Ramon Thomas

Social network interview about Facebook

by Ramon Thomas in Social Networking on 2424/111111/2011201120112011 • No Comments • facebook, Stellenbosch University

Every now and then students contact me while doing research on articles I’ve written on this blog or interviews published on my work. So this one started out very interesting although the eventual questions were not asking the right questions I believe.

Student Request

I’m studying journalism at Stellenbosch University, and have to write an in-depth article about something, and I chose Facebook . So it’s not for any publication and the deadline is Wednesday. Since it’s about facebook do u mind if we do it via facebook? and the other reason would be that im currently busy with exams so i cannot really go anywhere.

I would like to know your opinion about social networks in general? what u think…do they actually provide a service or is it just to make money? facebook has a shaky history with both good and bad comments…do u think it will die down after the rush is over or will it actually become a real option for building networks…or do u think it is finally reaching it’s peak?

here goes…

your opinion about social networks, especially facebook?
has it brought change into your life / business? how
does facebook have a future in this competitive market or not?
why is facebook so popular?
your opinion about social networks, especially facebook?

Social networks are the unification of the Web in the post Search Engine era. What I mean by this is that since the rise of Google in 2000/2001. Social networks connect people more directly than email, websites or search ever could do. And it plays on the social nature of human beings to connect, flirt, chat, watch, observe, challenge each other. It essentially maps the psychological and emotional nature of the human being onto the Web.

Facebook is a special case because it has integrated every other concept that has gone before and amplified the interconnectedness between “friends” or between groups. It also allows other websites from blogs to major news websites to connect into Facebook. Starting out among students in 2004 it now dominates as the leader of ALL other social networks.

- has it brought change into your life / business? how

Yes, it has allowed me to connect with old friends and new friends easily and quickly. More and more people recognise me in the real world from my Facebook exploits. Imagine Liezel vd Westhuizen or Lee-Ann Liebenberg actually recognising me from Facebook/Twitter and being happy about it. That’s what’s happening to me.

It has also led to very intense business relationships because my life is now an open book. And my clients can see what I get up to in the evenings or on the weekends. I have to strike a delicate balance between what is privately private or publicly public.

- does facebook have a future in this competitive market or not?

Yes, Facebook will remain the leader for a very long time to come. There are many new social networks trying to compete with Facebook. So they have nothing to worry about because simply in pure size they are the King Kong on the block. Since they surpassed MySpace in 2008, there is almost no other competition in this market for them. The only way to compete is to focus on niche social networks in the way that www.NING.com allows users to do so.

- why is facebook so popular?

For all the above reasons and more. Facebook has managed to innovate on a regular basis the functionality and freedom people have to update their friends and play online. It’s the dominant social network on mobile phone now. And with more than 800 million users worldwide, it’s of the total o

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Short History of Social Media

by Ramon Thomas in News on 0707/090909/2011201120112011 • No Comments • blogger, facebook, Friendster, Geocities, Kerry-McCain privacy bill, linkedin, Morrison & Foerster, myspace, SixDegrees.com, social media, twitter, yahoo

Amidst the sudden ascent of LinkedIn, Twitter, Groupon, and of course, Facebook, it’s easy to forget that social media actually has a bit of a history going back more than 30 years. Really?

Law firm Morrison & Foerster has put together just such a timeline graphic of online communities in its latest issue of Socially Aware, the only newsletter focusing on legal and business issues surrounding social media. (see page 4).

“A Short History of Social Media” goes back to February 1978 – date of the first dial-up CBBS, as in computerized bulletin board service. Other SM milestones you may have forgotten or slept through:

1995: launch of personal home-page server Geocities, later purchased by Yahoo! for whopping $3.6 billion. Geocities was ultimately shut down in 2009.
1997: launch of Kevin Bacon-inspired SixDegrees.com, which soon claims a breakthrough one MILLION users.
August 1999: introduction of first web plain vanilla blog service, Blogger, which went on to be acquired by Google.
March 2002: debut of warm-and-fuzzy Friendster, which peaks a few years later before fading out like the Winkelvoss twins at the end of a regatta.
July 2003: birth of MySpace, which sets new standard for personalized networking and branding; company acquired by News Corp. in 2005 for euphoric $580 million, only to be unloaded this past June to a digital media buyer (one of whose investors is Justin Timberlake) for $35 million.
December 2006: Facebook rejects bid to be acquired by Yahoo! for measly price of….$1 billion.

