Organizing in a Virtual World - Essay Example

Organizing in a virtual world. ID: Word count:2,118 Table of contents: Introduction....2 Emergence of social networking sites....3 Facebook and its part in the virtual world......4 Facebook's structure and comparison to non-virtual organizations....9 Conclusion.10 References.11 Introduction: As the world ties itself closer together through concepts like globalization, the use of technology improves to fulfill the needs of the burgeoning world. As new changes are made in technology everyday, it becomes easier for the ordinary worker to be able to afford a lot of new equipment and knowledge available in the market. The new market caters to users under any age and class. As improvements are made, the need for social network sites is also established. This allows the users to communicate freely in an atmosphere without their opinions being hampered by any authority. This includes allows diverse audiences to interact and old friends to reconnect. Thus, the beginning of this essay will discuss how a social networking site like Facebook can pose as a virtual organization. The latter part will talk of how Facebook as an organization is structured and managed. This will include the differences between a virtual and non-virtual institute and how they are run. Emergence of social networking sites: The creation of Web 2.0 has played a phenomenal role in improving the quality of social networking sites and increasing the number of individuals who use these networks. A brief summary of the 2.0's advantages explain why it's been so successful in the networking sphere. (Exforsys Inc) It allowed users to become more than mere viewers: participation increased It can be personalized from user to user It allowed information from more than one source An example to prove this is the following diagram (Gary Hayes): Thus as the availability and easy-to-use websites increase so do social network sites. Social networking sites are famous not only because of their ability to maintain pre-existing social networks but also because it can help bring together strangers who can meet and discuss shared interests online: politics, sports or entertainment. Social networks run in a certain way. They allow users to create a profile online, make a list of users they share an interest with and visit these connections made within the system (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Facebook and its part in the virtual world: The virtual world is one in which an individual can access a computer-simulated world and provide stimuli which allows the user to manipulate their current position and place themselves in a location other than where they are (Biocca & Levy, 1995) Virtual worlds are divided into two different genres: one is used for gaming while the other is used to create virtual communities. Thus the virtual world has no physical shape or body but is still able to affect a large number of individuals. (Fonda, 1997) Facebook's initial beginning was to support college networks. (Cassidy, 2006). It started in 2004 and was run by Facebook.Inc (Eldron, 2008). It could only be joined by users who had university addresses. This kept the users into a close-knit and private community. It was similar to an old social network site which started in 1995 called Classmates.com (CBC News, 2003). Both Facebook and Classmate.com allowed their members to search from long lost friends and acquaintances from throughout their lives. Thus, like the virtual world allows, the user could access and find any individual from any part of the world. It also allows members to keep families in far-flung areas together (Rawlinson). A major factor in this virtual experience is its characteristic of being inexpensive. Traveling and communications costs are cut down. Users can send messages for free, no matter where their friends are. It also saves up on time and energy that could be sent trying to access someone in another country. In a social networking site it can be done with a few clicks. Social networking sites help the ordinary individual by allowing them to access a large number of people. Thus, if a novice band wants to make a splash in the music industry they use these sites to win over an audience. Apart from Facebook where the particular band could make a "page" and post music online, other networking sites also provide this feature. For instance, MySpace is considered ideal for introducing young and emerging talents. With features like play counts, any user with enough play counts uses a ranking system to rank artists: be it unsigned or on a major record label (Calvin, 2008). YouTube is another site where new artists post videos of their songs and users can write posts to interact with the each other and comment on what they saw. So the question that arises is what compels and convinces individuals to add strangers to their social networking sites, despite the complications involved. One of the biggest factors that contribute to the global village in the virtual world is the presence of groups. Every social networking site has a different name for them, Communities for Orkut, Groups for Facebook. In the real world, this would be impossible as it would lead to the collection of a limited amount of members from a specific region. Often the interests of an individual are so different from the group they belong to, that it's impossible to find an outlet for conversation. Last but