Oh, How I Love Oovoo!!!

    Oovoo is a video chat tool that permits users to communicate through video conferencing.  It was released in between the year 2007 and 2008.  It has become extremely popular over the years with an average of over 14 million users. Oovoo allows users to make video calls, form conferences, and send instant and video messages. My experience with Oovoo has been absolutely amazing. It has made my way of communicating easier and more fun. There are several reasons why I love Oovoo.
 
   Oovoo allows me to physically interact with my family and friends.
        - There are several websites, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Yahoo Messenger, that allows me to communicate only by sending messages back and forth. However, Oovoo is my only way of having the option to actually visually interact with my online friends. This is a great advantage for me to talk to my loved ones who live far away.

   Oovoo enables me to video chat with more than one person at a time.
          - Oovoo allows users to video chat with up to six people. For me, this comes in handy because my friends and I get to converse all at once. Most of my friends live miles away, but Oovoo makes it possible for us to keep in contact on a daily basis. From experience with other video chat tools, such as Skype, I have learned that users can only video chat with one person. This is one of the main reasons why I love Oovoo.

   

Oh, How I Love Oovoo!!!

    Oovoo is a video chat tool that permits users to communicate through video conferencing.  It was released in between the year 2007 and 2008.  It has become extremely popular over the years with an average of over 14 million users. Oovoo allows users to make video calls, form conferences, and send instant and video messages. My experience with Oovoo has been absolutely amazing. It has made my way of communicating easier and more fun. There are several reasons why I love Oovoo.
   
   Oovoo allows me to physically interact with my family and friends.
        - There are several websites, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Yahoo Messenger, that allows me to communicate only by sending messages back and forth. However, Oovoo is my only way of having the option to actually visually interact with my online friends. This is a great advantage for me to talk to my loved ones who live far away.




 

    Oovoo enables me to video chat with more than one person at a time.
          - Oovoo allows users to video chat with up to six people. For me, this comes in handy because my friends and I get to converse all at once. Most of my friends live miles away, but Oovoo makes it possible for us to keep in contact on a daily basis. From experience with other video chat tools, such as Skype, I have learned that users can only video chat with one person. This is one of the main reasons why I love Oovoo.

    

Facebook: The Anti Social Network

Do you remember when you made your first Facebook account? I'll be honest, it's not the clearest memory I have, but I'm willing to bet that I was as happy as a dog with a new chew toy. Facebook revolutionized the social aspect of our lives. No longer do we have to resort to gossip or talking directly to friends to stay updated on everyone's lives. That knowledge is now just a few clicks away. As Facebook continues to grow, however, this revolution is beginning to hurt many aspects of the average user's life.

Yea, it's much easier to communicate and catch up on Facebook than in real life right? That is what makes it so great right? Both of these points are true, and are responsible for the ever growing phenomenon that is Facebook. Yet, both of these points have changed the relationships we hold with our friends and family. It's obvious that face to face conversations and real time interactions are much more intimate than a Facebook chat or wall post. Although many of us undoubtedly know this, we still make little to no attempts to meet up with each other and share personal time. I mean, honestly, why should we? Facebooking is so much easier and can be done from the comfort of your own home and requires little effort, so social outings with those that you are closest with have ceased to exist.

If you really think about it, Facebook lacks many of the key components of human interaction. Personally, my Facebook chats, wall posts, and inbox messages are much different than how I would react in a real time conversation. They all lack emotional expressions, and instead of being forced to quickly think of a response like in real time, I am able to think about what I want to say, weigh the consequences, and decide upon the best response. This isn't how humans were meant to interact! A Facebook conversation isn't a real conversation; it is an empty shell of a conversation lacking the main aspect that allows attachment to develop between individuals, emotion.

Robin Dunbar wrote an article for the New York Times about the decline of friendships without face to face interaction. You can find the page here, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26dunbar.html?_r=l&nl=todaysheadlines, but essentially Dunbar states that the average human is only capable of maintaining around 150 meaningful relationships, and that our emotional attachment declines with any given person by about 15 percent every year if we don't have face to face contact. The average user has more "friends" than the maximum possibility of 150, which shows that we allow random strangers into our lives (if you don't believe me, look through your friends list and see how many people you know well enough to consider a friend). Also, since Facebook allows us to cut real time interactions with some of our closer acquaintances while still being able to communicate with them, we are under the illusion that these people are still some of our closest friends. This sounds pretty anti-social to me.

Now I'm not saying everyone should go out and delete their Facebook accounts right away, far from it. I support Facebook and what it does for us. What I am saying is that we should not fall prey to the illusion Facebook offers us. It is not the equivalent of real human interaction, but a replacemen. So maybe you should call up that old friend sometime, go out to lunch or just simply meet up to spend some time with them. If not, who knows, you just might lose their friendship.

