: Subject: Therese Viscelli, Professor Andrew Nelson, Brandon Hobson, Linda Tibbitts, Chris Pawlukowsky April 20, 2007 Paper’s title
Here is the report you requested on April 20, 2007 on social networking. It is true that social networking has increased in popularity over the past few years. It seems that nowadays, there are social networking sites for just about everyone. As these websites increase in popularity, the businesses that try to capitalize on them increase as well. Every week, it seems as if someone comes up with a new idea for a social network. This phenomenon is slowly spreading around the world to other nations as well. The question here is how far will social networking go before it hits its peak in popularity. These websites also have their fair share of problems, as you will soon read. They have lead to people getting in trouble at school or losing their jobs. While these are terrible issues, they can definitely be managed. Thank you for providing us insight into this growing fad. It has been surprisingly educational.
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Operating Agreement – Group #4 – The Control Freaks On this second day of April, 2007, Chris Pawlukowsky, Andrew Nelson, Linda Tibbitts, Brandon Hobson, and Nicholas Hourigan herein after referred to as “The Control Freaks”, enter into this operating agreement. RECITALS A. The members enter into this operating agreement in order to form and provide for the governance of the team and the conduct of its business and to specify their relative rights and obligations. ARTICLE I - RESPONSIBILITIES A. Chris Pawlukowsky is going to complete the team webpage. He will complete the introduction to social networking section of the formal report. Chris will deliver his section of the formal paper to the formal report coordinator. He will submit the link to the team’s website in a word document via web ct. B. Andrew Nelson is the research coordinator. He will complete the description of three networking sites for the formal report. Andrew will deliver his section of the formal paper to the formal report coordinator.
C. Linda Tibbitts is the project manager. She will complete the description of three areas of business where social networking web sites are being used or could be used. Linda will deliver her section of the formal paper to the formal report coordinator.
D. Brandon Hobson is the presentation coordinator. He will describe any known issues surrounding the social networking sites that we chose. Brandon will deliver his section of the formal paper to the formal report coordinator. E. Nicholas Hourigan is the formal report coordinator. He will be responsible for writing the conclusion for the formal report. Nicholas will also be responsible for ensuring that all pieces to the formal report fit together smoothly. F. All team members are responsible for attending team meetings. All team members are also responsible for being filmed presenting the team’s final presentation. All team members must submit their assignments before it’s due date. ARTICLE II – MEMBERS AND VOTING A. If someone is failing to complete their work and they miss three team meetings, we can kick them out of the group with a 4/5 vote in favor for removing the member.
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B. All group members are able to meet Thursdays at 2 pm. C. Distribution of excess work load will be allowed with a unanimous 5/5 vote by all members of the team. ARTICLE III – TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITIES A. Upon death or removal of team member, that member’s responsibilities will be divided equally among the group members, with approval of all team members. B. If a team member thinks that their assigned work is greater than other team member’s assigned work, they can request to distribute some of their work load to other team members. The team must unanimously agree to the distribution of extra workload.
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CONTENTS Content Page INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….1 EVERYONE LOOKS AT SOCIAL NETWORKS…………………………………………………………………………….5 How Social Networks are Helpful……………………………………………………………………………….5 How Social Networks are Harmful………………………………………………………………………………5 KNOW THE LIMITS OF YOUR PRIVACY………………………………………………………………………………..6 Know who can Access Your Profile………………………………………………………………………………...6 Know the Terms of Use……………………………………………………………………………………7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………….8 WORKS CITED………………………………………………………………………….9
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figures Page Figure 1 “LinkedIn”..…………………………………………………………………….3 Figure 2 “Showclix”……………………………………………………………………...4
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INTRODUCTION A social network is group of people or nodes that are interconnected by some commonality, such as friendship or business. Social networking web sites are web sites that are designed to connect people via the Internet who need or want to communicate for some reason. Social networking web sites are created to solve the problem of communication. A social networking web site can be intended for any number of people. The most well-known social network is MySpace, which has gained a large population of all ages over the years. It allows people to express their ideas and look for friendship (Rapacki, S.). There are all kinds of social networking sites out there, however. For instance the web site “LinkedIn” is specifically designed for business people. The site is meant to connect people throughout the various fields in business so that they can meet other people they know they can rely on. For instance, if a manager at a company hires a new security consultant to help his company with business continuity planning, and really likes the work he has done, he may connect with the consultant via “LinkedIn” so he can recommend him to other people in the industry. Not only are social networking sites used in business, but they are also used socially among the general public. Sites such as “Livejoural” offer anyone the opportunity to create an account, connect with friends and family, and write blogs that others can then read and comment on. Social networking sites have been extremely successful, and are only becoming more-so with the continued growth of the internet. All around the world, social networking is becoming more common. In Jamaica, for example, the locals have established their own cell phone networks in a practice called “link-up” (Horst, H.). In a study done about a year ago in May 2006 by Nielson/NetRatings it was found that the top 10 social networking sites saw
