Infinite Freedom

Everybody is free from social distinction, physical location and identity on the web. People can express their opinions freely with infinite web capacity. However, it comes with the cost; information overload. If you try to search anything on Google, you would get millions of hits and you probably go through the only first couple of pages. Sure, Internet gives everyone freedom equally, but first website to come up on Google has much more influential power than the other ones. It would influence people more and shape the majority. Debra D’Agostino on his article, How the Web Polarized Politics, talks how the information tsunami causes polarization of ideas which are created by major players of the politics. I think, people are becoming more dependent on the information because we think Web is equal and free. However, each player on the web certainly has unequal influential power. Our commons, web, does not have regulation or control and that is great! However, we need to be aware that the infinite freedom of ours may not be the most equal or reliable thing.

Stalking Without Being Called a Stalker

Last week, "master of oracle", Tom Kyte, came to our class as a guest speaker.
Since I was looking at his blogs the day before, when I saw him, I could picutre his daughter and oracle building pictures he put up on his blogs.

Blog is so intersting and definately friendly. When he commented how his blog makes his sales business easier, I could totally see why!
There are couple of blogs and websites that I check frequently and some of them are quite personal.

I check my friend's blog who lives in Canada and I feel like I see her every single day...
I also check Japanese retail store's website because the comments from customers and responses are so funny, and of course I have some personal attachment to the random retail store.
Also, I check the blog of this random guy because he is funny and I even know how his x-girlfriend could talk with the ghosts and on the first day of the date, she bought toilet papers. I seriously feel like I am a stalker or something...

I think blog is the great way to shorten the distance between users and bloogers if, only if, your blog is interesting enough.
Although I never make comments on any of the blogs nor have any interaction, I know thier personal or business life for more than a year.
I think you as long as you are careful enough to what to say on the web, it is the great and fun way to approach large number of people but just know there are invisible stalkers though...

Web IdentityHow

How can virtual identity be trusted when anybody can create, manipulate, and modify them?Since, on the web, people do not interact with actual people, sure that one person can have multiple identities. The article on NPR, "Startups Help Clean Up Online Reputations" introduces the company which does it for you.
My answer is probably you are identified by the reputation which build by others. When I go to eBay or Amazon, I always look at the rating of users.
Fair enough, that the company can manipulate their rating as well. However, I think what makes website, web identity credible is the consistency of the reputation. If you see 50 super good ratings and 50 super bad ratings, then you would wonder the quality of the reputation system and also the company. I think company should and would maintain their reputation system honest and credible in order to earn trust from the customers.

What we are bargaining for usefulness.

After reading about the Japanese ImaHima,just in time, just in place matching services, I wondered where this virtual networking community is heading to. Companies are blogging not only on corporate cultures but CEO's private lives, and mobile phone users are joining the virtual community with their full personal information.The biggest Japanese social networking site, Mixi, is gaining users rapidly after the IPO last year. People are getting used to type in all the information on the web page without noticing it. I notice many people putting their personal diaries on Mixi. The outcome of this is the personalized amazon.com web page which welcomes you with the recommended books listed on the front page, and comments from your peers who read your diaries.


System is bringing more and more private information into the public, making the website purely open, non-discriminatory and useful. After the IPO of Mixi, the stock price increased dramatically, realizing the monetary value of personal data.

Yes, anyone can take advantage of open system as Naked Conversation stated as, "participation age", however, users need to be smart enough to realize the database behind the system and what you are bargaining.

Blog Works

Blog is the first marketing medium that business can advertise them and get response from the customers at the same time. I think the most important thing of today’s marketing is not to be most mentioned company on the internet, but the most trusted adviser on the internet. Nowadays, any business needs to manage the customer relations and in that sense, every business is in the service industry. That means, business needs to build trust with customers increasing the credibility and transparency, and blog can certainly improve the trust relationship with customers.

Blog Doesn’t Work

Though Corporate Blog can enhance the customer relations, it has downside to it too. The business would not be able to maintain the credibility of the customer’s comments and complains. Internet is useful but as any professor can post multiple hyper positive ratings on ratemyprofessor.com, both business and customers can also put deceptive information on the internet without hurting themselves. It is a human nature to be anti-everything and probably well satisfied customers would not bother posting any comments online, but frustrated viewer of the website would very possibly be lowering the rating by large scales.

Selfish Gene

Internet is freedom. Anybody can find out about anything on the internet, and anyone can also share anything on the internet. Internet took away the restriction on what people can share by what amount. However, this freedom came with cost; reliability and protection of commons. Since there is no physical restriction on the internet properties, only way that internet can be regulated is by people self-regulating themselves.

The author of the Selfish Gene argued that people act only to their interest or to conserve their genes. I agree with him, and I believe one can act only regarding to their interest. However, because of the self-interest to maintain one’s reputation higher, I believe people can self-regulate themselves. For example, on amazon.com, supplier can deceive buyer by giving out misleading information, but they would not do so because they are concerned about their ratings, purely selfish reasons. On the internet, identity and reputation are the same means because people can choose who they want to be, and that is the only way to protect common good against self-interest.