MySpace is a type of "social networking" website where people meet, socialize, and create friendships. The way MySpace members, particularly younger individuals, interact online underscores the changing nature of mass media. Media system dependency states that individuals become reliant on media in their daily life because of fundamental human goals. This reliance, termed a dependency, leads to repeated use. Media system dependency was applied in the current study to explain how and why individuals became habitual MySpace users. To attain results a survey was administered to a convenience sampling of 401 adult undergraduates at the University of Central Florida. Members reported MySpace dependency had a moderate correlation to MySpace use, and they actively used the website an average of 1.3 hours of use per day. Results indicated members use MySpace to primarily satisfy play and interaction orientation dependencies. MySpace use was found to have a correlation with number of MySpace friends. "Number of friends created" in turn had a correlation with MySpace dependency, as people returned to interact with their friends. Individual factors were also found to be a source of influence in MySpace dependency. These individual factors were demographics, psychological factors related to use of the Internet, and psychological factors related to use of MySpace. Factors related to MySpace, extroversion and self-disclosure, were positively correlated with intensity of dependency. The influence of factors related to the Internet was partly supported; computer self-efficacy was not significantly related to MySpace dependency, while computer anxiety was significantly related to MySpace dependency. Speed of connection to the Internet and available time to use the Internet were not related to MySpace dependency. Additionally, significant differences were found between genders in overall dependency, extroversion, self-disclosure, computer anxiety, and computer self-efficacy. These findings provide evidence that MySpace members were little, if at all, constrained by factors related to use of the Internet, but were attracted to the websites for similar reasons as real-life relationships. Finally, MySpace is just one of the large number of online resources that are predominantly social, such as email, message boards, and online chat. This study found that through a "technology cluster" MySpace members use these other social innovations more frequently than non-members. However, members also used significantly more non-social innovations, which may indicate that MySpace members are part of a larger technology cluster than anticipated or perhaps are in the same category of innovation adopter.

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This diploma thesis deals with a new trend in the corporate sector -- social networks. These in fact have become a phenomenon due to its growing popularity in recent years. The aim of this thesis is to introduce the social networks in a broader context -- especially the analysis of milestones of social networks. Further comparison of selected social networks from the perspective of business alias what options the company offers a social network for your presentation with access to user data (Social CRM). The third part of the aim of this work is to analyze the critical factors in the integration of social networks into the enterprise information system. The work can be divided into the descriptive (Chapters 2-4) and the practical (Chapters 5-6) part. The first part presents the social networks, the concept of Social CRM and basic characteristics of systems integration. The practical part is focused on all those aims. Author of the work receives information primarily from the electronic information resources that are available at University of Economic in Prague and also from various sources that are on the principle of Web 2.0 (Czech and foreign). Finally, the author also receives information from social networks (social networks options). The work serves as a summary and mapping of existing communication channels on the Internet (e-mail, IRC, selected social networks) and summarizes the critical factors in the integration of social networks into the enterprise information system according to the individual project phases.

