Social Networking

Welcome to the world of social networking, a phenomenon that is increasingly driving creation and deployment of applications oriented around whole new universes of communication. Facebook, MySpace, instant messaging and a new generation of Internet-enabled devices is drawing the younger set to connect in new ways and attracting businesses to a new way of reaching this demographic.

Certain predicted technological revolutions are more myth than reality.

After all, TV phones and laserdiscs were hailed as the wave of the future and yet, despite influencing today's technology, they've gone by the wayside.

Social networking sites might have seemed as if they'd follow the same route, but all signs suggest they're here for the long haul.

Employers are checking job applicants' profiles on sites like Facebook, Brightfuse and LinkedIn, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey.

Twenty-two percent of employers say they use social networking sites when evaluating job candidates, and an additional 9 percent intend to do the same soon. Yet, only 16 percent of workers with social networking profiles have modified their pages with potential employers in mind.

Social networks could complement, and in some cases replace, services provided by government.

That's according to analyst house Gartner that says government organisations could benefit from social networking technology if they approach it in the right way.

Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maio told silicon.com the public sector could exploit social networking communities which improve on services already provided by the government, and could work with online communities to support or even replace certain online services government provides.

The Ministry of Justice wanted to test new ways to engage their staff, covering all departments and regions. It decided to set up an issue based web chat function with VIP guests. This involved two board members, including the permanent secretary of the department, Suma Chakrabarti.

During the web chat employees discussed the issue of learning within the work place. This was broadcast over the Internet rather than the internal network, to appeal to a wider audience.

The Open Net Initiative's Information Warfare Monitor project has published a stunning report by "Hacktivist" Nart Villeneuve titled: "Breaching Trust: An analysis of surveillance and security practices on China's TOM-Skype platform."  It has been covered by both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal

The use of free access to music downloads and social networks, such as Face Book, Skype, You Tube and Edumela via the internet by both students and lecturers, has been blocked within Botswana's top tertiary school premises.

Early last week, students in different colleges started noticing pop up blogs that informed them of their particular institution restricting the use of the sites they were trying to access.
Restrictions of websites in schools have been known to happen mostly in cases of websites containing pornographic materials.

Known cases have been identified at the country's number one institution, the University of Botswana (UB) followed by the Botswana Accountancy College (BAC) and Limkokwing University.

The Media Bloggers Association ("MBA") announced today that it has launched a comprehensive program to provide bloggers access to the same sort of legal and financial resources long available to traditional media organizations including BlogInsure, a first of its kind liability insurance program for bloggers which provides coverage for all forms of defamation, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement or similar allegations arising out of blogging activities.

The cornerstone of the new program is an online course in media law developed by the Media Bloggers Association in partnership with The Poynter Institute's News University. The course, Online Media Law: The Basics for Bloggers and Other Online Publishers, was co-authored by David Ardia of the Citizen Media Law Project, which is jointly affiliated with Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Citizen Media and Geanne Rosenberg of the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism and Baruch College. Scott Swift of Media/Professional Insurance created an assessment to evaluate the student's understanding of the material.

It is indeed a loaded question in a world where technology and easy access to it has transformed the role of journalism and how it is practiced.

Can I be considered a journalist because I do have access to the necessary technology and information to express my ideas and convictions through a medium, the Internet, which has worldwide reach?

If we ask that question to a Chinese blogger raising hell about how the Communist regime represses free press and democracy in that country, the answer would be a resounding yes. But what if the blogger operates in a democratic country with a free press that has historically assumed the role of watchdog of democracy? Can anyone with a computer, a modem and an opinion be considered a journalist?

This is the speech made by Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media about "Social Networking in Europe: success and challenges", at the Safer Internet Forum in Luxembourg, on 26th September 2008.