Social Networking

Another popular activity for teenagers and adults is creating a personal page on one of the many social networking web sites. Many sites offer this service but the most popular are www.MySpace.com andwww.Facebook.com. Each site basically provides the same experience but each has its individual characteristics along with rules and regulations. The way it works is users register and create a personal page called a profile on the site. Profiles can include pictures, personal information, opinions, online journals called blogs, music, videos and basically anything else a person feels represents them and their personality.

Users then browse other profiles looking for people with similar interests or locating people they went to school with etc. Once found, they make contact by requesting "friend status". When accepted, a link is created on each other's page to their new friend's page. Users commonly communicate through e-mail or chat services provided by the site as well. They also visit each other's page to leave messages and meet each other's friends and the social networking cycle continues into one big weblog community. The general rule of thumb is the more friends a user has the higher status they enjoy. With MySpace it displays the number of times it has been visited, which also reflects status.

Replacing the need for face-to-face interaction, social networking has become a new addiction for many who spend hours cruising through endless profiles making connections with old friends or making new ones. Many amateur musicians use this medium to reach their fans and provide music for download eliminating normal distribution costs and allowing the potential for a larger worldwide fan base.

As with anything involving the Internet there are dangers to consider with social networking. For starters, it creates a place for online predators to gather information. This is a concern especially with www.MySpace.comconsidering the number of teenagers who carelessly list personal information such as their full name, town, high school, and post pictures of their house or car. Some sites prevent unregistered users from viewing profiles while others like www.Facebook.com do not. The most popular site MySpace allows anyone to browse and view profiles although certain areas are restricted to unregistered users. Another area of concern with MySpace is the browse and search features allowing searches based on such criteria as body type, sexual orientation, smoker, drinker, and relationship status (i.e. Single, Married, In a Relationship, Divorced, Swinger). Some users also post risqué, nude and sexually suggestive pictures of themselves or others although MySpace has rules against it listed in the terms of use agreement. MySpace also restricts users under the age of fourteen from registering and having a profile. The method of age verification is determined by the birth date the user lists which is easily defeated. MySpace also states that anyone found to be underage might have their membership terminated and their profile removed.

In addition, www.MySpace.com has also made an attempt to crack down on predators by implementing restrictions for adults having access to underage user profiles. Although with no age verification adults can easily pose as the age group they are targeting. Many social networking web sites list safety tips for users to review and typically a safety link is available at the bottom of most webpages.

Social Networking profiles can be set to a private mode which only allows people to view it that have been accepted as a friend by the profile owner. This is default in www.Facebook.com. This prevents random users from viewing it and is a great safety feature for protection. All profiles should be set to private but keep in mind this prevents parents from viewing their child's profile as well unless they have a profile themselves and have been added as a friend.

MICROBLOGGING

Web sites such as www.Twitter.com have been quickly increasing in popularity for their microblogging ability. The act of microblogging basically allows a user to post small messages to an online profile which in turn is being monitored by other users of the service. Many celebrities are using Twitter to post "tweets" about their normal daily activities which provides fans with an insight to their life. Most tweets are done with cell phones as a user would text the information to the site which is then posted. Microblogging is not very popular with children or teens.

VIRTUAL WORLDS

When most people think of social networking they think ofwww.MySpace.com or www.Facebook.com. There is also a completely different type of social network infrastructure available now that has taken lessons from role playing games. Web sites such aswww.secondlife.com, www.kaneva.com, and www.gaiaonline.com offer a virtual world/community that allow users to create a character of themselves known as an "avatar." Once created, they roam through this online world and interact with other avatars. The avatars represent other people sitting at their computers doing the same thing. Avatars allow people to be whomever they want. Men can become women and vice versa. Older adults can build their avatar to be 16 years old. Basically in a virtual world anything goes and no one can prove otherwise.

This is very dangerous because when children and teens are involved in this type of virtual reality world they are literally blind to who they are dealing with. They are mixed into a virtual world interacting with adults and potentially some predators. There are also several adult areas in Second Life including "rape rooms."

