Google Plus
I use Google Plus to socially network with things which interest me aswell as to keep updated with what my friends are doing. I am able to post an update in stream so everybody is able to view this, I can publish toa circle so only people who are inside that may view it and I can send messages to individuals or circles.
A circle is a group of people who I have placed in to that circle. I have five circles, one called "following" which is my public stream, another called Acquantances for people I wish to follow and know mutually but do not know personally, another circle is called Family which I have added my family members in to and my fourth circle is called Friends which I have added my friends in to. I can choose what I want to share with these circles by adding to the stream. Below is a picture of my Google Plus profile.
Some more advanced features in Google Plus include hangouts, these let me hangout with different users and I can make this public or private. Everybody in the hangout can see and speak with one another if they have a webcam and a microphone, just like a video call without the software. The system also has games which you can play with other anonymous users or with friends, your achievements are then published in to a games stream so if I'm really good with a game and get lots of achievements I don't annoy people by publishing everything in this through stream. Messenger is another thing which Google has incorporated with Plus but is another service which can be used seperately with Google Talk or inside of Gmail.
Google Plus has changed my life by connecting me with new people. I prefer using Google Plus to other platforms because it integrates with Google Talk (IM Platform) and it allows me to create a profile linking to everywhere I am on the web. It also helped me to repair my mobile phone as seen in the screenshot below.
As Google Plus was only released in July and is already getting quite popular as it has been promoted across all of Google's already very popular services. I have had many people add me who I do not know and I'm not sure if they know me. The great thing about combatting spam in Google Plus is that they do not have to annoy me unless I add them in to one of my circles so I have not been provoked.
Blogger
I use Blogger a lot in Sixth Form, mostly for my Media Studies work but I also use it to publish posts on the status of any projects I may be doing so I have a log of this I am able to refer to at anytime. I think Blogger is great because the service is always up whenever I need to use it. I am able to share things differently by making some posts private with a private link and making others public so any subscribers or visitors to my blog can see these.
Issues in Blogger is mainly accesibility. My Sixth Form are using Internet Explorer 8 which is not a very nice web browser and isn't able to handle new technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3 so webpages can take a while to load the alternative content in place for older browsers or will attempt to load these technologies which look broken in the web page. It is this alternative content loading which makes my experience of Blogger a bad one when accessing from my Academy's network.
Blogger has changed my life in allowing me to create a complete archive of all of my media studies work and allow my peers to evaluate and comment on my work. I prefer to use Blogger over other platforms like Wordpress mostly because of its integration with Google Reader which allows me to follow blogs and read they're lated posts as if I am subscribed to them.
Below is a screenshot of my Media Studies Blog which is the blog I use most. I also have a digital communications blog, both links are below this image.
Gmail
I use Gmail as my primary email account, for professional communications as well as important communications, the reason for this is that I have synchronized my Gmail account to push emails instantly to my HTC Desire Z Android Smartphone. This allows me to receive these important messages wherever I take my mobile phone and have a good enough signal so that my phone can communicate with Google's server platforms.
Signal is my main issue when pushing emails to my device. This isn't a fault with Gmail itself but the technology that I use for the service. Another issue as my device syncs with Google's servers is that is using battery power and I find myself having to charge my device each evening through the night so I am able to use my phone for the next day.
Some things I find especially useful in Gmail is that I am able to apply labels to messages and then sort my messages with the labels. For example. at the moment I have four labels, one for "Uni" which I sort all University replies and UCAS updates with this label, so when communicating with the institutions I am able to quickly find any documentation. I also have "Notes" which I label emails of note as well as reminders to myself. Another label is "Personal" where I label emails which are of special use for me, like account information, bank statements and PayPal emails. My fourth label is "Work" which I use with client contact and Sixth Form work. I think that it is this feature for why I prefer Gmail over other services I use such as Hotmail and Yahoo mail, labels keep me organized.
Gmail has changed my life by making me more organized and connected. It is the labels feature and its integration with Google Talk (IM Platform) that I use the service over competitors like Hotmail or Yahoo Mail.
Below is a screenshot of my Gmail inbox at the moment, I was able to archive sensitive emails so this isn't shown as default in my inbox.