Under 2000-talet har medie- och musikklimatet varit i omstöpning. Förutsättningar för att dela, distribuera och upptäcka musik har förändrats i grunden. Soundcloud, en digital musikplattform som startade sin verksamhet hösten 2008, står på många sätt i centrum för denna utveckling. Det övergripande syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att utifrån ett antal ämnesområden kopplade till teknik och musik, sociala funktioner och relationer, ett förändrat musiklandskap samt Soundclouds samarbete med Audible Magic tematiskt analysera och problematisera den digitala musikplattformen Soundcloud med utgångspunkt i kvalitativa intervjuer med artister/producenter/DJ:s verkandes inom den elektroniska scenen. Mer specifikt behandlas användarnas förhållning till upplevelsen av musik genom den särskilda teknologi och grafiska inramning som Soundcloud tillhandahåller samt de sociala funktioner som implementerats. Vidare problematiseras synen på Soundcloud som ett community, förhållandet mellan global och lokal tillhörighet samt hur artister respektive lyssnare förhåller sig till ett nytt medie- och musikklimat. Slutligen belyser uppsatsen Soundclouds nyligen initierade partnerskap med Audible Magic – ett företag som specialiserat sig på automatiserad identifiering av medieinnehåll. I tidigare forskning behandlas den så kallade modscenen samt den forskning som bedrivits kring det komplexa förhållandet mellan musik, teknologi och sociala praktiker. Det teoretiska ramverket är baserat på Chris Andersons ”Long Tail”-teori, med betoning på demokratiseringen av distributionsmedel respektive produktionsverktyg samt nya filter för urval och sammankoppling mellan utbud och efterfrågan. Vidare berörs Gerd Leonhards samtidsforskning om det nya medie- och musikklimat som står inför dörren. Studien har belyst Soundclouds distinkta grafiska gränssnitt och sociala funktioner och dess inverkan, i både positiv och negative bemärkelse, för hur musik upplevs. Studien visar att Soundcloud kan ses ett steg framåt i processen att göra delning av musik i digital tidsålder mer social, en utveckling som emellertid bromsas av faktum av att banden mellan användarna i många fall är allt för svaga, vilket bland annat beror på Soundclouds allt för kraftfulla filtrering- och urvalsmekanismer. En konsekvens av detta är att Soundcloud i sig ofta inte ses som ett community, utan blott som ett verktyg eller en länk mellan lokala noder. Denna slutsats stärks av faktum att samtliga informanter framhöll lokal tillhörighet som grundläggande. Musikaliska samarbeten via en digital musikplattform som Soundcloud menar man aldrig kommer att kunna ersätta det kreativa utbyte som sker fysisk mellan människor. Partnerskapet med Audible Magic är ännu i ett tidigt stadium. Studien visar att samarbete kan få både negativa och positiva följder. Det negativa består i att DJ-mixar kan komma att försvinna från Soundcloud. Det positiva i att en ökad upphovsrättslig kontroll kan fungera som ett incitament för att göra artister mer originella i sitt arbete

The current report reviews the recent literature on online social networking (Facebook and MySpace) and its psychological impact on students. Both the negative and positive effects of online social networking are explored. According to the literature, cyberbullying and sexting have the greatest negative impact on students. However, students greatly benefit from the social capital and friendship maintenance that online social networking provides. Intervention and prevention strategies for the negative consequences of online social networking are included. Finally, this report provides suggestions for counselors and teachers to help students safely use technology. / text

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Web2.0締造了許多創業神話與熱潮，但是往往能夠迅速火紅的網站鳳毛麟角，因此本研究以網際網路史以來使用者擴散最快的網站- YouTube做為核心個案，共12個研究個案，研究兩個問題： 1. YouTube使用者能迅速擴散、人氣起飛的原因為何？ 2. 類似的概念許多影音分享網站比YouTube先做、有的和YouTube同時做，為何是YouTube第一個吃下市場，而非所謂有先進者優勢的創新公司？網路是服務複製十分快速的產業，面對後起者的大企業挾金彈攻擊模仿，YouTube為何仍能屹立不搖？ 早在1997年，在頻寬成本都還很高的時候，ifilm就已經開始了線上影片上傳的服務，後續也推出免費上傳影片。Break(1998) 也以主打男性幽默，累積了很高的影片數量，然而當時相關環境卻還不成熟，部落格和線上相簿分享都不普遍。。在2003~ 2005年間，同時有Metacafe(2003)、Grouper(2004)、Sharkle(2004)、Vimeo (2004)、Veoh (2005)、Revver (2005)等影音分享網站各自以精緻影評、P2P、藝術取性、利潤共享等概念切入市場。從YouTube(2005.2)的成長可看到一段不斷嘗試錯誤的過程，從一開始主打美女影片概念、「你的數位儲藏庫」、「上傳、標籤並與世界分享你的影片」、最後出現富有Web2.0精神、彰顯自我的「Broadcast your self」，Slogan改了四次，使用者介面設計也有大幅的改變，程式上也對處理遽增的流量做了大量調整。 資源豐富的大公司Yahoo! 在面對YouTube的成長無所知覺，堅守影片搜尋，錯失先機；而Google雖然比YouTube早推出，但卻仍從搜尋出發，並且對使用者上傳有嚴格的限制，歷經轉型線上影片商店失敗，最後以16.5億美金收購YouTube收場(2006.11)。