SciTechBits – Interesting Bits of Science & Technoglogy Served For You!

With universities understanding the value of social media, universities are equally competing with companies to establish their brand value on the internet. Almost all universities have embraced Twitter, Facebook and other social networks as a medium of communication to their community.

Today, in a newly launched homepage for University of Illinois at Chicago (www.uic.edu), the home page directly links to a subreddit. And it does not stop with a link to the subreddit, a Reddit widget linking to the top 3 items from the subreddit has been listed as well. With UIC just launching this today, it will be interesting to watch how well the students and staff, would like to participate in this.

Privacy has been a major issue with all Social Networks. While the networks do try to address the issues, most of the times – the solution provided is opting out of certain features. Researchers have tested a new privacy model, based on Bayesian Belief Networks – which creates a win-win situation for both the users and the network.

Everyday so many users join Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MySpace etc, to keep up with friends, organize events with friends, make new friends, or flirt. One of the main features of SNSs is the”profile” where users post information about themselves. The profile can include real name, e-mail, physical address, phone number, academic classification, major, hometown, birthdates, sexual orientation, relationship status, interests, job history, favorite music/movies/books, etc. This revelation of personal information provides credibility to the profile and also helps match with other profiles. Users post personal information for a variety of reasons – 89% use it to keep up with friends, 57% use it make plans with friends, and 49% use it to make new friends. How much and what kind of information is revealed depend on users’ privacy concern and the trust on the SNS and its members.