The Internet's Effect on "Less Known" Sports

So as I've said before, I'm a long distance runner and run track and cross country (and that's me running to the left), which i would consider "less known" sports. But, thanks to the internet, these sports are getting better notoriety and allowing true fans of the sport to really follow the action.

There are high school network sites devoted solely to track and field, such as MileStat and DyeStat; and also sites like Letsrun.com and Trackshark.com that stick strictly to college and professional level news and racing. These various sites use memberships and advertising to generate money, but their main goal is to get news and results out as fast as possible so their "running nerd" audience is appeased.

An even better website that is going to the next level is called flotrack.com. It runs a live video feed from big time meets and is free for anyone to watch. Here's a link to a race i ran a week and a half ago in Philadelphia. My teammates who didn't make the trip were able to watch the race live from DC, pretty crazy.

And who knows where this will stop. Back in the days when my coach ran, he said there was a monthly magazine that was sent out that gave the updates on what was going on around the country in track and field. Now people can watch races live from across the country. The Internet is giving those individuals in the "less known" sports a chance to have there 15 minutes of fame and become "more known" to everyone else.

E-mail: the new social network

Everything nowadays seems to be social networking. Facebook, Facebook, a little MySpace, and more Facebook. And everybody appears to put just about everything on these social networking sights to share with the rest of the world. A constant conversation we revert back to in class is how people should be wary of what they place on their social networking pages because recruiters and possible employers are scanning these pages so they get a better look at the possible employee.

Is this right? I don't think so; but if the information is out there and is open to others, why wouldn't they dig it up and check it out? It seems like a smart business move if they can avoid hiring people that could potentially become a liability.

Well things may be changing if the newest form of social networking has anything to say. And that would be e-mail. There are some new applications, like one called Thunderbird, that will allow internet users to use their e-mail accounts as their social networking page. This can limit what content is shared to people in user's address book based solely on the activity they have with them whether it's business or personal.

I feel this is the future because it will help limit the potential "dirt" others can find on you, and also simplify things for all users. Instead of having to go to several pages to check your e-mail, facebook, etc., it can turn into a hit on one website for all. In a society where time is everything, this seems to be the way to go.

Buddy Beacon: Worth the Money?

This idea of buddy beacon really intrigued me when i read about it. At first i really didnt see the point because why do you really need to stalk your friends and know exactly where they are at all times?

But the more i thought about it, the better the idea seemed to be. I first perceived it to be just another way for people to stalk others, but you have to authorize whether or not you want to be traced. But then i started thinking about the good things that could happen. Lets say you lose your phone (which happens way too much for some people), you can link it to your friends phone if they have the feature and track it down a lot easier. And it could also work for missing friends, because lets face it, sometimes on friday and saturday nights after a few too many drinks people tend to wander off without a word so this could be a real life saver.

It is pretty expensive, which may also turn people off; however, i think it would be a worth while investment. You just have to make sure not to tell your stalker friends about it or you may never have a moment of peace again.

Is the Internet Helping to Polarize your Thinking?

There seems to be an easy answer to this question:

• No.

And the reason:

• Because we are able to get our hands on limitless information and see issues from all sides of the spectrum.

But I have another question to ask:

• Is everyone really venturing into unfamiliar territory and seeking out information they don't necessarily agree with?

I guess only you can answer that question. I have never really thought of an answer to this question, but I'd have to say, personally, i really don't explore to much outside of my realm. I'm satisfied with just reading/hearing what i want to see/hear and I rarely seek out opinions of people with contrasting views from myself. I feel my upbringing partially has something to do with this because i was raised a catholic in a mainly all white neighborhood. I think coming to school at American has helped to broaden my views, but there is still things that can be done.

Recruiting

The only experience I've had with recruiting was when i was recruiting to come to school here and run. Now that process is slightly different than the job recruiting process because everything was based on my high school times and how i felt i would fit in with the team, but the principle is essentially the same:

• Apply to the school (job) you are interested in after doing research
  
• Get word from the coach (employer) as to whether they are interested or not
• Take an official visit (interview for the position)
• Find out if you are accepted to the school (got the job)

And of course what is helping companies with recruiting, social networking on the internet. People are being connected to various groups that they normally wouldn't encounter and this is opening up new and unique opportunities for everyone. It is important not to abuse the power of social networks because then they would lose their appeal.

Allan Schweyer wrote in this article that:

"Part of the beauty of social networking is that there is a rarity to it. If it were easy for any of us to connect with anyone else, we would remove the scarcity and erode the value of networks."

Now people must learn how to use these networks effectively without diminishing their value.

