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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Spokane Public Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week: 03/28/2012 The
downsides of social networking –
845 million active users
Current world
population is 7 Billion
Online social networking began much earlier than people realize.
At its peak in the 1990’s America Online had social pages where people
could have pictures of themselves and their interests, and make online
friends with people around the world. The only limitation was that everyone
had to be an AOL member. People today think of Facebook as the primary social networking
company, which has pretty much replaced Myspace – the previous leader.
The popular movie – The Social Network – received 8 Academy Award
nominations, and
in the rare event someone on this earth had never been on the internet and hadn’t
heard about it – the movie probably reached every nook and cranny of
non-Facebook aware human beings. Facebook has become a social phenomenon in less than 8 years from its development in
2005. As of February 2012,
Facebook has more than 845 million active users.[5]
The current world population is 7 Billion, so that means 1 out of 10 people
on earth have a Facebook page. Users must register before using the site, after which they may
create a personal profile, add other users as friends,
and exchange messages. . Facebook allows any users who declare themselves to be at least 13 years old to become
registered users of the site.[6] The internet research group http://www.pewinternet.org/
has published an online report - Social
networking sites and our lives – ( And I have a link to this
report in the transcript of my show on the Raw Bytes website.) which states the
following figures: The number of those using social
networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 and the population of SNS
users has gotten older. The average age of adult-SNS users has shifted from 33 in 2008
to 38 in 2010. Over half of all adult SNS users are now over the age of 35.
Some 56% of SNS users now are female. There
is considerable variance in the way people use various social networking
sites: 52% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platform
daily, while only 7% of MySpace and 6% of LinkedIn users do the same. On
Facebook on an average day: 15% of Facebook users update their own
status. 22% comment on another’s post or
status. 20% comment on another user’s
photos. 26% “Like” another
user’s content. 10% send another user a private message
The survey also found: Facebook users are more trusting than others. We found that the typical internet user is more than twice as
likely as others to feel that people can be trusted. Further, we found that
Facebook users are even more likely to be trusting. Other findings include: Facebook users have more close relationships, get more social
support than other people, are much more politically engaged than most people,
and Facebook revives “dormant” relationships. Doesn’t this all seem just warm and cozy, almost like a
Norman Rockwell cover? Well, like most things in the computer industry, there’s
more than 2 sides to every story, and we’ll look as some of those down
sides next week. For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2012 MTA Micro Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbxmenu.html (509)624-7230 |
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