Social networking sites - where likes, dislikes, interests, photographs, etc. can be posted for friends to see and read
advantages : cost-effective, can show your 'status' to friends, not bound by geographical differences, marketing tool.
disadvantages: Identity theft and online fraud are risks, false information can be posted, loss in productivity, targeted advertising.
Best practices: check privacy settings, don't post personal information, only accept people you know as friends, don't post inappropriate content , restrict the time you spend on sites.
VoIP - a technology that allows telephone calls to be made over LANs, WANs and the internet.
Advantages: cheaper than normal phone calls, software generally free, files can be transferred, voice conference calls can be made.
Video conferencing - allows tow or more people to hold online conferences at different locations.
Advantages : you can see the people you are communicating with, a call is cheaper than travel costs to the location.
Disadvantages: call quality on slow internet connections can be poor, can use a lot of data.
Best practices: use a well-lit location, check sound and video quality before the call, check the 'privacy ' of your surroundings.
Chat rooms / applications - any online environment that allows people to 'chat' in real time.
Advantages: ability to chat with more than one person at a time, interact with people regardless of geographical location, applications can be used on a variety of platforms
Disadvantages: people can hide their true identity , people can spend too much time in chat rooms, creates opportunities for cyber-stalking, cyber-bullying, identity theft etc.
Best practices don't give out personal information, don't bully and report any bullying
RSS feeds - RSS(reality Simple Syndication ) is a technology that automatically provides users with updated content from many different sites.
Advantages: saves time by not having to visit all the sites, spam is avoided as Updates are not emailed.
Disadvantages: can lead to an overload of information if too many feeds are subscribed to.
Best practices: use a dedicated reader, only subscribe to feeds you are sure you will read.
FTP- the protocol (rule for communication) used for the fast, easy transfer of files between remote computers that have an internet connection.