Twitter
Twitter is a micro messaging service that works with users following one another. Twitter updates and private messages are limited to 140 characters. You can mention users by putting an
'@' in front of their username when posting any sort of update. You can share videos and pictures on the service using services like 'Twitgoo', 'Twitvid' and 'Twitpic'. Most recently Twitter have integrated Photobucket with their online platform allowing you to post photo's at your computer. The Twitter mobile client which I'm using on Android allows me to post updates using either Twitpic or YFrog, I opted to use Twitpic because it is much faster and has a smarter more collected appearence as opposed to YFrog being a rather messy design.
With Twitter the limited characters can often set you back but I find it to be more of a good thing because it stops the service becoming overcrowded like Facebook, reduces Spam. But, you could use services to hyperlink to an extended version of a tweet and this would give users a choice if they want to read more where other services, if users post long updates then it is in front of the user and there is no way to stop seeing it.
An issue on Twitter is the service is sometimes the service can become slow when a lot of users are on the system.
Another thing I've noticed, this isn't so annoying but is never the less there, is spam followers and mentioners. Users will bulk follow another persons follow list in the hope that people will follow back. They can then sell or advertise to these followers. Almost all the time if you mention a brand name on Twitter, like iPad or Macbook, you will find users mention you with a link to "win" or "test" a product, this is ofcourse not true and is probably a phishing scam.
Twitter has changed my life in allowing me to connect to other people of similar interests, find out latest information easier with the use of 'trends' '#hashtags' '@mentions' 'lists' and the 140 character limit makes the service unique to use and makes you think that little bit more about what you're posting.
Below is a screenshot of my mentions on Twitter, I often find myself using Twitter most on my mobile phone because it is everywhere I go, if I take photographs of places or things then I can upload from my phone and if I ever need it to communicate with somebody I can use mobile data rather than using my text allowance.
My Twitter Profile @gspenceruk
https://twitter.com/gspenceruk
SMS
SMS is short for Short Messaging Service. The service is limited to 160 characters but on my device, if I go over this then it will send as several texts which is handy but uses up several text allowances.
The service is good for immediately sending a message to another person and is betetr to other services like email or Faceebook messages because these do not notify people immediately, unless they are actually using that service. With text messaging, the service allows you to notify the other person with a notification sound, a status light and a vibration.
The downsides to SMS is that sometimes unwanted messages can come through and the service doesn't tell you the identity of the sender. You can add the name of a sender in your contact book but there's nothing to stop somebody from pretending to be another person. If somebody loses their phone and their phone doesn't have a password then the service can be abused and can cost your handset operator to charge you if you go other limits. Also, if you sign up to services and have entered your mobile number then you may get marketing messages which could become a nuisance since SMS on mobiles notify you immediately.
SMS has changed my life in allowing me to keep connected to all of my friends, work and family with its instant notification and delivery of messages, also in helping me to communicate to other people. The beauty of using SMS on my mobile phone is that I can send a message and it will push this as soon as the phone has signal, if I was stuck somewhere I can rely on my phone to send the message when it finds signal whilst I am worrying about other things!
Facebook
Facebook is a social network with over 750 million registered users across the world. Facebooka llows you to instant message, send offline messages, post updates, upload images and videos, play games and integrate with other social platforms. Facebook is always innovating with new features and this is why the service is hugely succesful and is the second most popular website
according to Alexa Web Information.
The service is good for connecting you with people and immediately notifying all the users who you are friends with. Facebook is becoming a recollection of a persons life and in the coming months as Facebook demonstrated at their yearly conference, they shall be adding the feature 'Timeline' which allows you to create an entire timeline of everything you have ever done in your life, from the moment you were born the service displays this as the first thing in your Timeline.
The bad things about Facebook is the spam. You get a lot of spam users who will add you and then send you unsolicited links or fan page invites for profit.
Facebook has changed my life by allowing me to keep a total record of all major events that have happened in my life which I have recorded on Facebook in videos, photos and status updates. As well as the smaller things and connecting with my friends using its IM platform.
My Facebook Profile:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1263341490&ref=tn_tnmn
As I've made apps on Facebook Developer I gained an early preview to the Facebook Timeline. Currently it's only available on desktop and is going to be launched 7th December. Below are some screenshots of my Timeline. You can see it is posting relevant information about me, allowing my contacts to get to know me better.
