My Parents Just "Friended" Me?

I was recently talking to my dad about a business meeting he attended in which he and a group of 5 to 6 CEOs were discussing a way in which they could all meet in such as way that everyone could see what the others were doing. When my dad recommended that they use a social networking site the others responded with a quick … no. This was not due to the lack of this technology (because we all know with Facebook, Twitter, Skype, iChat, and IM we have plenty to work with), however this response came from a lack of interest in this age group. So, now the question resurfaces itself… what is the generational gap in technology, and if so is it this same this year as it was even as far as five years ago?

            I first got my Facebook my Junior year in high school. Before that it was Myspace. Back then it was common for parents to monitor their children’s use of these social networking sites. In my eyes, and the eyes of many of my classmates we were frustrated with our parent’s lack of knowledge of the sites and uncertainty about it. Today I am friends with my mom, my aunt, and even many of my past teachers. So what has caused this change? Originally social networking sites such as Facebook and Skype began as means as connecting with others, however today these sites are ways to advertise, network and even conduct business. So why did my dad’s co-workers dislike the idea of using these sites? Many people associate these sites with the bad press that they receive such as the lack of privacy or the young people’s target audience. However, these sites may just be perfect for the needs of many business people of the generation before my own. As I spoke to my dad about this issue we agreed that there is a need for a “business chat room” that would appeal to any age group in which they are able to gather a group of people to talk and coordinate daily activities and follow ups. I think that bringing attention to these sites may bring positive attention and curiosity about sites like Skype and Facebook so that this generation is able to see the positive benefits for them and their businesses. 

            As I spoke to my mom about why she had a Facebook she said that she was told to by her Public Relations person as well as many speakers who attended spoke at an Interior Design convention last year. They all stressed the importance of having as many sites as possible because they are free marketing. You are able to connect each of your sites to each other to bring positive attention to your business. For example it is very easy to friend people on Facebook, and from there you can put links to your LinkedIn which can hold your resume and work experience, and to you blog and personal company website. Recently my teacher from my junior year of high school added me as a friend on Facebook. Curious, I accepted the request only to later realize that she was sending a job opportunity out to many of her students it was then that I realized that Facebook could also serve as a LinkedIn, so to say, offering job opportunities. I think that it is important for people from the “Baby Boomer” era to realize that these social networking sites are not only a way to connect and meet with others but also a great business opportunity.

3. Technology and Social Interaction

I was recently reading a New York Times article entitled “Feel Like a Wallflower? Maybe It’s Your Facebook Wall.” The author of the article, Jenna Wortham, begins with a narrative in which she is sitting alone in her house about to begin a quiet night of movie watching when her phone suddenly began to buzz with alerts from her social networking sites where she was able to view pictures and read stories of her friends activities for the night immediately as they happened. Next Jenna introduces the idea of “FOMO” or the fear of missing out. It is a feeling that I for one know I have experienced, and I am sure if you are reading this blog you have social networking sites, and therefore also experience FOMO. Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare give the user the ability to post minute-to-minute information on there whereabouts including the ability to post pictures to your page so that people across the world are able to see what you are doing, literally as it happens. The author splits the concept of FOMO into two categories in which I will also do to discuss the effects of technology on social interaction, the good and the bad.

The Good: In such a growing and ever-expanding world as it seems today it is not common to be across the country, or even across the globe from your friends and family. Travelling abroad is an experience that many of my junior friends took this year and one of the only means I had of communicating with them or seeing what they were up to was by checking their Facebooks. I was able to see pictures of the trips they had taken, see the status with the lingo from their new homes, and read stories that they had posted on each other’s walls. While I did not understand most of what they were saying, this did make me feel closer to them.

The Bad: As the New Yorker article states: “occasionally, there is a darker side. When we scroll through pictures and status updates, the worry that tugs at the corners of our minds is set off by the fear of regret… we become afraid that we’ve made the wrong decision about how to spend our time.” This feeling of missing out or making the wrong decisions can change the social interactions that we have on a day to day basis and often times create tension or resentment among friends. One feature of Facebook that I find especially interesting on this topic is the fact that you can “defriend” someone. While some people try to weed out their connections of people they may not know others can find resentment in this.

The line that stuck out to me most in the article was made by Sherry Turkle, when she says, “In a way, there’s an immaturity to our relationship with technology. It’s still evolving.” I think there is a lot of truth to this statement because in a lot of ways we do not understand how to respond with normal emotions to what we see on other’s social networking sites. For example if a friend was to come back from her weekend and tell you how much fun she had with her boyfriend or other friends, your first reaction would most likely be excitement and joy for her for having had a positive experience, where as if you were to see the pictures from the weekend appear on her Facebook before you had heard any stories you are often unsure of how to act. Why did she not tell me she was going? Who did she go with? And thus the resentment begins to build. The struggle that humans face is not in finding the new technologies but in how to deal with them and begin to react maturely to situations such as this. I do believe that social networking sites have both pros and cons to them. I do not think that the solution is to find more places for people to meet face-to-face because I think in order to keep up with society we need to learn how to evolve with the technology. I definitely believe that keeping human interaction in critical especially in the business world, but we must also realize that this technology is unavoidable.

