In Online Social Club, Sharing Is the Point Until It Goes Too Far
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Denizens of one of the Web's most popular student hangouts are in an uproar over changes to the site that they say make their online musings much too public, turning their personal lives into a flashing billboard.
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Virtual communities are as important as their real-world counterparts, many members of online communities believe.
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The long-rumored site, dubbed "Mash," lets people create profiles for their friends.
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Surging popularity of MySpace, eBay and LiveJournal fuels the photo-sharing site's success. In Monkey Bites.
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Facebook's advertising system provokes questions about how companies share data.
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By Miguel Helft  Millions of people enjoy free Web-based software programs, but they have a drawback in that they are available to users only when they are online.
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Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have been boons for teenagers looking for new friends and people trying to find dates. Now the technology, which lets liked-minded people find each other online, is trickling into investing.
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I just figured something out, and it's the kind of thing that's best said publicly, even though it's likely to: 1. Be misunderstood and 2. Upset some people. But since it's all about this blog it really is best to air it here. First what triggered the epiphany. I was over at Loic Le Meur's house in San Francisco yesterday having lunch with his family and friends. We were all drinking wine (very good wine of course), enjoying the view, and talking about this and that, when the subject turned to Mike Arrington. Loic said that Mike told him that we used to be best friends. I couldn't figure out what that meant, because our friendship was the business kind of friendship not the personal kind. What does it mean to best friends in that way? And how does that relate to having a blog? It never occurred to me that friendship meant that (here's the epiphany) that I would only say positive things about Mike's business. It didn't occur to me until I heard Loic's side of a blog-fight that I saw happen from a distance, with Sam Sethi, Mike and Loic.  Complicated? You bet. Too complicated. An unspoken deal that I never agreed to. When Mike was starting TechCrunch, I pointed to his blog all the time, with glowing phrases. Because I was truly impressed with what he was doing and because I wanted to encourage other people to do it too. I wanted people to write about technology products based on how they used them, not based on alliances, investment, posturing of execs, the crappy stuff that means almost nothing to users, and imho is just a substitute for actually understanding the technology. Mike was approaching products the way I felt they should be approached. Hence the praise. Fact is, my opinion of Mike, as a person, hasn't changed much in the last couple of years. He has a personal charm and charisma that not everyone finds appealing, but I do. I like hanging out with the guy. However, that doesn't mean that if my opinion of TechCrunch, his business, isn't uniformly positive (and of course these days it is actually fairly negative) that I will withhold it. But it's also part of Mike's way of dealing with people that he sees criticism as betrayal. I just don't see it that way. I've had the shit kicked out of me so many times, and as a programmer I understand that criticism is necessary to perfect a user interface, even to get the damned thing working, that even when it hurts, I have to push the hurt aside and listen to what people are saying, and try to respond to it. Professionalism demands it.  Anyway, one of the reasons I want to write this now is that I've written about Loic's business here a couple of times in very positive terms. I don't want anyone, esp Loic, to assume that this will always be so. If they get in the way of other creative people, or otherwise act as a poor example of entrepreneurship in technology, of course I will write about it, and will say what I think. I would expect Loic and people at his company to take what I write to heart, and consider it. My feelings won't be hurt if they don't do what I say.  Same as when I said Facebook sucks. Or when I criticize Techmeme. This isn't in any way meant to reflect on the quality of the people at Facebook (some of whom I know to be outstanding people of high principle) or Gabe Rivera who I know to be a very smart and competent and honorable person. It's possible to critcize someone's work and still admire the person. My epiphany is that a lot of people who thought were my friends, didn't understand this very basic thing about me.
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Sure, cyberslackers waste time on social network sites, but prohibition may be overreaction.
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Social-networking sites are using up such huge amounts of bandwidth that ISPs, universities, and businesses struggle to keep pace.
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The e-tailer, seeking users' input, invests in online collaboration.
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By Lindenberger, Michael  The popularity of social networking Web sites is shedding light on the increasing complexities of policing student behavior on campus while respecting their rights to privacy and free speech.
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Anybody who thinks innovation in the social networking realm is tapped out should think again. MTV is getting into the game with some big-name backers.
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A social networking site is fertile ground for teenagers to slag each other. Violence can ensue and now some legislators want a law making online bullying illegal. By the Associated Press.
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Social network sites are being urged to do more to help young users report online abuse.
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Many people now find sense of community more important than privacy.
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Researchers learn that social network users are willing to sell their personal data for site features.