How facebook is reshaping college admissions (infographic)

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How facebook is reshaping college admissions (the infographic source is the website schools.com): "As Facebook has become more and more popular - if it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world - its use in the field of education has expanded, too. In fact, more than 80% of college admissions officers report using Facebook as part of their recruiting process."


Courtesy of: Schools.com

"Facebook is amazing because it feels like you’re doing something and you’re not doing anything"

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From the NYTimes:

High school student: “A book takes so long. I prefer the immediate gratification.”

Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.

“Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing." And the effects could linger.

The proponents say:

“If you’re not on top of technology, you’re not going to be on top of the world.”

“Video games don’t make the hole; they fill it.”

“I know I can read a book, but then I’m up and checking Facebook. Facebook is amazing because it feels like you’re doing something and you’re not doing anything. It’s the absence of doing something, but you feel gratified anyway.”

“Downtime is to the brain what sleep is to the body,” said Dr. Rich of Harvard Medical School. “But kids are in a constant mode of stimulation.”

References:
Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction. NYTimes.

Image source: Wikipedia.

Mark Zuckerberg on Psychology (video)

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Mark Zuckerberg at Startup School 2010 talking about "The Social Network" and psychology.

How lawyers use Facebook: Tips to minimize legal risks of social networking

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From Law.com:

This article provides a brief checklist of some of the salient legal issues that those who use social networking sites must consider, with the goal of increasing familiarity with and sensitivity to these issues so that preventive steps can be taken before a problem develops:

Are you violating anyone's copyright?
Are you violating anyone's trademark rights?
Are you invading anyone's personal privacy?
Are you breaching any confidentiality agreements or professional obligations?
Are you defaming anyone?
Are you running afoul of advertising restrictions?
Are you violating applicable regulatory requirements?
Have you made promises to others on your page?
Have you incorporated qualified language and appropriate disclaimers?
Are you regularly monitoring your page/profile?

References:
Minimizing the Legal Risks of Using Online Social Networks. Lawrence Savell, 2010.

Image source: Wikipedia.

The Real Life Social Network - presentation by research lead for social at Google

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This presentation is from Paul Adams, research lead for social at Google (embedded below). He works on Buzz and YouTube, and presumably, whatever is next from Google, including the rumored "Google Me."

Read more: On Facebook, Google, and Our Evolving Social Mores Online by John Battelle

The Real Life Social Network v2

View more documents from Paul Adams.

Are you blogging on Facebook without even knowing it?

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Scobleizer:

My answer to @jeffjarvis http://bit.ly/cC2U2P I wish Facebook would get rid of ALL privacy and walls. Let's go public! Let's go open! Now!

Jeff Jarvis:

Isn't that just blogging?

40% of households with digital cameras no longer print out their pictures

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From Washington Post:

"Over the past couple of years, the photo imaging industry has watched the explosion of social networking with anguish: Nobody prints, and printing is the profit driver of our businesses.

Many people now upload pictures and share them with family and friends online instead. And with 400 million users uploading 3 billion photos a month, Facebook has become the largest photo-sharing site on the Web by far.

It's also troubling that most users aren't aware that uploading a picture to Facebook -- and then deleting it from your camera -- means you've lost the original image for good. Fewer than a third of people surveyed knew that photos on social-networking sites are stored at a decreased resolution."

I keep a lot of photos in Picasa Web Albums by Google and it has been a while since I printed any of them. Picasa Web Albums are accessible from any Internet connected device and have a mobile interface as well.

References:
Pros and cons to Facebook's fast-growing role in digital photography - washingtonpost.com.

Facebook and Twitter Create Trouble at Small Workplaces

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From WSJ:

These days, bad employee behavior is no longer confined to cubicle walls. Some workers are now sharing disparaging opinions and even proprietary information about their employers on social media – Web forums that in many cases can accessed by anyone, including a company's clients, investors and competitors.

"We have a brand here we have to maintain and I don't think our clients need to see what our employees are doing on Facebook," she says. "There needs to be a separation between what's business and personal."

12-Word Social Media Policy by Mayo Clinic: "Don’t Lie, Don’t Pry, Don’t Cheat, Can’t Delete, Don’t Steal, Don’t Reveal" (http://goo.gl/1Jwdo).

References:

Facebook, Twitter Updates Spell Trouble in Small Workplace. WSJ.

Comments from Google Buzz:

Heidi Allen - This is a great article - the last para is telling:

"People somehow feel like only their friends are going to find this stuff so they tend to be themselves," says Mr. Laermer. "There's no acting here. It's like a lie-detector test."

The boundary between private life (you can't tell me what to do) and company policy are now so interwoven that the 'jurisdiction' of the HR department is no longer clear.

I still find it unbelievable that people don't think through themselves the impact of what they are doing and assume (hope/pray) their comments won't be found because of all the white noise out there - but if you're looking it takes 30 seconds to find a comment (unless you're posting in buzz in which case it's impossible)

Ves Dimov, M.D. - Buzz search is not bad at all. It's better than Twitter which has a long-term memory loss (the index goes back only 7 days).

Image source: Wikipedia.

Facebook language - "friends" and "like" are not what they used to be

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From the NYTimes:

On Facebook, the only option I had to tell people I had read the article was to either add a comment or press the little “like” button that appears at the bottom of everyone’s status update.

We are starting to perceive the word “friend” differently, too, thanks to social networking services.

“There’s a point when these friends are really just people I have in common with others, or people I’ve only met once, but ‘friend’ is the only word available to say you know this person, even though they are simply connections.”

References:

Hey, 'Friend,' Do You 'Like' My Sad Story? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Image source: Wikipedia.

"Dear Facebook Friends, I’m De-Friending Most of You"

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From ProBlogger:

"Dear Facebook Friends, I’m De-Friending Most of You. For 99% of you – this means that I’m about to de-friend you from my personal account on facebook. It is nothing personal – in fact…. thats what this is all about…. my personal account on facebook does need to be personal and it is not.

My Facebook account became more and more focused around my blogging. As it did so it became less and less relevant to my real life friends and family.

I’ve decided to move all my blogging related updates purely over to my Facebook pages and return my personal account to being a purely personal one – a place where I connect with real life friends and family."

Facebook fan pages may not be a bad way to keep a community growing separate from your personal Facebook account. I use them for CasesBlog and AllergyNotes.

References:

Dear FaceBook Friends, I'm De-Friending Most of You. ProBlogger.

Image source: Facebook. Wikipedia, fair use license.

How to use Facebook with your blog

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Some suggestions:

1. Create a Facebook fan page.

2. Import your feeds in the "Notes" section of your Facebook page. Create a new Yahoo pipe that combines your Twitter and blog feed(s). "Run" the pipe and enter the RSS URL in the "Notes" section of your Facebook fan page.

Learn How to Build a Pipe in Just a Few Minutes @ Yahoo! Video

3. Embed a Facebook fan widget in your blog sidebar, post and/or template.

References:
Yahoo Pipes: An interactive feed aggregator and manipulator.
Facebook Widgets | Facebook
Create a Page | Facebook
Create a Facebook Fan Page for your Blog