Technology

New Media and You

^{Peter Wynne | AUGUST 2009}

The internet offers an enormous number of opportunities to communicate. There are different places to discuss different topics - from the minutiae of daily life, to your thoughts on the meaning of life. IT specialist Peter Wynne has the where and how of communicating online.

The internet is now a means by which the everyday person can let the whole world know about them. I’m talking about technologies websites like blogs, Twitter and Facebook. These social networking sites have a huge following; Facebook has more than 200 million members with a large percentage of them being over 45. These sites allow you to own your own slice of the internet, where you can be you and promote yourself to your friends, family and people all over the world with similar interests. They let you find people who you haven't seen or heard from for a lifetime, and meet new people, as well as expressing your point of view on a range of topics. Like anything on the internet, there are some dangers involved with this, but with the right care, these can be avoided.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular sites; ranking in the top five most visited websites. It is famed for being a site many people could spend an entire day using. It gives members their own piece of the internet pie by letting them set up a profile page where they can upload photos and write stories about themself. Users can post links to their favourite blogs, videos and other online content and it all appears in simple straightforward page. It provides a great way to show your friends what you’re doing and with over 200 million members, you’re bound to have a few friends already using Facebook. The site provides an easy search function to help you find your friends in its directory either by name or email address. You can even import your email address books from Hotmail.

Friends on Facebook aren’t like friends in the real world sense. Facebook is even introducing new words into our vocabulary. If someone requests you to be their friend, you ‘friend’ them (yes, friend can now be used as a verb). Once you’ve got a list of friends, you can see their photo albums, send them virtual gifts and chat using Facebook instant messaging. The site even suggests people you might know (based on your network of friends) to help you catch up with others you know. The site has different levels of security, where you decide how much information you wish to share with what types of people. This is all determined through the settings part of your profile. You also get to decide who you are friends with before allowing people to view your profile.

Twitter

Twitter is a new internet phenomenon with over 25 million members. It is different from Facebook in that users use it for just one purpose: to let people know what they’re doing right this second. Many people use mobile phones with internet access, meaning they can update this useless yet addictive information every hour. From emerging Aussie musician Tara Simmons comes this gem: “How dare our trumpeter dismantle his face with a surfboard in our hour of need.”

Twitter seems frivolous but it possesses an important role too: that of citizen journalism. In the recent riots in Iran, Twitter provided a vehicle for Iranians to share their experiences with the world, when other websites were blocked by the government.

One study showed that more people over 45 were using Twitter than those under 45. Celebrities, companies and average Joes use the service to tell their friends in a short 140 character message what they are doing now. Barack Obama is a big fan of Twitter, using it to promote his activities during the presidential election, and even now as President. He has over a million followers who get his updates (known as “tweets”). The beauty of Twitter is that it brings acquaintances and friends closer together by letting them know the little things about people that you wouldn’t normally read about in an email or talk about over the phone. Twitter is generally a safer forum than Facebook because it doesn’t collect as much personal information. However there are settings that restrict who can see your tweets in the settings section of your profile.

Blogs

Blogs (a contraction of web-log) are another way you can express yourself online, however it is more anonymous than either Facebook or Twitter. A blog is simply a webpage where a topic is discussed by a blogger, and others comment, with the blogger interacting with followers too. Topics are updated regularly to keep the momentum.

You can start your own blog for free at a site such as www.blogger.com. Following a simple sign up process, you’re ready to create topics and invite your friends to comment. Search engines will find them as well, so when someone searches for a topic, and your blog is covering it, it may come up in the results. This is a great way to start dialogue about topics you’re into and have people from all over the world share their opinion with you.

The other option with blogging is to comment on someone else’s blog. There are millions of bloggers out there writing articles about all sorts of areas of interest – from slow cooker recipes to cycling in Copenhagen to atheism in America. Many newspaper websites carry daily blogs such as www.news.com.au/blogs with authors blogging regularly on budgeting, politics, travel, parenting, relationships and jobs. These blogs invite their readers to respond to ideas and opinions and to stir up discussion. No matter what your point of view, this is a place where you can be heard. Just don’t expect everyone to agree with you!

The tools I’ve discussed are ways that allow average internet users to express themselves and their thoughts. It gives great power to the individual to have their say as well as allowing them to share their experiences with friends and colleagues. The internet is not just a place where you can find information put on there by other people, but is now a place where you can contribute and have your very own slice. Join me and other National Seniors members on the National Seniors Blog to discuss seniors and social networking.