There are also virtual worlds targeted to grade school children.Www.weeworld.com is one of those sites that allow very young children to make avatars referred to as a "wee mee." They use their avatar to play with other kids in the virtual world. A potential for danger is very prevalent in this world as well. Similar sites such as www.whyville.net andwww.clubpenguin.com offer a safer environment.

SOCIAL NETWORKING DANGERS• Adults use the site• Inappropriate language, nudity, alcohol use, sexually provocative images, etc.• Predators use it to gather information • No real method of age verification

• Some Social Networking services allow people to view profiles without logging on; therefore teenagers and young children can access it easily

SOCIAL NETWORKING DO'S AND DON'TS• Set profile to private• Read safety tips on all SN web sites• Ask teenager to show you their profile (all of them)• Discuss online privacy• No addresses, phone numbers, other identifiable information (license plate)• Once posted online it is there to stay

• No Web Cam

Facts about Social Networking Websites

As our digital and physical lives blur further, the internet has become the information hub where people spend a majority of their time learning, playing and communicating with others globally. Emergence of WEB 2.0 came with the concept of Social Network. The purpose of social networking is to CONNECT WITH PEOPLE on a very personal level.

Facebook Statistics:

• More than 300 million active users
• More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
• More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older
• Average user has 120 friends on the site
• More than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
• More than 30 million users update their statuses at least once each day
• More than 8 million users become fans of Pages each day
• More than 900 million photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 10 million videos uploaded each month
• More than 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week
• More than 2.5 million events created each month
• More than 35 million active user groups exist on the site
• Big brand names, like Ford, WholeFoods, Comcast, IBM, Dell, Southwest Airlines, and many, many more are establishing a strong presence on social networking hubs like Twitter and Facebook.
• Facebook membership has just passed the 300 million mark (that’s nearly the population of USA!) and Twitter is marching towards 18 million users by year’s end! That’s a lot of potential customers!
• Although, started with college kids in mind, over 50% of Facebook’s members now are over 25 years old, over 55% are women (the new buying power), 51% have an annual income of $75K, with 33% claiming to bring home $100K or more.
• Finally, Facebook has become one of the most trusted companies in America, and people spend three times more time there than on Google!

Social Networking Websites Statistics:

• By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network
• Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
• Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia (note that Facebook is now creeping up – recently announced 300 million users)
• Yet, some sources say China’s QZone is larger with over 300 million using their services (Facebook’s ban in China plays into this)
• comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
• 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction
• 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
• % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%
• The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
• Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres (combined) have more Twitter followers than the population of Ireland, Norway, or Panama. Note I have adjusted the language here after someone pointed out the way it is phrased in the video was difficult to determine if it was combined.
• 80% of Twitter usage is outside of Twitter…people update anywhere, anytime…imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
• Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen
• What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…
• The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
• Wikipedia has over 13 million articles…some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica…78% of these articles are non-English
• There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
• 54% = Number of bloggers who post content or tweet daily
• Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth
• If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $156.23 per hour
• Facebook USERS translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks and cost Facebook $0
• 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
• 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
• People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
• Only 14% trust advertisements
• Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
• 90% of people that can TiVo ads do
• Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009
• 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…on their phone
• According to Jeff Bezos 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle when available
• 24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation because we no longer search for the news, the news finds us.
• In the near future we will no longer search for products and services they will find us via social media
• More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…daily.
• Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy Listening first, selling second
• Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregates, and content providers than traditional advertiser

Connecting the Social Graph: Member Overlap at OpenSocial and Facebook

OpenSocial is a Google-led initiative to get into social networking (in a bigger way than Orkut) and, purportedly, to create "open standards" so users can access their data on any social network. The project is still taking shape, but it looks like it will give users access to widgets across a bunch of social networks, at least as a first phase.

Looking at the OpenSocial coalition of social networks, some, like LinkedIn, clearly fall into the professional branches of the "social graph" or that virtual map of all our relationships. Other social networks, like Friendster are much more personal in nature.

