Activity 10: social networks III

What for?
How can you create social networks?; there exist different resources or services that allow users to create social networks of one type or another. For example Blogger makes it possible to create networks based on blogs.

In this activity, we use software called coRank, which makes it possible to create communities or social networks of the Meneame or Digg type. In essence, a social network of this type works in the following way:  

Basically, you send news which is put on a list of pending news items where they receive votes. If you obtain sufficient votes, the news goes on the front page, which is where there are more readers. In order to be able to send an item of news, you must first register as a user. When voting, you can vote as a registered user or an anonymous person. However, a user?s vote carries more weight than that of an anonymous person. Then there is karma. Depending on how you vote and what influence your votes have on the news, your karma rises.

How can you get more karma?

On the Hispanic Internet, the habit of destruction is commonplace so I placed a negative vote as a second option 

For each item of news that you send, each positive vote you get, your karma increases and each negative vote reduces it. Furthermore, if you vote news that has been published, your karma increases and if you vote news that is not published it reduces it. 

Well, in this activity the building of a social network is tackled with its base in CoRank and we can create sites that accept social networks whose common aim is to deal with a wide variety of subjects: a sport, a hobby, the cinema, novels, walks, animals, etc. 

Using this type of software to build up a community allows you to better understand the essence of social networks and how they work and they provide you with experience in the use of social software.

What needs to be done?
The activity step by step:

• Each group will select a theme about which they will set up a web site which will serve to accept a social network that is formed around it. 
• Each group will use some of the services mentioned (Blogger or coRank or others which serve the purpose) in order to create a social network; in principle, this network will be restricted to the members of the group but it will later be opened to any user  
• Each group will keep up a continuous activity for at least 4 weeks in order to be able to : 
• • Understand how the network works 
  • Practise how to maintain the site and how to keep the attention of the users or members of the network who enter to form part of it 
• Complementarily, each group will be able to 
• • Practise different strategies to attract new members and increase the size of the network 
  • Provide the site with an RSS seed and incorporate different seeds into the site from other sites.
  • Lend a more personalised air to the site (in accordance with the decision of the work team or group)

The teacher, xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx shall be informed of theses actions

Nature of the tasks proposed
Group and individual. Compulsory
Estimated maximum time for their completion (including reading, group coordination, drawing up documents, etc.): 35 hours

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