"The Social Web"

This blog post is based on the course "The Social Web" at Åbo Akademi University, Information Sciences. The course started in September 2011 and is focussed on co-creation and interactive relationships on the Web. Many different social media services are covered, as well as basic tools for interaction.


We have had the opportunity to get an introduction to HTML-coding of web pages, blogging and microblogging so far. This is my first blog post and my intention is to cover the relevance of groups in the coming blog posts.

New social media services have been introduced this year, including Google+ among others. The introduction of "Circles" i.e. a way to divide your social network contacts into different groups is a new way to put your contacts into various segments e.g. close friends, family, business associates and research contacts, people you follow etc.

This may be useful to separate and target communication on the Web, including Advertising and Targeted Marketing Communications. Facebook have recently copied grouping features of Google+ into their revamped Facebook service. I will come back on this blog to look at the different features and relevance to communication and interaction on the Web.


As far as I am concerned you will find my activities and posts in different social media services:
1. LinkedIn is for professional use only, and I have linked my account to Twitter for updates and interesting posts on relevant information concerning my research in Media & New Business Models:
Timo Ketonen - Finland | LinkedIn

2. Twitter is a microblog and mainly for professional use, including relevant information for my research:

Timo Ketonen (@timoketonen) on Twitter
3. Google+ is likewise an account for professional use, I have only just registered into this new service for social networking introduced by Google:
Timo Ketonen - Profile
4. Facebook is more for my private use, sharing info and events with friends and contacts within different fields of life, including hobbies and pastime interests:
Timo Ketonen | Facebook
5. Social News services: as part of my research on new business models for news I have joined two Social News sites to learn more, and to participate in the discussion of media related developments and trends:
Mashable: Timo Ketonen - Mashable
Huffington Post Social News: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Timo_Ketonen


Another service of interest is Klout, a new standard for measuring our influence and network in social media. I started using Klout in September out of interest, and during this time my score has gradually developed from 38 to 54 as of today. For the Klout score and measurement principles you may refer to http://klout.com and for my personal score you can look it up at http://klout.com/#/user/timoketonen


It's interesting to see how the social influence of different people compare with e.g. International and Finnish Media brands. I have made separate lists in order to follow certain people and Finnish / International Media Brands.


Blogging on the relevance of groups in social networking will continue in the next few weeks.