Facebook, though not in OpenSocial, may be the only social network to have criss-crossed professional and personal boundaries, at least among internet professionals. Lastly, the family branch of the social graph, can be found on sites like Ancestry.com.

As developers think about connecting the disparate branches of the social graph, either through widget access, personal data portability or an aggregator for easy management, Compete asks, "How do the user communities of the social graph overlap today?"

This chart shows the members of any 2 social networks as a percentage of the members of the social network in the purple row. So, for instance, 20% of MySpace members are also Facebook members.

• Meanwhile, 64% of Facebook members also belong to MySpace. This asymmetry makes sense when you consider MySpace has nearly 3x the unique visitors of Facebook and a few years head start.
• Bebo, Hi5 and Friendster all share more than 49% of their members with MySpace.
• Plaxo, Salesforce and Viadeo share more members with LinkedIn (the largest professional social network by 4x) than with either MySpace or Facebook.
• LinkedIn shares 42% of its members with Facebook and 32% with MySpace.
• Ning, which lets users customize their own social networks, has greater overlap with both MySpace and Facebook than with LinkedIn.

We can see the social graph, as it is online today, consists of mainly personal relationships, though a large group of users belong exclusively to professional social networks and many belong to both. A collective solution to bringing the entire social graph online might do well to take a closer look at the particular needs of this early adoption crossover group.

One in five has a secret lover: Study

One in five people worldwide have a secret lover, a study has found.

According to research by OnePoll.com, many of us lust after someone else than our current partner, reports express.co.uk.

The situation is so bad that one in five of all adults have confessed that they are in love with someone they shouldn’t be.

Research has found that about five million Britons harbor thoughts for another person – despite already being married or cohabiting.

Worse still, the scorned partner probably already knows the object of their loved-one’s affections, because the tempter or temptress is most likely to be a close friend, a work colleague or an old flame.

The research questioned 3,000 people online and found that one in six people had had a long-term affair. One in 25 people had been in love with someone else for more than five years.

One in 50 had loved someone other than their partner for as long as they could remember.

Men were the worst culprits, with 22 percent admitting a secret love, compared with 15 percent of women.

A spokesman for the researchers said: “Even in a happy relationship, it’s possible to have a wandering eye or crave affection from another.”

“For those who can’t control their lust, this usually leads to an affair and potentially the start of a marriage or relationship breakdown,” he added.

NASA discovery suggests aliens exist – even on Earth

NASA has made a stunning claim of an “astrobiology finding” that could suggest alien life exists – even on Earth.

The discovery could prove the theory of ’shadow’ creatures which exist here in hostile environments previously thought uninhabitable.

The ‘life as we don’t know it’ could even survive on hostile planets and develop into intelligent creatures such as humans if and when conditions improve.

Researchers will unveil the discovery of a microbe that can live in an environment previously thought too poisonous for any life-form, reports the Telegraph.

The bacteria has been found at the bottom of Mono Lake in California’s Yosemite National Park which is rich in arsenic – usually poisonous to life.

Somehow the creature uses the arsenic as a way of surviving and this ability raises the prospect that similar life could exist on other planets which do not have our benevolent atmosphere.

Lewis Dartnell, astrobiologist at the Centre for Planetary Sciences in London, said: “If these organisms use arsenic in their metabolism, it demonstrates that there are other forms of life than only those we knew of. They’re aliens, but aliens that share the same home as us.”

The space agency will announce the full extent of the findings at a press conference titled “astrobiology finding which will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life”.

Scientists have also estimated that life of some kind exists on hundred billion trillion Earth-like planets in space.

Unsweetened chocolate protects heart by tackling high BP

Cocoa can bring down blood pressure (BP) by inhibiting an enzyme that pushes it upwards – hence protecting the heart.

In fact, it was as effective as BP drugs designed for the same purpose, according to a new study by scientists from Linkoping University in Sweden.

Ingrid Persson, who led the study, said: “We have previously shown that green tea inhibits the enzyme ACE, which is involved in the body’s fluid balance and BP.”

“Now we wanted to study the effect of cocoa, since the active substances catechins and procyanidines are related,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

Catechins and procyanidines are antioxidants that can reduce the damage oxygen can do to cells.

