Social Networks and Personal Information (Birthdays)

So last month I celebrated another birthday but this one was different!

Not including my new Canon EOS40D, the extraordinary thing was the amount of "Happy Birthday" wishes I received this year. In particular the amount from Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter.

This started a discussion with a wide variety of friends on what can facebook and social networks really do that is valuable!

Social Networks

Facebook makes it very easy to remember your friends birthdays - its right in front in a news feed. What is also intersting is the amount of friends that regularly log in to facebook.

Instant Messaging

More friends ping me on MSN + Yahoo Messengers.

Mobile Phone & SMS

Throughout the day my phone would ring with mates wishing me happy birthday - question: what do they use to remind them?

Email

A few more send me an email wishing me happy birthday.

Face to Face

And then friends I over the week wished me happy birthday. Obviously they have my birthday in a calendar somewhere.



I know for a long time I tried to store my close friends birthdays in my phone and sync it with Outlook.

Media is now empowering us all

Every telelvision channel is now asking for more and more interaction from us via the internet. From every news channel asking for live reports to lifestyle programs asking for advise and feedback.

The Aurora Community Channel is asking us to create our own content to display on their DIY TV segments. The following youTube video is a promotion for the Aurora DIY TV.

Internet Empowerment

This follows on from my previous posts on the convergence of television with the internet. Aurora TV is the national community television channel on Foxtel and Austar.