Yahoo Answers

I few days ago, I signed up to Yahoo answers to gain response from a wider range of people completely unknown to myself. I chose three questions as a starting point, these were based on my latest survey as this one has gained the least response. Completely unbeknown I was disappointed that I had gained no response from this also, but after figuring out the site, I came across many replies. The three questions I asked (click on each image to go to the page):

The two above only gained a few responses, all still valuable just not very many. The question below gained the most, and the most variety of opinions. I am really pleased that I have managed to gain more responses from people I have no links with at all.

First Image: Print screen from: Yahoo! Answers UK - Ask Questions & Get Answers On Any Topic. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Second Image: Print screen from: Do you think children are growing up to fast? Why? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgbzMdQ4idssVXtVue2siTogBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219133300AAbjJXM. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Third Image: Print screen from: Is Age Really Just a Number? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqoKlew85DOUCHm6v1kupAYhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219134538AA9t7G2. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Fourth Image: Print screen from: What are your opinions on the phrase 'growing old gracefully' in our society nowadays? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuGpqm4HgfKBdtf9.9x9xKIhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219133512AA6LUoM. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

The Benefits of a Network

Networks in basic form are individuals with a mutual interest that come together to change ideas, products or services. Networks use the collaborative potential of a whole crowd of brains working together as a single organism to determine an outcome, they harness the power of many 'the wisdom of crowds'. In network diagrams (as previously show) people are drawn as nodes, the more nodes the more information and the more powerful a network becomes. The individuals within a network may not be wholly correct but the sum total of a group will always bring you closer to the correct answer. For example in Who Wants to be a Millionaire when asking a friend 61 per cent of contestants get the correct answer but when asking the audience 91 per cent get the correct resulting answer. If harnessed correctly networks can be used to extract more accurate answers from people working collectively rather than individually, even if they are not known to each other. In fact the less individuals know each other the more beneficial they are to your network.

Raymond Martin, 2010. Trend Forecaster's Handbook. Edition. Laurence King Publishers.

My Facebook Network

These diagrams were created using an App that visualises your Facebook network. They show the same results from different perspectives; you can see a very complex Collaborative (Decentralised) network. The diagrams are very complicated and crowded visuals which can be off-putting and unattractive. However, what this clutter does display is the enormous quantity of accessible people available to one person. I am at the centre of this abundance of names, and all the nodes, which in this case are people stem out of my central point. The nodes of people in this diagram are my Facebook 'friends' only, what this diagram does not include, is the ongoing nodes that stem from each stemming individual and interlink creating an ongoing and never-ending network. Making for a greater complexing diagram.

Although not very comprehensible, especially as unpleasant viewing in such a small size, they do display this vast network which is so readily available to most people. (If you click on the image it should enlarge). Just think; if this is what I actually have access to, what will all these people have access to and then all these people and then all these people and then......


Image: Authors own using MyFnetwork Facebook App