The Internet is a powerful tool to connect people and information. To use it to its fullest advantage requires communication, creativity and effort. There are lots of tools for social networking, lots of networking sites, so this pages serves as a resource guide to the best information we've been able to find, have used and found to work.
In the United States and portions of Europe, you will find numerous local police and fire departments using social networking tools to keep people informed of problems - traffic accidents and places to avoid, and providing updates and information about local situations. We're detailing these in our various state community mini-blogs. If there was an opportunity, I think virtually every police officer or sheriff would advise you to avoid driving on roads that are backed up because of a traffic accident, or to avoid a certain area because a gunman is on the loose. Twitter has the potential to be an excellent method for distributing this kind of information - for those interested. It would help if there was an "emergency channel" - or a type of sticky to keep verified emergency services posts from getting buried under what someone might have had for lunch. We're still in the beginning of social networking, so don't be too surprised if you start seeing these kinds of services or features in the future.
Just before transitioning from our regular blog, we explored the role of social networking in the April, G-20 protest in London, and its use in the post-election protests in the small Eastern European country of Moldova. The tragic and brutal events in Iran are still unfolding where social networking is enormously instrumental in galvanizing world-wide attention. With these, we have three scenarios to examine briefly, of relevance to just about everyone. There's the interest and response from the government, the media, protest organizers, and the rest of us.
1. G-20 London Protest. The police proactively monitored social networkers essentially to keep things from getting out of hand; the media and protest organizers had free and unfettered use of social networks. The rest of us were kept well-informed of everything that unfolded, as it happened. Both government and protester voices were heard and given fair measure. We can be assured it was not first case where both sides tried infiltrating each other's social networks - amusing account.
2. Moldovan Election Protest. The police (militia) had no idea about the protest assembling, it was practically a spur of the moment affair. While it cannot be called the "Twitter Revolution" like some would like, organizers used several social networking systems and things did get out of hand. Government response was to shut down the internet service providers and cellphone transmitters. The rest of us were left pretty much in the dark. Okay, so the world isn't going to get into a tizzy over Moldova. It's known for two things. First - exceptional wine, possibly even the best wine in the world. Second - when the USSR fell apart, one small portion of Moldova is the only part of the old Soviet Bloc that tried to remain with Russia. Okay, that and the Crimea. I know...useless trivia. Okay, and South Ossetia, that has maybe a little more bearing.
3. Iranian Election Protests. Iran is very connected to the Internet and the Iranian government owns the country's largest Internet Service Provider. Being more totalitarian than Moldova, not only did it engage to suppress the Internet, but mainstream media too, using all means to brutally suppress the protesters and protest organizers. Some information still gets out, but what is really happening is not very clear - but we have a pretty good idea. If you have to stop everyone else from watching what is going on, odds are it is probably wrong.
Authentication: The emergence and continued development of social networking presents enormous potential benefits and plenty of risks, too. One of the problems is really, who can you trust? It's a question asked in both the London G-20 and Iran Protest coverage. As it stands, anyone can set up an e-mail account on Google, a profile on Twitter or Facebook, a web site - but we don't really have any means of authenticating who is really behind the site, or what their motives might be. One case in England has ruled that bloggers do not have the right to anonymity because the nature of blogging is implicitly of public nature. There are even cases in the United States where the right to anonymity is still being questioned. There are pros and cons to both sides of the argument. Probably the greatest and most rapidly growing problem is the issue of identity theft as ever increasing amounts of personal information is made available online, willingly for everyone to see or find.
Convergence: If you can remember back to 1996 - 1998, a lot of the cable and telecommunications companies started buzzing "Convergence" - the idea that your television, telephone and computer's internet connection would all be supplied by one cable instead of three. Some even went so far to say that all three could be provided via one machine, too! Despite the objections of some very large television manufacturers, those who want those capabilities can certainly have them today. What we are likely to see is another Convergence of Internet Applications - of social networking systems, online financial transaction systems, and others that may have any concern with authenticating your personal identity. Essentially, most of us are very likely to trade our anonymity for security - across many platforms. That has pros and cons, too - and very complex ones. Seriously, when you think about how things will be in five years, it's very much a matter of looking at where things are today - particularly the problems of today. Unfortunately, that can make things even more complicated.
FriendOrFollow.com - The easiest way to make sure you are following those who are following you.
@Twitter_Tips (Twitter) and Tweetsmarter.com (Web Site) -
Twitter tips, tools, news and status; web site has an excellent Retweet resource.
Twitalyzer.com - A tool to see how you are doing on Twitter based upon an aggregate of your Twitting activity.
TweetDeck.com - This is an awesome Twitter management tool - so good that it deserves a video...voila - video - below!
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