Social Networking

So the importance of social networking sites seems to have already been beaten to death. Companies, whether online-based or not, have traditionally used sites like Facebook, Twitter, and iGoogle to: 1)promote upcoming events 2) create a dialogue surrounding their service 3) attract followers of similar services to their own or 4) just keep tabs on what their customers are looking for. For the Connecticut Mirror project, I looked at two challenges: a)Is there a way to use social networking sites even more specifically than the usual way businesses have been and b) how do we get older people or those less inclined to use Fb (i.e Dan) to follow the trend as well.

I think the point is to use those sites as a way to compensate for what the Connecticut Mirror site would probably inherently lack. For example, it would not be able to post infomation as quickly as Twitter. But the advantages of "microblogging" for a start-up news aggregator are just too good to overlook. With each post, you give the reader five more links to look at. For sites like the Ct Mirror, it is not about how much original content you provide but how easily you can provide people with the information they want (just like the Google model).

Further sites like FB are generally better at organizing reader's comments. If a company does a good job at continually posting on its FB page, it can provide all of the conveniences of microblogging, linking to more expansive articles, and providing a space for discussions. In the meantime, the main site will provide links to not only the main social sites but also to apps for smartphones (i.e. Blackberry and iphone).