YouTube發展出「嵌入影片」的功能 (2005.6)，使用者以病毒式擴散，MySpace成為其流量的主要來源 (超過20%)，引發MySpace自家推出MySpace video (2006)，誓言複製一個YouTube。但YouTube腳步並未因為複製而停下，隨著創意影片越來越多，持續針對使用者需求開發新功能，不斷快速設計、測試與修改，YouTube是與使用者共同開發、一同成長，成為YouTube魅力所在。 本研究發現：（一）在嶄新的產業或原創的領域中，學習對象並非專家或權威，而是市場。對於願景的堅持，不斷的針對市場修改，才是持續成長的原因。（二）連結比產能重要，應同時啟動網絡效應與間接網路效應：找到巨人的肩膀，有效利用外部資源，專注自己的核心（三）網路產業複製迅速，先進者難有優勢。優勢來自於企業能夠快速跟上環境脈動的反應力和市場觀察力。並且從利基市場出發，與使用者共同演化完整商品（四）草根策略：大量試驗以聆聽使用者的聲音，速度比正確重要，追求「夠好」而非「最好」，培養能讓創新不斷生長出來的土壤。（五）如果不能有效的輸入知識，核心能力=核心僵固。 / “Web2.0” creates lots of entrepreneur legends and becomes a new trend. But only few of the Web 2.0 websites can grow and become very popular. Therefore, this study picks “YouTube”, the fastest growing website in the Internet history as its core case, and it includes 12 study subjects in total. The two research questions are listed below. 1. Why did YouTube grow so fast? 2. The concept of video sharing which YouTube provided appeared frequently. Some of the websites started their service first; some of them did similar things at the same time. Why not the other competitors who had first mover advantage could win, but YouTube won? One of the characteristics of Internet Industry is “easy to copy”. When facing the competition of big companies which duplicate their idea and attacked with abundant resources, why did YouTube still survive? Ifilm (1997) started its online video sharing business when the cost of bandwidth was still very high. And it served online videos for free afterwards. Break (1998) featured male’s humor, attracted a large number of videos. However, the related environment was not ready. Blog and online photo sharing were not popular at that time. In 2003 to 2005, lots of similar competitors such as Metacafe (2003), Grouper(2004), Sharkle(2004), Vimeo (2004), Veoh (2005), and Revver (2005) established. Some of them used P2P technology; some of them had great editor reviews, and the others provided revenue sharing model. On the other hand, YouTube’s growth came from continuous try-and-error. It failed to be a hotties video sharing website in the begining, and then tried to be “Your Digital Repository”, “Upload, Tag and Share Your Video Worldwide”, and now positions itself as a website for “broadcast yourself” which represents the spirit of Web 2.0. The slogan of YouTube has changed for four times, and the user interface has also changed dramatically. When facing increasing users and videos, YouTube tuned their program very often as well. Yahoo! lost the timing of catching up. Because it stayed in its core capability- search. Although Google video got online a little bit earlier than YouTube, it still started from video search. Moreover, the upload policy is too strict. Google ended up with acquiring YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars after the failure of operating an online video store (2006.11). YouTube developed “Embed” feature and caused a viral spread. MySpace became its main upstream (over 20%). That made myspace build its own “MySpace video” service and vowed to duplicate a similar service as YouTube. Neverthless, YouTube was not stopped by MySpace’s reaction. As creative videos became more and more, YouTube continued developing new features to fit users’ needs. It rapidly went through the cycle of “build-design-test”. Because YouTube grew with its users, co-development with the users became its charisma. The findings are as following. (1) In a developing industry or a new field, the gurus are not experts or authorities, but are the market audience. The insistency of vision and the will to change with the market are the reasons why YouTube continues to grow. (2) Both network effect and indirect network effect should start and be used simultaneous. Linkage is more important than productivity. Take advantage of external resourses efficiently; especially take advantages of those giants in the other industry. Concentrate on company’s own core capability. (3) Because duplication happens often in the Internet industry, the first mover advantage seldom exits. The real advantage is from the ability of quick reaction and deep consumer observation. (4) Grass strategy: using a large scale testing to hear the voices of consumers. The changing speed is more important then accuracy. Pursue “good enough” solution, not “the best” one. The formation of enterprise strategy is like growing grass. The point is keeping the soil fertile and keeping it free to grow. (5) Core capability will be core rigidity if one company can not input knowledge into its organization.

