Andy DeSoto

When the first-generation 2G iPhone was announced, I nabbed a 16GB iPod Touch. I’m not kidding when I say the gadget dramatically changed the way I went about everyday life on a college campus. Since Wi-Fi is basically ubiquitous on the William & Mary grounds, constant connectivity afforded by the Touch was able to untether me from desktops, libraries, and even my old and clunky IBM notebook.

Social networks such as Facebook are excellent places to announce your romantic availability, right? Large numbers of potential viewers, integration into profiles, search, and more– what’s not to like? It may not be so easy. Surprisingly, research by psychologists at Northwestern University and MIT suggests that being too available, let alone desperate for romance, can significantly impact your chances of finding love or dating.

Five days ago, Facebook introduced the ability for users to comment on items in other users’ Mini-Feeds. Although this is certainly an interesting function and provides an additional means of interacting with contacts, is it enough to keep users engaged with the site?

This week, although relatively quiet in general, brought a little more social media and tech action than usual to the East Coast as Robert Scoble and Gary Vaynerchuk visited the nation’s capital for politics, photography, and excellent wine.

Last Monday I wrote a concerned article discussing why social media awareness should be a requirement for institutions of higher learning. Although the short post only scraped the tip of this issue’s iceberg, it helped generate a lively discussion amongst a number of individuals, all with similar viewpoints to mine.