Now, of course, the mileposts are coming in nanoseconds – from LinkedIn’s rocket-launch IPO this past May to Twitter’s jaw-dropping marker of delivering 350 BILLION Tweets per day upon reaching just its fifth anniversary in July.

Socially Aware is to social media legal/business news what TMZ is to gossip: breezy, short bites and all over the map. A tight-knit group of nearly two dozen Morrison & Foerster tech, IP, privacy, litigation, venture capital and other lawyers closely monitors social media news sites, blogs, online publications and Twitter feeds to grab the freshest industry topics and provide a knowing spin. Socially Aware was good enough to earn a coveted Burton Award for excellence in legal writing and analysis in just its first year of publication.

“We’re reaching well beyond other lawyers – including marketing professionals, business development specialists, digital strategists, brand managers, investors, start-up owners and others” said Morrison & Foerster technology transactions partner John Delaney, one of several top editors of Socially Aware who also created the social media timeline. The newsletter has more than 15,000 regular subscribers and is drawing more than 100 new readers a month – hot numbers for a law firm bulletin without a single footnote or case citation.

More importantly, Socially Aware is generating billable work. Delaney notes that the newsletter has helped bring in new client matters on behalf of a large bank, a global manufacturer and multinational insurer, a leading media company and an international technology company, among other businesses grappling with a wide range of social media agendas. Example: the firm is advising one financial services firm in structuring an innovative contest on Facebook.

Socially Aware is in keeping with Morrison & Foerster’s high technology IQ — the firm was the first major law firm to develop an iPhone App. Morrison Foerster also publishes MoFo Tech, a quarterly magazine featuring longer news features on all aspects of tech business – from patent valuations to IPOs, venture capital and data privacy.

Other news notes from the new Socially Aware:

• An organization called Medical Justice joins the growing online reputation-management industry by recommending that doctors – precluded by patient confidentiality from responding to negative online reviews – require patients to sign away their rights to complain, but also assign doctors copyrights to any such reviews. The issue makes DMCA experts squirm, while medical ethicists say it might violate doctors’ oaths to place patients’ medical interests before their own financial needs.

• What’s the problem with using social media to raise money? If the amount is, say, $300 million to buy a beer company, with a promise of part ownership, the SEC just might respond with a cease and desist order. “Crowdfunding” – fundraising through social media sites – is currently subject to state and federal securities laws, though crowdfunding advocates are pushing for an exemption. Socially Aware addresses the potential for fraud and other abuse that might come with an SEC exemption.

Additional topics include a concise overview of the Kerry-McCain privacy bill now before Congress; limitations to safe harbor rules protecting web-site operators from liability for user-generated content; reaction to the latest revisions to Facebook’s user guidelines; and the decision by Twitter’s co-founders to step away and create a new venture that will be a global force for good.

Socially Aware will shortly become an actively updated blog. Until then, here’s the link again to a PDF of the current issue.

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Operation Facebook, Hacktivists Rise Up!

by Ramon Thomas in Social Networking on 1010/080808/2011201120112011 • 1 Comment • Anonymous, facebook, hackers, privacy

Over the years I’ve noticed a love-hate relationship with Facebook developing. On the one hand, it seems like a marketing dream. On the other hand it’s a parent’s worst nightmare. When you consider the amount of information Facebook can now access via a user’s cellphone it indeed becomes scary. Smartphones with their tight integration into social networking sites allow for much more access to be shared than most users imagine. Every application you install on your phone has your implicit permission to access your data.

Anyway, a hackers group, Anonymous, is promising to take down Facebook on Guy Fawkes Day, 5 November. And the story has picked up attention from Gizodo, Business Insider & Village Voice. As a long time Internet users, and privacy advocate, I see their intention as good. However, as a former IT Security professional, I seriously doubt their ability to bring down Facebook. If anything they may cause a denial of service for an extended period. However, the next day, all the server should be back up and running. With the kind of investment Facebook has received, there is no doubt they won’t protect their assest, the user data with numerous backup strategies. So time will tell whether the prolific hacking group, Anonymous will succeed in their attempt to kill Facebook.

