Stig Kristoffersen asked:


Learn about using social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, and others. What are they and how are they used?

A small but rapidly growing percentage of employers are using social networking sites as part of their recruiting process as well as part of their business processes.

Social networking sites can be dangerous when used as part of a background checking process but present tremendous opportunities when used as part of the sourcing process.

MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster are amongst the most popular sites, especially amongst high school and college students. Unlike most sites where even regular visitors spend at most minutes a week and look at a handful of pages, visitors to social networking sites often invest hours a day at the sites, viewing, and disclose a tremendous amount of information about themselves and their friends.

On-line recruiting expert Steven Rothberg of CollegeRecruiter.com career site has tried to demystify social networking sites and demonstrate the tremendous risks and opportunities they present to employers in articles he has written. The articles are recommended for people who want to find out more about these sites and their scopes and opportunities, both positive and negative sides.

We realize that more and more companies use Facebook for a reference check amongst new hires candidates. Whether this is positive or not, whether it is ethical or not is not the discussion here, but we should ask ourselves. Has our private sphere become to public, and do we have a responsibility ourselves as individuals to protect our private information if we do not want some elements of society to use them against us? My personal answer is that we should be careful with information publicized in sites like Facebook. Both legal as well as illegal companies and individuals can use the information on Facebook if it serves their purpose. Therefore the trap for us as individuals could be that we open up for big brother syndrome ourselves, without thinking of the consequences of this.

Serena Software uses Facebook as part of their intranet. 800 employees in 18 countries. Facebook is the frontend of their intranet with links to a cheap CMS system that is beind their firewall. It all started with Facebook Friday. The management in Serena Software encouraged their workers to use one hour every Friday to update their profile on Faceboook and create relations to collegues, customers and partners, friends and family. So Facebook acts as a front end with a CMS in the back end where links to confidential documents behind the firewall is performed. The process of change in Serena Software was focused on web 2.0. 35% of their 800 coworkers 800 does virtual work together. The management wanted that these coworkers should know each other better and get to the same understanding, make relations and feel engagement in the companys activities. Facebook is free and a good web 2.0 sofware, so it fell natural for Serena to use this application as part of their intranet. They made privat groups for the employees on Faceboook and developed some simple programs for the intranet. Then they made links to relevant documents inside the firewall and therefore secure.The make press releases on Facebook and the human relationship department makes links to relevant information sources. This way the employees learns not only about the documents, but also about their coworkers behind the documents.

Some customers communicates today with Serena Software through Facebook. These customers does not use e-mail anymore. The relations between the customers and the coworkers in Serena Software has become stronger, since they know each other very well on a personal level Both employees in Serena Software as well as the customers updates their profiles on a regular basis and tell each others what they do, so it creates a stronger bond through Facebook.

Serena also use Facebook to recruit employees to the company. Potential coworkers knows about Serenas cooperation tools and therefore easy can get in touch with the environment and potential decision makers easier, Serena will know about the candidates since they also updates their Facebook on a regular basis and therefore latest news around this person is known.

Ernst & Young hires more than 5,500 college students and recent graduates pr year for internships and entry level career opportunities, only in North America alone. In addition to the traditional on-campus recruiting efforts, employee referrals, and advertising on job boards and other media, Ernst&Young now has a page on Facebook, which is one of the most popular social networking sites amongst college students.

Ernst &Young’s sponsored Facebook page contains information and discussion boards aimed at college students. Although students and other individuals use Facebook for free, Ernst&Youngs paid an undisclosed fee to Facebook as their page is more like advertising than it is to a traditional Facebook profile page. The risk of this is of course that there could be negative comments posted to their page by students and other individuals who use Facebook and even enabling people who don’t like Ernst &Young to connect more easily and perhaps allow their negative views to be more widely disseminated.

