Winding down…

Earlier today I discovered that my niece is very excited that she fits into a sweater that was too tight last month, my daughter-in-law is happy that yesterday was a good day with our two granddaughters, and another young mother I know was happy this morning to have some free time to relax. How do I know all this? They posted on their Facebook pages, and since they are my Facebook friends, the comments appeared on my Facebook Wall. 

Last week I wrote about Social media in general, and Facebook in particular. Because of social media like Facebook, the process of social interaction and communication is changing. It is becoming accepted practice, especially for the younger generation (the ages of the women mentioned above range from 27 to 32), to share minute details of their lives on Facebook. I, on the other hand, cannot imagine why anyone, other than close friends or family, would really care if I am taking time to relax or how my clothes are fitting.

Other types of social media that were briefly mentioned in last week’s column include blogs, podcasts, online videos, and wikis. The simplest definition of a blog is an online journal, written by one person, or a group of people, about a specific topic. Blogs are written by laypeople who want to share information on a topic that interests them, by professional journalist as an alternative to traditional print media, and by people who fancy themselves as journalists, but are not part of the established media. What makes a blog different than print media, such as magazines and newspapers, is that the readers of a blog are invited to comment back, making them very interactive. 

OnMouseClick appears weekly in the TR Times, and it is also posted online in a blog at onmouseclick.blogspot.com. If you read the online version and you would like to ask a question or make a comment, you can click on COMMENTS at the bottom of the post and start a dialog. 

The same is true for podcasts. Podcasts are basically radio style broadcasts over the internet, and as with blogs, podcasters are both laypeople and professionals. Most people download podcast to mobile devices, such as iPods and MP3 players, and listen while exercising or commuting, but podcasts also invite listener participation through the internet. Some excellent free podcast are made by Bloomberg Radio, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and ESPN. If you have an interest or hobby, there is a good possibility that somebody podcast on that subject.

The most popular platform for posting online videos is YouTube, where anyone can create a YouTube (www.youtube.com) account and upload videos to share and interact with the online community. With YouTube anyone can become an actor, director, and producer. There are many fledgling musical groups and film makers who post their work on YouTube in the hopes of attracting an audience.

Wikis are a different type of social media — collaborative websites which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. The most notable wiki website is Wikipedia, a free, online encyclopedia maintained by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. While much of the information found on Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) is initially written by professionals, anyone can make additions and corrections to entries, although the foundation does exercise editorial control. Other notable wikis are Wikitravel, a project to create an up-to-date and reliable world-wide travel guide (wikitravel.org); Wikihow, a collaborative writing project designed to created the world’s largest how-to manual (www.wikihow.com); Wikinews, a website designed to present up-to-date and unbiased news coverage ( en.wikinews.org), and of course WikiLeaks (http://213.251.145.96). WikiLeaks defines itself as “a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public.” It is better known as the organization, founded by Julian Assange, that recently leaked classified documents to several mainstream news organizations.

And that is my last informational OnMouseClick paragraph for the 2011 season. By the time you read this I hope that Eddie and I will have arrived in Arizona for a month-long stay near our son and his family. I hope that you all enjoy the remainder of the season at TR and have a safe and healthy summer. See you next fall!

Social Media, Social Networks…

Today’s column is about the phenomenon of social media, and more specifically, Facebook. But first, I want to introduce you to a new Google website that recently came online. The website is Art Project, powered by Google and its stated goal is to bring works of art, housed in museums around the world, to everyone’s computer screen. The project is in its infancy, and initially there are only seventeen museums participating, but the project shows great promise for the future. Each museum offers a few works of art to view, both paintings and sculptures. The art work is viewed in high resolution, and can be magnified for close-up viewing. In addition, there are virtual tours of the museums — you can move from gallery to gallery, and even see the view from the outside the museums. One of the seventeen museums is The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, a favorite of mine. I took the virtual tour and enjoyed it immensely. When I got outside the museum, I found that I was also able to explore the streets of New York as well. The website can be found at www.googleartproject.com.

