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Saturday, April 29, 2006

The world is linked.

The world is linked because we've shrinked it.

Technology has shrinked the world so much that every single individual in the world is interrelated.

How? Well, simple. We have managed to create softwares/programmes that allows all of us to know how we are linked to one another. Welllll, using these programmes, we not only can see HOW are we linked/related, we can change our relationships too!

Alright, for example, FRIENDSTER. I am sure all of us are aware of this clever website that links everyone together.

Friendster aims to shrink the world by connecting people (just like nokia. oh well, more about communication another day!). And so far, 27+ million people have created accounts there. It is also proclaimed to be the best way to stay connected to friends and meet NEW people who share similar interests.


Friendster makes it possible for us to find old classmates and co-workers easily, we are able to view the profiles of our friend's friend's friend's friend, simply anyone! This enables us to make enlarge our social circle. Friendster groups also allow people with similar interests to gather and makes friends.

Now you have an idea on how Friendster, a single website, can shrink the world. Yes, it enlarges our personal social circles, and at the same time, reduce the size of the globe. Welll, acutal displacement is always zero on the internet anyway!

This photo here gives a very very clear example on how friendster shrinks the globe by linking everyone. I randomly clicked on someone's name... and Tadaa! I discovered that she is so closely linked to me. Not only that, she is linked to me in more than one ways. So, if the friend of my friend is a friend, all of us are friends! Like the food chain, we are all connected through one another.






Amazing. And this is only one website that provides such a service. Of course, there's more!
Here's another example. Hi5! It offers the same services. But, sadly (for the production team), it is not as widely used as friendster.







The internet is fascinating. All hail to the inventor of the internet! And this is just one way how some services on the internet work to reduce the size of the globe. In the next few entires, I will be blogging about Internet Gaming (how that isn't affected by physical boundaries), and how technology improves communication/transport. Stay tuned!

Ziye, the technological 'expert'.




Posted by leaf at 7:20 pm
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