I agree with Reed's Law the most as it applies to Web 2.0 and how the majority of people use media today. The way people interact with the internet has changed and therefore their power has changed. Reed's Law states that the utility of a network with n members increases exponentially. This explains why videos, such as the ice bucket challenge, go viral. In this example, one person started a video and then posted it for his "friends" on Facebook to see. Then his/her friends could share their video version of the ice bucket challenge with their "friends." With each share, the network of people that this video reaches grows exponentially.
However, I also believe that Sarnoff's Law and Metcalfe's Law are valid when discussing specific networks. Sarnoff's Law states that the value of network increases linearly with the number of people on it. This works with traditional television shows. The power of a television show is based on the number of people who watch it. So if 50 people watch a show, then advertisement on the show would have the power to reach 50 people.
Metcalfe's Law states that a communication network with n number, each member can make n-1 connections. So its power is roughly to its square. For example on a phone network increases with each user. A single phone is useless, but the more people on it the more valuable the network.
Five years from now I think our smart phones will be more advanced so that they know how we are feeling. It will be able to sort through information and present what I would want to see in that moment. Although I hope that we have a way to block what information we don't want in the moment. I also believe there will be a bigger shift to put everything online and smart phone compatible. Laptops are already becoming too cumbersome to carry around. It is easier to access everything from my smart phone.
Anna, I was very intrigued with your thoughts of where we would be five years from now. It is almost scary to think about what kind of things our smart phones would do with our feelings. For example, if you were feeling sad, would it find sad things to make you feel worse, or things to make you feel better? I think that in time, that could be an extremely useful and valuable development in the technology field, but I also see the possibility of extreme backfiring until all the details and troubleshooting is hammered out. But , all in all, I like where you were going with that. I think that would be a great technological advancement!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your conclusion of the various laws we covered in class.
ReplyDeleteTo support what you said about Sarnoff's Law, the cofounder of Snap Chat was just put on the Forbe's List as the youngest billionaire alive…being just 25 years old.
I also found what you thought about the future to be very interesting. I never thought about it like that, but I do believe we could be heading that way. As many other applications filter content due to our online activity.