The price paid for the presence on Facebook is only part of the true cost, since Ernst & Young will have to take the costs related to the tremendous amount of staff time required to properly maintain a Facebook page. If they are not responsive to students who contact them through the page, they will look out-of-touch and do more harm to their brand than good.

Ernst & Young’s page is the first sponsored page on Facebook that is used exclusively for recruitment purposes. Other organizations such as Microsoft have pages that include information about their hiring efforts, but this is the first time that an organization’s Facebook page has been only about their efforts to hire college students who are searching for internships and recent graduates who are hunting for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

So far about over 5000 Facebook users have linked to the Ernst & Young page as members. Once you have a Facebook profile, you can search for people or organizations which are of interest to you. You can find the Ernst & Young page by typing in Ernst and Young (without the quotation marks) into the Facebook search engine. Facebook then gives you the option of becoming a member of the Ernst & Young page and you can accept this. That’s all it takes. Now Ernst & Young’s recruiters will be able to review your profile. If you are a college junior or senior with a high GPA in a program such as business, finance, or accounting, the phone would probably be ringing right now.

This is probably a brilliant move by Ernst & Young. This is a big step towards Ernst & Young becoming more transparent. It also sends a powerful message to students that Ernst & Young is listening to their needs, wants, and desires. Recruiters who tell highly qualified candidates that they must apply through traditional channels will lose those candidates if those candidates want to connect through newer channels such as Facebook because those candidates have options and they know it.

Other companies such as Opera software has also adopted Facebook as a part of their business and uses it actively for various purposes.

Jonathan Sin asked:


Children of the pre-teen years all the way up to the teens rarely play with toys anymore – certainly much less than those of the earlier generation, thanks to the advent and rise of modern technology, most notably the Internet. Games can be found on computers and the Internet, even for kids, which are most often the substitute for actual playing with other kids. Times have indeed changed with children preferring to interact online rather than for real.

While computers and the Internet are good sources of amusement and entertainment for children, dangers lurk around every imaginable “corner” of the Internet, from the actual gaming sites to hardcore pornography sites which can pop up with one simple click of the mouse. Social networking sites like Friendster and MySpace, known to attract those of the younger generation, are also the haven for perpetrators looking for innocent, unsuspecting victims that they can find easy to trick, such as children, who are the most vulnerable.

As a parent, you need to find the various ways possible to protect your child from the dangers of the Internet, while still allowing him/her the privilege of exploring it. However, it is understandable that at times, the child can be secretive and will lie to his/her parents. Yes, he/she is only exposing him/herself to the dangers of the Internet, but a parent can only do so much when the child lies. If all avenues of protection have been exhausted and the child still gets into Internet trouble, as a parent, you need to know who to call.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is usually the agency that handles cases like these wherein the child is exploited by unknown perpetrators on the Internet. Perhaps the perpetrator sent or allowed the child to view pornographic materials, whether photo or video. Since this is bound to have a significant deal of psychological effect, the agency mentioned will help your child deal with that fact. The hotline for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is 1-800-843-5678.

If the act occurred on a social networking site such as MySpace or Friendster, you may try calling the site owners and/or operators and give the username of the perpetrator if you’ve managed to obtain it. Although this could be somewhat of a long shot (due to the fact that it is accessible from any computer in the world, including in countries without specific laws dealing with these situations), you could still try it as the very least these social networking sites could do is to ban the user from their sites.

Of course, if any sexual act, criminal activity, and/or suspicious behavior occurred, you have to notify the local law enforcement agencies. If the police are able to catch the perpetrator, it could prevent him from victimizing other children. Also, the police are very adept with modern technology and can catch a perpetrator during any criminal activity or just prior to.

It is also important to notify your internet service provider. If a perpetrator tricks your child into going to a questionable site, you can have the internet service provider block that particular site and also warn them to warn the other clients of the said service provider. That way, the effect of the questionable site is greatly lessened.

