The Girl With A Mac Blog

And The Dictionary Word Of The Year Is.. Unfriend?

Posted Nov 17, 2009. Filed under Web, Culture, Social Networking, Facebook. Leave a comment?

That’s right, social networking had become such a tremendous force in our lives the “unfriend” has been named the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year.

Oxford tracks how the English language is changing yearly. Researchers choose the Word of the Year “to reflect the ethos of the year and its lasting potential as a word of cultural significance and use.

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” said Christine Lindberg, a language researcher for Oxford’s U.S. dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.”

Oxford defines unfriend (which is a verb) as removing someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

Unfriend beat out several other technology related words for the honor. Other considerations were “hashtag” (the hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets similarly tagged), “netbook” (a small portable laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet),”intexticated” (when people are distracted by texting while driving) and “sexting” (the sending of sexually explicit text messages and pictures by cellphone).

Before reading this on Google, I had no idea that dictionaries awarded such a thing as the title of Word of the Year. But I am glad that I’ve come across this because I now know what intexticated means, and it may be my new favorite word. Thank you for adding absolutely ridiculous words to the dictionary, now when writing a paper for my Cinema and Violence class I will now know how to spell sexting. What would I do without that knowledge?

Have A Facebook Addiction? Five Jobs Just For You

Posted Nov 16, 2009. Filed under Web, Culture, Social Networking, Facebook. Leave a comment?

Are you like me, obsessively checking Facebook every five minutes or so? You know how it is, looking at pictures of people you haven’t talked to in forever, keeping your virtual farm thriving and avoiding that message in your inbox from a family member you haven’t seen in years. Well, CNN may have found the perfect job for us and other avid Facebookers.

Facebook and other social media sites, such as MySpace, are usually given a bad rep amongst us college kids. We’ve all heard how a friend of a friend wasn’t hired by [insert whichever impressive company name you feel fits here] because of a couple of drunken Facebook photos. Or we have a friend who is constantly tweeting while at work, so much so that even you wonder how they get any work done. Well, recently I’ve come across this CNN article written by Rachel Zupek, “Five jobs for Facebook addicts,” which has made me feel a little bit better for all of the hours wasted on the social networking site. The good news is that many jobs in online marketing and other areas see social media expertise as a necessity.

So, what are the top five jobs for Facebook addicts?

1. Recruiter
2. Strategist
3. Enterprise architect
4. User operations analyst
5. Director of social media

1. The recruiter needs no explanation. You’ll be dealing with a bunch of college students that are constantly on social networking sites, you should probably be able to keep up with them. You should also be perky, nobody likes that angry recruiter. You know what I’m talking about.

2. The strategist will help companies figure out how to interact with social sites and their online communities. According to Zupek, your responsibilities will include “interacting with users, growing brand awareness, creating buzz, increasing traffic and providing valuable information.”

3. The enterprise architect involves completely redoing a company’s content management strategy and internal networks.

4. The user operations analyst interact with online communities, answer queries, investigate problems and keep track of user habits. I take it these are the guys in charge of Twitter damage control.

5. And finally, the director of social media organizes company blogging, viral marketing, podcasting, etc. Zupek adds, “these folks should be wary of new technologies and be all over blogs, RSS, have Facebook and Twitter accounts, and know the difference between his or her employees playing and researching on MySpace and YouTube.” I meet all the criteria, and if you’re reading Mr. Jobs, I would be perfect for Apple’s director of social media.

Zupek recommends searching job boards and the Internet for “social media,” “interactive marketing,” “new media” or “branding manager” in order to start your search for the perfect, Facebook happy job.

It’s great to see that companies are adapting to my peers and I. A generation that is constantly using social media will find these jobs appealing. And seriously, Mr. Jobs, I’m your girl.

The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500

Posted Oct 28, 2009. Filed under Web, Culture. Leave a comment?

I just wanted to share my thoughts on the article, “The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500” by Gary Hamel.

Before adding my thoughts, I would like to offer a quick summary. Generation F refers to the generation who has grown up online. Hamel believes this experience of growing up online will shape expectations of the workplace, with Generation F expecting the social environment of the Web to become the social environment of work. Hamel expects this younger work force to measure a company’s work environment with the following 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life:

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

I couldn’t agree more with Hamel that the Facebook Generation is expecting more out of the workplace than previous generations. But what does all this mean? What are Hamel’s 12 work-relevant characteristics referring to? And what companies are implementing these ideas? Below I will expand on some of the characteristics.

All ideas competing on equal footing means that every idea has a chance to catch on with the masses. This also means that anyone’s idea can catch on. I can’t think of a company that demonstrates this idea better than Twitter. Did you know that using the @ symbol before a name was a user generated idea? Within the coming weeks the company will implement two new user generated ides, lists and retweets.

Contribution counts for more than credentials is demonstrated constantly online. Does YouTube’s VenettianPrincess have any professional film experience? Does she have a prestigious film degree? Do you care? Probably not. As long as her videos make you laugh, you will continue to subscribe. Or do you care if the person that posted the latest entry on Wikipedia has an advanced degree in the subject? No, as long as the information is accurate you could care less about the author’s qualifications.

Tasks are chosen and not assigned on the web. The web offers everyone the opportunity to participate or not. Open source projects, such as WordPress and Netscape, are improved by users willing to contribute. The web offers people the opportunity to become involved with projects that interest them, not something that their boss feels they need to get done. Google is an amazing example to other companies, allowing employees to use up to 20 percent of their work week working on projects that interest them.

Groups are self-defining and -organizing refers to the fact that employees should be able to work with whom they want to work with. Online users are given the choice with whom to connect with and whom to avoid, and employees should be given the same choice.

Resources get attracted, not allocated. Therefore, only ideas that are worthwhile will be rewarded with sufficient resources. Unlike the traditional corporation with a traditional top-down cost structure, any idea will have a chance to succeed based on merit and will be rewarded with the attention of the web’s users.

Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it and we see that with many open source projects. Why would WordPress or Netscape be willing to allow any web user to access it’s source code? According to Hamel, the incentive is to gain influence and status, and to do so you have to give away your expertise and content .

And finally, users can veto most policy decisions on the web. If a company wants to keep loyal customers, they need to listen to what the users of their products or services want. Are you a member of the online social networking site, Facebook? You probably are. Remember when the “is” was automatically placed in your status update? Facebook users hated it and made sure Facebook was aware by using such tactics as the “Remove the “is” from the Facebook status” group. Facebook eventually listened to it’s users and removed the “is.”

Although many companies have a long way to go to meet the needs of Generation F, others are adapting to the changes.