If you have been following the news in the past few weeks, you will have heard that young Egyptian dissidents used Facebook as a way of organizing protests, and “The Social Network”, one of the top grossing films of 2010, was based on the founding of Facebook. But what exactly is Facebook? It is considered part of a wide array of Social Media that is available on the internet. And what is social media? In simple words, it is a way of sharing information with other people over the internet, using both computers and smart phones. The content of social media is designated by the users, and is dependent on user interaction. Types of social media include blogs, wikis, online videos, podcasts, and social networks. 

Facebook falls into the category of social networks. People set up a free account with Facebook, and then proceed to “friend” other Facebook users. You can invite people you know to be your “friends”, people you know can ask to “friend” you, and you can connect with, and “friend,” people who have similar interests. Every Facebook user has their own set of web pages; the main page is called the wall, and all of your friends can post messages on your wall. Users can also post photos and videos to share with their friends.

Some Facebook users have hundreds and even thousands of friends. Others, like me, limit their Facebook friends to friends and family from the real world. Our son was living in Japan when our first granddaughter Brianna was born, and photos and videos posted on Facebook kept us connected  during her first year. When Brianna took her first steps, our son and his wife captured it on video, and it was so exciting to share that special moment with them. In November they moved to Arizona and their second baby,,Julianna, was born in January. Julianna is now a month old, and we have followed her development through the photos posted on Facebook.

The more you use and interact with Facebook, the more you will discover. Many businesses, television and radio shows, artists, politicians, and celebrities maintain a presence on Facebook and urge customers, clients and audiences to follow them. There are games you can play (have you heard of Farmville?), and interest groups you can join. To sign up for a Facebook account, or just to see what it is all about, visit www.facebook.com, and, of course, there is also a Facebook app that lets you check your Facebook message on your smartphone.

Next week will be my last column for the 2011 season. We are heading west to see our beautiful granddaughters (and our son and his wife as well!). Facebook is nice, but there is nothing like being with our family in real life, and we cannot wait! 

This week — Twitter…

Shortly after submitting last week’s column I read a “Blondie” comic strip that was very timely. Dagwood asks his son how things are going with his girlfriend. The son replies, “We’re having communications difficulties! She keep telling me to call her or post something sweet on Twitter or Facebook! But I’s much rather just text her...” If you read last week’s column you know what texting is, but do you know about Twitter and Facebook? 

The word twitter was originally a verb used in conjunction with bird chirping sounds. The modern use of Twitter, however, is a noun that refers to  a “real-time information network” that allows anyone to send and receive short (140 characters maximum), bite-sized bits of information, called tweets.  It is a way to quickly discover news about subjects and people of interest, and to share your ideas, comments and thoughts with others. 

Before you can use Twitter, you need to create a free Twitter account by visiting the Twitter website (www.twitter.com), or by using the Twitter app on your smartphone. Once you have an account, you can sign up to follow the tweets sent by people or organizations that interest you. Messages from the accounts you are following will appear in a readable list on the Twitter homepage on your computer, or on the Twitter app on your smartphone. Instead of sending emails or text messages to a long list of people, you can send one message to your Twitter account, and the service distributes it to all your followers. Twitter users can organize impromptu gatherings, conduct group conversations, or just send up a quick update to let people know the latest updates or activities.

What are some real world examples of Twitter use? First, imagine that you are listening to a news show on the radio, such as the Diane Rhem show on NPR. Every morning the host, Diane Rhem, covers one current, newsworthy topic. During the show Diane Rehm invites listener questions and comments by telephone, Facebook and Twitter. If you find yourself talking to the radio in response to something you hear, now you can send a tweet instead.

Second, image that you belong to a the TR Bicycle Club and you find a route that you think would make a good ride for the club. Send out a tweet to the club members, who have registered with Twitter, and find out what they think before actually planning the ride. In another example, you have a close group of friends who follow each others’ tweets. You are taking a walk at TR and decide to head over to the Snack Shack for lunch. Send out a tweet on your mobile phone, and see if any of your friends want to join you. Finally, there is a celebrity or public figure who you really like. Sign up to follow them on Twitter and you will be privy to their constant tweets — or at least the Tweets posted by their publicist or press secretary.