Aside from the social agencies, law enforcement agencies, and others that will help in this problem, it is also good to inform other parents who are experiencing or will experience the same problem of a child spending a lot of time on the Internet. Should your child be victimized, warn the other parents, whether they are the parents of your child’s schoolmates, family friends, or those in social clubs, of the dangers of the Internet and how to prevent a child from being exploited. This will go a long way into helping solve a problem that affects the whole world.

Schools should also be notified, beginning with the school your child attends. Schools can give pep talks regarding the dangers of the Internet, what to do when faced with questionable circumstances, etc. Sometimes, schools have a way of reaching the children the way parents can’t.

Knowing who to contact will definitely help solve this world-wide problem of child exploitation via the Internet.

Cheow Yu Yuan asked:


Facebook, a social networking site which has recently shot to stardom on the Internet, is a great channel for marketers to leverage on. As of this writing, it has an Alexa ranking of 7 and a PageRank (PR) of 8. This shows that Facebook is one of the most popular sites, with tons of traffic and potential.

So what makes Facebook became one of the best places to market on the Internet? Facebook is very different from other social networking sites like MySpace or Friendster. One of the major differences is that it is an open platform for application developers to post their applications on it. The best part is that applications can viral easily on Facebook, reaching out to millions of members worldwide.

Initially when I just joined Facebook, I was quite irritated by the amount of “application spams” that I have received from my friends asking me to add the whole list of applications. But after sometime, I actually gave in and added the applications. To my surprise, some of these applications are really very interesting and prompted me to add more so as to explore them.

From this experience, I realised that Facebook has actually became one of the best platform for viral marketing, using applications such as games, quiz, groups, etc. When you are invited by your friends to join a certain group or add a certain games, you will be more receptive to do so. Although there will be rejections at the beginning, but after some persistent effort from your friends, you will eventually add them, because it is free after all!

One very interesting thing that I will like to share is that once you have added a certain application, it will be shown on your profile page. Do you know that marketers should take note of this opportunity to market their products or services? Take for example, there is a game called “PetrolHead”. It is a game whereby you can buy a car with points and race with your friends to earn more points. With more points, you will be able to get better cars. Eventually you will be able to get into the billionaire clubs and get cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.

Naturally a person will want things to look good on his or her profile page, just like putting up a nice photo. So by displaying the car on your profile page, you will at least try your best to get a better car every time. The key here is that if you want to get a better car, you need points. To get points, you can either race a limited 10 times per day, or to invite more friends to join this game too. Once you have finished up your races, do you think that you will invite some friends to join this game so as to earn more points to buy a Ferrari?

Facebook is a platform that is ideal for easy viral marketing. This explains why it is so valuable to businesses and marketers to leverage on it and marketing their products or services on it.

Jack Yang asked:


Social Networking sites have taken the internet by storm. No longer just for keeping track of high school and college classmates, social networking has gone mainstream. I knew when I signed up for Facebook and saw that not only my younger cousins, but also my Aunts and Uncles in their 60s had profiles, that social networking had grown up.

If you define a social networking site as a web site with public profiles, a friend or contact list, and the ability for contacts to view and follow the contact list of their buddies, then the first social networking site was Six Degrees in 1997. Social sites hit the big time in 2002, and 2003 with Friendster and MySpace. Friendster became very popular and is seen as one of the biggest success stories, and failures of internet marketing, as its user share diminished with the popularity of MySpace and Facebook.

Starting as a professional network in 2003, LinkedIn is a job related social networking site. I call it MySpace for grownups. Plaxo, which started as a contact management application, has added more commenting and other features that make it into a full fledged social networking site. There are even social networking sites for your dogs and cats Dogster and Catster allow pet owners to create profiles for their animals. With the rapid growth of web, more and more networking sites are opened with innovative concepts, like Acobay in late 2008, which allows you to connect with people who have purchased the same products you own or are considering buying.