The team recruited a group of healthy non-smoking volunteers for the study. Two days before the study, they were not allowed to eat chocolate or anything containing similar compounds, including many berries, nor could they drink coffee, tea, or wine.

Everyone in the group gave a blood sample both before and after eating 75 grams of unsweetened chocolate with a cocoa content of 72 percent.

Scientists found ACE enzyme activity was reduced by 18 percent, three hours after the cocoa dose. This is comparable to the effect of drugs that inhibit ACE and are used as a first-choice treatment for high BP.

Sunlight can damage your eyes

Sunlight doesn’t just damage your skin, it can also ruin your eyes and increase the risk of cataract and damage to the retina.

The best way of protecting eyes is always to wear quality sunglasses, reports express.co.uk.

A research in Britain has, however, found that over 60 percent of Britons are influenced by fashion and price rather than whether or not the glasses are effective.

Protecting children’s eyes is especially important, yet nearly half of parents put cost ahead of protection.

Good sunglasses don’t have to be expensive. People should just look for those that ensure a safe level of ultra-violet ray protection.

‘Blood transfusion can raise heart attack risk’

Concerns are being voiced that while blood transfusions have saved lives, they may have also taken some.

Recent studies suggest a blood transfusion during surgery increases the patient’s risk of death, particularly from heart attacks or strokes and of serious illnesses, such as pneumonia and cancer of the lymph glands.

The risk, however, is not linked to contaminated blood infecting them with deadly viruses. Instead, scientists are investigating two possible causes, reports the Daily Mail.

One is that donated blood, instead of boosting a sick person’s ability to ward off infection, might leave their immune system unable to resist attacks by bacteria and viruses, according to the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The other is that transfusions may trigger inflammation in the blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes following surgery.

This is because during its 30-day shelf-life, stored blood undergoes key changes that can make it toxic for some recipients.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky in the US found that having a small blood transfusion of just one unit, roughly a pint (473 ml), increased the risk of dying within 30 days by 32 percent.

A pint is the lowest amount patients usually receive. Most need about three pints to help them cope with surgery.

The study looked at 125,000 patients undergoing surgery for a range of conditions, such as a hernia or appendix removal.

The National Blood Service in Britain advises that patients facing surgery should eat iron-rich foods – such as red meat, pulses, green leafy vegetables and nuts or seeds – to reduce the risk of anaemia.

“A shortage of iron can cause anaemia and correcting this pre-operation may reduce the need for a transfusion,” it concluded.

Spoonful of honey boosts energy

Ancient Greek athletes consumed honey to boost their energy and performance levels during Olympics events as it contains glucose and fructose, known to produce tremendous reserves of glycogen in the liver.

Having a spoonful of unprocessed honey before bed can support your brain function. The fructose is stored as energy reserves in the liver, ready to fuel the brain overnight.

Indeed, honey boosts the immune system and has an antibacterial effect internally and externally, helping the body to heal, reports the Daily Mail.

Colds are caused by viruses and honey is a natural antiviral. In a Pennsylvania State College of Medicine study, a spoonful of honey outperformed over-the-counter cold remedies, according to a Penn State statement.

Research in 2007 by Shone Blair at Sydney University concluded that honey dressings for superbug wound infections should be used as a ‘first choice’.

Honey supports friendly gut bacteria, aiding digestion, and is good for those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and thrush. According to previous studies, one should consume take two teaspoons three times a day for gastric ulcers.

How to Save Lots Of Paper At College

Far too much paper is used for hardly any reason these days. It's true that reading from paper is far more comfortable than reading from a computer screen, but there are quite a few ways that you can cut down on the amount of paper you use. Saving paper at college is one small step you can take towards saving the environment.

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A laptop with an Internet Connection

1. Step1

   First of all, the best way to cut down on paper use, is to print out as little as possible. Most colleges will have a method of sending in assignments via a computer other than email that you can use, but you'll likely have your professors email which you can use to send in assignments as well.