Myspace is Not "My Space"

       Myspace ,created by Tom Anderson, is a social network which was created back in 2003. During  its early years, Myspace gained most of its popularity. I had my first experience with Myspace when I was in the ninth grade. Most of my friends had one and loved it, so I figured I would give it a try. The first time I logged onto my Myspace account I thought it was an awesome website.  It had many features. Never had I been able to customize my profile to look the way I wanted it to. I had my very own space, and I was extremely excited- that is until I realized what Myspace was really all about. I soon began to dislike Myspace and here are my reasons.

1. Myspace is not only your space, but its also everyone else's.
             -  When creating a Myspace profile, you have the choice of making it public or private. When choosing to make it public, everyone is able to view your profile. If you choose to have your profile private, Myspace can be set up to where only your friends can see your profile. For the most part, I don't consider myself a private person, but I think that there is a limit as to who should be involved in my personal life. I feel that I should have a say so in whom my information is available to.

2. Myspace is more of a dating site, rather than a social network.
            -  When I became a member of Myspace, I thought it was a wonderful way to socialize with family and friends. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Several weeks into my experience with Myspace, I began to receive annoying messages from people I did not know. Many of them constantly asked me questions about getting together, or meeting each other. They also made suggestions about exchanging numbers to get to know each other on a personal level. This made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I joined Myspace as a way to socialize, not to find love. I never could understand why this was happening because my profile clearly stated I was in a relationship. Some people will never completely understand that Myspace is simply not for hooking up.

3. Myspace lacks a sense of security. 
               - Basically, Myspace allows anyone to become a member. Members range from 13 years of age and above. Many of these people are not who they appear to be. Older men or women may impose as a teenager who is looking for a friend. The teenagers may be naive and give out personal information, leading to their whereabouts. This reminds me of a time where I was in a similar situation. I was having a conversation with a guy on Myspace who claimed to have been new to the community. He told me how he had no friends, and he felt alone and needed someone to talk to. With me, being the kind-hearted person that I am, I assured him that we could become friends. Little did I know that this person was sending the same messages to the people I went to school with. In the end, it came out that this boy I thought was my friend turned out to be a grown man who was known as a pedophile. Myspace should provide more detailed information before allowing someone to join its website.

Facebook Etiquette

Facebook is a popular social network that was created by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends in 2004. Originally, it was created for college students, and one had to be invited in order to become a member of Facebook. Today it has evolved into a social network for old classmates, high school networks, college networks, family members, celebrities, businesses, etc. Facebook has many functions ranging from putting what is on your mind at the moment into a little box to messaging your long lost friend. Unfortunately, people have started to turn away from the basics of Facebook and started to use it for the wrong reasons.

Many people have refrained from using Facebook as much as they use to because they have become tired of logging on to see bullying, prolonged rants, drama, and the reoccurring “o, woe is me” type statuses. They feel better going to other social networks such as, Twitter. So I decided to come up with a list of suggestions that will serve as “Facebook Etiquette” to keep more users on Facebook.

• Make a status describing your mood, location, task/hobby, or state without giving too much information
• Have a positive vibe. DO NOT bully, make negative references, post inappropriate comments, etc.

• Be respectful. Only post pictures and videos that you would be fine with your parents and loved ones seeing.

• Use Facebook for what it is, a social network. Stay in contact with your friends, classmates, old teachers, family members, co-workers, etc. Do not hold conversations online because that is what texting and pop-up chats are for.
• DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT put your whole life on your profile and newsfeed. Use the privacy settings to maximum. They are there for a reason. Ex. Your birthday along with your location, mother’s maiden name, and email address is enough to access your bank account.

• Only accept friend requests from people that you know. Having mutual friends is not enough anymore. The account may even be spam or a Trojan virus.
• Be very careful with your log in information. Make your password very unique to ensure privacy.
• Do not choose the “keep me logged in” option on a public computer or on any computer other than your own to ensure that no one can hack your account.
• Only post what you are comfortable with or what you feel you can handle feedback on. Be prepared for comments and/or subliminal messages on an opinionated post, relationship status, check-in, video, etc.
• Avoid clicking on random links on your newsfeed. This leads to spam accounts or spam just being posted on your wall. I.e. those shoe advertisements and model pictures everyone has been seeing recently.

In clarification, these suggestions are not listed in any order of importance. There are strictly things that I have thought of and things that I have been wanting to state. Also, there are more tips, but I only decided to list ten to refrain from repeating something. To sum this all up, just please use Facebook for social purposes within ethical reasoning and not so much for entertainment purposes. Remember, Facebook can pretty much show who you are as a person, display every bit of your personal information, and tell your every move ONLY IF YOU ALLOW IT TO!

