Social media killing online porn…NOT!!
25 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: boobs, facebook, flirt, Hi5, internet pornography, MoSexIndex, online sex, Pligg, porn, porn alive, porn industry, porn not dead, pornography, PornoTube, sex is a virus, sex talk, sex via social networking, socialporn, StumblePorn, tits, YouPorn
Since the rise of the internet in the 1990s, pornography has managed to rule the internet in terms of providing users with constant flow of content. While there has always been difficulty in accurately measuring how big internet pornography is , the online pornography industry is estimated to be worth about $97 billion, and counts for about 13% of website visits in America. According to Top ten reviews, an internet site monitor, a new pornographic video is being created in the United States every 35 minutes. But with the rise of social networks and social media it appears that new internet platforms are overtaking pornography in terms of online popularity.
According to The Economist, an online newspaper, pornography-related web activity is decreasing in America. This has been attributed to more and more people opting to participate in social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook.
These advancements then lead to one asking if the rise of social media over internet pornography means that the internet has matured as a medium. After all, pornographic content is often the first to take advantage of new media, from photography to videocassettes to satellite television. “Sex is a virus that infects new technology first,” as Wired put it back in 1993. Once a new medium becomes popular, its usage is usually dominated by porn.”
But one should not make the mistake of ruling out porn because porn will always be popular on the internet. Just because people do not go to porn sites to see or download porn it does not mean that they are not engaging in pornographic material over the social networks. Internet users are realizing that one can get actual sex via social networking instead of settling for porn.
Most discussions on the social networks are based on sex talk and flirting and according to a study on teens that use social networks 54% of the users spoke about sex related issues online. It’s a fact that social media does not guarantee sex any more than porn does. But it provides the anticipation of sex, the possibility of sex, the idea that you just might get lucky. It’s the premise of porn, manifested in reality.
Social networks also facilitate the sending of users own naked pictures and videos which can still constitute as pornographic material. Social networking sites such as Hi5 which have social groups which allow members of that group to post pictures of themselves naked or interesting so called sexy positions. These groups are however classified and one can only enter through an invite.
The fact that the user is in direct communication with the producer or actor of the pornographic material adds more interest to the experience. So a decrease in the number of visits to internet pornography sites can be witnessed, but this decrease is not necessarily due to a lack of interest but because of the thrill presented by the other platforms in obtaining porn material.
Porn is staying alive
But one should not rule out the efforts being made to keep porn alive by the major players in the internet porn industry. Seeing that social media and networks have the ability of turning consumers into producers of porn material, the porn makers have acknowledged the abundance of free porn on the internet and have began to make moves towards trying to make a profit from it. One good initiative is StumblePorn, which is a free porn browser which allows the users to customise their porn content. This effort tries to make it easier to search for porn on the internet and hence aims to attract people to download porn because it has been made easier.
Pligg’s content management system has made it easy to establish socially driven sites that essentially replicate all the functionality of Digg. These content management systems have facilitated aggregator sites such as MoSexIndex and socialporn which enable users to get to porn sites easily.
Since one of the major highlight of the social media and networks is the ability for consumers to produce content, the porn industry has also facilitated for online porn users to produce and share their pornographic material. Following in the footsteps of YouTube and how it popularized the online video sharing phenomenon, porn producers have created several sites that let you upload, watch, and share pornography videos. Most prominent of these are YouPorn and PornoTube.
Ultimately the point of this post is not to simply direct you towards tools that let you access free pornography, but is to document how the social media space is maturing. The porn industry is just another example of one more industry acknowledging the potential of social media as a medium for disseminating content and utilizing these various models.
Online friends outshine real life friends
14 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: facebook, friendship, hidden identity, interpersonal relationships, online friends
So you decide that you are lonely and bored and have nothing better to do with your bandwidth. Nothing interesting is happening on the news or on your Facebook or Myspace profile pages so you decide to go hunt for new friends online. You discover that an old schoolmate of yours who you never spoke to much at school is on Facebook.
Although you do not share anything in common you decide to invite her as a friend. She accepts and you enjoy the pleasure of chatting to someone new and your boredom quickly disappears. This suddenly becomes a trend and before you know it you have increased your friend list by 20 people within a space of a month.
There is nothing wrong with having many friends on social networks, after all that’s their purpose; to keep people connected. The question however lies with the moral aspect of having so many people who can be accredited as your friends without you ever sharing a physical bond. Friendship can be defined as an interpersonal relation which can be a relatively long-term association between two or more people. This association may be based on emotions like love and liking, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment.
