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12-08-2012 10:33 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigned with his new running mate Sunday. Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan joined Romney in Mooresville, North Carolina. (Aug. 12)
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Romney Hits Road With VP Pick Ryan - Video
Social networking, in some form or another, has been around for as long as man. It's not hard to imagine cave dwellers who shared a common bond gathering together for a conversation about the day's events - even if grunting and elaborate charades was the only means of communication.
Perhaps the first person to identify and label a form of social networking was Auguste Comte back in 1853. He observed that one person in a certain social system were interconnected with others in the same system.
It was an observation way ahead of its time, and good old Auguste didn't even have a modem.
Wikipedia, the online mecca for information both accurate and questionable, defines a modern social network as: A social structure which, in general, facilitates communication between a group of individuals or organizations, that are related by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as: a special or common interest; shared values; visions, ideas, or perhaps ideals; financial exchange, friendship, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade.
Auguste was, indeed, way ahead of the curve. But since this column is more about technology, let's fast forward more than a few decades and all the way to the 1970s.
Other than just disco, which is the best invention man (or woman) ever created, folks started piecing together integrated circuits and a bunch of wires to make their own, early, personal computers.
Trying to find a way to communicate over standard telephone lines, a couple of kids in the Chicago area found a marriage between hardware and software for the first bulletin board system. The modem allowed data transfer from one point to another.
Hobbyists all over the world started to create their own BBS systems and users would dial into the centralized computer to share files, post messages and create new software.
As the young hobbyists grew older, they recognized a possible business opportunity. CompuServe and America Online came to the forefront in the 1980s, and file sharing, e-mail and data transfers became more and more popular. Groups of like-minded computer users would often create their own chat rooms inside the online communities.
As the Internet boom continued, the ideas took another leap forward. Instead of creating a chat room or social network inside AOL or CompuServe, the idea of using a dedicated Web site was born. Yahoo! and a host of other services hit the scene in the 1990s and Yahoo! Groups became a gathering place for many.
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techESC: What was old is new again
By Andrew Tonner | More Articles August 11, 2012 |
Unlike several of its peers (cough, Facebook and Zynga), business-networking powerhouse LinkedIn knocked its most recent earnings announcement out of the park. The market paid attention, sending its share sharply upward after the report. This most recent earnings season has really helped to more clearly define the real winners and losers of the most recent generation of Web-based IPOs.
After the world's most-hyped IPO turned out to be a dud, most investors probably don't even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We've outlined them in our newest premium research report. There is a lot more to this company than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to "like" about it today, and we'll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.
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Inside This Social Networking Stock's Amazing Earnings
10 reasons social media stresses us out
It keeps us connected to friends, occupies those spare five minutes while were waiting for the bus and lets face it we wouldnt be without it. But sometimes social networking drives us crazy. Here are the reasons social media stresses us out.
1: Prying bosses
Its bad enough having to prepare a job interview outfit, perfect your CV and prepare well thought out and intelligent interview questions, but now research has suggested we should also be worrying about whats on our Facebook pages if we want to bag our dream job. According to a study by Career Builder, 37% of hiring managers had checked prospective employees social media pages before offering them the job, and one third of these had been put off by what they had seen there!
2: Identity fraud
Thanks to the abundance of personal details many of us share on social media sites, it seems we are making the job of identify fraudsters much easier. With the click of a few buttons, it is easy to bring up a whole host of information on users who believe they are simply sharing innocent information with friends. In fact, according to experts, you could be providing enough information for somebody to easily set up a bank account in your name. To avoid becoming a victim of identity fraud, remember to update your privacy settings to make sure your personal life is kept private.
3: You have been tagged...
If prying bosses and identity thieves werent enough to contend with, we now also have to deal with every fat day and fashion faux pas being broadcast for all to see. And, according to a recent study, our pals are doing it on purpose! According to a study by Mymemory.com, one in four women deliberately post unflattering photos of their friends wearing bikinis online and two fifths had deliberately posted photos of their friends without makeup. No wonder a study by Fitbit identified unflattering Facebook photos as the new number one weight loss trigger!
4: No introductions necessary
Before Facebook and Twitter, we could carefully craft out our own first impressions and choose which parts of our personality we wanted to reveal to new acquaintances. Now, we have to live with the fact that new colleagues and blind dates may know everything about us from our favorite band to our relationship history before we have actually been formally introduced. Yep, pre-date online stalking has truly taken all the mystery out of dating are we the only ones who miss the days of actually getting to know each other in person?
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How social media causes stress
In this year of endless political campaigning, youve heard more than your share of rhetoric about those pesky, bureaucratic, business-constipating, job-killing government regulations.
You can probably recite the pitch: Its time to cut through the red tape and stop the madness for the good of our economy.
Were not a big fan of regulation for the sake of regulation. As a business, we know very well how regulation can add to the cost of doing business.
But lets not be nave or foolish.
The folks in Adams County have a pretty good understanding of why regulation is important to health and safety. So do the folks in Marshall, Mich.
The link between the two?
An oil spill involving Enbridge Energy.
Last week, a federal agency told Enbridge that it must submit a plan and receive approval before restarting operation of a 470-mile oil pipeline that ruptured in Adams County, spilling 1,200 barrels of oil into a field, according to a report in the Wisconsin State Journal, a sister publication.
Two homeowners were displaced and a section of road was closed during repair work, which is expected to cost at least $2 million. Crews were testing for groundwater contamination.
As Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said: Pipelines operate safely across the country every single day. Thats why accidents, like the one in Wisconsin, are absolutely unacceptable.
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Our View: Regulation not always a dirty word