Impacts+E

** Impacts of Technology ** Family Life Impact

=
Social networking has changed the way we’d once communicate with friends and family. Social sites have becomes a primary means of communication with Facebook topping the list. It introduces effortless communication with someone on the opposite end of the globe. Its not just mere communication, finding a long lost friend, sending invitations, sharing pictures, letting everyone know what’s on your mind is all made quite simple. (Ladhani N, 2011) ======

=
Teenagers often tend to accept and adapt to a new, trendy, tech-savvy lifestyle easily. Seemingly, social sites have a greater impact on their lives. Quality times spend by them tweeting or updating statuses won’t be a surprising fact. Nevertheless, it has been used by collegians to spread good and meaningful messages. ======

=
Social sites have becomes a part of our lives. They come as a complete package to keep one engaged with factors besides communication. Playing games and then flaunting your high scores is made possible with just a few clicks. It’s a virtual world cocooned within your device screens which opens up as a complete entertainer. People look for more ease and doing things within their comfort zone. They are wowed by the virtual world concept. (Freeman A, 2011) ======

Political Impact Just as social media has opened a dialogue between businesses and consumers, its value is apparent to those in political office, whose work and very professional survival hinges on the needs and perceptions of their constituents. As it stands, the social web is ripe with opportunities for candidates and office holders alike to connect with voters, foster transparency, and even spar with opponents in the same ways they have been in the traditional media for hundreds of years. We spoke with some innovators who have been tapping into the political power of social media. If their work is any indication, expect the future of elected government to be measured in fans and followers, as well as votes. While many political campaigns are fumbling to leverage social channels effectively, consulting firms have seized the opportunities that exist in these knowledge gaps, and have applied many business concepts to the model. “Political campaigns aren’t much different than traditional marketing campaigns, with a few exceptions,” said Gibbons. “Whether you’re selling a product, an idea, or a candidate, you’re ultimately trying to convince the public to embrace something.” To that end, political consultants leverage some aggressive strategies to keep a client’s social media presence at the top of mind .(Powell, L., Richmond, V. P., & Williams, G. C. ,2011). “We always invest in getting a few of the opponents’ supporters to fan our page,” said Josh Koster, Managing Partner of Chong + Koster, a digital consulting firm that works on political campaigns. “Why not 100% supporters? Because by leaving just a few haters on the page (and thus ensuring massive back-and-forths in the comments threads) we ensure higher marks from Facebook’s Edge Rank algorithm.” He also notes the importance of keeping 99% of the Page’s discourse on your side to dominate the conversation, which may convince casual visitors of your point of view. While you can pay to market politics online, it’s arguably better to engage your network of supporters and let them spread the message for you. Their reach and trust value far outweigh anything you could broadcast or pay for. Once you have their attention, little calls to action can go a long way. “Some of the tactics that we used included asking supporters to change their Facebook profile picture and Twitter avatar to the campaign logo days before the election, posting and sharing campaign ads and messages on YouTube, encouraging supporters to share on their Facebook walls, [and] creating and spreading a hashtag when folks tweeted about the campaign,” said Gibbons. And don’t discount e-mail marketing — it makes for great follow-up after some preliminary, non-invasive social engagement. “When we sent an e-mail, we always gave supporters a quick list of actions that they could take, and we always let them know that they were a vital part of the campaign. For instance: ‘We’ve got a new ad on TV, have you seen it?’ Can you help us raise [additional funds] to keep it on air for another three days?’” Again, Gibbons notes the importance of cyclical messaging. Every e-mail sent should offer proactive ways for supporters to connect back to the campaign’s social media sites. (Powell, L.,Richmond, V. P., & Williams, G. C. ,2011)

Environmental Impacts

In considering our need for green energy, consider the energy it now takes just to have an online social life. Social networking is far beyond a fad and definitely more than a cultural phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people have joined Facebook and Twitter, among others, and users have never had so many choices that require nothing more than a computer and a few peripherals -- hardware they owned before signing up. There are many discussions about whether these networks have economically sustainable business models. Like other industries with exponential growth, some are going to fall by the wayside. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">But there is another question regarding sustainability and that is: how does social networking impact the environment? On the surface, friending and twittering seem like environmentally kind if not neutral endeavors. They don't require printing and computers don't eat up very much energy. But if one digs down and learns what it takes to sustain these monstrous websites, the cost is quite high. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">Facebook reported in May of 2007 that it was hosting 10 billion photos and had just over one petabyte of photo storage (its obviously much greater now). Since Facebook stores 4 sizes for each stored picture, this translates to 40 billion files, of which 33.2 billion were added within the prior 17 months. Doug Beaver of Facebook said that over 300,000 images are served per second. If Facebook were a nation, it would be the world's 12th most populous. Accordingly, "Facebook requires 10,000 servers as well as the 300,000 users' PCs. Conservatively, a PC consumes 120 watts and a server consumes 200 watts." Plus another 50 watts per server for data-center air conditioning is required. Trendspotting reported in October of 2008 that in round numbers, "Facebook daily consumes 924,000 KiloWatt-Hours with per capita of 3.08 KWh. Annually the per capita figure would be 1,124 KWh /year or equivalent to emission of 0.75 ton of green house CO2 (Carbon footprint) which is half of NY city's carbon footprint." And they're adding another 50,000 servers to keep up with its hyper growth. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">And now there is the Twitter effect. Another blog, earth2Tech.com, which covers startups and entrepreneurs focused on fighting climate change, has looked at the environmental impact of Twitter, calling attention to the continuous use of the network: "Users generally keep an open connection with the server in order to get a constant stream of updates, even if the same information (such as your latest tweet) is going to multiple users." This requires more and more servers to keep up with the increased demand. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: justify;">These numbers are overwhelming, numbing, difficult to digest and need further investigation. As more people get more and more comfortable using these social networking websites to stay in touch, connect, conduct commerce and enjoy community building, we must address the huge impact on our environment and continue the move toward greener forms of energy. (Gneiser M, Heidemann J, Klier M, Weib C. ,2011)

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">﻿Next we will be talking about the problems and solutions of online social networking

**Previous page xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx HOME xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Next page**