In November 2008 Facebook drew 200 million unique worldwide visitors; more than 1 in 5 people who accessed the Internet that month visited the site. When sites are that big growth generally stagnates, but in Facebook’s case it’s still skyrocketing. In December, 222 million people visited the site says newly released Comscore stats, a 10.8% month over month growth rate. 22% of the total Internet audience went to Facebook in December.

Facebook now has nearly 100 million more worldwide users than MySpace, which added 4 million new users in December to 125 million total. The page view difference is more dramatic – Facebook had 80 billion monthly page views in December v. 43 billion for MySpace. Just six months ago the sites were about the same size.

Facebook, still a private company, is the world’s default social network. MySpace is still the king in the U.S., but trends suggest that 2009 is its last year on top. By January 2010, at current relative growth rates, Facebook will overtake MySpace as the largest U.S. social network as well.

We reached out to MySpace for a comment on the growth trends. They say “We are laser focused on building a sustainable global business which we measure by profits and revenue – not just eyeballs. In a tough economic climate, our international revenue is up 35 percent year over year and we continue to focus on those markets with the strong monetization opportunities. Additionally, MySpace continues to dominate the U.S. market–where the bulk of online advertising revenues reside–both in terms of monetization and user engagement with more than 76 million unique users and a 40% spike in engagement year over year.”

Twitter / Facebook / Myspace / Youtube means:

Marketing and Communication

Business Networking

Breaking news & getting scoops

Twitter

Twitter is a conversation enabler … just consider how much business relies on the ongoing story/relationship between a business and its customers – then finding a way to open up and strengthen this conversational channel has got to be gold. Twitter is a pretty powerful tool for anything involving promotions, events and communities. This is exactly 140 characters, it’s not too many words but that makes it great .Twitter means you do not ever have to read long messages.

Facebook:

Anyone can advertise on search engines or blog network ads (although, not for free), but these ads are targeted with more relevance based on information people put in their Facebook profiles. The Facebook Marketing Toolbox: 100 Tools and Tips to Tap the Facebook Customer Base. Facebook provides business owners with self-service solutions, market-research solutions and integrated solutions when it comes to advertising. 

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

Properties of social media:

Reach – Accessibility – Usability – Recency

Examples of social media applications include:

 Communication

• Blogs: Blogger (service), Livejournal, TypePad, WordPress, Vox
• Internet Forums: Vbulletin, Phpbb
• Microblogs / Presence apps: Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku
• Social networking: Avatars United, Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, Smarta, MySpace, Orkut, Skyrock, Netlog, Wittygraphy
• Social network aggregation: FriendFeed, Youmeo
• Events: Upcoming.org, Eventful, Meetup.com

Collaboration

• Wikis: Wikipedia, PBwiki, wetpaint
• Social bookmarking: Delicious, StumbleUpon, Stumpedia
• Social News Sites: Digg, Mixx, Reddit
• Opinion sites: epinions, Yelp

 Multimedia

• Photo sharing: Flickr, Zooomr, Photobucket, SmugMug
• Video sharing: YouTube, Vimeo, Revver
• Livecasting: Ustream, Justin.tv
• Audio and Music Sharing: imeem, The Hype Machine, Last.fm, ccMixter

 Entertainment

• Virtual worlds: Second Life, The Sims Online
• Online gaming: World of Warcraft, Everquest, Age of Conan
• Game sharing: Miniclip.com

Evoluam….iar evolutia se poate vedea printr-o decizie istorica, dupa cum numeste Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman al ICANN, decizia ICANN-ului de a da frau liber introducerii unui numar nelimitat de domenii. Asta inseamna ca orice cuvant sau combinatie de litere poate devenii un nume pentru un domeniu de internet. Astfel, incepand cu 2009, cei 1,3 miliarde de utilizatori care s-au plictisit de clasicele .com, .net sau .biz vor putea sa-si transforme propriile nume in domenii de internet sau de ce nu sa foloseasca pentru aceasta termeni comuni precum love, city, fashion.

Deci orice companie sau orice persoana fizica isi va putea pune numele ca extensie a unei adrese web, asta daca poate demonstra ca are un plan de afaceri si capacitate tehnica.
Noua regula ar putea facilita lansarea controversatului domeniu .xxx si deasemenea ICANN permite introducerea numelor de domenii in limbi asiatice.
Domeniile considerate top-level sunt in numar limitat si se refera la denumirile de tari(.ro), organizatii si institutii (.org). In prezent exista aproximativ 250 de extensii si 160 milioane de siteuri, dintre care 80 mil. sunt nationale si 70 sunt .com.

