Direction for [ Question No: 116 To 116 ] :
Read the following passage and answer the questions :
While Boyd allows that some people consider email or discussion lists to be Social Software, he makes an important distinction between traditional communication software and Social Software. He explains that traditional software places people into groups with a top-down approach; in other words, it assigns membership. However, Social Software takes a bottom-up approach, which enables people to organize themselves into a network based on their preferences. Therefore, with a bottom-up approach, people can sign up for a system and build communities using their personal preferences (Marenzi et al., 2008). In contrast, traditional communication software uses a top-down approach where people are assigned into a specific organization or groups. Social Software is based on supporting individuals who interact socially with people who have similar interests (Marenzi et al., 2008). In addition, users typically enjoy Social Software itself and work with various Social Software applications voluntarily. For example, the authors of social media enjoy content that they have created themselves, content that is copied from other media, and mash-ups that contain a mix of content that could possibly be from several authors (Ahonen and Lietsala, 2007). The popularity of social technologies is attributed to the increase in low-cost tools and the critical mass of millions of people who are now connected to the Internet and to the people's need to feel like part of a community (Avram, 2006). These users tend to rely more on their own personal social networks than on traditional business structures. (Vinson 2005) describes additional features of Social Software tools: they allow people to easily participate (by both contributing and reading) in the activities; they provide the opportunity for networking and allow for the self-forming of networks since people are usually both consumers and producers; and each individual can be a member on several networks simultaneously (Avram, 2006).
