Social Networks

Instructions:

Read the following text. Then, do the reading comprehension activity below.

Do the names MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, etc. ring a bell? They probably do because they are some of the most popular sites on the internet today. These sites are all called 'social networking' sites because they help people meet and discuss things online. Each of these social networking sites has its own strengths: MySpace is especially popular among teenagers, Facebook is popular with college age people, Orkut is especially loved in Brazil, and CyWorld is the site to visit in South Korea. The common thread between all of these social networks is that they provide a place for people to interact, rather than a place to go to read or listen to 'content'.

Web 2.0

Social networks are considered to be web 2.0. What does this mean? To understand this, it's important to understand what the original web did (often called web 1.0). Back in the nineties, the internet - or web - was a place to go to read articles, listen to music, get information, etc. Most people didn't contribute to the sites. They just 'browsed' the sites and took advantage of the information or resources provided. Of course, some people did create their own sites. However, creating a site was difficult. You needed to know basic HTML coding (the original language the internet uses to 'code' pages). It certainly wasn't something most people wanted to do as it could take hours to get a basic page just right. Things began to get easier when blogs (from web log) were introduced. With blogs, many more people began writing 'posts', as well as commenting on other people's blogs.

MySpace Surprises Everybody

In 2003 a site named MySpace took the internet by storm. It was trying to mimic the most popular features of Friendster, the first social networking site. It quickly became popular among young users and the rest was history. Soon everyone was trying to develop a social networking site. The sites didn't provide 'content' to people, they helped people create, communicate and share what they loved including music, images and videos. They key to the success of these sites is that they provide a platform on which users create the content. This is very different from the beginning of the internet which focused on providing 'content' for people to enjoy.

Key to Success

Relying on users to create content is the key to the success of web 2.0 companies. Besides the social networking sites discussed here, other huge success stories include: Wikipedia, Digg.com and the latest success - Twitter. All of these companies rely on the desire of users to communicate with each other, thereby creating the 'content' that others want to consume.

Activity adapted from www.esl.about.com

Reading comprehension quiz

Choose the correct answer to these questions based on the reading selection on the social networking. Each question has only one correct answer. Once you have finished, hit the "Grade Me" button to see your score.

1. Which social networking site was not mentioned in the reading?

MySpace
LinkedIn
Facebook


2. What is Facebook?

A blog
A social networking site
A content site


3. Where is Orkut especially popular?

In Japan
In South Korea
In Brazil


4. Which phrase best describes what people do at social networking sites?

They interact with other people.
They browse articles and other content.
They code pages in HTML.


5. Social networks are considered:

Web 1.0
Web 2.0
Web blogs


6. What was the original web mainly used for?

Interacting with other people.
Browsing content
Creating pages in HTML


7. Why didn't many people create web pages in the beginning?

They didn't like communicating with others.
They didn't feel comfortable coding HTML pages.
They didn't know they could create web pages.


8. Which is the best description of web 2.0 sites?

They are content driven sites.
They are platforms for interaction.
They are like blogs, but better.


9. What do web 2.0 sites rely on?

Articles written by professional journalists
Users creating content
Fast internet connections


10. What is most important for these new sites?

Users' desire to communicate with each other
Users' desire to read interesting content written by professionals
Users' desire to learn coding

Mark Zuckerberg Investigation Task

Carry out an investigation task about Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook) and post the information you found about him. You can mention anything that is interesting to you, relevant, or controversial. Get familiar with the topic by reading your colleagues' posts. You can use the internet as a source of information.

The Social Network Movie Activity

In class, we watched the film "The Social Network". Post now your answers to the following questions below. Use your notes you took during the film.

1. The Social Network portrays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a socially-awkward, insecure, arrogant, devious ego-maniac.

Do you think this is the truth? And if not, is that a problem? How would you describe Mark Zuckerberg?

2. What do you think about the folowing quote from the movie:

Mark Zuckerberg talking to the Winklevoss brothers: “If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.”

3. Mark Zuckerberg was not happy with The Social Network being based on him. He said: “I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive.”

Why do you think did he say this?

Literature/Phrasal Verbs: The Blind Assassin

A Read the first part of "The Blind Assassin". Which statement do you agree with? Post your answer as a comment.

• The facts are presented old and clinically.
• The violence of the accident is described with great emotion.

Chapter I

The bridge

Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. The bridge was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign. The car fell a hundred feet into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feath- ery with new leaves, then burst into flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom. Chunks of the bridge fell on top of it. Nothing much was left of her but charred smithereens.


B Now read the second part. Answer the questions as a comment as well.

1. Who are Laura, Richard, Mrs. Griffin, and Alex? How are they related? (The narrators name is Iris.)
2. What are the various suggested causes of the crash? How does Iris explain the crash to the policemen? Does she really believe this? Why/Why not?
3. Why is she angry with her sister?

I was informed of the accident by a policeman: the car was mine, and they’d traced the licence. His tone was respectful: no doubt he recognized Richard’s name. He said the tires may have caught on a streetcar track or the brakes may have failed, but he also felt bound to inform me that two wit- nesses—a retired lawyer and a bank teller, dependable people—had claimed to have seen the whole thing. They’d said Laura had turned the car sharply and deliberately, and had plunged off the bridge with no more fuss than stepping off a curb. They’d noticed her hands on the wheel because of the white gloves she’d been wearing.

It wasn’t the brakes, I thought. She had her reasons. Not that they were ever the same as anybody else’s reasons. She was completely ruthless in that

way.