Online friends have more in common
According to a recent UK MySpace study of over 16,000 social network users, the majority of people interviewed revealed that they had more in common with their online friends than real day to day friends. The study revealed that a good portion of this group admits to feeling more comfortable sharing and communicating with friends online than they do when logged out of cyberspace. 36% of the respondents said they found it easier to talk about themselves online than in the real world, leading them to share more about themselves using technology.
The question as to whether this sort of behaviour is healthy can be placed for public debate. Social networks allow individuals to create their own ideal identities and purposefully leave out any unpleasant aspects of their character. The majority of the people who use social networks hardly reveal any information about themselves which they view might tarnish their image or character perception.
What is wrong with that? One may ask. Well if one is to hide certain aspects of their life, such as friends and family from another person, can the two people be considered to have an interpersonal relationship? In reality a person who you do not know well is considered an accomplice and one hardly spends a lot of time chatting to or socializing with accomplices. However on the internet the interpersonal dynamics change drastically, people spend hours chatting and socialising with people they do not even know that well.
Social networks also have the advantage of allowing people the freedom that the real world does not create room for. Forty-year-old men can become a teenagers again. Wedding bands aren’t at all visible in the on-line world. And everyone’s body tends to become thin and smaller when they log on.
Killing physical relationships
In a recent article by Reuters, The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales raised his concerns about the excessive use of emails and mobile phone text messaging is creating shallow friendships and undermining community life. These sentiments can also be linked to social networks.
“I think there’s a worry that an excessive use, or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we’re losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that’s necessary for living together and building a community,” said the Archbishop.
So the question still stands. Is having a large number of online friends destroying interpersonal skills or helping those people who are naturally shy and prefer communicating under hidden identities a chance of enlarging their social networks?
New Media revolution
27 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: africa, facebook, Ghana, moon walk, new media, Obama, Social media, Twitter
The 20th of April witnessed a worldwide 40th anniversary celebration of what is up to date considered one of mankind’s greatest escapades, the moon walk. This “small step for man, and giant leap for mankind,” has proved to be a great step indeed. 40 years down the line effects of the moon landing and exploration into orbit has begun to elucidate immense results. The establishment of space satellites has greatly boosted and enhanced the communication systems of mankind since the first satellite was launched into space in 1957.
The over 500 satellites in earth’s orbit today have facilitated the establishment of the internet and in turn Twitter and Facebook. Social media sites such as these have taken advantage of the technological advancements in the global communication sector. A move from mere peer to peer communication to one of mass communication has been realised by most of these social networking and media sites.
On the 11th of July US president Barack Obama made use of the social media and networking sites Facebook and Twitter to broadcast his message of good governance and economic progress in Ghana. The speech was streamed live on the Whitehouse website, Facebook and Twitter accounts. South African based mobile social network and instant messenger service Mxit also got into the action as users sent messages and comments to President Obama.
In an effort to better understand the mindset of the African youth, President Obama asked young people across the African continent to engage with him on MXit. Users of the service were asked to send a message to Obama and he would respond to the messages within 24hours.
Growth and Importance of New Media
This endeavour by the US president has illustrated the growth and importance of new media in modern day society. Issues of instant communication between distant parties have become the sort out objective of modern day communication. Although main stream media through television and radio can achieve this form of communication, social media and networking sites go a step further by providing a two way communication platform.
Having received the live Obama stream on Facebook and Twitter, viewers could post comments and engage in debates with other people distant to them. Even if the questions are not personally answered by the president himself direct communication between the president’s office and the ordinary citizen has been achieved, something that was perceived as being near to impossible 10 years ago.
Revolution around the corner
So, as the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of what could have been seen as impossible 100 years ago people should not ignore the communication advancements that are being made in the new media sector. The evolution of social media sites into major mass communication channels can potentially be the doorway to effective communication and information distribution within the next 10 years.
After all, contrary to popular belief, Africa, one of the most under developed continents in the world is not completely absent from the Internet. In fact, the continent at large is undergoing a connectivity revolution. Although many people might not have access to computers, many are accessing the internet via their mobile phones. The average is 30.4% and there are 280 million subscribers in total, making Africa the fastest growing mobile market in the world. So as long as internet accessibility is becoming global, the growth and dominance of new media technologies is inevitable.