Syftet med det examensarbete som genomförts har varit att kartlägga processen för att på egen hand lansera sin musik i form av ett fullängdsalbum tillgängligt att köpas både i form av digitala nedladdningar och som traditionell CD-skiva. I arbetet har vi bekantat oss med viktiga aspekter angående distributionsavtal, upphovsrätt, marknadsföring, design, foto, logotyper, texter och koder man bör känna till. En stor del av arbetet har även ägnats åt att förklara och utreda den sista delen i ljudbearbetningen - mastring. Dessutom har vi satsat på marknadsförning och exponering på Internet samt olika betalningslösningar som möjliggör skivans försäljning. För att erhålla de nödvändiga delarna i arbetsprocessen har kontakt upprättats med bland andra: IFPI, Grammotex, N©B och Dicentia. I rapporten får vi följa den progressiva rockgruppen Cap Outrun och deras väg till målet i form av en fallstudie.

The silence and invisibility of Puerto Rican soldiers in fictional and non-fictional representations of U.S. Wars has motivated me to look for alternative spaces in which these unaccounted voices and images are currently being produced, stored, circulated, and memorialized. Within this framework, my dissertation explores the self-representation of Puerto Rican servicemen and women in social networking sites (SNS), (i.e. as MySpace and Facebook), in user-generated content (UGC) platforms, (i.e. YouTube), and also in web memorials. I am interested in understanding how Puerto Rican soldiers self-represent their ethnonational identity online within the overlapping of second-class citizenship. The theoretical framework proposed for this research will apply theories such as 1) articulation; 2) the notion of contact zone; and 3) colonial/racial subjectivities. To complete this goal, my research method draws on online ethnography, textual, and critical discourse analysis. Firstly, I will discuss the limited repertoire of images of Puerto Rican soldiers in TV and film. My argument is that, besides the massive omission of this history, the images and motifs that do escape de facto social censorship will be in conversation with the self-representations. The second chapter is the result of four years of the process of online ethnography on which I analyze the instances of self-representation of Puerto Rican soldiers in SNS. My interest was seeing how those spaces were inflected by an ethnonational subjectivity. The third chapter explores the ways Puerto Rican soldiers, embedded in mash-up cultures, uses UGCs platforms to upload videos that transform the soldiers from passive consumers of images to active producers of content, which tend to disrupt dominant narratives of power. The last chapter explores the emergence of web memorials dedicated to the Puerto Rican soldiers. My main argument is that these instances of self- representation in online spaces are in conversation with the moments of silences and misrepresentations of Puerto Rican soldiers in traditional media, but also have become acts of enunciation in which the particular Puerto Ricanness of the Puerto Rican soldier is affirmed within complex, layered histories of imperialism, racism, heterosexism, and second-class citizenship. / text