Mr. Sean Parker has done quite well for himself. This man takes credit for co-founding Napster and also founding Plaxo which is an online address book, networking tool, and communication facilator. The innovative element of this free service is it’s ability to automatically update all contact information which means you can ditch those old, torn up paper address organizers and rolladexes! Plaxo users are able to connect with their friends, family, or business acquaintences. When a user edits their personal contact information, the changes automatically appear in all address books of people that they are connected to. Plaxo makes it simple to join their network. It’s a free service and promts the user to import their contacts from their existing email upon registering. This service had great additions in 2007. Within two short months, Plaxo introduced the public beta of a new version of its service, called Plaxo 3.0 which emphasizes automated, multi-way sync. Weeks later, Plaxo Plus was introduced which is a social networking service that allows the sharing of content from multiple sources. This is a very user-friendly service that welcomes members and has been growing rapidly in memberships and partnerships.

Don’t we have enough problems in our real life? Don’t we have enough joys in our real life? Don’t we have enough avenues to spend our money in our real life? Don’t we have enough entertainment in our real life? It is obvious that many individuals seek online extra excitement and alter lifestyles by creating Avatars on Second Life. It amazes me that so much time, thought, effort and money are invested in this site! After searching Google for Second Life, blogs were displayed. In fact, about 45,100,000 sites were displayed for Second Life including newspapers, journals along with official Linden dollar exchange sites and live feeds. In fact, I even learned that last week, the official Second Life Herald proved through the use of charts and graphs that, “Second Life Economy is in a Recession”. Should I be worried that 3D, virtual community has entered into a recession? Not so much. I hardly have enough time to closely monitor the real U.S. economy. It seems to me that this site is a bazaar idea that merely provides another time-consuming means of entertainment for people desiring to waste time. But hey, the Second Life creators are the successful, rich entrepreneurs so maybe they just beat me to the “great” business model creating a fantastic fad of avatars living a fake Second Life.

Ebay is almost dangerously simple for members to use.  The personalized accounts make browsing and bidding easier than driving to WalMart.  Once logged in, your searches are tracked and remembered which leads to targeted marketing emails, just for You!  In fact, 2 minutes ago I received an email from eBay, titled, “KaylaLucille, check out our favorite fashion deals!”.  Upon opening this email, I saw bags, shoes, dresses and watches made by designers from my recent searches.  That is some good targeted marketing! 

If I were to log onto eBay, I could easily view my recent searches, check the items that I am “watching”, and bid on them in a matter of seconds.  In fact, not only is the bidding simple but I can purchase and pay for them with a click of the mouse.  The user’s shipping and credit card information are stored within their account for future use.  It merely takes a password to access this information and it is scary how simple it is to purchase once logged in.  This is such a user-driven site and even computer illiterate individuals can easily navigate through the searching, bidding and payment process.  Although this is a great advantage for sellers and very convenient for buyers, but does the simplicity of navigation and use make it too easy  for hackers or the untrustworthy to utilize your credit card information?

Facebook has metamorphosized since its birth.  I do think that it’s a great tool to stay in contact with high school friends and those that we rarely see.  As Jen said, yes it can be a stalker tool, but the beauty of it is the fact that we personally control what is displayed on our profiles.  If you think it’s too impersonal or stalkerish, then simply don not include your pictures or information you don’t want to share.  By publishing them on your page, it is creating an open invite to share your personal life with others and you know that people will be looking.  If you believe that it’s too impersonal, then avoid openly publishing them and save them to show personally.

When coming to Grove City, it was fun to meet freshman and recognize them as “the girl with the sombrero picture”, or “the boy with the red Corvette picture”.  Obviously, these refer to the standout profile pictures that were currently selected.  At the time, a Facebook profile consisted of a picture, contact information, some personal information, your birthday, and of course….the wall.  It was plain, simple, and classic.  Today, some profiles are hardly recognizable.  There has been a huge number of tools and applications created to include in a profile; they’re endless!  Add television show quotes.  Include big pictures.  Add video clips.  Display a Bible verse of the day.  Have big pictures shown.  Give gifts.  Poke, slap, spank, kiss, hug, kick, wink at a friend.  The list continues.  I sometimes find these additions annoying.  These invitations to build a snowman, attend an event, be a superstar, find out if I’m naughty or nice, see if I’m addicted to The Office, take a quiz or be ranked by someone else build up on my side pane and I never touch them.  Honestly, nobody should have enough time to create or share these things with their other online friends.  What happened to the fun, clean, simple communication tool that Facebook was?