Results tagged “socialnetworking” from 60 Second Science

Welcome to a very special episode of BlossomThe Monitor.

This week: Rounding up of the best stories from the AAAS annual meeting, questioning social networks, and an open call to viewers-- help us rename this show!

No, really. "The Monitor" needs a new name--preferably one that actually shows up in a Google search. Send your ideas to help.SciAm@gmail.com !

Created, written & designed by John Pavlus / Screencasts produced by Smashcut Media / Music by Jeff Alvarez

More details on the AAAS stories after the jump.

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Continue reading 'The Monitor #5: Is Digg making us dumber?' >

What's next, goldfish on LinkedIN? No, really, a company called Botanicalls (zing) has figured out how to port their "plants that can phone you" technology to Twitter.

The idea is that the plant hits you on your burner when it needs watering.

I'm torn about this. On the one hand, a service like this is probably the only way I'd ever keep a plant alive. On the other, having ambulatory, sentient beings in my friends-list is taxing enough already.

Continue reading 'Just what we need: plants that can Twitter' >

A couple goodies for geeks that the new year has ushered in...

1. SciBook—Social Networking for Life Scientists. After you've improved your image by deleting all the unattractive friends from your Facebook profile, you can lower your reproductive fitness again by adding this fun application. SciBook matches scientists with prospective friends and collaborators on Facebook based on their research interests, favorite journal articles, disciplinary training, research methods, "favorite proteins," and "favorite scientists of all time." I'm unsure whether to describe it as "a breakthrough tool for collaborative research," or "kind of like eHarmony for people who don't get out much." You be the judge.
2. io9.com—Strung Out on Science Fiction. Gawker Media, the people who brought you Wonkette and Lifehacker, has officially acquired io9.com, a snarky blog that threatens to do for science fiction what engadget did for technology. The site is full of snarky and incisive commentary, along with plenty of random and hopelessly inside jokes. It also contains a healthy dose of science writing alongside science fiction, and according to the site's editor, Annalee Newitz, it aims to celebrate the blurring of the line separating the two. She told the New York Times, "The present is thinking of itself in science-fictional terms. You get things like George Bush taking stem cell policy from reading parts of Brave New World. That’s part of what we are playing with. We are living in world that now thinks of itself in terms of sci-fi and in terms of the future." Whether you buy Newitz's idea here, enjoy snarky humor, or you're just one of those people whose subscription to Omni got canceled every time the magazine went under, io9.com is probably worth checking out.

I am immediately revamping my Facebook profile. Anyone with goofy, personality-filled (read: "ugly) pictures is being expunged. It's me and the models from here on out.

In an article on online impression management, the New York Times notes that everyone is doing it, but not everyone knows how. It's increasingly more important to manage your online identity, but here's no solid set of best practices for using your MySpace profile to hook up--though I think there's now a book deal out there with my name on it. One trick, though, is to surround yourself with hot friends.

Continue reading 'Your sexy online friends make you look even sexier' >

Or so concludes a new study by Northwestern University that found the social networking site college freshmen prefer correlates with their race, ethnicity and the level of their parents’ education.

So much for the Internet bringing us all together.

Continue reading 'Social networking sites are divided along lines of race' >