Sites such as Facebook have extended the traditional three elements of social networking (profiles, networks, and messages) to include features such as access from mobile devices, and applications that enhance the user experience on the site. Until legal problems pulled the application, Scrabulous had fantastic success on Facebook, and was responsible for some of Facebooks success in reaching a wider audience. Facebooks iPhone application is one of the most popular applications for download in the Apple App Store. The ability to take a picture on your iPhone and instantly and simply upload it to your Facebook profile is one of the most gee-whiz features of Facebook.

LinkedIn has become an integral part of maintaining a professional network. Since the economic downturn, it is more important than ever to keep in touch with people who work in the same industry and have similar backgrounds. LinkedIn, with its emphasis on current and previous co-workers and college contacts is a great way to develop and keep up with your network. LinkedIn gives people the ability to make professional recommendations for their coworkers, managers, and subordinates. LinkedIn lets you list your job skills and prospective employers and recruiters will use the site to search for job candidates.

Each social networking site has its own culture. MySpace has a strong youth feel to it, and many bands and artists have fan pages there. The ability to customize your profile with music and flashy graphics makes MySpace a favorite for younger set. Facebook seems to be growing in popularity and I am personally astounded at the number of my friends, relatives, and co-workers on there. I am jealous of iPhone owners ability to run the mobile application. LinkedIn is my favorite site as a job searcher. I have collected quite a few professional recommendations from my prior co-workers, and at least one recruiter has contacted me based on searching my LinkedIn profile.

Which social networking site or sites an individual signs up for will depend on a few factors. The biggest is probably who of your real life friends and relatives are on which site and who is trying to convince you to sign up. If your best friends keeps showing you cool stuff from their MySpace profile you may sign up and be their friend. If you find out all your cousins are on Facebook, you might be tempted to sign up for that. Whichever sites you sign up for, resist the temptation to release your inner child. Treat information listed on social sites as if it were accessible publicly so you will not regret posting anything later.

Jonathan Mac asked:


We are almost at the end of the glorious year, 2008. Everyone using the Internet would be aware of the fact that the social networking websites have gained huge popularity through this whole year. And its now the ideal time to make a review on the 5 best social networking sites of the year 2008. There were no much changes from the start of this year and the reigning champions are:

1. Myspace

2. Facebook

3. Bebo

4. Friendster

5. Hi5

The winner is Myspace

Almost every Internet user knows what Myspace is and more than 80% of them would have used Myspace. The key factors of the success of this social networking giant are, unique social networking web design, the easiness in sharing pictures, communicating with friends, and option to create the best customized social networking profiles. Another cool feature of myspace which we loved is the independent music bands anchored on myspace for easy music discovery. With loads of social networking features enabled through social networking softwares and all of them available for free, Myspace is the Winner.

Facebook The contender

Facebook, yet another popular social networking website has been a serious competitor of Myspace. With the cool social networking softwares made available, facebook has become addictive to many teenagers (still no harm to them). With top notch security features, facebook is one of the most preferred social networks. So here is what holds facebook back off the winner circle. It is the limited customization options that facebook offers. However, considering all other social networking features that facebook offers, it receives the silver award. Facebook is the contender.

Bebo and Friendster The Quickly grown Social networks

The growth of the popular social networking site- Bebo and friendster was very quick. These two social networking websites remained unknown by the start of this year and today the reached the 3rd and 4th positions of the social networking website rankings. Bebo, being bought by AOL is gaining popularity each day in the United States. Like all other social media sites, there are cool social networking softwares, personalization and privacy settings. Bebo and Friendster are in the 4th and 5th place respectively.

The rise of other social networks

The popularity of social networking has driven many people to have their own social networking website. With the social networking website design becoming easier each day, many online marketers have created their own business social networks. Though these social networking websites doesnt appear on the top 50 rankings, they are of great use to the creators. Though these social networks, online marketers are able to promote their products, understand customer needs and get more exposure to their business. With the easiness of social networking website design we are now expecting some huge changes in the rankings of social networking websites in the year 2009.