Social Networking and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 & Social Networking PJ Dillon November 2nd, 2006 Outline • • • • Web 2.0 Overview Web 2.0 Examples Social Networking Social Networking Software – Site – Online Dating – Mobile • What’s in Common • My Project Supporting Web 2.0 • Refers to light-weight business models providing services rather than software products • Server-side web applications provide light-weight user interfaces • Development and updates evolve continuously – “Perpetual beta” – Users interaction drives software changes – Users act as co-developers – Store, organize, and manage user data – Data changes quickly – User interacts through a web browser – AJAX utilities provide rich user experience • Database Web 2.0 Mechanism • Provide data management services • Users act as data sources – Provide content – Service evolves with user experience – Users determine how they’ll use the service • Richness of content grows as more people contribute • Syndication • Reuse – Data gains more meaning/relevance – Utilizes the “collective intelligence” – Don’t dictate how data is used – Incorporation into or combination with other services Web 2.0 Services • Google • SourceForge.net • Amazon • eBay – Mail, maps, calendar, word processing, spreadsheets, etc – User-created open source software project – User reviews, “People who bought this item also purchased” – User generated auctions – Collaborative file storage and transfer – Collaborative Encyclopedia – Video sharing – Online maps and directions • BitTorrent • Wikipedia • YouTube • Mapquest • Paypal The Blog • Personal web pages have been around since the dawn of the web • The web log altered the paradigm – The personal web page in journal form – From static web content to continuously updated content • RSS provides the static link to this ever changing content – Provided the first mechanism for syndication – Separates content from any fixed display of it – Alerts interested users to new content The Blog • Linking became the currency of the “blogosphere” – Authors include links to other blogs in their own – Back links let an author count how many people linked to his blog – Collective intelligence syndicated the best content – Formation of communities • Social Networking • Notice the implicit association – Blog still associated with the person – Each blogger creates a personal profile Social Networking • Involves the formation of interpersonal relationships – Business, academic, dating, hobbies, sports, and activities • In the context of Web 2.0 – Web service provides representation of these real world relationships • Friends, business partners, or teammates – Organize digital information relevant to or indicative of these relationships – Context provides the means to find and create new relationships with different people Social Networking Services MySpace • The flagship social networking site • Open registration with an email address • Users create personal profile – Displayed as personal website – Customizable HTML using style tags – Becomes content of the system MySpace Services • • • • • • • • Friends List – link to other friends’ pages Favorites List – link to other peoples’ pages Messaging – email-like Groups – link to others with common interest Blogging Events – link to others attending an event Bulletins – Broadcast messages posted for friends Entertainment Industry – Artists, Movies, Comedians advertise themselves on their pages – Link to favorite artists as a friend – Incorporate songs into profile • Videos – Users can upload home videos – Incorporate into profiles • Professional Networking – Link to particular schools, colleges or companies – Self-tagging into a taxonomy of professions Facebook • Quintessential continuous development site – New services and updates have been incrementally added over the last year – Services are provided without knowing how they’ll be used (poke) • Broader Social Networks are organized into high schools, colleges, companies, and geographic regions – Registration is restricted to email address indicative of membership to the respective network – Geographic regions have open registration • Users create personal profile – Content for the system Facebook Services • • • • • • • Friends List – link to other friends’ pages – Crosses network boundaries Messaging Poking Groups Blogging Events Pictures – Upload and group pictures – Tag friends in images • • • • • Current Status – current activity or personal state Professional Networking Bookmarking Update Feed – aggregates changes to friends profiles for convenience Mobile Phone Access Other Social Networking Sites • • • • Classmates.com Friendster Mooble Orkut – Google’s invitation only, trusted friends site • iSocialite • There at 100’s – All with pretty much the same features Online Dating Websites • Essentially social networking for a particular focus • Users create profile – Most elaborate profiles • Services – Searching – Messaging – Winking/poking • Generally more static content and simple services Special Social Services Flickr • Have already seen Picture Sharing – Main content • Profile – Partially drawn from Yahoo! ID • Contacts List (Friends) • Messaging Del.icio.us • That’s the URL: http://del.icio.us • Social Bookmarking – – – – – Users browse web, find interesting site Save link to del.icio.us Tag link with keywords Send links to specific friends Save commonly used bookmarks • • • • Friends list (Network) Tagging Link descriptions/commentary RSS feeds “Folksonomy” • Opposed to a taxonomy – Predefined, rigidly structured classification – Attempts to cover all possibilities – Single item can fall into a single classification only • “Folksonomy” describes user-defined tagging – Used by Flickr, del.icio.us, etc • Undefined, unstructured grouping – structure and grouping arise as users participate • Adds meaning to each tag Xanga • Blogging social networking site • Users create profile • Other Services – Messaging – Groups – Picture sharing – Music sharing – Video sharing – Blog subscription Mobile Social Networking • A large number of social networking sites are designed for use with a mobile phone – “MoSoSo” – Mobile Social Software • Use multiple technologies – – – – Bluetooth Personal Area Network Text messaging interaction Specialized mobile software (Mobile web) • Often involve location/geographic based services Dodgeball • Text messaging based interaction with central service • Open registration with email address and mobile phone – Linked with Google account • Create profile – Designed to be viewed on mobile phone • Users define location based Venues • Set current location using mobile phone – Text message sent to each of the user’s friends with location of the user – Geotagging yourself Twitter • Text messaging based interaction with central service • Open registration with email address • Simple service to let others know current activity – User sets description of current activity – Text message is broadcast to each of his or her friends – Like Facebook’s status service with added text message broadcasting • User creates small profile and list of Friends Socialight • Software application running on mobile phone • Mobile geographic tagging and retrieval – Web 2.0 city guide • Users create – Venue descriptions or reviews – Pictures • Upload content to service tagged with geographic position • Users query service for stored information near their current location • Users are also notified if friends or friends of friends are nearby • User profiles and friends list Plazes • Mobile laptop software • Service maintains a worldwide database of WiFi hot spot locations • Users register with email address – Create profile – Build friends list • Uses MAC address of network hardware to determine users location – If not known, user defines place • Lets friends know when they are in proximity • Can include Trazer in other sites to let friends know where you are at all times (Yikes!) • Mobile phone software is planned as well Rabble • Special mobile software application – They actually charge a monthly service fee • Create location tagged media with phone – Blog, pictures, favorite places, events – Upload with phone • Search for content tagged around you • Acts as a media mobile blog – Constantly updating mobile information – Subscribe to other’s information “channel” • Integrated with other blogging services What’s in common? The Profile • Every service attempts to establish identity – – – – Most need a confirmed email address Some use cell phone or bank account Link to and use Google or Yahoo accounts Ultimately create username and password for future log • A profile is then associated with each user – Displayed for other users – Varying degrees of access to profile information Profile Commonalities • Personal Information – Name, Age/Birth date, Gender, Height, Ethnicity, Home town – One or more profile photos • One main photo – Current Residence or Address – Sexual Orientation, Relationship Status, Interested In/Looking for – Behavior • Drink, Smoke, keep pets, engage in controversial activities – Religion • Contact Information – Email Address – Instant Messaging IDs • AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabbar, IRC – Skype – Mobile Phone, Land line Profile Commonalities • Personality Information – – – – – – – – – – – Interests Activities/Hobbies About Me Looking For/Who I’d like to meet Favorite Music/Movies/Books/TV Shows/Quotes Skills/Expertise College – Majors, Minors High School Companies Courses Profession self-tagging • Networking Background The Problem • Separate databases store almost exactly the same information • Attempt to create an online representation of a person – Online presence • Updating the information becomes cumbersome – Must visit each system separately • Friends of a user have little or no knowledge of content provided by other services My Project • With an open standard – Tag common profile information with MWAC tags – Present an XML document containing all the information • Much like RSS • Each service that requires a user’s profile information can syndicate the document – Present it however the service needs – Poll for updates to the document • • Back links provide means of finding other services of which the user makes use Issues – Identity and Authentication – Privacy – Not every service needs access to the same data • User may want different data displayed for different services My Project • Designing a Web 2.0 service could mitigate these issues • Provides easy update of Profile information • Let’s the user define access privileges to each service requesting data • User can also define a profile context – Services restricted to particular context Extensions & Other Applications • Extension for Intellectual Property • Linking with “Real World” identity information – Bank accounts – Government ID – Using existing services • Live Resume • Applications – Employment – College/Graduate School/Fellowships – Grants • Research Papers – Bibliographical information