The Top Five Reasons to Justifiably Unfriend a Facebook Friend

Social networks like Facebook provide users with access to the personal lives of friends and acquaintances. Though this is helpful when attempting to recall the birthdays of forgettable individuals, one unfortunate consequence of social networks is that you may learn a little too much about the “quirky” girl who lived down the hall from you freshman year. She seemed perfectly nice back when you were stupid and amicable, but now that pictures of her obese cat incessantly bombard your Top News page, you begin to wonder why you ever clicked the “accept” button in the first place.

For a while, I vehemently denounced the “unfriending” of Facebook friends whom I have met. Recently, though, I realized the only time I would come close to communicating with several of these Facebook friends again would be via Facebook itself, so why worry about an improbable awkward confrontation with people who indirectly annoy me every single day? Why not easily rid myself of these social network pariahs?

I have outlined five situations in which it is appropriate to unfriend, well, basically anyone. Even your sister shouldn’t be your Facebook friend if she is partaking in any of these Facebook faux pas. You are better off without her.

1. Perhaps the most obvious of Facebook offenses, though nonetheless essential to this list, are statuses written by the most mundane people you know (or don’t know) which log their mediocre daily activities in explicit detail. These posts are enough to ruin the day of even a full-blown stalker. People who post these updates must be immediately revoked of Facebook friendship, preferably before you are reminded of how boring your own life is too.

2. People who repeatedly post spam. How many times do you have to click on “OMG YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT THIS GIRL DID TO JUSTIN BIEBER” to realize the link is not truly a portal to irresistible indulgence? Unfortunately, clicking will not take you to a deranged tween plummeting Biebz on the head with a shovel, screaming, “IF I CAN’T HAVE HIM, NO ONE WILL!” This technological Catch-22 will send the unsolicited link to your innocent friends, effectively introducing them to the same moral dilemma you just encountered: to click or not to click? It is the dumb people who repeatedly acquire Facebook spam, not Justin Bieber, who must have endured serious head trauma, and if not yet, will soon when I appear outside their doors with a shovel. Guess you shouldn’t put your address on the Internet, huh?!

3. Unfriend anyone who shows up at your house uninvited, wielding a lawn tool.

4. Friends who ceaselessly Facebook chat you though you have never had a genuine conversation with them, nor sought to have had a genuine conversation with them, must hit the road. If you feel guilty about removing a Facebook chat creeper, refer to the “suggest friend” tool and introduce him to your bestie, the cat hair-covered ex-dorm neighbor, keeping in mind that desperation and loneliness love company. (Fun fact: that was the original slogan for Facebook, note “random play.”)

5. Remove anyone whose profile picture is of a famous person and not of herself, as the photo is telling sign of a serious illness, a rare case of body dimorphic disorder. Instead of hallucinating that she is deformed, this friend believes she resembles Megan Fox when actually more akin to Rosie O’Donnell. Do the right thing in this situation and pity the diseased. Unfriend her so she can become accustomed to the rejection and disappointment which is her destiny. Or you could take the more subtle approach and simply comment, “HAHAHAHA” on the picture.

When asked if you are sure you want to unfriend, answer with a resounding click of the "yes" button, and savor the feeling of freedom. Reassure yourself afterwords that you are still cool, even if you now have merely 1659 friends instead of 1660. If this doesn’t work, don’t worry; there are still millions of potential fake friends on the Internet. And if all else fails, refriend the cat girl. She serves as a reminder of what you truly relish about Facebook: laughing at people who appear even worse off than yourself.

Tweeting

I recently signed up for a Twitter account and became instantly addicted. For me Twitter is more simple and easy to use than Facebook. Your profile can only be a few words about yourself along with you location if you choose. When you "tweet" you only have 140 characters to say what you want with the ability to add your location. The tweets are intended to be short on -the-go blog posts. Like Facebook you can tag followers by using @. You can tag trends using #. For example, the other night while watching the 20/20 Charlie Sheen interview I tagged #tigerblood while watching the show. When clicking on the "#tigerblood" one can view every other tweet with this tag.

Instead of having friends where you have the ability to view each others profiles, Twitter uses followers. This way you can follow a person's posts, such as rap artist Gucci Mane, without them having to view your posts. Being able to follow celebrities is fun and informative. It is also fun to follow your friends and tag them in tweets. "RT" is a common sighting on tweets. This stands for re-tweet. If you tag a celebrity in a tweet and say something they like or enjoy they may RT you for all of their followers to see. I regularly tag Chad Ochocinco hoping to be RTed by him or receive an invitation to hang out with him in Miami as he has done with some followers in the past.

I live life in the fast lane and Twitter is the perfect social network for my lifestyle. Facebook is too busy with too much extra information. Twitter combines Facebook statuses and wall posts (the only cool things about Facebook) getting straight to the point. If you are interested in Twitter but can't pull away from Facebook's death grip you can always have your tweets synced through Facebook.