Corporations go Social Media route
26 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: advertising, corporations, facebook, investment, marketing, Social media, Vitamin water
Not long ago having a dotcom was the absolute key to building brand awareness. Big corporations aimed to have one and once they got it, it was the URL they pointed everyone to in all of their marketing and brand promotions. But with the evolution of Web 2.0 and the rise of the social web, corporations have realised the numerous advertising and marketing opportunities that are presented by social media platforms. Access to clients and potential customers has been made easier by social media platforms such as Loopd, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. These interactive social media sites enable interaction between the different corporation marketers and potential and existing customers.
Instead of directing traffic to the official company website it has become common for most businesses to promote their social media pages. Business cards containing Twitter usernames as opposed to domain names have become the norm for big companies such as HP and Intel. Because of the great client and customer response presented by the social media, companies are opting to create ad campaigns that actually direct people to interact with their social media accounts rather than visit their branded website. Vitamin Water is one of the big companies which is using this form of product promotion. Vitamin Water is using this advertising mode through a multi-channel campaign featuring NBA superstars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Although the ad campaign is mainly designed for ESPN, a sport channel, the ad requires viewers to visit facebook.com/vitaminwater which is their social media page.
Why the move to social media?
With more than 500 million active members, social media platforms are clearly the biggest platform for companies like Vitamin Water to use for their product outreach. Social media users are becoming marketers as friends make each other aware of certain brands via the networking platforms. The ability to engage in debate with fellow users enables corporations to pinch ideas from their customers on how to make their product better. Wall posts on company’s Facebook profiles enables marketers to know what their customers think about their product without them having to spend a lot of money on the process. Because joining the social media platforms is free, companies are realising the cost benefits of marketing their product for free. Vitamin Water uses different social media to promote their product. They direct people to their Facebook profile and whilst on their profile they also link customers to their YouTube page where they show their video ad campaigns. So instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising on ESPN, the company airs minimal ads on Tv.
Growth of social media
Although the business models for making amicable profit from social media sites is still debatable, some major investors recognise the potential in the growth of these sites in the media and advertising industry. Recently Facebook received a $200 million investment from a Russian Internet investment firm that values the social networking site at $10 billion. The firms also plans to buy at least $100 million of Facebook common stock from existing stockholders to provide liquidity for current and former employees with vested shares of Facebook.
The sudden interest in marketing products on social media sites has been a revelation to marketers who deem the advertising world as saturated. However, not all companies use the social media for advertising; some firms use the sites to create product interest. For example Johnson & Johnson uses a blog to show another side of the company, with frequent video posts and interviews. Nike started a social community on Loopd to connect athletes interested in surfing, BMX bike racing and similar activities with the brand.
What started as a means of communicating and producing armature media has evolved into a platform for exploitation by different corporations and organisations. The concept of social media and networking is slowing changing because of the grave interest in the platform’s ability to communicate to masses faster and to transgress cultural and political boundaries.
Doing business via social media
12 May 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Blu-ray disc, business via social media, facebook, Social media, social media business, social media marketing, social networking, twitter business, Warner Bros, ways to improve business
Imagine phoning Telkom customer service and they put you on hold for 30 minutes, you eventually get impatient and you drop the phone and log onto to Twitter. You send a Twit about how long you have been placed on hold and how inefficient you think Telkom customer service is. Within a space of an hour, over 50 people respond to your Twit and also express the same sentiments about Telkom.
Before the end of the day, the Telkom public relations team meets to discuss their reputation and public perception and decide to give a public apology about their customer service department. This might sound fictional and farfetched but this is not far from reality at all. Social media platforms are both negatively and positively affecting the way companies operate. On the one hand social media is helping companies trace consumer traits and behaviour whilst on the other hand consumers are using the social media platforms to express their dissatisfaction with most company’s service delivery.
Until a handful of years ago, businesses reached customers and the world with advertising, press releases and letters. Consumers, meanwhile, would take their gripes, questions and compliments to the coffee shop or perhaps the customer hotline.
Social media as marketing tools
All this has been changed by the World Wide Web’s ability to enable customers to research products and services, and then through the explosion of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter which can enable them to voice their opinions about products. Most businesses appreciate customer feedback, and social media has proved that it has the potential to transmit information at a fast rate thus making the feedback loop so much efficient because the company will get information in time to react upon it.
Even though this can be seen as a much better two-way communication channel, companies are also taking advantage of the ability to monitor their customer’s social media dialogue. Because of the increased consumer-to-consumer communication going on the social media platforms it is important for brands to be always be at their pick and to know what their customers are thinking about.