"There's an App For That"

We’ve all seen the commercials for Apple that feature flashes of different applications that the iPhone has. They range from the popular games such as Angry Birds or Words with Friends, and include as simple things as a level, or bubble wrap to pop, all the way to sophisticated applications that change your words to texts or function as a navigation system. When I first got my iPhone I began playing basic games such as solitaire or puzzles however in the last few years billions of apps have been downloaded onto iPhones and iPads alike. Many people that I know have multiple pages on their phone’s in which they are filled with apps including games, sports stations, weather, and “what is in” sites such as whereisthecool.com or stumbleupon.com. My iPhone apps are a short list. With Facebook as my most used application then followed by Words with Friends (a Scrabble game that you can play with other iPhone users who also have this app), it is clear that I use my apps as another means to interact with people. Just recently I was introduced to an application called HeyTell. This is used much like texting however you are able to speak into your phone and record a message for a friend who is then able to hear and respond back.  There are also other apps such as Beluga in which you are able to create conversations with multiple friends in a “chat-like” room where everyone is able to read everyone else’s messages and view their pictures and videos they send. It seems to me that in many ways application for smart phones are furthering our means of communication with others. Some may view this as a good thing and some may see this as a negative as it is decreasing our face-to-face interaction.

 One of the main reasons in which I am interested in applications for smart phones is because I see them as a very crucial element in the field that I wish to enter into in the near future, marketing. Just this Christmas season I was becoming increasingly aware of the use of technology to help market and sell products. For example, I just realized this past holiday season that the number of online shoppers has increased drastically. While the “Black Friday” rushes to retail stores at 2 a.m. may have still been busy, a large band of customers have made the switch to become “online shoppers” and more commonly than not, they tend to shop on their cellular devices. Especially if you are a repeat customer and return to the same site multiple time to buy gifts, the checkout process is as simple as visiting the site, and often times checking only one box that says purchase because the company already has all your information. Many companies are working with over the phone companies such as PayPal, which allows users to easily pay for products just by swiping a chip placed on their phone over the PayPal stations, and even offer incentives for people to do so by giving discounts and other promotions.

I think it is very important to follow the trends that we see happening with the use of the smart phone in business and society today if we wish to be innovative for the business road tomorrow. Even as a consumer and a user of an iPhone, I see a great benefit in staying up-to-date on the latest applications, because they honestly do make things much easier and more convenient for free or only a small easy fee to the iTunes store in which you already have an existing account because you have to use that program with the phone. The application wave of technology is definitely a crucial aspect of business innovation to stay connected with.

2. Social Networking and Privacy

           Now a days it is close to impossible to watch a television station, see an advertisement for a company, attend a talk or lecture, or even to join a club or group without being given a link to a Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn site for that particular person, group, or product. As these are the three main sites that I have been exposed to thus far in my college career, these are the sites I am choosing to discuss in terms of the prevalence and privacy issues. I have had a Facebook account since the end of my freshman year in high school, and I have just recently joined LinkedIn as I will be beginning my job search in one short year. 

Because I have just joined LinkedIn, I have “connections” in the single digits. I have actually not been on my page since I created it. The reason that I have this site is for future job prospects. Being in the business school I am constantly meeting people in the business world who have accounts in LinkedIn who are critical to make connections with now and network. I think that LinkedIn is very important for this very aspect. I believe that the prevalence of this site is all due to the career side of the site. You are able to post your job experience, your school experience, your resume, and even recommendations from other connections and people in the business field. I think that this site seems to be as private or as public as you would like to make it, however the more information you give often, the more it can be beneficial to your career search. When it comes to using LinkedIn, I am not too worried about my privacy. This tends to be the accounts that most people keep as professional as possible. You are allotted one picture as your main picture and then may have people write on your wall and view your profile. As far as I am aware, there are no features such as Facebook has where you can “like” comments, and no applications that can be played and posted to you wall as well. Because of this, I like the privacy that LinkedIn provides. I think that as of now, LinkedIn definitely has more positive benefits and trends rather than negative. The only negative I could see on this site was if someone was to entangle their personal life with their professional life on this site. For example if someone had a connection who was a close friend and they began to use this site to have conversations about their social life this could have a negative impact on their career. However, all in all I see LinkedIn as a very innovative site that brings many networking opportunities for people of all career fields, ages, and backgrounds.

In contrast to LinkedIn, my connections or “friends” total over one thousand. My Facebook site is a main tab on my homepage of the internet and I tend to access my Facebook account every time that I log into the internet. I would say that as a whole, I do not use Facebook as much as most people, but I do find myself checking it if I get the text updates that say there is a post I have been tagged in or if someone has written on my wall. I think that Facebook pushes the extreme limits on privacy. With all of your closest friends having access to your wall and the ability to post any picture of your or any comment that they would like at anytime, and letting other people have the ability to see it even before you do also makes me nervous. I have had the experience of many of my friends having their accounts hacked into and had many embarrassing things written or even simply been spammed. The concept of Facebook was a very positive social trend, but when over 6 million people have an account, it is not hard to believe that nearly anyone can access information about you over your account. As a positive, this site has created controls that you can customize as to how much you would like other people to see, and even given you the ability to choose exactly which of your friends see what, however it is of popular belief that these privacies can be easily passed and your site can be accessed by strangers, and potential clients. I do believe that Facebook has led to an entanglement in our personal lives and technology. I think that any site that people spend hours and hours on has the ability to do this. Many people become what they try to portray on their Facebook account. I think it is something very important for people to consider when they are creating a social networking site that they know many people will be using, especially in a society like today’s where safety and privacy are considered very important. 

The Age of the iPhone.

For my blog I wanted to focus on a technology that effects my life the most..the iPhone. Having used an iPhone since its release in 2007, i have seen many changes in the uses of the iPhone. Originally developed as one of the first phone touch screens, the phone had many common uses and many new innovations, however i believe that the creators had no idea how much this product would be developed by the year 2011. Now i am able to check my email, my social networking sites, playing some of the million apps, online shop, and even swipe a credit card. I want to focus on this product because I am completely fascinated by how much this product has evolved into and where it still has yet to go.