by Larry Richman, Posted Friday, November 7th, 2008
Digg is a place for people to discover and share the best content from anywhere on the Web. You can submit articles and other Digg users vote them up or down. That way, the articles on the main page are those that the community finds to be the most interesting or unique. You’ll find articles about the most outrageous construction projects in Dubai and why seven hours of sleep may not be enough for you.
Digg also promotes a conversation about the topic by allowing readers to comment on the article, see who voted on it, blog about it, or e-mail it to a friend.
Digg Alerter can help you keep track of your submissions. It sits in your system tray and alerts you whenever your stories are dugg or promoted to Digg’s front page.
I’d like to expand on a blog post from earlier this year by Larry Richman called What is a Wiki? As Larry explains, the nature of a wiki is to enable just about anyone to contribute an article or modify content. If you didn’t realize this and want to see how it works, try this fun game I saw demonstrated by Joel Dehlin. Sign up for a Wikipedia account, then go to the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith. Change his birth year from 1805 to 1905, then watch and wait. Within 10 or 15 minutes, someone will change it back to the correct year.
This community contribution nature of Wikipedia comes as a surprise to many people who think of Wikipedia as a completely accurate, unbiased, online encyclopedia. The fact is, though, that like most history books and newspapers, biases, political slants, and inaccuracies tend to creep in to Wikipedia articles. I’m not trying to be critical of Wikipedia; just putting out a warning to take what you read with a grain of salt and perhaps consider contributing to Wikipedia articles yourself. I echo Larry Richman’s comments in his post Keeping Wikipedia Entries Accurate, and encourage individuals to review Wikipedia entries about the Church for accuracy and edit and update them as you are able.
To Wikipedia’s credit, a Nature magazine investigation found that Wikipedia comes close to the Encyclopedia Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries. Nature says that science entries in the online encyclopedia are “not markedly less accurate” than those found in the Encyclopedia Britannica. But unlike the Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia is completely free to use and was written by an army of volunteer contributors and not paid professionals. Clay Shirky, an NYU professor with expertise in social networks, refers to the time people have to contribute to the likes of Wikipedia as our “cognitive surplus.”
Mr. Shirky tells of a conversation he had with a television executive. He mentioned to her of the back and forth battle on Wikipedia about whether or not Pluto is a “planet.” To which she responded asking where people find the time to contribute to editing articles on Wikipedia. That’s when Mr. Shirky snapped and went into a very informative tirade in which he explained that the entire Wikipedia Web site represents about 100 million hours of human thought/work, while humans watch over 200 billion hours of TV a year. Put another way, you could create 2,000 Wikipedia projects in just one year with the time people spend watching TV. Here’s the video of Clay Shirky’s talk where he tells this story:
This cognitive surplus has really got me thinking and I hope it has for you as well. If I would turn off the TV, what more good could I accomplish? Could I spend more time with my family? Could I better magnify my Church calling? Could I share my time, talents, and values and strengthen my community? D&C 58:27 “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.”
While it seems clear that the Church wants members to use their personal Web sites, blogs and social media networks to share the gospel and clear up misconceptions about the Church, many members still have a lot of confusion regarding what they can and cannot do with the Internet. Part of this confusion is likely due to the language used by the First Presidency in their December 13, 2004 letter entitled “Authorized Church Web Sites.” In that letter, they outline how to identify official Church-sponsored Web sites, and state that unauthorized sites ”should be discontinued immediately.”
But suppose there is a Relief Society president who wants to start a blog to share information about food storage. The blog could be used to share tips and tricks, recipes and ideas. She would invite others to participate in the blog, to post comments or perhaps to be guest contributors. Would such a blog fall into the realm of those not authorized by the Church?
I cannot speak for the Church, but I certainly don’t think this type of site is what the Church had in mind when they asked unauthorized sites to be discontinued. According to my understanding of the guidelines referenced above, I think this type of blog would be appropriate, provided that the following points are followed.
If you use the blog to discuss gospel doctrines, remember you’re speaking as an individual member of the Church, sharing your personal perspective.
Remember that you’re always on the record. Everything you say or write could be on the Internet forever.
Link to videos, articles, and other resources on Church Web sites. Church sites are full of resources on food storage and many other gospel subjects and we have been encouraged to share them.
Make an effort to include all interested parties, both in your ward and outside of it, both members and non-members.
Seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost. How you use the Internet to further the work of the Lord is largely a personal matter between you and the Lord. Guidance from your priesthood leaders may also be sought.
Clearly, the Church supports and encourages using the tools of the New Media (the Internet, blogs, social networks, etc.) to share the gospel. Implicit also, I believe, is the notion that New Media can be used to support other aspects of the work of the Lord such as strengthening the Saints and serving in the Church.
Consistent with this Blog’s goal of discussing topics relevant to LDS parents and youth, as well as considering my professional field of Web analytics, I’d like to talk today about the growth of Facebook and how it relates to LDS families. Facebook.com is one of the world’s most popular Web sites, particularly among youth and young adults, and has been a frequent topic of discussion at this blog (see What are social networks?, Watch Out Google, Here Comes Facebook, and 12 Ways to Share the Gospel on the Internet).
