This article, Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship (Boyd and Ellison), read like a thesis, but I did like the timeline, however.
I checked out the SNS – Bebo - because I had never heard of it. http://www.bebo.com/
Bebo is sort of a SNS clearinghouse. The home page says – Explore – Share – Connect - a ‘one-stop-shop’ for Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, AOL, etc. It is linked to AOL. (click on the About Tab to see more). Here’s their info:
Bebo combines community, self-expression and entertainment, enabling you to consume, create, discover, curate and share digital content in entirely new ways.
Note – I like the new term, ‘curate’ for SNS.
The look of the page and the “What’s Hot” link – bands – celebrities – new videos – appears to be a 20-something site as the target audience (especially the top 10 bands/new songs - I only recognized the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus!). They even have a reality series.
The site was re-launched in 2006 – not sure when it was initially launched – as a part of the AOL network. Evidently, you can organize all of your SNS and mail sites into this one. I’m not sure if it’s popular, but it would seem to put all one’s contacts together in one place with a “Lifestream Platform” – even a link to your cell phone to make sure you don’t miss an update.
They appear to be successful, and have agreements with the major players as links. I guess their nearest competitors would be MySpace or Facebook, both of which appear to be much more popular and used – I compared some music and video responses. MySpace and Facebook were about double in responses; however, Bebo seems to be much more popular in Europe/Ireland and India than any other place. (Success or failure harkens back to the statement in Steve Hargadon's article, "failure is free".)
While I had to create an account in Bebo to search in it, I don’t think I will use it. Users seem much younger than me – which, I admit, is not all bad, but I’m just not into the reality-tv and celebrity part of things. However, I could see me using the Lifestory part of the site - an interactive display of your life events in chronological order with a timeline. Lifestories are made up photos, videos, stories and special events that you want to record or schedule, and is updated automatically each time you add content to your Bebo profile or manually add a new event. This would be great to do with my Dad – but I could use other sites as well; this format was nice.
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Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteThank you for you concise completion of Week #4's assignment...I am using it as a model.
I was interested in the Bebo Lifestory feature. As a Teacher Consultant for the Writing Project, I work with teachers and students to improve writing in the classroom.I usually begin my workshops having the participants create a mind maps about their live. This would be a new tool to add to the process as well as a safe activity for the participants. We use the mind map to find sources for working on narrative stories.
Another idea would be to have students use this as a way to introduce themselves to an online class...it might be too complicated to view. What do you think?
Your point about risk as teachers is well taken. I also think we must model the behaviors be want to see. That is one of the reasons I am taking this class. It is a good to become a student and experience what life from that prepective. students