Google has finally broken into the world of social networking. Not to say they did not have social networking sites before. Their social networking sites such as Orkut or OpenSocial were not such a hit within the online social networking community. With these sites, they were following the same mold of Facebook and Twitter who fan base started from scratch and then grew with popularity.
What Google have now done is simply a stroke of genius. They have embedded Google buzz into their Gmail service. As a result, the fan base is already existent and studies show is growing at an average 176 million visitors each month. Although Google buzz is new, its impact is huge as users of the service gave access to all the gadgets of the Gmail service including streaming of status updates, links, videos and buzzes. To fathom the impact of Google Buzz, one would have to imagine cramming Twitter, Yammer, Yelp, Facebook and Foursquare into one social network.
Uses of Google Buzz in Education
The open source approach that Google has adopted in the development of Google Buzz has increased the excitement level in the secondary application development market. The flexibility of Google Buzz has brought with it many useful applications outside of the direct social networking world. After close examination, we have seen where Google Buzz has many ways in which it can be incorporated into the educational system. Some of these methods include:
Users of Google Buzz are able to conduct Facebook and twitter like conversations. Students can use this forum to communicate easily with their peers without having to sign into another social networking site while checking their Google mail. They can even throw open questions much like a Facebook status message but with a more interactive flavor.
Being embedded into Google Gmail service, teachers can easily conduct research on any topic without losing sight of the happenings of fellow teachers and linked students.
With Google Buzz, teachers are now able to maintain a closer relationship with their online students.Teachers can now easily with one application use their Gmail embedded Google Buzz to disseminate and collect assignments and then make immediate comments either generally or to specific students. This will certainly reduce the hard copy paper work at school, as all messages can be easily stored on request.
Unlike Twitter, with Google teachers are able to select who can see particular buzz they upload. Therefore, if they want to address only a part of the class you can do so using Google buzz without fear of general exposure.
Google buzz has brought with it an easier method of promoting ideas or items to the public. This is a great opportunity for research doctors at universities to promote their ideas. What Google has done is to give users of the Google buzz the ability to make public posts that are included into their general Google search engine. As a result, professors only have to include keywords that will attract traffic and direct this traffic to your post.
Do you know about social networking sites? Well, if you don’t, you shouldn’t feel bad because not so many people are even aware of the concept of social networking sites. Social networking sites are online platforms where you contact your friends online through the site. Online information about your availability and sharing of photos makes your virtual life closer to reality. In addition to regular social networking websites, professional networking websites are also available and allow for the interaction of professionals and sharing of professional opportunities.
Employers and Your Social Networking Profile – Is there even a need?
While social networking had previously been used only for casual reasons, it has becomes a source for prospective employers to know more about candidates who have applied for positions with their company. In fact it is being said that many companies are keeping track of their employees through these social networking websites.
There are cities where candidates applying for city jobs are required to give their usernames and passwords for any of their social networking websites including their chat room passwords. The concern among job seekers is whether such requirements are legal and how far it should be complied with as it amounts to invasion of privacy.
While it is true that employers object certain activities of their prospective candidates like illegal behavior, offensive statements and instances of bad mouthing, it is most unlikely that such a behavior can be traced through social networking websites.
Social Networking Profiles in Working Environment…
While some find referring to social networking websites offensive, some like Jon Yarbrough, partner at Constangy, Brooks & Smith law firm are of the view that there nothing wrong about it. In some states, it has even become a law that it is no employers’ business to check out what an employee is up to after office hours.
While the general law is that you can do anything and everything lawful during your non-office hours, the question is whether the law covers even applicants to jobs and what really matters to employers about what an employee is engaged in non-office hours where there is nothing unlawful.
You may never know what is in store, so it is best to clean up your profiles, just to ensure nothing will cost you a dream job. It is also possible to create two profiles, one for personal use and the other for employers to see as a public face.
Do you think sharing personal information with your prospective employers is a good idea? Should we be more open about it? Or this is just another way to breach into someone’s privacy?
When the president of the United States of America gave a ‘Back to School’ speech this year, he warned the children to be careful when using Facebook, the world’s biggest social networking website.
Nearly one-third of the employers use Facebook to check out about you before hiring you. So if you are going to post pictures of your ‘other ’side on this public network it might cost you your dream job and a fat pay check. So think before you act.
However there are so many little things you can do to protect yourself at Facebook. Most non-tech savvy people don’t understand these features. So, they are explained in simple terms to you below:
i) Make Different Lists of Persons
Whenever you add someone to your Facebook Contacts List, categorize them as Work, Family or Friends. Even Friends can be categorized as Acquaintances, for those you are not very close with and friends, for those whom you share a close relationship with. This is very important as then you can fix who will view what and who will not have access to your personal stuff.
ii) Settings of Privacy
At the top right corner, you have a tab called ‘Settings‘. Click this and you will get the option ‘Privacy Settings’. When you click on that, you can set who can see what on your Facebook profile. For example, when you set ‘Only Friends’, only your friends can view it, ‘My Networks and Friends’ allows anyone in your network to view it.
iii) Address and Phone Number
When you click on ‘Privacy Settings, in the ‘Settings’ button, you will come across a tab called ‘Contact Information’. Click on it. You can allow/ block people whom you want/ don’t want to view this information.
iv) Search
Sometimes you just don’t want others to catch you on Facebook especially some old disgusting school friends and nosy parkers from office. For this, you can click on settings on the main Facebook homepage. Then click ‘Search’. You then land on a ‘Search Privacy’ page where you can set who can find you on Facebook. You can click on ‘Friends of Friends’, ‘My Networks and Friends’ or ‘Only Friends’ depending on the level of privacy you want to maintain. Also you can control what will show up when your profile shows up in search.
v) Don’t Share Personal Information with unknown applications
There are umpteen numbers of quizzes and games on Facebook that can access your personal information and also your friend’s personal information. You can put a stop to this. Take the mouse over to ‘Settings’ tab and choose ‘Privacy Settings’ and click it. Then click ‘Applications’ and click on the tab that says ‘Settings’. Then you can choose what your friends can view and cannot view about you. This only sets for your friend’s applications. For the applications you are using, this is not applicable. So, it would be best to remove those ones you are not using.
These five steps can surely create a much better and safer environment for you to network and chill-out on Facebook.