not least, there is always the fear of being rejected that plays a large part in lack of good communication in the real world. Virtual realities defy all of these. They allow members from any race, age or class to join hands and form a group that can cover something as diverse as love for animals to supporting homosexuality. Often health or emotional problems can be a source of embarrassment and disappointment in the real world. Many refuse to talk about it. Virtual reality removes all these problems. For instance, Facebook has created a world where users can meet each other and discuss the frustrations they have with their disease. Facebook has an application which allows the users to support a cause. This can be anything: AIDS, Darfur, Suicide or Death of a Parent. Members can join and communicate on these forums. They can share their own experiences or assist in providing comfort to anyone with a problem. The comfort created in these forums often provides much more solace than the reaction that can be received in the real world. This shows in the number of people who join these Facebook "ribbons". (Awareness Ribbons- Facebook). As Facebook expanded, it allowed more users to join its network. At this point Facebook members can join one or more networks through city, workplace, region and school. (Facebook-My Account). Thus Facebook, by removing its exclusivity can now be compared to a number of various other social networking sites that allow their users to join from anywhere they wish. This includes orkut.com and Myspace.com. Like philosopher Susan Langer said representation is a device rooted in the imagination. This allows virtual realities to create users who do not necessarily exist in real life (1984). Members can take up fake names and personalities for various reasons: to fit in, fraud or even for laughs. Social networking sites are not all about communication and entertainment. It can lead to cyber stalking and even fraud. The problem of identity theft is found on all virtual social networking sites. This includes Orkut, Facebook and Twitter. This introduced the problem of privacy in the virtual world. A place where members write intimate details of their personal lives should be given as much protection as possible. In the real world, nobody divulges into information like addresses and interests unless a specific bond has been created. Yet many social networking sites are unable to protect this factor available in social networking. Facebook heads this list. Several problems have emerged to the public regarding Facebook and its capability of being a means of surveillance and data mining (Rampell, 2008). This allows professionals to hack into private information. Till this day, Facebook allows personal details of members and their friends to be open to individuals. (Click, 2008). The problem is so much so that the privacy policy of this network states "We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook Platform developers and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile." (Facebook-Privacy Policy). The privacy policy also allows private companies to access information saved on member profiles (Roper, 2005). Also, unlike real life, virtual reality is making it seemingly impossible for its members to go back on the mistakes they make. For instance, social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut allow users to deactivate their accounts but the information on these accounts is still saved on the websites servers. However, Facebook is trying to work against this problem by allowing users to delete their information by contacting the website and requesting for their details to be permanently deleted. Thus, Facebook is the perfect social networking site. It allows its users to venture into a life that is seemingly impossible to manage in the real world. This can be proven by a survey done by ECAR show the popularity of to specific age groups when compared to other social networking groups (2008). The survey showed that a total of 89.3% users chose Facebook out of a total of 22,207 people. Facebook's structure and comparison to non-virtual organizations: The first thing needed to run any type of organization is finance. Facebook got its first investment of US$ 500,000 from PayPal (The Age, 2008). Facebook, like most private non-virtual companies, has no ownership but has set out shares in the stock market. Thus, Facebook continues to be under the control of its owner Mark Zuckerberg. In a way this seems like a good idea as it allows the main reason for Facebook to stay intact, which might have disappeared if a private organization had bought the social networking site. But, the rate at which Facebook's popularity and revenue is rising, it is but necessary for it to be under the management of more than one person. Also, the Facebook team is very slow to react to complaints or requests by its users. This shows inefficiency on the part of the staff. Faster methods need to be employed to lose the hitches that often rise in the system. Facebook's privacy has been an issue ever since its creation. The site has been slow in addressing most of these issues. It should create a team that can research and understand these problems. Facebook should concentrate on establishing a strong legal team which will help fight any law suits that come its way. One of Facebook's biggest feats is its creation of another language for its applications. Known as the "Facebook Platform" it used the skills of software developers. This allowed the number of applications to grow to 33,000 in 2008 (Ustinova, 2008). It also increased the number of users on Facebook and bough in more revenue. Such a huge change in the entire structure of Facebook can only be done by a virtual organization as the risk is reduced far more than what could be done in the real world. The ability to undo mistakes is greater in the virtual world than is in the real one. Facebook uses plain text for customization (Sullivan, 2007) much different from its MySpace counterparts who apply HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) It uses a number of interactive features like the Wall and Photos to allow users to communicate. Facebook now allows attachments to the Wall as opposed to text only. This type of advancement and improvisation is vital to run a successful organization. A big asset to the virtual world is social marketing. With technology like Web 2.0, the advertisements that open up on social networking sites target a personalized audience. Some in America might view an advert for GAP while India would see a local brand. The visual and personalized aid provided by these adverts that could redirect easily is only available in the virtual world. Thus, on its own Facebook is a successful organization in the virtual world. With a few alterations it could become better and stronger than many non-virtual counterparts. Conclusion: Social Networking sites are a huge asset to the world today. Despite various claims on their ability to break down face-to-face communication and reduce interaction in a society, these groups bind together the world. They reduce the problems arising from race, class and age. Instead bringing together a diverse group of people with similar ideas from all over the world References: Awareness Ribbons- Facebook, Facebook, Retrieved May 04 2009 http://apps.facebook.com/awarenessribbons/ Biocca & Levy, 1995, Communication in the age of virtual reality, L. Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey Boyd and Ellison, 2007, Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship, Retrieved May 04 2009 http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.htm Calvin, 2008, How Can I Use Myspace Music Marketing And More Plays For Offline Music Promotion Purposes, Retrieved May 02 2009 http://www.postarticles.com/Art/16902/10/How-Can-I-Use-Myspace-Music-Marketing-And-More-Plays-For-Offline-Music-Promotion-Purposes.html Cassidy, J., 2006. Me media: How hanging out on the Internet became big business, The New Yorker CBS News, 2003, In Search of the Past, Retrieved May 04 2009 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/05/60II/main552363.shtml Click, 2008, Identity at risk on Facebook, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7375772.stm ECAR 2008, Social Networking Sites, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://74.6.239.67/search/cacheei=UTF-8&p=problems+of+social+networking+sites&fr=ytff1-msgr&u=net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers0808/rs/ers08086.pdf&w=problems+problem+social+networking+sites+site&d=SKyOOUxIStm4&icp=1&.intl=us Eldron, 2008, 2008 growth puts Facebook in better position to make money, Retrieved May 04 2009 http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/18/2008-growth-puts-facebook-in-better-position-to-make-money/ Exforsys Inc, Advantages and Disadvantages of Web 2.0, Retrieved May 04 200,9 http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/web-2.0/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-web-2.0.html Facebook-My Account, Facebook, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.phpnetworks Facebook-Privacy Policy, Facebook, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.facebook.com/policy.php Fonda, 1997, What is Virtuality, retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.religiousworlds.com/fondarosa/ae-hm03c.html Gary Hayes, Personalizemedia, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.personalizemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/web1to3.jpg Orkut.com. Retrieved May 01 2009 www.orkut.com MySpace.com, Retrieved May 01 2009 www.myspace.com Rampell, 2008, What Facebook knows that you don't, The Washington Post, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022202630.html Rawlinson, Virtual Worlds: The next Facebook, CNN, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/07/virtual.living/ Roper, 2005, Employers, marketers, and parents accessing Facebook databases, GW Hatchet, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.gwhatchet.com/home/index.cfmevent=displayArticle&ustory_id=65d53002-d568-4511-ade8-0d40866e6406 Sullivan, 2007, Is Facebook the new Myspace, PC World, Retrieved May 04 2009 http://www.pcworld.com/article/134635/is_facebook_the_new_myspace.html Susan Langer, 1984, Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. TechCrunch 2008, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://cache0.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/facebook-stats.png The Age, 2008, Why you should beware of Facebook, Retrieved May 04 2009, http://www.theage.com.au/news/general/beware-facebook/2008/01/18/1200620184398.htmlpage=fullpage#contentSwap2 Ustinova, 2008, Developers compete at Facebook conference, San Francisco Chronicle, Retrieved May 04 2009 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgif=/c/a/2008/07/23/BU7C11TAES.DTL Read More