2. Step2

   Secondly, try to use notebook paper as little as possible, take notes on your laptop if you can. You may want to look for a better battery if you're computer just can't survive through your classes, or look into carrying multiple charged batteries if you need it. If you have to use a paper notebook, write as small as you can and use the front and back of the page.

3. Step3

   Lastly, recycle the paper with notes, assignments, and information from previous semesters or years that you no longer need. This paper can seriously accumulate over time. Remember to separate the paper into colored, white printer paper, and newspaper before taking it for recycling if you have a big

Save Tree by Saving paper

7 Ways You Can Easily Save Paper and Avoid Killing the Environment
So why does saving paper even matter?

For starters, the pulp and paper industry is the third largest consumer of energy and uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry. In 2005, out of 245,000,000 tons of waste 34.2% was paper according to the EPA. That is over 83,300,000 tons of paper that is wasted every year.

About 20,000,000 trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for production of books in the US alone. So think green and save the environment while saving yourself some money by using less paper.

What can You do to Kill Paper Waste instead of Trees?

1. Buy Recycled Paper, Duh
   According to the City of Seattle a ton of paper made from recycled paper, as opposed to virgin paper, saves the equivalent of 4,100 kilowatt hours of energy, 7000 gallons of water, 60 pounds of air emissions, and 3 cubic yards of landfill space.
2. Check Your Work to Avoid Printing Copies that Have to Be Thrown Away
   Make sure to spell check your work, and even read over it on screen. Use the Print Preview feature to preview your work to make sure everything lines up correctly.
3. Use the Print Range feature to Print Only what You Need
   You can use the Print range feature available in most programs to print only the exact pages or the selected text that you need.
4. Don’t Throw Away Your Mis-prints, Keep it as Draft Paper
   You can keep paper that you may have printed earlier which you no longer need, and print on the blank side instead of throwing it way like I am sure we have all done before. You can even use it to jot down notes for yourself instead of wasting Post it notes.
5. Make Use of Double Sided Printing
   It’s actually pretty simple. First print the odd pages by editing the Print range after pressing Ctrl+P. Then flip the pages over and put them back in the paper tray. Then just print the even pages by editing thePrint range once again.
6. Avoid Printed Envelope Labels, And Print Directly on to the Envelope
   Save paper by avoiding printing addresses on to labels, only to turn around and stick that label on an envelope. It is very easy to addresses and more right onto the label using Microsoft Word or other word processing programs.
7. Send Documents via eMail or eFax
   Although you may not always be able to, try to send stuff via email whenever possible. If you are going to fax something, many times people never use the functionality of many printers which allows for eFax. With eFax you don’t have to print something out just to stick in the fax machine and then throw it away when your done.

Was the Taj Mahal a Vedic Temple?

The following is an interesting topic or rather controversy raised following the research done by Prof.P. N. Oak which provided evidences that Taj was a Hindu temple.V shall here post the contents of an e-mail explaining the same...

"The Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal built the Taj Mahal. It was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world! . Many people believe Ustad Isa of Iran designed it." This is what your guide probably told you if you ever visited the Taj Mahal" but what about the following....

No one has ever challenged it except Prof. P. N. Oak, who believes the whole world has been duped. In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, Oak says the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya). In the course of his research Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai SIngh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place ! for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Humayun,Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Oak's inquiries began with the name of Taj Mahal. He says the term "Mahal" has never been used for a building in any Muslim countries from Afghanisthan to Algeria. "The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal was illogical in atleast two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani," he writes. Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters 'Mum' from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building."Taj Mahal, he claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo Mahalaya, or Lord Shiva's Palace. Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story. Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era, and was a temple dedicated to Shiva, worshipped by Rajputs of Agra city. For example, Prof. Marvin Miller of New York took a few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan. European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo,who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agrawithin a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest the Taj was a noteworthy building well before Shah Jahan's time. Oak now hopes that the government should open the sealed rooms so that more research can be done under the UN supervision and let international experts investigate the hidden truth which he claims to have discovered and he adds some photographic proofs supporting the same [...] visit stephen knapp's home page for visual proofs n much more