Add the Stick-It Note Application to MySpace

Here is the flash version of my video that explains how to add the Stick-It Note application to your MySpace page.

http://blip.tv/file/1508751

Thank our Troops

How to Add an Application in MySpace

This video shows how to add the Stick-It Notes Application to your MySpace page.

Click the link below to watch the video.

http://www.screencast.com/users/ljscils598f08/folders/Default/media/22446edd-1148-4078-819a-0ce4e0a8f470
**Apologies for the lag, which slows down the video. I find MySpace to be a very slow website.

Boyd Readings

After reading Boyd's articles, I believe that libraries should realize that there are hundreds of social networking sights (SNS) that support a wide range of interests and practices. One size does NOT fit all. In the article Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship, she speaks of the shift in the organization of online communities. "While websites dedicated to communities of interest still exist and prosper, SNSs are primarily organized around people, not interests." Facebook and MySpace are the two popular ones, but other SNS were created to support niche demographics. This information will help them to decide which SNS to market themselves on if they are interested in doing so.

Another factor could be how socio-economic class differentiates which SNS a student uses. In the article Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace, Boyd discusses this. She states that "MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm." But, Facebook seems to be dominated by the primarily white "good kids whose families seem to emphasize the importance of education and going to college."

Becoming part of a social network is a way that libraries can integrate themselves into their patrons' everyday lives by promoting their library services on the patrons' social networks.
They can also learn from seeing what sites their patrons are visiting online and gain insight into their interests, needs, and wants. Another invaluable tool of these sites, according to Meredith Farkas in her book Social Software in Libraries is that these sites often "let you search for members by geographic area or by institution, making it easy to find local people." This also helps the libraries because they are then building a presence where there patrons are.

In addition marketing themselves on such sites, libraries can use this topic as a springboard to educating their patrons, both parents and children, about online safety on these SNS. They can include such things as potential privacy concerns and the safety of younger users. This can open discussions between parents and children about SNS usage "rules" and the concept of online predators.

Ning

Ning was VERY quick and easy to set up. It seems as if it has many advantages.

Some of the advantages are that with Ning you can:

• subscribe to an RSS feed
• add pictures and videos
• create blog posts and have discussions
• create groups within your network
• invite people to join an event
• broadcast messages
• add badges and widgets
• create applications that can be placed on Facebook accounts
• add different features such as a chat, music, notes, and text box features
• add web analytic software
• can import pictures from flikr

I can definitely see the advantages of using this within a work environment. By using Ning with your company you could:

• Reach everyone if company has many locations
• Centralize your information
• Create slide shows of company pictures/happenings
• Share insights, motivate employees, find support
• Advertise upcoming events
• Use to create a community for your customers or announce new items
• Customize site to meet your company's needs
• It runs on a programmable platform

Some disadvantages are:

• Staff could possibly spend excess time on site which could be a problem if using during work hours
• Some staff may not be computer savvy enough to use some features
• Consumers may not have knowledge of site or may have trouble navigating site
• Have to pay for upgrades
• It has ads
• It has limited storage

I think that, as far as I have seen, Ning looks like it would definitely be useful in the workplace. I enjoy the layout and page "skins" and it gives you some great creative options in order to customize it. It has a lot of extras that can be added, which is good and many features that people are already using elsewhere. I would like to look at this more and explore more options for its use.

What Makes Services Like MySpace or Facebook "Sticky"?

According to Wikipedia, Sticky content refers to content published on a website, which has the purpose of getting a user to return to that particular website or hold their attention and get them to spend longer periods of time at that site. Both MySpace and Facebook have achieved this and have actually become quite addictive to many that use them. They spend many hours during the day not only looking up, looking through, and checking things out on the site, but they also make multiple return trips to the site.


I believe this is so because they offer a space that you can make your own. You can change the layout and the "skin" of it and add various widgets and applications that you like. In checking out both sites, I found myself, who truly believes that MySpace and Facebook should be left to the young, looking for things that I could add because they have so many different things to customize your page. You can find games to add, music to add, videos, and pictures to add. You can add friends that you already have or find friends that you haven't spoken to in ages.


I think most of the appeal to teenagers is that they have a place they can make all their own. No one tells them what they can or cannot put on it or what it has to look like. It is a virtual hangout and a place where they can be themselves or, for good or bad, whoever they want to be. They can share their music and pictures and "talk" with their friends. They can play games either by themselves or with others. They return often to see what their friends have added to their wall or what comments they have made on something they wrote.


Overall, I agree that they are both very "sticky" sites that do make you want to keep coming back. It is those little extras that have you saying to yourself, "well, let me just check it ONE more time before I shut down the computer." I also think that the fact that other people are constantly on and off these sites also makes you look to see who is there and what they are adding to their pages, or to yours. These sites also link to just about everything you could want to do online, which makes it very easy to use. It's like "one stop shopping" which makes it very addictive. You can go to these sites, have fun, and interact with others, while still doing what you want to do.

Jing/Camtasia Screencasting

Here's my sob story!

I tried for over 4 hours to get JING to work and I couldn't. I uninstalled and reinstalled everything you can think of. I also changed my computer settings to no avail. I then decided I'd try another product that Steve spoke about, so I downloaded the new Camtasia. Of course, Camtasia won't let me embed the video without actually moving files and tampering with the HTML which I don't know how to do. (There might be another way, but I can't find it yet)

SO....ANYWAY....this is the best I can do for now. I put a link to my video and will continue to work on this until I figure it out. Or, until I get a reply from the troubleshooting department of Screencast.com...LOL

Click below to view the tutorial:
Long_Branch_Home_Page_Tutorial