My Reflection on Facebook Groups:

Reflection on Facebook Groups: Web3.0 group

Why did I select this group?

I remember that Alan was interested in some information we found about web 3.0 when we were browsing for information about web 2.0 in class. Unfortunately, that article did not say more than that its writer is in bewilderment of what Web 3.0 is going to be about. My googling for other useful articles was in vain. Thus, it was a chance for me for both fulfilling the requirement of writing my reflection about facebook and finding useful stuff about Web 3.0. I used the search box by typing the words "Web 3.0" and I found this group entitled "Web 3.0." In the following lines I will mention some the impressions and findings.

General impression

There are around 13000 members who joined this group. I don't want to mention they were exactly 12930 because the number keeps in increasing. It seems that there were so many people from different backgrounds share the same interest. In the main page, there was a section that revealed that 4 of the group administrators are from Canada and one from India. From the names of two of the Canadian- located administrators it was suggested that they are originally from the middle east or the Indian sub continent.

The group in general is open to everyone interested, but what is really thrilling is that such a group gathered people from all over the world who can interact, socialize with experts in the field. Linking the members directly to the other members' profiles indicates that the user exists within a community which with no doubt offers the potential of making friendships with them and moves back and forth to the group.

By the way Ridvan was displayed as one of the 8 members in the group in the section that displays members. It was a good chance to start with someone I already knew to make a bigger network of friends. You might ask me then have you made others friends so far? My answer is no although others look nice from their pictures. So, this is another feature that facebook offers. I have subscribed to many Yahoo and Google groups in which persons are only represented in Nicknames while facebook group is more likely to mimic actual social networks.

Two more things about the main page. First, there is information displayed in the top left corner . It is one or two words description of web 1.0, web 2.0 and web 3.0 listing them in order. Web 1.0 was described as black and white, web 2.0 as color and web 3.0 as 3d. These descriptions are quite impressive and indicate to the new user that this group is well organized, brief and well structured.

The second thing is the recent news section just below the mentioned section. Contrary to the rest of the sections, this part gives a negative impression. The most recent news is dated back to October 15, 2007 which might deceive the user that this group is dead and not updated. To eliminate my worries, I checked the discussion board and realized that the group is active.

To be continued for more specific issues….

I know what I have mentioned is general about facebook groups, but I felt there is a need to describe my impressions.