Social Networking Websites Help Users Connect With the World Around Them Through the Means of Communicating With Others

Social networks—defined as the use of internet websites in which users have the ability to freely interact with one another through various forms of multimedia—has become one of the most pervasive forms of communication within the last century. Within the realm of social media, users can utilize a synthesis of novel words, visuals such as pictures and videos, and even audio recordings, in order to engage in person-to-person conversations. Such websites are attuned to a plethora of unique audiences, manifesting in countless forms of social networks such as blogs, forums, wikis, podcasts, and many more.

SixDegrees.com Becomes the First Recognized Modern Social Network Website

Six Degrees allowed people
to freely communicate with
friends and other social groups.

Created in 1997, the first modern social network website was Six Degrees, which permitted users to create a profile and make friends with other users. This website allowed users to create individual profiles, make small social groups, and search and invite other friends to join the site. At the pinnacle of its popularity, approximately one million user profiles were made, allowing many people to interact with one another. However, the founders of this website became persistent in trying to get as many users as possible, constantly reminding people to refer as many friends into the website with no incentive whatsoever. This encouragement led to the downfall and shutdown of this website in 2001; many users complained about the spamming of membership invitations in their e-mails, thus, causing many people to delete their profiles in order to cease the spam.

Friendster Arises as the Next Major Social Network Site, Emphasizing the Concept of Discovering Friends and Friends-of-Friends In Order to Expand Individual Social Networks

Friendster's "Circle of Friends" concept
attempted to connect as many people as possible
through common interests and friends.

Developed in 2002, Friendster, or the “granddaddy of social networks”, became the next major social networking website, with 3 million users signing up within 3 months. Utilizing the “degrees of separation” concept from Six Degrees, the website was led by the “Circle of Friends” idea, allowing people to discover friends, and then friends of their friends, and so on in order to expand each user’s individual social network. The ultimate goal of Friendster was to create an online community that allowed its users to meet in a safe place other than in real-life. It attempted to match users to other users with the same interests and friends, thus, connecting people based on the assumption that friends-of-friends would have a better chance at connecting rather than two complete strangers. Currently, since the site lost many of its users due to other emerging networks, Friendster strayed from its original intent and is now attempting to become an online gaming website.

Unique Profile Customization Abilities Makes Myspace More Popular than Friendster

MySpace allowed users to completely
customize their profiles, such as adding
unique layouts and music players.

MySpace followed and surpassed Friendster in 2003, ultimately gathering 90 million profiles within a short period of time. The major reason why MySpace became popular, especially towards the younger audience, was because it allowed its users complete customization over their profiles; with embedded music, videos, and customizable layouts, each user’s profile is unique, giving a sense of individuality that many social network sites failed to develop. Borrowing the same networking ideas from Friendster, MySpace allowed its users to communicate through public comments posted on their profiles, as well as private messages, bulletin posts, and blog posts. In addition, MySpace introduced MySpace IM in 2006, an instant messaging client which allowed users to instantly chat with friends. As of now, MySpace is catering towards the music world, revamping its site to help showcase up-and-coming artists around the world.

With an Easier and Simpler User Interface, Facebook Becomes Today’s Leading Social Networking Website by Appealing to a Wide Range of Users

Facebook borrows aspects from preceding social networking
sites, such as customization of individual profiles, connecting
with friends, and the creation of small social groups.

Facebook, which launched in 2004, was created by Mark Zuckerberg with the original intent for Harvard college students to connect with each other. After surpassing MySpace as the leading social networking website in 2006, Facebook currently has 1.1 billionusers worldwide, with the number of new users exponentially growing each year. One reason as to why Facebook became successful is because it appealed to a wide range of users; from older to younger generations, from business professionals to college students, the website has a plethora of uses that accustom to each individual's purpose.

MySpace, which lost many of its users because of Facebook, only appealed to the younger audiences, who quickly grew out of the “customization and individualization” aspects rather quickly. Furthermore, Facebook also had a simpler and cleaner user interface, which made using the website much easier than other preceding social networking sites, such as Six Degrees and Friendster, which many users found to be cumbersome. Now, Facebook borrows a lot of successful aspects from past social networking sites, such as adding instant messaging client and customization of individual profiles (borrowed from MySpace), connecting with friends and suggestions to friends of friends (borrowed from Friendster), and also permitting users to make small social groups with common interests (borrowed from Six Degrees).

In today’s society, social media has become an essential aspect to almost everyone’s life. With the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, people are now using such sites as a way to communicate, stay in touch, keep up on current news, and entertain oneself. Social networks are now being used as a way to help connect individuals to the world around them.

The Use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) Proves to be an Ineffective Way to Prohibit Online Piracy

Over the last few decades, many digital media companies strive to protect their products from copyright infringement. From Apple to Microsoft, such companies have implemented—or still continue to implement—the use of DRM on their products.

DRM, which stands for “Digital Rights Management”, is the use of technological restrictions that attempt to control what a media users can do with their products. Traditionally, DRM is achieved through a series of codes that prevent a user doing a myriad of actions to their products, such as copying or sharing media. In the end, DRM attempts to stop piracy through the means of extreme control, making it extremely anti-consumer and anti-user.

DRM can be applied to a myriad of electronic and digital media, such as music, movies, eBooks, games, and software. In addition, it also has an innumerable amount of functions that ultimately prohibit users from doing a handful of actions when it comes to their products. Some examples include:

• A movie software limiting the number of digital copies a user can make.
• Music files, such as digital audio, prohibiting users from sharing with others.
• Online bookstores restricting on the number of devices a certain eBook can be on.
• Online games preventing products to resold or traded with others.

Audials Tunebite 6
A popular program that removes
DRM from an array of digital media.

If DRM has so much restriction and tries to prevent copyright infringement, then why does online piracy still exist? Perhaps the major reason why the use of DRM is ineffective in today’s digital world is that a few tech-savvy users have devised a way to bypass against the restrictive codes, thus proving that it can be hacked. Suprisingly, there are many products out there that can bypass DRM, with a number of websites even recommending “Top 5 DRM Removing Programs” that can be bought and used on almost any media platform.

An example of how DRM can be “hacked” is through illegally downloaded music. Apple’s iTunes once contained DRM in their collection of digital media content, such as music. Once users found out that they could not share their music with others, some developed and used the aforementioned DRM removing programs to counteract against the DRM codes. Currently, such users who provide DRM-free music are now sharing with millions of people for free, subsequently illustrating the world of piracy.

Consumers created a poster that illustrates
their anger against Xbox One and its use
of DRM in its online gaming market.

In the context of today’s marketplace, DRM proves to have a significant relevance to the digital media industry. One such example is the controversy surrounding Microsoft’s upcoming product: the Xbox One. After revealing that the new Xbox one will exclusively use downloadable media protected by DRM, many consumers were angered, ultimately boycotting against the company’s decision by refusing to buy the device. When realizing the amount of consumers and revenue the company has lost, Microsoft decided to make their content DRM free. Since then, many companies have followed in the footsteps of Microsoft and are considering to make their content DRM-free as well, hoping to avoid losing customers.

Overall, DRM can be ineffective in a numerous amount of ways. Although it strives to thwart off copyright infringement, many people have learned to bypass the restrictions, thus perpetuating the act of piracy. Many consumers are angered by the use of DRM because of its harsh restrictions; they believe users should determine what they can do with the products they buy, not the companies.