Sursa: CHIP & ICANN.org

Institutia care face “ordine” in internet si supervizeaza numele de domenii este ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers icann.org. Responsabilitatea sa este de a controla distribuirea numelelor de domenii si a adreselor IP (Internet Protocol). Partea tehnica a ICANN-ului poate fi asociata cu numele de IANA – Internet Assigned Numbers Authority iana.org- enititate care gestioneaza global alocarea de adrese IP, managemetul DNS, tipuri de media si alte atributii ale IP-ului.

Extensiile sau TLD – domeniu de nivel superior (top-level domain în engleză) este ultima parte componentă a unui nume de domeniu în Internet. Ele sunt gestionate de IANA
Extensiile se impart conform IANA in urmatoarele categorii:

• Domenii naţionale (ccTLD – country code TLD): folosite de ţări sau de teritorii dependente .ro(romania) | .il(israel)| .ca(canada)
• Domenii generice (gTLD – generic top-level domain): folosite (cel puţin teoretic) de anumite categorii de organizaţii (de exemplu, com pentru organizaţii comerciale, .eu | .net | .info ). Are trei sau mai multe litere. Aproape toate gTLD-urile sunt disponibile indiferent de ţară, cu excepţia domeniilor gov şi mil, care, din motive istorice, sunt folosite doar de către guvernul şi respectiv armata Statelor Unite.
• Domenii de infrastuctură: arpa este deocamdată singurul domeniu de acest tip.
• Domenii sponsorizate – .aero - rezervat membrilor industriei de transport aerian | .coop rezervat asociatiilor cooperative, .edu | .gov |.jobs | .mobi

Sunt din ce in ce mai multe persoane care inteleg ce inseamna internetul si puterea lui si decid sa-si faca un web site, pentru a-si expune punctul de vedere, pentru a-si prezenta afacerea sau de ce nu pentru a-si creea o afacere virtuala. Problema este ca foarte multe dintre aceste persoane nu au nici cel mai mic habar despre ce presupune acest lucru si anume crearea unui site web. Si de ce aceea vreau sa creem o sursa de informatie utila pentru aceste persoane.

Primul pas este alegerea domeniului.
Si va intrebati ce este domeniul. DOMENIUL este numele dvs. pe internet, si mai bine spus numele sub care vom avea site-ul. In alegerea domeniul avem 2 considerente defapt: numele propriu-zis si extensia lui.Numele domeniului ar trebui in mod ideal sa fie cat mai reprezentativ pentru continutul site-ului care urmeaza a fi plasat la adresa respectiva, iar in interesul promovarii, sa fie usor de retinut si de redat ca si semantica si scriere. Extensia aleasa ar trebui de asemenea sa fie in concordanta cu profilul si publicul tinta al site-ului, astfel ca in timp ce pentru un site cu un continut informativ sau personal se poate alege mai liber o extensie .info, .net sau .org, pentru un site ce are un public tinta exclusiv in Romania, ar fi indicata alegerea unei extensii .ro.

Reguli in alegerea domeniului:
Pentru toate numele de domenii, lungimea maxima a numelui de domeniu in numar de caractere este 256. Pentru numele de domenii .ro, conform regulamentelor RNC-ICI in vigoare, este interzisa inregistrarea numelor de domenii ce contin termeni obsceni sau vulgari. De asemenea este indicat sa aveti in vedere consultarea prealabila a drepturilor de copyright pentru numele de domeniu respectiv, existand posibilitatea ca acesta sa fie sau sa contina un nume de marca inregistrata, pentru a evita litigiile ulterioare si blocarea acestuia.

In acest blog vreau sa dezbatem impreuna ce inseamna WEBDESIGN si ce anume trebuie sa stie despre WEBDESIGN o persoana care vrea sa-si faca o pagina web, singur sau cu ajutorul unei firme specializate in acest domeniu.

Saptamanal voi updata blogul cu informatii folositoare, sfaturi si pareri personale despre acest vast domeniu si anume WEBDESIGN.

That means …keep in touch!!!

MARIA