Perez, Juan. “Facebook’s Beacon More Intrusive Than Previously Thought.” PC World. 30 Nov. 2007. Web. The purpose of this online article is to provide the truth on Facebook’s Beacon advertising method. Director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group looked into Facebook’s new method in 2007. The article explains that even if Facebook users were logged off, they were still being used to show their online purchases. The intended audience is all Facebook users at the time of Beacon. This is relevant to the blog because it shows history with Facebook and privacy issues. A unique feature is the use of Berteau, the Director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, throughout the article. His placement supports the article, veering it away from being opinionated. The goal was reached in the article to provide information that there was something suspicious happening, but it only used one actual name as a source, Berteau’s.
Lyons, Daniel. “Facebook’s Roar Becomes a Meow; Putting ads in front of Facebook users is like hanging out at a party and interrupting conversations to hawk merchandise.” Newsweek. 20 Oct. 2008. Print. The purpose of this magazine article was to influence the reader that Facebook is not heading in the correct direction for success with advertising. Lyons explains that a big problem is that Facebook ads are annoying. He favors Google over Facebook because of their advantages of using the “search” bar to influence appropriate ads. The audience was people who were planning on using advertisements on Facebook. This is relevant to the blog because it shows an example of users being frustrated by the ads on Facebook and questioning their future. The article is very biased against Facebook. Lyons expresses that he did not believe that Facebook would live up to the hype people built it to be. A strength to the article is the statistical data placed throughout the article. A weakness could be the uneasy tone against Facebook.
Staff, ET. “It’s privacy vs profit at Facebook.” TheEconomicTimes. 3 May 2010. Web. This internet article’s purpose is to inform readers about the plug-in feature with Facebook advertising. ET’s staff discusses that the plug-in feature shows what friends like. This article states that social plug-ins are growing with advertisers. The audience is technical people on the business side of the industry. It discusses that this could be the future with advertising with Facebook. This is relevant because it shows the stepping-stone of what Facebook advertising has become. When Beacon was intrusive and unsuccessful, this is what Facebook did about it. I think a unique feature was the main theme of evolution through the entire article. I think a strength to the article was creating an image of progress with words.
Diana, Allison. “Facebook Ad Spending To Hit $4.05 Billion In 2011.” InformationWeek. 20 Jan. 2011. Web. This online article’s purpose is to create awareness of how big Facebook advertisements are in the online market. The article discusses the remarkable growth with ad spending online. The intended audience is technological predictors. This article is a forecast of what is to come with Facebook. This article is relevant to the blog because it proves urgency. It is now 2011 and over $4 billion are being spent with Facebook ads. The article provides strong numbers to support its information. Another strength is the direct quote from Zuckerberg himself.
Grasz, Jennifer. “Forty-five Percent of Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder Survey Finds.” CareerBuilder. 19. Aug. 2009. Web. This online article provides the results of an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive. Over 2,500 hiring managers and human resource professionals provided feedback on their expectations and social networking standards of prospective candidates for employment. The article is split into s Do’s and Don’ts list. The intended audience is anyone using CareerBuilder to find a job. This would also be helpful for anyone looking to get a job. This is relevant to my blog because it presents a real-life case of Facebook, and other social networks, being used as a decision maker for employment. The article uses percentages and ranks specific examples of why or why not candidates were selected after their online screening. This article proves that social networks are presently being used to evaluate people, in this case for employment.
Clemmitt, Marcia. “Are online social networks eroding privacy?” Social Networking. 20. 32. (2010): “Are new laws needed to regulate online social media?” Print. This scholarly journal article discusses the argument of whether or not laws are needed for social media and networking. The article discusses how difficult the decision is because too much protection can be complete control of social lives. The author says that Law tries not to invade types of communication. Because of cyber-bulling and privacy breaches, many people wish there were stronger laws protecting them. The intended audience is anyone using social media. This provides a neutral view of a powerful dispute over online protection. This is relevant to my blog because it shows the complicity of the issue. Too much protection becomes an invasion of privacy from law and no protection becomes an invasion from third parties and advertisers. There are numerous quotes and citations that build the credibility of the article. The goal of this article is to create awareness on the issue.
Salam, Reihan. “The Future Of Facebook.” Forbes. 25. March. 2010. Web. This online article discusses the potential of Facebook in society. The author states that Facebook is constantly growing and firms are taking advantage by being there first over competitors. The author explains Facebook’s Open Graph protocol. This feature allows third-party websites to integrate the Like feature on their website. This feature provides instant feedback, a benefit no company will disregard. In the closing paragraph, the author says that if Facebook is smart with the Open Graph protocol, they could become as powerful as a government. The intended audience is competitors of Facebook. Facebook has overpowered almost all competitors by taking advantage of the endless information consumers provide. This article is relevant to my blog by creating awareness of how big Facebook is and how it is not going anywhere anytime soon.
McCullagh, Declan. “Why no one cares about privacy anymore.” Cnet. 12. March. 2010. Web. This article is split into three sections. The first section is an introduction and provides the start of privacy discussion with Google’s new Google Buzz. This is a social networking tool. Users can message each other as well as share videos, photos, links, and so on. Then the article discusses the evolution of privacy and how today’s people are not as worried, the social norm has changed. The last section specifically discusses the current generation of internet-savvy people. Less people are worried about display private information to public places. The intended audience for this article is anyone who did not grow up with Internet. A big problem with privacy issues is point of view and norms of current society. This article relates to my blog by showing a new position of privacy issues. The article argues that this is the new age and revolutionized way of communicating. This article is very unique because it does not discuss privacy, itself, so much as it does the reasons of why we privacy is being disputed.
