Tell Me The Future

1. Who is Chris De Wolfe and what does he say is the future for social networking? What impact will portable hardware have on this area of technology?

Chris De Wolfe is the Co-Founder of Myspace.com: a website which allows users to create an individual profile where you can create blogs, post pictures and interact with other users over the one website- basically put their entire offline lives online. This website is an example of web 2.0.

He claims that “more than ever, social networks are blurring online and offline worlds, evolving into social destinations that are driving the direction of the larger web and affecting industries like advertising, music and politics.
Predicting the future of social networks exclusively misses the larger point - these evolving online social destinations are laying the groundwork for the new social web which we believe is becoming infinitely more personal, more portable, and more collaborative.”

This idea of the online world becoming more portable is fast becoming reality as almost everything, including mobile phones and hand held games consoles, have immediate access to the internet, all over the world: “In terms of mobile, we expect to have relationships with every carrier and device-maker in the world and we expect that half of our future traffic will come from non-PC users.”

De Wolfe also thinks that creativity and development are collaborative concepts: the future of the social web will harness the savvy of the masses to produce more relevant and meaningful social experiences, ultimately pushing the larger industry to be more innovative and progressive.

The online world is looking to move forward creatively, interactively and portably- whilst still being personal and engaging for the user.

2. Who is Chad Hurley and what does he say is his company's goal? Is he a positive or negative technological determinist?

Chad Hurley is the CEO and Co-founder of YouTube: a website which allows users to upload and view videos quickly and easily for free. He says that “In five years, video broadcasting will be the most ubiquitous and accessible form of communication. The tools for video recording will continue to become smaller and more affordable. Personal media devices will be universal and interconnected. People will have the opportunity to record and share video with a small group of friends or everyone around the world.”

Every day, Eight hours worth of video are uploaded onto YoutTube every MINUTE and this figure is still growing rapidly. The aim is to make uploading and viewing videos as simple “as making a phone call” and put the user directly in the centre of their video experience: completley in control and able to share anything from family videos to news and sport, and then view it from their living room…or their pocket.



3. What does Maurice Levy say is the challenge for advertisers and what is 'liquid media' compared to 'linear media'?

Maurice Levy (Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe) claims that the new challenge for advertisers in this age is engaging an audience who, due to such developments as Sky+ (the ability to rewind and fast forward programmes, effectively giving the user the ability to miss the adverts), are no longer required to watch advertisements. Advertisers are being made to become far more creative and innovative in the way they attract an audience and with the advances in technology far more options are open to them.

Linear media is where a user is taken from point A to point B with no other options in between, such as on VHS where the user can rewind and fast-forward between the beginning and end but effectively has nowhere else to go. In contrast to this we now have liquid media where the user is free to navigate wherever they want however they want. For example we have DVDs, where the user is presented with a menu filled with different options, allowing the user to move between the options in a free and unrestricted way.

4. What parallels does Norvig draw between Edison inventing electricity and the development of online technology in terms of searching for information? (tricky question - read this section carefully)

Peter Norvig (Director of Research, Google) says that just as when Edison invented electricity, he knew its usefulness and some of its possibilities (such as light) but couldn’t possibly have predicted the devices we have now (computers, mp3s, microwaves, televisions…the list can go on forever!) just as in the future information will come to us and pave the way for the creation of devices we haven’t even imagined yet. Edison created electricity and got light; we type a keyword into Google and get some websites. From Edison’s discovery we have the appliances we see as common today; from our discoveries into technology we have access to a whole new way of finding information.


5. What are the issues for the developing world? How is this evidence of a 'digital divide'? (socio-economic divide due to access to technology)