Using Twitter isn’t for everyone, but it does have some real-world applications that are worthwhile. A recent article in the New York Times highlighted methods of dealing with flight cancellations after the December blizzard in the Northeast. People who followed their airline’s tweets had a much better chance of being rebooked then those who relied on the telephone and airline personnel. Following airline tweets was not something I have done in the past, but next time we fly, I am going to sign up and follow the airline on Twitter! 

Remember that tweets can also be immediate responses to events or thoughts. There have been recent reports of individuals in both politics and sports (as well as elsewhere), that have gotten themselves in “hot water” because of instant comments posted via twitter. Sometimes a little reflection, aka time, is a required filter than an immediate response.

If you want find out more about Twitter and how to use it, check out the Twitter Help Center at http://support.twitter.com/entries/13920-frequently-asked-questions. And if you are not interested in using Twitter, at least you have a frame of reference the next time you hear someone mention it on television — or when you are talking to your grandkids! 

Understanding Communications in 2011. And by the way, HRU…

Do you send text messages on your cell phone? If not, you probably don’t know what HRU means. It is a shorthand way of saying “How are you?”, and is one of the hundreds of abbreviations for words and phases used by people who send text messages, or “texts,” on their cell phones. 

In the last decade, the art of communication has changed drastically, mostly among the younger generations, and it is sometimes difficult for us "old-timers" to comprehend what is going on. Today’s teenager cannot imagine life without a cell phone, nor what it was like not be connected all the time, 24/7. With a cell phone you can make and receive phone calls anytime, anywhere, but in this era of fast paced communications, some people feel making phone calls is too slow . The youth of today want instant access to everyone, but without having to stop what they are doing. This is the age of multi-tasking, and “texting” plays a big part.

With “texting” anyone with a cell phone can type out a short message (text messages are limited to 160 characters), enter the phone number of another cell phone, and click send. The message is instantly relayed to the chosen recipient, who is alerted to the arrival of a text by a tone that sounds on their cell phone. Text messages can be sent back and forth while the participants are involved in other activities. (Unfortunately, one of the other activities is often driving, but more about that later). Because of the brevity of text messages, an entire vocabulary of abbreviations and acronyms has been created to make texting easier. Visit the website NetLingo to see page after page of popular shorthand for texting.

Those of us in our generation might think that it is actually easier to pick up the telephone and talk to someone. However, for reasons I am not able to completely understand, many younger people actually prefer texting to talking. My husband has resigned to texting in lieu of talking to our sons on a regular basis. With our younger son, who is in his late twenties, it is often the only way he communicates. If you can get him on the phone, he invariably says he doesn’t have time to talk, but he will send endless text messages on a variety of subjects. 

All of today’s cell phone have texting capabilities, although it is easier to text on a smart phone with a alphanumeric keypad than on a phone with a standard telephone keypad. On a standard keypad phone, each number key is also used to enter several letters, and you often need to press a key numerous times to get the letter you want. Of course, if you watch a young person texting, you will see both thumbs flying across the tiny cell phone keys without any hesitation. Texting is an "dish best served young".

Sending text messages does cost money. If your cell phone plan does not specifically includes text messages, you will be charged on a per-message fee, both for incoming and outgoing messages. However, if you do a lot of texting, most mobile phone carriers offer plans that include text messaging for a set fee. For example, AT&T has four choices for text messaging — 10 cents for each text message without a plan; $5 a month for 200 messages; $10 a month for 1,000 messages; $20 a month for unlimited text messages.

Which brings us to the concept of safe texting. Most authorities agree that it is not a good idea to talk on the phone while driving — but if you do use the phone, it is somewhat safer to use a hands-free device. In many states, it is against the law to use a cell phone while driving unless you are using a hands-free device. With that in mind, texting while driving is the even more dangerous than talking on the phone. I am sure you have probably passed a driver on the highway who appears distracted, maybe looking down at his lap with only one hand on the steering wheel. It is a strong possibility that the driver in question is texting and not paying full attention to the road. There isn’t very much we can do about this problem, except be aware that it is a problem, and to be constantly on the lookout for erratic drivers. 

 Until next week, when I will write about Tweeting and Social Media, GTGB.*

*Got to Go, Bye.