Epic 2014?

So i watched this video instead of doing a reading because it's Easter today and i didn't feel like reading anything, plus i was playing halo so i could just listen while i killed people...

But anyway, that video kind of freaked me out a little because it definitely seemed like a real possibility to me. I rely heavily on the internet to get news, and rarely look at a newspaper (maybe twice a week, maybe). Looking online for news allows me to multi-task better, like check e-mail while instant messaging and texting but also checking my facebook while getting all the news i need and watching sportscenter (gotta love being able to have more than one tab per window). By using the internet i can get a lot more done than having to worry about folding a newspaper correctly.

And i don't think i'm the only one that operates like this, so if companies like google and amazon were to merge they could easily get a strangle hold on how the news is relayed to internet users and do exactly what this video suggests. Scary yes, but only because it's possible.

My Views on Crews

I couldn't resist putting this picture (which i found here) of the peanuts crew in after reading the blog on how to pick your million dollar crew.


Everyone has a "crew". Through the years I've had several crews who I associated myself with, from my preschool crew, where we controlled the sand box, to my current crew where we patrol for girls and go wild at basketball games (see this link for details).


Being an athlete I always have a crew to roll with. Running is an individual sport but there is the team aspect of running relays and cross country is very team oriented. To be a good crew (team) member I feel you have to be flexible. Some times your roll with be differnent in various situations. You have to be aware of your strengths and the strengths of those in your crew so you can set eachother up for success.

The New Way of Business Networking

I found this photo on someone else's blog and i felt it best described the new way people are networking for business opportunities. Just like everything else in our society today, people are using computers and the Internet. (sometimes I wonder where we would be without them, or what would happen if computers were to be destroyed some how, think about it)


As you can see, the people are connecting to each other through their computers; and that has been a very common theme in today's world. Is this a bad thing? I would say yes and no because on one hand it is allow for individuals and businesses to be very efficient. But on the other hand, I feel you lose that friendly feel you get with a face-to-face or phone conversation. That's why I don't like talking on AIM a lot because I like talking to people in person or on the phone so I can hear the tone in their voice, which allows me to get a true read on their feelings. Sure people send the occasional smiley face or sad face but thats all fluff to me.


But like I said, this is definitely the new way of business networking, and with all these networking sites available, there doesn't seem to be any stopping it.

Does Facebook really give you less privacy?

Okay i had a long weekend at my conference track meet, where me and brian killed people and won one of our relays, so I'm getting into this, enjoy it because its right..

This seems to be a hot topic nowadays and i touched on it briefly in a previous blog because a team at my school got in trouble by the athletic administration for some questionable photos they were posting. But does facebook really give us less privacy?

I don't think it does because in the end we are the ones putting everything out there for the world to see. People aren't forcing us to put up a photos of ourself doing a 40 second keg stand. We think its sweet and we want the rest of the world to see. Is that a problem? No, not a all. If you can do a 40 second keg stand more power to you. But don't go around complaining if you get grief from an employer or someone else.

Privacy settings also allow you to only have your friends view that sensitive material, and you can even limit some friends from seeing parts of your profile. So when it comes down to it, who make the final call as to how private or unprivate you want your facebook? You that's who.

I just wanted to link in the facebook privacy settings policy. Notice how often they use the word "YOU"

Second Life

The first time I heard about this new virtual phenomenon was when I was sitting on a plane to a track meet in Texas. My assistant coach was sitting next to me and was raving about this article he was reading an article about some "weird new thing on the internet." So of course I was curious and had to read the article myself.

I didn't really get it at first and found myself rereading things a few times to understand it. Actually thinking back on it, I think it was more me being in disbelief. The article was basically saying I could make an alternative life for myself on-line, which I struggled to believe. People could basically turn themselves into whatever they wanted, and live out some of their real life dreams in a virtual world. I didn't really think I would here much about it once I finished the article until last week in my I-tech class when my teacher said we would be having class in second life.

Once I joined, I found Second Life to be immediately addicting. I'm not surprised though because I like video games and this is very similar. I have my own xbox live name (Theconducktor- spelled wrong on purpose) and even used this name in my Second Life name (Conducktor Nightfire). The article More Internet Users Getting a Virtual Life states:

Technology research firm Gartner forecast this year that by 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users will have a "second life" in some sort of virtual world.

I don't know how good this will be for a society that already is, in my mind pretty lazy, but I guess only time will tell.

ouchhhhh charlie (this has over 6 million views on youtube)

The Power of Youtube

Watching youtube videos has become a strong hobby of mine over the past couple months. Most of the context of conversations between me and my friends involve referencing lines from various videos we see on youtube, such as unforgivable.