Platform convergence
In an industry first Warner Bros Home Video announced a plan to sync up “friend” networks on Facebook with the interactive community-screening features of Warners’ Blu-ray Disc releases, starting with the release of “Watchmen Director’s Cut.” This convergence venture between Facebook and Warner will add to BD-Live’s current community based features that allow users to discuss a movie while viewing it through an online buddy list. This deal however, goes a step further and allows the users to watch a movie in High Definition and in the comfort of their lounges whilst chatting to distant friends.
“We want to do this partnership with Facebook because research has shown that consumers want to have social networking capabilities with BD-Live. Previously, those possibilities had been limited to one’s friends within BD-Live and the general BD-Live community,” said a Warner Bros spokesman.
Such advancements in the corporate world have shown that organisations are taking a keen interest in the behaviour of their customers who are on social networks. If a business can tap into the discussions about their products then they can be at a great advantage because that way they can always meet the ever changing customer needs.
How to use social media to enhance business performance
- Create informational podcasts about a product’s overall space, not just the product.
- Build community platforms around real communities of shared interest.
- Encourage customers to participate in existing social networks, and build relationships on their turf.
- Build sentiment measurements, and listen to the larger web for how people are talking about your customer.
- Build conversation maps for your customers using Technorati.com , Google Blogsearch, Summize, and FriendFeed.
- Experiment with Flickr or YouTube groups to build media for specific events.
- Map out an integrated project that incorporates a blog, use of commercial social networks, and a face-to-face event to build leads and drive awareness of a product.
- Start a community group on Facebook or Ning or MySpace or LinkedIn around the space where your customer does business.
- Help customers and prospects connect with you simply on your various networks. Consider a Lijit Wijit or other aggregator widget.
10. Recommend that your staff start personal blogs on their personal interests, and learn firsthand what it feels like,including managing comments, wanting promotion, etc.
Terms and Conditions apply
27 Apr 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: bebo, deep packet inspection, facebook, facebook terms and conditions, online consumer profiling, online safety, privacy, social networking, terms and conditions, user information
Online social networking is one of the most efficient modes of communicating with distant friends, but this form of communication also comes with its own challenges. One of the biggest challenges that come with online social networking is the introduction of third parties to one’s conversation or exhibitions. Yes, social networking sites provide an opportunity for distant friends to link up and catch up on each other’s lives. But the big question is, who else is listening in on these stories, who else knows what colour you like or what type of car you have just bought.
Globally, a lot of people now rely on social networks as their means of communication, and by thus doing; they give away a lot of personal data to these networking site’s hosts. Most of the time people just want to get onto the site so fast, that they do not have time to check what the terms and conditions are, all they do is just click the accept button and continue with the registration. After all most of the terms and conditions pages on these sites are very long tedious to read.
Okay, now that one has given away their personal information to these networking sites, the question still remains as to where that information goes and who has access to it. Most social networking sites clearly elucidate in their privacy policy’s what exactly the owners of the site can and cannot use when it comes to user information. But the majority of these social networking sites rope in a lot of Application service providers who come on board to make the sites more interesting and appealing. These third party applications providers have their own privacy policies and terms for how they use the information you’ve chosen to share with them. Bebo, a popular networking site in Europe clearly highlights in their privacy policy that they have no jurisdiction over the use of their user’s personal information by third party application providers.
One has to bare in mind that the internet also acts a market place where information is the commodity on demand. Advertisers are the biggest buyers of information on the internet and they are willing to buy any information one can give them about a potential clients or customers. Technologies such a “deep-packet inspection” have raised concerns over issues of privacy and consumer online profiling. Most social networks and websites allow advertisers use these technologies to collect information and monitor browsing patterns and online activities of social network users .
With online consumer profiling being such a profitable venture, Facebook, the biggest social networking site on the web at the moment, faced an uproar from its users over proposed changes in their terms and conditions and privacy policies. Facebook wanted to adopt terms and conditions that could allow the social networking site the ability to use content of users even after the information had been deleted from the users account. The question to ask is why would they be interested in that information and for what purpose do they need the information for.
But not all networking sites are trying to sell their users information, some social networking sites give users the chance to manage and protect their information on the site. But yet again some sites can allow you to protect your on information but they can inturn collect information about you from other users on the same service. Facebook, for instance allows other people to tag photographs of people thus reducing ones autonomy of controlling their personal information.
So where is the catch? Although, most of these social networking sites are free, subscribers are in fact are paying for the services provided by the networks with their personal data. Thus the question still remains who has my information and what are they doing with it.
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