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a growth in the traffic to their sites by a whopping 47% (Kirkpatrick, M.). The growth and success of social networking sites in the past couple years have proven that social networking is something that needs to be recognized because it is here to stay. Our team’s objective is to educate Information Technology students and staff about social networking sites and the importance of limiting the information put onto the sites. The report will include information about three general social networking sites as well as three ways social networking sites are used in the real world. We will discuss who uses general social networking sites, who owns them, and how they generate revenue. We will also discuss the types of businesses using these sites and the amount of revenue they generate. Finally we will educate readers on known issues of social networking sites today in order to help them better protect themselves from it’s dangers. BODY Three social networking websites we found were Vox.com, Linkedin.com, and Showclix.com. These websites are all social networks, but they appeal to different types of people. Vox.com is a website in which the user can upload pictures, videos, and music that suits their interest. Unlike MySpace, Vox’s privacy controls only allow designated friends to view these items, so it appeals to people seeking a more private network. Vox is managed by Six Apart, a private company owned by August Capital and Neoteny Co., Ltd (http://www.sixapart.com/about/index). It was started in October 2006 by Andrew Anker, the general manager of consumer products at Six Apart, and has since tripled in size (Holahan, C.). Vox generates revenue by allowing people to advertise on their website.
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Linked-In, on the other hand, is designed for professionals who want their names known. This website allows its users to find clients, manage their connections, and find jobs. It is used by more than ten million professionals around the world who represent one-hundred-and-thirty industries. Linked-In is funded by Greylock and Sequoia Capital, and its CEO is Reid Hoffman (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=company_info). Linked-In also generates revenue from advertisements.
Figure 1, “LinkedIn”
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Showclix.com is an entirely different type of social network. Similar to Youtube, this website is for music fans across the world. Users can buy and sell tickets online, post videos of concerts, or talk with other users about their tastes in music. This network is relatively new and is currently managed by Joshua Dziabiak, Leslie Camuso, and Wilkinson Egwu (http://www.showclix.com/about.php). Showclix generates its money from the bank accounts of its managers and its rapidly growing user population. According to an online source, the creators are hoping for people to start investing in the site, but other than that, we were unable to find any outside source of revenue (Shropshire, C.).
Figure 2, “Showclix”
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EVERYONE LOOKS AT SOCIAL NETWORKS How Social Networks are Helpful There was difficulty in finding information on the aspect of how much revenue is generated due to using social networking. While researching sites such as Six Apart, Linked-In, and Showclix, we found that employers search social networking sites to find out information on prospective employees and to advertise their business. Job seekers search these sites for employment. Some of the professions/businesses that use these types of sites include but are not limited to: police officers, C.E.O’s of large corporations, and musicians. Police in Tayside, Scotland have started creating pages on social networking sites including MySpace that contain information about a person that was missing since 1999. How Social Networks are Harmful The ultimate reward of that would be to solve crimes or find missing people. This has potential to be successful because social networking sites have viewers all over the world. The Chief Executive Officer of Encover used a social networking site called Linked-In to find a new vice-president of sales. The C.E.O. found colleagues of the prospective vice-president on social networks that he worked with in five out of six of his last jobs. The input of those colleagues on the social networking sites enabled the C.E.O. to do a more in depth background check on his future vice-president. A school bus driver was terminated from his job in Davie County, North Carolina (Hewlett, M.). The school system discovered he was sharing a page on MySpace with his wife. The wife was soliciting sex according to the school system’s accusations. All social network users
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should be aware that information posted about their personal lives could be damaging to their jobs or careers (King, R.). KNOW THE LIMITS OF YOUR PRIVACY Know who can Access Your Profile On large social networking services, there has been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. The larger online social networking services, such as MySpace, often work with law enforcement to prevent such incidents. School teachers have begun to speak out against student blogging, and one social studies teacher has even fought an entire debate questioning the legality of this issue (Berson, I.; Berson M.). Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, has been used by police and university officials to prosecute users of those sites. Kate Larsen of the Lafayette Newspaper claims that MySpace is just another way for authorities to find information (Larsen, K.). In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court to determine an appropriate sentence based on the defendant's demeanor. For example, twenty-two year old Jessica Binkerd is now being forced to serve a five year and four month sentence for vehicular manslaughter. Her attorney stated that part of the reason for this is pictures on her MySpace account. Prosecutors argued that this showed a lack of remorse (Wagstaff, E.). In addition there is the wider privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individuals behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken. In addition to concerns about releasing too much personal information there is an issue over
