A Few FAQs
May 12th, 2008 by Maribeth Neelis
Whether it’s my dad asking me why people use Facebook or my own curiosity about what meme actually means, I put together the answers to the internet-related questions people have asked me recently.
Why do people use Facebook?
More people every day set up their own Facebook page. If you aren’t familiar, Facebook is a social networking site that was created by a Harvard undergrad with some friends. At first it was only open to individuals in college, which is why many people opted for it over the similar MySpace. But in 2006 it opened its doors to all, and has seen tremendous growth since then.
Not just young adults use this site now; it really is a social network for all age groups and walks of life. Most people will tell you they use sites like Facebook, Myspace, Orkut (Google’s version) and even LinkedIn to stay in touch with people–family, friends, former colleagues. Like any social network, its purpose is to allow you to easily maintain a set of connections online. This way, you are able to keep up relationships (albeit somewhat superficial) with people you would have likely lost touch with.
What is a wiki?
A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses them to contribute or modify the content, using a simplified markup language. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is probably what you think of when you hear the word wiki. However, wikis are used in many businesses to create intranets for knowledge management.
What is a meme?
A meme is a unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Memes can be tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothing-fashions. Memes move through a culture like a virus. Most recently, the term meme has been used to explain cultural phenomena transferred from person to person via the internet. Web sites that gain a cult following, videos that receive over a million views and marketing ploys like Career Builder’s MonkEmail are all examples of internet memes.
What is an RSS feed? And why would you want one?
Think of your mailbox; your postal worker brings all of your magazine subscriptions right to your door. So you don’t have to go to various stores buying one magazine at a time. And occasionally, you get a complimentary subscription from a publishing company hoping to get you hooked. Well, an RSS feed is an online version. Basically, an RSS feed is used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts, making it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special area where all content is stored. If you’re interested in getting one, Google Reader has an excellent platform. Oh yeah, it’s free.
I hope this answered some of your most pressing internet questions, or at least will give you something to discuss around the dinner table this evening. Either way, occasionally brushing up on what’s happening on the web helps you to stay ahead of the curve.
