One gender friends and tweets on the go more

Odds  are pretty good that if you see a man tapping away on his phone and you see a woman doing the same thing, that woman is more likely to be on a social networking site than the guy. At least that’s what Nielsen says.

In a study, women were found to be friending or tweeting 10 percent more than men. Interesting, but perhaps there are some reasons why this is so. After all, why would women be more likely to go on social networks while on their phones or laptops? One could say that women are more social creatures, what with the stereotype of gossip. Which is a fair accusation if you ever came across Sex and the City or Gossip Girl. To counter that, I know plenty of people who think women are technologically challenged (and usually we are).

On the other hand, maybe it isn’t so interesting. According to TechCrunchies in all age groups there are more women than men on social networks. The total shows that men make up 43.03 percent and women make up 56.97 percent. And when you break it down network by network, Brian Solis discovered that women are more prevalent on all except for Digg.

When you take into account the fact that in the U.S. there are more women than men (by 4 million), I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

Twitter hints at changes

The addition of lists made people’s experience on Twitter easier to navigate. No longer did you have to sift through all the tweets of people you follow when you’re only interested in ones from family members. Now, Twitter is apparently ready to roll out some new features; features that, as of right now, only employees have access to.

Is this good? At first, it will probably seem like the world of Twitter is ending. Whenever something new comes out for a site that changes the way you use it, those users are reluctant to change. As long as Twitter remains simple and easy to use (there are few things simpler than typing 140 characters and posting).

One of Twitterati’s suggestions for Twitter’s new feature is an “even better tool to find new friends based on interest or location.” I’m not a voracious Twitter user, but adding better location-based tools is interesting mostly because location-based networking is continuously evolving and getting better.

Privacy is a big issue for me. But as long as it can easily be turned on and off, then I don’t have a problem.

I’ll keep you updated on just what the changes are when they’re announced.

Social networking available to military

How important is it to be active in a social network? Apparently, the Pentagon decided it’s important enough to issue a new policy that allows anyone on the military’s non-classified computer network to access Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

The U.S. Department of Defense researched this decision for months before deciding that it’s important to “maximizing the capabilities” of the Internet, said Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III in a DoD press release. Still, access to other sites is still denied, such as pornography and hate crime-related.

Photo credit C. Todd Lopez, image from the United States Army Web site.

So what does this mean? Military personnel can now stay in better communication with family and friends. This new access will be better for the military in terms of recruiting. Think about how a soldier can now connect with others through Facebook or Twitter. Through these connections, people who were interested in enlisting might feel spurred to actually do it.

Another site that can now be accessed? YouTube.

These are all nice concessions for our soldiers (as well as everyone else affected by the change). Social networking is good for people, especially for those troops who are overseas and haven’t been home in a long time. I don’t know the full details of the policy, but I wonder what the policy is for troops in high conflict areas such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Is the DoD concerned about accidental information leaks? After all, people can inadvertently reveal information they didn’t mean to, post something they regret later or tweet something their employer doesn’t agree with.

Unless I’m misunderstanding the way the network works (which is likely since I have no military connections).

The next thing in social networking

The great thing about Twitter and Facebook is that people can always see what friends are up to. Often one friend will say to another, “I’ve been stalking your Facebook page.” Stalking, in this sense at least, doesn’t have a bad connotation anymore. People love to see what others are doing. They like to stay in touch and in the loop so to speak. That’s why the newest social networks are location-based, which basically means that when a person logs in their location is shown.

There’s actually a whole lot of these sites for people to choose from, but the one that I think is cool is Foursquare. The idea behind the company is to get people out to new places that friends would recommend. The site offers tips based on what your friends like or didn’t like at a place you’re going. But the fun part about Foursquare is that it’s a competition.

People love to compete. That’s why the Olympics are such a big deal. It’s why professional sports in general are such lucrative markets. Even when you’re not actually playing the fans get into it because of the nature of competition. I’m a Mets and Giants fan. Please don’t talk to me about Philadelphia. And I have a friend who lives near Philly whose family hates me when the games come on.

At Foursquare you have the chance to become the “mayor” of a location. All you do is log into Foursquare using the Android or iPhone app or go to the site on a laptop. Whoever has been to that location the most becomes the mayor. Which means you can be dethroned. And the main webpage has a live feed so you can be continuously updated. It looks a little something like this:

As you can see it’s available all over the world in over 100 cities, which is up from the 60 it was available in just a month ago.

Oh and there’s something else fun about Foursquare; how do you like free stuff?

Yes, I said the magic word: free. Or at the very least discounted. Restaurants and stores are beginning to have offers for people who go to the place and log in on Foursquare. For instance, you might get a free shot. You might get a free cup of coffee on your sixth visit or a free appetizer with your meal. That should be plenty of incentive to get people out and about.

When social networking doesn’t cut it

A few months back there was a call to promote the using of mobile technology by children and lift the ban of cell phones in school. More and more schools are embracing laptops in order to give the students more practice with technology and to give the students all the opportunities available to be competitive in the world. Since the laptop is the student’s, he or she can bring it home at the end of the day, which hadn’t been possible when students were relying on desktop computers in school labs.

The next, seemingly, logical step to making students more technology savvy is the online school, such as EPGY Online High School, which is affiliated with Stanford University. Available for students in grades 7-12, the online high school takes place entirely online and the students and teachers never meet face-to-face until graduation weekend.

However, there are some downsides to such an opportunity. Online students, who now have friends across the country and in some instances the world, have to rely on social networking platforms to connect. Some have found the distance to be more difficult to handle and have dropped out of the classes to return to regular schooling.

Social networking has always been seen as a boon, a fast way to get in touch and disseminate information to a large group. Now, some students are showing signs that social networking, while useful, is good as a supplement to actual social interactions.

Other schools have also decided that too much technology is not good for students who become easily side-tracked and some schools have dropped programs, according to the New York Times.