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the control of information. Information having been altered or removed by the user may be actually retained or passed to third parties. Know the Terms of Use Facebook is increasingly being used by school administrators and law enforcement authorities as evidence against student users. The site, the number one online destination for college students, allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These pages can be viewed by other registered users from the same school which often include resident assistants and campus police who have signed-up for the service. One such example occurred in September 2005. Cameron Walker, president of the Student Government Association at Fisher College, had been expelled for joining a Facebook group that spoke out against an officer at the college, even though the group was just a joke (Woo, S.). Recent disciplinary actions against students based on information made available on Facebook have given rise to debate over the legality and ethics of school administrators' harvesting such information. Facebook's Terms of Use state that "the website is available for your personal, noncommercial use only", misleading some to believe that college administrators and police may not use the site for conducting investigations (http://www.facebook.com/terms.php). However, Facebook spokespeople have made clear that Facebook is a public forum and all information published on the site should be presumed available to the general public, school administrators included. Legal experts agree that public information sources such as Facebook can be legally used in criminal or other investigations.
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Closing Social networking sites can be fun and useful, but can also lead to punishment by law if any unacceptable activities are discovered by the authorities. Social networking sites present a clear danger to the privacy of its user’s information. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In conclusion, we believe that social networking sites have the potential to improve communication around the world. However, there is no such thing as a perfect solution, which is evident when it comes to the problems these websites are facing. It is important to know the security of the website and their commitment to your privacy, as well as to know the people you are talking to online. Because social networking websites are becoming so popular today, and because they are being used for so many things, including business networking, our team highly recommends that users of social networking websites watch what information they put onto them. We recommend that you not put on the web in any form any material you do not want the authorities to view. Social networking sites are becoming more commonly used by employers to do background checks on their potential employees. Nevertheless, even though using social networking sites presents it’s own problems, our team is convinced that social networking websites are here to stay and are only going to become more valuable to both businesses and people as time goes on.
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WORKS CITED 2006. About Six Apart. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from the Six Apart website: http://www.sixapart.com/about/index. 2006. Facebook Terms of Use. Retrieved April 19, 2007 from the Facebook website: http://www.facebook.com/terms.php 2007. About LinkedIn. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from the Linked-In website: http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=company_info. 2007. About Showclix. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from the Showclix website: http://www.showclix.com/about.php Berson, I. & Berson, M. (2006). Privileges, Privacy, and Protection of Youth Bloggers in the Social Studies Classroom. Social Education, 70, 124-128. Hewlett, M. (2007). Man sues after schools fire him over MySpace page: He cites information about being Wiccan, wife being bisexual as factors. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, 1. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from ProQuest database. Holahan, C. (2007, March). Social Networking Goes Niche. Business Week Online, 14. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from Academic Search Premier database. Horst, H. (2005). From Kinship to Link-up: Cell Phones and Social Networking in Jamaica. Current Anthropology, 46, 755-778. King, R. (2006, September). Social Networks: Execs Use Them too. Businessweek, 1-4. Web site: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2006/tc20060911_414136. htm.
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Kirkpatrick, M. (2006). Top 10 social networking sites see 47% growth. Thesocialsoftwareweblog. Web site: http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/17/top-10-social-networking-sitessee-47-growth/. Larsen, K. (2006). MySpace: A Place for Friends?. Retrieved April 19, 2007 from the Daily Camera web site: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/11/myspace-a-place-for-friends/ Rapacki, S. (2007). Social Networking Sites: Why Teens Need Places Like MySpace. Young Adult Library Services, 5, 28-30. Shropshire, C. (2007, March). Success of Social Networking Sites Spawns a Host of Imitators. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, 1. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from ProQuest database. Wagstaff, E. (2007). Court Case Decision Reveals Dangers of Networking Sites. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Daily Nexus’ website: http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=13440 Woo, S. (2005, November 5). The Facebook: Not Just for Students. The Brown Daily Herald, p.1.
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