Behance
Behance is a social network for creative professionals. I create websites when I am out of Sixth Form and on Behance I am able to upload everything to do with my project in to a portfolio. I can upload images and videos and can write about what I have done. I think that the platform is great for connecting creative professionals and provides a platform where creatives can comment, feedback and appreciate one another's work.
The platform is great because I have only seen creative people on the site which is good for inspiration. The network does a great job of connecting people too, there are lots of search options and the service has helped me to find other creatives in Solihull, where I live. You can search for other members by creative field, looking at the latest projects and looking at the most 'appreciated' pieces of work.
The platform allows members to appreciate and comment on one anothers work. This is great for finding feedback.
The downsides to Behance is that it's not as popular as other social networks, in particular in the United Kingdom. The service says it has just under 500,000 users but I have only found a small amount of others in the UK who are using the service. I was able to scan the people I am following on Twitter, at the time I was following 428 people and only one of them had Behance. This was "@creativenerdsuk" who is a web designer from London. 'Creativenerdsuk' has 2,551 followers on Twitter and only 7 followers on Behance (On 29 November 2011). This shows the amount of users on the service, but it may just be that he only has 7 creative followers. I have faith in the service that it will become more popular but I will remain using the service even if it doesn't become very popular because it is a great way of building and maintaining a portfolio.
Behance has changed my life because it can connect me with local creatives and creatives from afar. The service also allows me to add work experience, projects, share projects and add items in to a portfolio of work.
Flavors.me
Flavors.me is an elegant portal that is your splash page for your online identity. You can sign up to the service by entering an email address, once, a username, once, and a password, once. The signup process was very fast and you can even do this in two clicks by connecting your Facebook or Twitter account. The service didn't even send me any nuisance email or confirmation email.
The great thing about the service is that it allows you to connect 5 online profiles for free and create a nice looking page which cleverly integrates with such services. I connected my Twitter, Facebook, Media Blog and Behance profile to my flavors (yes, American spelling). I can edit the looks of my page but to go advanced I have to upgrade to a premium plan. I think this service would appeal to me if I didn't have a personal website. I also like that the service doesn't have any advertisements.
The downside to the service is there's not really a way to discover other peoples flavors but there isn't really much use in that because I don't think the service would work so great if you were to connect with strangers. Another negative to the service is you can only attach 5 networks and you have to pay to add more services, and to have a more advance profile page.
Flavors has changed my life by connecting some of my personal profiles and is a nice service to boost my SEO (Search Engine Optimization) online and make my profiles rank higher on search engines.
Fancy
The Fancy is a wishlist network where users share cool things and can fancy different things. They have mobile apps on iPad, iPhone and Android. The Fancy is great for finding unique items and acts like a magazine in allowing you to see various people fancies and each day different fancies by different users get published on the home page so other users can fancy things. Users can add things to Fancy online, free.
My favourite things about Fancy is that it allows me to discover cool, unique things around the web. More than this, the service helps lots of businesses and allows you to earn badges which have coupon codes to these stores, so you get a saving and the business gets your custom.
The negative things about Fancy is that it isn't very popular and I don't know anybody other than myself who uses the service.
Fancy has changed my life by finding unique gifts that I can buy for people, and add things in my collection that I may want off other people!
Park Hall Academy VLE
Park Hall Academy is where I study at Sixth Form. Early 2011, they got themselves a Virtual Learning Environment. This allows the teachers to communicate with students. Students to access resources outside the Academy network, students to complete homework online, teachers to mark and provide feedback online and for students to get news, check department web pages and use chat and forums.
The things I like about the VLE is that I can access all of my Academy documents and shared drive from home, this eliminates the need for me to carry around a USB drive (I still do, more on this later!) I also like the fact that teachers can communicate, set work and provide marks online, it is an easier way to get marks, it is on demand and accessible from anywhere.
The things I don't like about the VLE is that the design is very basic and doesn't appear correctly depending on screen resolution and browser used. The system is notoriously slow, I think perhaps the slowest website that I have visited. The system take up bandwidth too, this is the reason I still carry a USB flash drive, so I don't have to use slow downloads from the VLE but it is useful if I were to forget or didn't own a memory stick!
The VLE has changed my life because it lets me carry on with my studies outside of the VLE, access my work and allows me to communicate with teachers outside of Sixth Form.
Below is a screenshot of my profile on Park Hall Academy's VLE.