All this reminds me of the scene at the end of The Truman Show. As he accepts his freedom, the two security guards who’ve been avid fans, just look puzzled, and say to each other, “I wonder what else is on tv….” Whether Facebook lives or dies, this is the likely response to by the masses, “What else is out there?”

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Imagine a world without Social Networking

by Ramon Thomas in Humour on 1515/070707/2011201120112011 • 1 Comment • facebook, imagine, john lennon, Sherry Bastion

Imagine there’s no Facebook
It’s easy if you try
No “Friends” or “Status”
No pages you can “Like”
Imagine all the people
Living yesterday…

Imagine there’s no Linkedin
It isn’t hard to do
No “Add connections”
No “People you may know”
Imagine all the people
Living in the past…

You may say, I’m a luddite
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be unplugged

Imagine there’s no Twitter
I wonder if you can
No tweets or “fail whale”
A social media ban
Imagine all the people
Sharing only words…

You may say, I’m a luddite,
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be unplugged

author: Sherry Bastion

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15 Minutes with Ramon Thomas

by Ramon Thomas in Interviews on 2323/020202/2011201120112011 • 2 Comments • 15 Minutes, Daily Dispatch, facebook, Malcolm Gladwell, mxit, online behaviour, technology

This interview was compiled for a weekly feature in the Daily Dispatch newspaper in East London:

Online behaviour expert Ramon Thomas talks to the Dispatch about technology and how it affects you. Profiles will appear at www.dispatch.co.za

Q: YOU describe yourself as being an online behaviour expert. What does that entail?
A: My field of research is the overlap between psychology, human behaviour and technology, especially the Internet.
It includes how we use the technology and how it changes our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual states.
New research from a book, iBrain, shows greater use of different parts of the brain, improved multi-tasking and the ability to process more information, faster, in the new generation called digital natives – basically people born post 1990.

Q: You’ve done a lot of research into online dating. Can you share some of your findings with us?
A: Recent reports claim online dating is growing by more than 300 percent in South Africa. Female users are growing at twice the rate of male users from what I’ve seen since 2005. The demographics have also changed to be more representative of the South Africa population as more black users turn to the Internet to find love.

(more…)

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Worm attacks Facebook, MySpace users running Microsoft Windows

by Ramon Thomas in Social Networking on 0808/080808/2008200820082008 • No Comments • facebook, ISP, microsoft windows, myspace, spam, worm

Gareth Roberts, a new member of the team here at NETucation, alerted me to a new computer worm that attacks Facebook and MySpace users. One very important piece of information left out of most of the news reports on News24 or MyADSL is that ONLY on users running Microsoft Windows are prone to this attract. Facebook users receives links to download the worm via Inbox messages from infected users while links are posted in MySpace commentaries when infected MySpace users log into their account. Current variant of the worm is faked as a codec installer named as codecsetup.exe. When the worm is ran, a dialog box will pop up with the message “Error installing Codec. Please contact support“.

These days I use an Apple Macbook Pro (thanks Google.org!) running the Mac OS X operating system that is substantially more secure than MS Windows. The most important thing to remember with your computer security is to avoid clicking on anything unfamiliar or that you do not understand. Delete suspicious emails on sight and ask your ISP to enable spam filtering before those emails even get to your computer or laptop. In 99% of the cases you won’t miss a thing…

Yes, this may sound like a paranoid approach to conducting your on. However, all computer viruses or worms have spread exactly because Internet users have been gullible. The explosion in use of social networking websites was always going to create new outlets for th creators of computer viruses or worms. Facebook has over 90 million active users and MySpace has over 240 million profiles and most of these people are brand new to the Internet. When something is a novelty you are bound to click on almost anything. What has impressed me the most about the social networking phenomenon is how quickly users are adapting and learning from group behaviour.

According to McAfee this is a low risk virus so you should not panic. However, its important to look at this screenshot and this other one, so you know what to avoid. If you are sick and tired of the vicious upgrade and update cycle on Microsoft Windows why not try Ubuntu Linux.

When Mom or Dad Asks To Be a Facebook 'Friend'

by Ramon Thomas in News on 1919/030303/2008200820082008 • 1 Comment • dad, facebook, mom, parents

Matt, 17, and Bob Florian both use Facebook, and Bob Florian knew that his son might have doubts about becoming his Facebook friend. (By Susan Biddle — The Washington Post)

Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain “signatures” by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

When Matt Florian signed onto his Facebook account recently to check the status of his 400-plus friends, he had a friend request.