• (I won't a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries.. fo free- its EXTREMELY crude and vulgar so i wont link to it but i think its funny so if you want to watch it go ahead)

Anyway, youtube has grown to become a major staple in the life of a web surfer because friends are constantly emailing each other to check out this funny video, or people are putting videos up of themselves for the world to see (my 5 year old godson is on youtube doing the soulja boy). Because of this I feel the power of youtube is limitless. Videos are somewhat monitored but people can put up whatever videos they want and have them broadcasted for the world to see. As I saw in the article about the spoofs on youtube, people can take shots at companies or products because they have the freedom to. As long as this freedom remains, I don't see youtube ever losing steam.

If your interested....

If you've found my blog fun and interesting to read, you should check out my friend and fellow teammates Brians Blog.


Another friend, Ashley, always has great points of view on IT topics so i would recommend her blog too.

Sharing is Caring

One of the first lessons I remember learning as a youngster was how to share. I can vividly remember hearing my mom telling me:

• "If you aren't nice and don't share with people, no one is going to want to play with you or be your friend."
  

Yeah I know, sounds heartbreaking. But we are still faced with this simple sharing (or lack there of) issue today when dealing with communities of practice. People are so unwilling to share ideas and knowledge on certain areas because they are afraid their ideas will get stolen. To help improve this companies should work towards building incentive programs that award people who share ides to get work done. Work will be done more efficiently and effectively, which will have a positive affect on everyone involved.


And as the old saying goes:

• "Two heads are better than one."
  

Track Comments and Track Traffic

I was excited to see this was the title of the information we would be reading for the week because I thought immediately that being a runner I could provide you with some good track comments. Like how today there was a meet on ESPN (that no one probably watched) where Craig Mottram set the All-Comers record for the 3000 meters. But then it hit me that that’s not what was meant by track comments…

So about how businesses can track comments… The Internet has really provided businesses with an easy way to get customer feedback. On-line surveys can be sent out as well as many other things. But now there are BLOGS, where people do this for free without being prompted by a survey. This can be both good and bad for businesses because the feedback could be negative or positive, and could encourage or discourage other potential customers from using a certain businesses products.

• This type of thing happened a few years ago on my team. A freshman was blogging about what his training was like and how he liked the schools etc. etc. But my coach didn’t appreciate this too much because this individual was allowing the competition to be privy to how we prepare and train. Needless to say, he was forced to take the blog down.

This is a big potential drawback from allowing anyone to blog. Companies want to get their name out there, but they also don’t want their potential ideas or strategies to be leaked to the public. However, in this new age of technology, this may be a risk businesses are willing to take in order to be successful.

Social Capital, .06 Degrees, and Social Networking

So as you can tell by my two post titles I've put the numbers I've used in decimal format, but this blog is titled split second soo I figured it was a clever thing to do.


So anyway on to social networking...

I feel my generation has a supreme advantage in social networking as compared to our parents and grandparents generation, and that advantage is (yup you guessed it) the Internet. When I saw the topic was social networking, I instinctively checked my facebook account to see if I had any new messages or requests. I have over 500 friends, some of which are family members or close friends, but most are just acquaintances, who I met through someone else (social networking).

The article on Lois Weisberg, http://www.gladwell.com/1999/1999_01_11_a_weisberg.htm, provided some good insights on social networking that I have noticed over the years. The theory that struck me most was:

• "We don't seek out friends; we simply associate with the people who occupy the same physical places that we do."

• College has taught me this because the only people I really associate with are athletes. Since I'm an athlete myself, I often see other athletes by the locker rooms or in the training room everyday. I have become friends with most of them basically because if I didn't I would have no friends at school. I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to be friends with them, just that if we weren't connected through athletics I probably wouldn't seek out their friendship.

I also read about social capital at http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/primer.htm. This site defines social capital as "the collective value of all "social networks" [who people know] and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other ["norms of reciprocity"]." The interesting thing I found out from reading or skimming through the other articles is that the networks or relationships with which we have don't have strong ties to, may be the networks we should value the most or those with the highest social capital.

This logically makes sense because we basically know everything a person has to offer in relationships we have strong ties to. The weaker relationships can in some ways provide us with a wild card because we don't really know what the person on the other end has to offer. I guess this thoughts gets back to the idea of

• "It's not what you know, but who you know."

.01

Yooo,

I would like to welcome everyone to my first blog. I am a senior at American University, and I am writing this blog for my social networking class. I will be commenting on various articles I will be reading throughout the semester, so sit back relax and enjoy the show.


"On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.”