“I suppose you want someone to identify her,” I said. “I’ll come down as

soon as I can.” I could hear the calmness of my own voice, as if from a dis- tance. In reality I could barely get the words out; my mouth was numb, my entire face was rigid with pain. I felt as if I’d been to the dentist. I was furious with Laura for what she’d done, but also with the policeman for implying that she’d done it. A hot wind was blowing around my head, the strands of my hair lifting and swirling in it, like ink spilled in water.

“I’m afraid there will be an inquest, Mrs. Griffen,” he said.

“Naturally,” I said. “But it was an accident. My sister was never a good driver.”

I could picture the smooth oval of Laura’s face, her neatly pinned chi- gnon, the dress she would have been wearing: a shirtwaist with a small rounded collar, in a sober colour—navy blue or steel grey or hospital-corridor green. Penitential colours—less like something she’d chosen to put on than like something she’d been locked up in. Her solemn half-smile; the amazed lift of her eyebrows, as if she were admiring the view.

The white gloves: a Pontius Pilate gesture. She was washing her hands of me. Of all of us.

What had she been thinking of as the car sailed off the bridge, theft hung suspended in the afternoon sunlight, glinting like a dragonfly for that one instant of held breath before the plummet? Of Alex, of Richard, of bad faith, of our father and his wreckage; of God, perhaps, and her fatal, triangu- lar bargain. Or of the stack of cheap school exercise books that she must have hidden that very morning, in the bureau drawer where I kept my stockings, knowing I would be the one to find them.

When the policeman had gone I went upstairs to change. To visit the morgue I would need gloves, and a hat with a veil. Something to cover the eyes. There might be reporters. I would have to call a taxi. Also I ought to warn Richard, at his office: he would wish to have a statement of grief pre- pared. I went into my dressing room: I would need black, and a handkerchief.

I opened the drawer, I saw the notebooks. I undid the crisscross of kitchen string that tied them together. I noticed that my teeth were chatter- ing, and that I was cold all over. I must be in shock, I decided.

What I remembered then was Reenie, from when we were little. It was Reenie who’d done the bandaging, of scrapes and cuts and minor injuries: Mother might be resting, or doing good deeds elsewhere, but Reenie was always there. She’d scoop us up and sit us on the white enamel kitchen table, alongside the pie dough she was rolling out or the chicken she was cutting up or the fish she was gutting, and give us a lump of brown sugar to get us to close our mouths.Tell me where it hurts, she’d say.Stop howling. Just calm down and show me where.

But some people can’t tell where it hurts. They can’t calm down. They can’t ever stop howling.


C In the text above, find all the phrasal verbs, and post a corresponding synonym as a comment. Check and compare your colleagues' answers!


D Here is a list of links that lead you to more phrasal verbs activities online:
Phrasal verbs 1
Phrasal verbs 2
Phrasal verbs 3
Phrasal verbs 4
Phrasal verbs 5

Activity adapted from American Headway

Synonyms: Mad World

Mad World by Gary Jules


A Listen to the song and fill the gaps by writing down your answer on a sheet of paper. Once you have finished, check your answers on this page.

VERSE 1
All around me are __________ faces,
Worn out places – worn out faces,
Bright and early for their __________ races,
Going nowhere – going nowhere.
Their tears are __________their glasses,
No expression – no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my __________,
No tomorrow – no tomorrow


CHORUS 1
And I find it kind of funny; I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m __________ 
Are the best I’ve ever __________
I find it hard to __________ you, 
I find it hard to __________
When people run in circles, it’s a very very
Mad world, mad world.

VERSE 2

Children waiting for the __________ they feel good,

Happy birthday – happy birthday.

Made to feel the way that every child __________,

Sit and listen – sit and listen.

Went to school and I was very __________,

No one knew me – no one knew me.

Hello teacher tell me what’s my __________,

Looked right through me – looked right through me.

CHORUS 2

And I find it kind of funny; I find it kind of sad.

The __________ in which I’m dying 

Are the best I’ve ever had.

I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take

When __________ run in __________, 

it’s a very very

Mad world, mad world.

Enlarge your world, mad world.

B Find the synonyms, or near synonyms, of the following expressions in the lyrics above and post them as a comment. Also write an example sentence for each synonym in the same comment.

1. don't be small-minded
2. exhausted        
3. pathetic     
4. forced to do something unwillingly  
5. insane, erratic    
6. acted as if I did not exist   
7. it upsets me    
8. strange

C Here's a list of links with further synonym activities for those of you who are interested in practicing them more!

Synonyms 1

Synonym 2

Synonyms 3 (Business and employment)

Synonyms 4 (Synonym dictionary)

The Global Economy Activity 1

What do you understand by a) globalization and b) consumerism? What are their pros and cons? Use the Internet as a source of information. 

Then, go to Piazza and start a discussion. Log in with our class name and the password I gave you in class! The discussion will start at 4pm (class time). See you there!

The Global Economy Activity 2

Do you think the following points are facts or opinions? What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?

• There are severe environmental changes taking place in the world.
• Globalization is synonymous with Americanization.
• Only 20% of the world's population lives in rich countries, but they consume 86% of the world's resources.
• The more people are in debt, the richer the banks become.
• Debt repayments by developing countries are nine times as much as the aid they receive.
• The global economy puts no value on morality, only profit.
• Countries in the industrialized West exploit workers in poorer countries.

Please write down your answers in the comments section. Also read your colleagues' answer and comment on them with a re-post.