Social Media

Social media is all the rage right now. There is no way you have no idea what social media is, unless you've been living under a rock with your Friendster account. Social media comes in different forms, as you can see from the image below. You have your microblogs, networking sites, content communities and the list goes on. I am pretty sure that we will be seeing more new ones every single month.

Of course, we can't say that all existing social media sites are meaningful or useful. If I had to pick a favorite social media, it would probably be Youtube. I've been visiting the site since '07 and I am still not sick of it.

As I recall, Youtube used to be a site where people can upload videos. No one would ever thought that it can turn into this massive and influential community. I love how this video-sharing website became our one-stop center for anything – tutorials for learning a new language or how to cook a certain recipe, beauty, music, gaming etc.

Majority of people can only pay attention to visuals more than text these days. This is probably why Youtube is still appealing to the masses and also why the Youtube community keeps growing. We don’t have to spend money to subscribe to cable television when all we need is Wifi, type in something of our interest (sneezing panda/dramatic chipmunk!/random music video) and tadaaaaah! Instant entertainment.

You could say that it is like the ‘television’ of our generation. Television itself isn't dying yet but given that most of us are always hanging around our laptops and computers, we tend to turn to Youtube as an easy access for entertainment. Due to this fact, television stations such as Korea’s KBS World has started to upload full episodes of their variety shows and drama serials on their official channel. With everyone being able to gain access to the Internet, Youtube videos have the ability to reach to a wider audience without any geographical boundaries. Anyone can watch the same thing and share comments/thoughts with those who share the same interests as them. It can become a space where you can relate to others or laugh at the same stupid video content. If we feel nostalgic and decided to watch old school music videos, they are there too!

This video perfectly sums up how insanely huge (and fun) the current Youtube community is:

If you have your own comments/opinions on the Youtube rewind vid, why not join these teens in this Teens React vid:

Sure, there will be pros and cons to social media but I personally feel that social media has assisted us tremendously to how we receive entertainment and it clearly shows the shift in our source of televised entertainment as current technology continues to evolve further. That's my take on social media. I hope you had (some) fun reading this entry and do enjoy the weekend!

In-tra-net

Hello everyone! This blog is specially set up for one of my communication modules in school. Please bear with some of the dry or incoherent content but I will try to lighten it up with visual aids :)

I have been using the Internet for most of my life. When the question of “what is the internet” suddenly popped up, my mind just went blank right away. Before this module, the Internet simply served as a tool for me to gain access to a multitude of websites. I have never given much thought to the Internet as something that I have to learn about. It is like why do you need to know the theory when you’re already familiar with the practical. Most of us know how to use it, but we don't really know the mechanics behind it.

Instead of boring you with facts about the Internet, I would like to look into this little something called the intranet. It really stood out to me because it can be only used within an organization and "others" outside of that organization will not be able to use the internal network. I became curious about the use of the intranet. Why can't organizations use the internet like the rest of us?

So what exactly is the intranet? 



It is a term for a batch of private computer networks within an organization. Intranet itself uses standard network technologies (such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi or even web servers) to serve as a tool to “facilitate communication between people or work groups to improve the data sharing capability and overall knowledge base of an organization's employees.” It basically isolates itself from the general internet base. An organization's intranet includes Internet access but is protected by firewalls so that its computers cannot be reached directly from those on the outside.

The basic intranet package would consist of your own internal email system and a message board service. If you want the comprehensive package, it includes the databases containing company news, documents, forms, and personnel information on top of the basics. As more features are added, an intranet can become essential to the operation of an organization. It eventually becomes a portal that provides access to all the things employees need. Because of the fact that the intranet is protected by firewalls and by the need to log on with a secure password, employees working outside the organization are only able to access the intranet by using a virtual private network, also known as VPN in short.

Why do we need the intranet?

It all boils down to one main purpose: time! As you know, time is money. The intranet has the special ability to save you, your colleagues and superiors' precious time. Organizing your documents, information, data and other digital media in ways that can be found quickly is a tremendous benefit that any organization can use in a jiffy. We do not have to spend late nights to recreate something that has already been done before. Matters regarding a client or a special project can be referenced in an accessible manner. When an employee leaves, the knowledge, data and documents created by that person will stay within the virtual and physical walls of the organization. What happens in the organization, stays in the organization.

Here are 5 ways on how the intranet can improve the way we work:

1. Allows documents to be stored by categories 
2. Keeps project history with files, documents and many others in one place 
3. Limits information access to those who need to see it 
4. Encourages collaboration between different teams in the organization 
5. Provides employees with portals to keep track of their projects, meeting schedules and many more 

So there you go! It is not entirely meaningless to learn about the intranet. Sooner or later, you will find that the intranet takes on a whole different meaning from the internet itself once you enter the working world. In a way, I suppose organizations have their own secrets and the intranet is a useful tool for them to keep the outsiders/business spies away.