What this Means for Parents and Leaders of Youth
Chances are that if you are a parent of a teenage or a youth leader, you are probably less technically savvy than the youth you work with. Many parents and youth leaders I have spoken with don’t really understand what Facebook is and most have never visited the Web site. I’m not advocating spying on your kids (I’ll leave that up to your own discretion) but I do think parents and leaders should visit Facebook and see what the youth are doing online. You will probably be surprised at what you find; pleasantly surprised in some instances, unpleasantly surprised in other cases.
My wife and I have worked with the youth in Church callings for years. We love staying in contact with these youth that we came to care about so much and Facebook provides a great way to do just that. It is so satisfying to see the youth that we remember as Deacons and Teachers, Beehives and Miamaids, growing up, entering college, going on missions, and marrying in the temple. On the flip side, it is saddening to see the poor choices some of the youth are making, as reflected in the things they write on Facebook and the pictures they post.
Like the Internet in general, there is much good and much evil easily available on social media Web sites such as Facebook. Church leaders have stated that the Internet is a great tool for hastening the work of the Lord, but they have also repeatedly counseled members to avoid evils that are available on the Web. Elder L. Edward Brown of the Seventy taught: ”You have access through the Internet to resources one cannot begin to imagine. However, lurking there as well is a sinister evil, as deadly as a rapidly growing cancer…Self-discipline is required relative to the materials you choose to read and the videos you may select to view.” (”Bring Your Mission Home with You,” Ensign, Dec. 2000, 18).
Join In
I believe that by joining in this online social network, we parents and leaders can help, guide and protect the youth. To sign up for a free Facebook account, simply go to Facebook.com and fill out the form on the home page. Once you’re in, browse around, see what it’s all about, and request friendships with your youth, family and other friends. To learn more about how to create an account and connect with friends, check out A beginner’s guide to Facebook, or this Videos Series, “How to Use Facebook”, by eHow.com.
by Larry Richman, Posted Friday, September 26th, 2008
Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to the simple question “What are you doing?
This video is a quick and plain-English intro the micro-blogging service Twitter.
Personally, I don’t care about the “tweets” from people who simply say “I’m eating dinner” or “I’m going to bed.” But I do enjoy tweets that comment on great things they just read, cool Web sites they just found, or epiphanies they just had.
If you like Twitter, you may want to check out Twhirl, a desktop tool for Twitter users. It allows you to do almost everything you can on Twitter but in a small window that resembles an IM chat window.
by Larry Richman, Posted Saturday, August 9th, 2008
93% of U.S. teens use the Internet, and more of them than ever are treating it as a venue for social interaction. As they embrace the conversational nature of interactive online media, they find it easier to share creations, tell stories, and interact with others. Recent studies show that content creation by teenagers continues to grow. 64% of online teenagers (ages 12 to 17) engage in at least one type of user-generated content, up from 57% in 2004.
39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos (up from 33% in 2004).
33% create or work on Web pages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends, or school assignments (basically unchanged from 32% in 2004).
28% have created their own online journal or blog, up from 19% in 2004.
27% maintain their own personal Web page, up from 22% in 2004.
26% remix content they find online into their own creations, up from 19% in 2004.
Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of those wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area–posting of video content online. Online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.
However, content creation is not just about sharing creative output. It is also about participating in conversations fueled by that content. For example, nearly half (47%) of online teens have posted photos where others can see them, and 89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least “some of the time.”
Not all teen content creators simply plaster their creative endeavors on the Web for anyone to view; many teens limit access to the content they share.
A subset of teens (28%) are super-communicators–teens who use a host of technology options to interact with friends and family, including traditional landline phones, mobile phones, texting, social network sites, instant messaging, and e-mail.
Online social networks are communities of people who share common interests and activities. Social networking sites provide the ability to create a personal profile and various ways to interact with other people, such as messaging, e-mail, video, text or voice chat, file sharing, blogging, and discussion groups. Social networking has revolutionized the way many people communicate and share information with each another. Social networking Web sites are used by millions of people everyday on a regular basis. For many people, online social networking has become a part of everyday life.
Most social networking services contain directories of categories (such as former classmates) and methods for connecting with people (usually based on some system of referral and trust).
Three very popular social networks:
MySpace has 120 million registered users who create their own profiles (Web pages) for the purpose of linking to friends, posting their interests, photos, music, and videos. MySpace is very popular in the United States and moderately popular worldwide. It is open to people 14 and older; most of the users are under 30. MySpace was purchased by News Corp. in 2005 for $580 million. It is now valued at over $65 billion.
Facebook has more than 80 million users worldwide. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can add friends and send them messages and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. Recently, Facebook opened its platform to anyone to develop applications within Facebook. The site was initially limited to Harvard University students as a way to get to know other people on campus, but was later expanded to other colleges, and now is open to anyone aged 13 and over. Facebook was started in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. Today, at age 24, he is at the helm of this privately-owned company, turning down billion-dollar purchase offers. Facebook is valued at $15 billion.
LinkedIn is an on online social network that connects people with their friends, family, and business associates. It is primarily a business networking site that lets you post resume information and connect with other people in your profession. It currently has about 23 million registered users in 150 countries, with another 1.2 million signing up each month. LinkedIn started just 5 years ago, and is already valued at $1billion.
by Larry Richman, Posted Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Check out LDS Teacher, a new social site for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to discuss teaching and learning in the Church and at home.
by Larry Richman, Posted Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
We think you’ll like this new feature on LDS Media Talk. At the end of every post is a series of social bookmarking icons you can use to store, organize, search, and rate the posts on LDS Media Talk.
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