Luscombe, Belinda. “Facebook and Divorce: Airing the Dirty Laundry.” Time. 22 June. 2009. Web. The purpose for this online article is to create awareness about innovative uses of social media as legal evidence in divorce cases. The article provides true stories about couples that used social media against the other in court. For example, a mother posted herself as single with no kids on a dating website. A domestic-relations law firm, used by the husband, held this against her to doubt her truthfulness, which in turn affected custody of her children. The intended audience is married individuals, especially those who aren’t having successful marriages. The article explains that social media evidence really comes in handy when there are child custody cases. Divorce lawyers find social media to be very helpful. They tell their clients to search their soon-to-be ex’s pages for any negative information. This article shows how Facebook and other social media are surpassing its original purpose of social interaction.
Lavrusik, Vadim. “Is Sharing More Valuable for Publishers on Facebook or Twitter?” Mashable. 26 March. 2011. Web. The social media guide website, Mashable, decided to compare their Facebook and Twitter data to find out how many people actually read and share information. The website collected data for three months. In short, the data revealed more people click on articles than share on Facebook and vice versa for Twitter. This means that Facebook posts/articles are weighted more heavily. This information is hard evidence that posting something on Facebook is more likely to reach your audience instead of using Twitter. This type of information can be useful for companies who are unsure on which social media platform to focus on. One notable weakness to this study is the convenience sample. Mashable used three months of their company’s data. This does not conclusively prove that Facebook is more effective because it is only one, specific case sample.
Yoder, Dan. “Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook.” Gizmodo. 3 May. 2010. Web. This article was posted by a credible commenter on a blog website. The purpose of this entry is to encourage people to delete their Facebook accounts. The heavily, one-sided article provides ten subheads (example, number 8: Facebook has flat out declared war on privacy) to support the author’s argument. The opening statement does declare that the author was previously a Facebook member. This entry is intended for current Facebook users. The author translates (and cites) specific sections of Facebook’s Terms of Service to help his argument. Quotes from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, are also provided. The author provides useful information but it appears to be too “anti-Facebook.” This is a weakness because readers are told what to do. This entry provides the view of an anti-Facebook extremist.
Heather, Ashley J. “Three Phases In The Evolution Of Social Commerce.” BusinessInsider. 11 March. 2011. Web. This article provides an interesting view on the future of online shopping. The author describes a new company, dotbox, which can provide businesses with a better online store for their consumers. The article states current online stores contain no social interaction. The author compares online stores to walking in a physical store that has products on the shelves but no storekeeper or other customers. He sees future online stores including online, social interactions with other customers. Anyone shopping on a specific website would be able to chat with others about products/services before purchasing. The intended audience for this article is any company trying to revolutionize their online store. The online chatting feature will relate to Facebook chat, and according the author dotbox may integrate Facebook into the websites. The author is very convincing when describing this revolutionary shopping experience. Though this idea has a lot of potential, this is still just a start-up design.
Heussner, Ki Mae. “Should Teachers and Students Be Facebook Friends?” ABC News. 5 Oct. 2010. Web. This online article discusses the relationship between teachers and students on Facebook. It explains that many school districts are trying to find a way to warn teachers about friending students on Facebook. Critics say that if any school tells a teacher that he/she cannot post a comment on Facebook, it is infringing on their freedom of speech. The article provides quotes from each side of the issue. The article concludes that schools are still in the proposal process of limiting teachers’ activity, so there is still much to discuss. The article seems to be targeting teachers and parents by stating real life examples. One teacher was suspended after posting that she hated her job on Facebook. She wasn’t a friend with any students but her privacy settings were left public. This directly relates to my blog by proving that many people are ill informed with Facebook’s privacy settings.
Knight, Ben. “Internet shut down as Egypt unrest continues” ABC News. 28 Jan. 2011. Web. This online news article provides an explanation for Egypt’s Internet shut down. The article describes that all communication between protesters were through social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook. Activists created groups and organized protests online since it is illegal to protest in Egypt. The chaos led to the entire country to shut down their Internet services, including mobile devices. During the shut down, the United States became worried because they were completely knocked out of communication with the country. The article relates to my blog by exemplifying an innovative use of Facebook. The country used it as a powerful tool. A U.S. Internet monitoring firm, Renesys, said the total shutdown of the Internet was unprecedented in Internet history and went far beyond measures taken during other protests and uprisings in the past.
Warren, Christina. “Security Firms: Facebook Should Better Protect Its Users” Mashable. 18 April. 2011. Web. This online article discusses a recent request from a web security firm to Facebook. The firm believes that privacy should be the default setting on Facebook, instead of the opt-in default. Another key request was application developers should be screened before creating an app. The article does complement Facebook by saying that they keep their systems clean and breaches at a minimum. The real security threats are from scams and rogue Facebook apps. The article provides a direct link to the letter, where readers can see the specific request created by the firm. The article stirs up the conversation of whether of not Facebook should make improvements with their security and privacy.
Chaney, Paul. “8 Benefits to Facebook ‘Likes’” Practical Ecommerce. 18 April. 2011. Web. This online article is targeted toward business owners either using Facebook or thinking about using Facebook. The article provides 8 benefits Facebook ‘Likes’ can bring to a company. Some of the benefits include more engaged users and more traffic to website. The article says that integrating the ‘Like’ feature to a website is fairly simple, even to a less tech savvy business. The end of the article explains that users on Facebook who ‘Like’ a product or brand are more likely to continue to use that specific brand. The article provides very convincing reasons on why a company should incorporate Facebook as a medium of communication with their consumers. A unique feature that helped me go through the article was the screen captures of some of the benefits. For example, the eighth benefit is supported with a picture of Facebook’s Insights feature.
