Myspace or Yours.

In a new survey from Future Labratory, close to half of 18- to 24-year olds prefer spending 15 minutes of free time on social networking sites instead of watching TV, reading, talking on the phone or playing video games.

Web Pro News reports, "The survey found that women usually spent more time on social networking sites than men, and that the sites were increasingly being used to make money. Fourteen percent of users had made money from social networking sites selling T-shirts, artwork, and jewelry. Looking for romantic relationships and finding friendship were named as other uses for the sites.

This new generation of connected users are figuring out how to use these sites to explore new levels of creativity and develop new ways of doing business online."

I have run across several examples of blogs that tell you how to make money on Facebook or other social sites. Evidently there is software and other ways to amass a huge friends list and market to them as a way of driving traffic to other sites or affiliate links. I have both a MySpace account AND a FaceBook page. I set them up just to understand what they were all about. I guess it was a matter of continuing ED for me.

The main benefit that I have seen from both my Facebook and MySpace pages is that I have been able to receive countless, spammy or inappropriate friend requests. Granted I don't check them that often but I do see where the it could be time consuming. Now for me, Entrecard, StumbleUpon, MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog suck much more time from my coffers. I think I am going to have to do a better budgeting of time when I am engaged in my social media endeavors.

As I was looking through my stats the other day I noticed a new site that I had never heard of before. It's called SiteHoppin and I have received little bit of traffic so far this month. Anyone hear of it or participate in it? What social type sites are you participating in?

 

The Debates on YouTube

Article contributed by
guest blogger Jen Williams; media
consultant and marketing professional.

If there’s ever been a time to stop using the term “new media,” it’s today. When YouTube becomes a format for presidential debates, one can hardly continue to distinguish the Internet from mainstream media.

Long a tool for spreading political propaganda, garnishing financial support for candidates and “getting out the vote,” the Internet has now been elevated to the status of representing democratic government in its truest form. By giving not only a voice, but also a face, to the voting public, it’s allowed them direct access to candidates in an unprecedented way.

I’ll agree with all the news pundits in their assessment that the format of Tuesday’s debate on CNN was really all that was new about it. The candidates themselves didn’t say much that was unexpected or different from anything they’ve been saying recently. Whether they’re simply attempting to establish consistency or they intentionally avoided anything earth-shattering, it was probably a wise move. The format itself is what made Tuesday’s debate historical, and anything that was said will be overshadowed by that fact alone.

The Republicans might benefit, therefore, for getting their shot at the same format second, because the novelty will have worn off a bit and people might actually pay more attention to what they say, as opposed to how the questions are delivered. It will be interesting to see if they, like their Democratic counterparts, receive questions from rock-singing constituents and snowmen.

Regardless, while those of us who work in media might have known that the terms “mainstream” and “new” media became archaic long ago, the rest of the world can no longer deny it.

 

Digital DNA on Your Photos?

Did you know that a photo you take with your digital camera can be traced back to you? Apparently the person that leaked the new Harry Potter Manuscript didn't know. A few days before the release of the New Harry Potter book, you could get a bit torrent of the book on the Internet. This clearly violated several copyright laws and the person, who laboriously photographed each page, is now being sought.

The Times Online says that, "Every image that is taken on a digital camera contains Exif data, which holds information about the picture such as zoom, contrast, focus and 'distance to subject' measurements. It is typically used for 'trouble-shooting', so an owner can ascertain why a picture may not have worked, but it also enables a court, for instance, to establish whether a picture has been digitally altered."

"The Exif data is like the picture's DNA; you can't switch it off. Every image has it. Some software can be used to strip or edit the information, but you can't edit every field..."

This information brings a new dimension to social media. If you email or post an incriminating photo of someone or something on your MySpace, FaceBook or other social media site, beware, you run risk or getting caught.

Interesting information for sure. Just in case you didn't already know; "Big Brother" is always watching.

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