It was from his dad.

The junior at Sherwood High School in Montgomery County didn’t panic. No. He simply took a deep breath and pondered his options.

He could accept it. He could ignore it. He could accept it, but limit the parts of his Facebook profile his dad could see. He pondered more. What were the social implications of “friending” your folks?

Across the country, Facebook users are contemplating similar questions when they log onto their accounts. More and more moms and dads are signing onto Facebook to keep up with their offspring. Not only are they friending (or attempting to friend) their sons and daughters, they’re friending their sons’ and daughters’ friends.

Some, like Matt, take the requests in stride. He ultimately friended his dad. Others are less sanguine, voicing their dismay via online groups that decry parental intrusion and offer tips on how to screen out mom and dad. (“Just go onto their computers and delete their accounts.” “Just don’t add them as a friend or any1 that is a co-worker with ur parents duh.”) Even parenting experts are getting involved, offering their own tips on proper Facebook etiquette.

“I do not know if this has happened to anybody, but this morning I log on to Facebook and I have a new friend request!” wrote 19-year-old Mike Yeamans, a sophomore at James Madison University, on one of several “No Parents on Facebook” groups that have popped up on the site. “I am excited to make a new friend so I click on the link. I could not believe what I saw. My father! This is an outrage!”

When Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, it was designed as a way for college students to connect with each other. Users created a personal page and were able to accept or send out electronic “friend” requests for people to be included in their networks. People who were “friends” were able to keep tabs on people in their network, send messages and even connect with friends of friends. It was like an exclusive private club, since it was open only to those with certain e-mail addresses.

But as Facebook’s popularity soared, its founders sought to expand its audience. In 2005, it allowed high school students to sign on. But it was the 2006 decision to open it up to the general public that drew howls from its original audience — and opened the door for the parental invasion.

In protest, several “abolish parent” groups have sprung up on the site.

Yeamans and a few of his friends started “What Happens in College Stays in College: Keep Parents Off Facebook!” in 2007. They meant it partly as a joke but were stunned when more than 500 people signed on, each with a tale of parental intrusion.

“My mom joined facebook when they first made it public and is mad i won’t approve her friend request!” wrote one indignant student.

read the full story on Washington Post website.

Bill Gates asks a question on LinkedIn Answers

by Ramon Thomas in Social Networking on 1818/030303/2008200820082008 • No Comments • bill gates, facebook, linkedin

LinkedIn has recently upgraded it’s home page and functionality to be more inline with the competition like Facebook. However, I’ve never really perceived Facebook as direct competition for LinkedIn because they focus on different markets completely. As you may know Facebook is more of a student hangout and LinkedIn has always been a place for business people.

So recently Bill Gates created a profile on LinkedIn and also posted the following question on the fantastic LinkedIn Answers service: How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?

So far it has attracted over 3,500 answers and it’s still open and you can post your answer to his question directly on LinkedIn. There has since been a lot of debate because he also deleted his Facebook account after being bombarded by friend requests from fans. Whats amusing is how many questions have been posted about his question. A favourite of mine is: what is the best strategy to get invited to join Bill Gates’ network on Linkedin.

Anyway what does it means when one of the most powerful men in the business world makes such a public move. Think of chess where every move counts because Microsoft recently bought 1.6% of Facebook for US$240 million. LinkedIn is privately owned and there is speculation about Microsoft buying into LinkedIn. LinkedIn would be a much cheaper purchase and in my opinion a better one because of it’s business focus. Bill Gates has always been Microsoft’s best salesman and and his personal moves will always be associated with the their corporate strategy.

There’s so much more to say about this but for me the key here this move by Bill Gates confirms that LinkedIn is the best social networking website for business people.

Cellphones, Cheating and Couples

by Ramon Thomas in Relationships on 1010/030303/2008200820082008 • 1 Comment • cellphones, cheating, couples, facebook, myspace, Relationships

Recently a question the following question was posted on the Bruin-ou.com forum: Should we as individuals be concerned about those ringing and in many cases “vibrating” cellphones of our girlfriends/boyfriends which we never get to see?

Here’s my response…Besides being a part-time dating coach I speak across South Africa to parents, teachers and teenagers about the pro’s and con’s of MXit/Cellphones and Facebook/Social Networking websites.

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