Thursday, April 9, 2009
College students are used to being in constant communication with their peers. Now, they can get constant updates on what those people are looking at online.
OneRiot.com is a search engine geared toward college students by using their generation’s need to be in the know about anything from news to entertainment. The site was launched in Boulder, Colo., in November 2008. In March, the company began recruiting representatives to spread the word on college campuses across the country.
“It’s hard for students to make it through class without checking their phone or text messages,” Nancy Baym, professor of communication studies, said. “If they have a laptop they have trouble staying off the Web. There is an expectation of continuous communication.”
Ginevra Figg, marketing manager for OneRiot, said the company’s objective was to index the “real-time” Web by arranging current information and displaying what articles people were looking at. The site features articles and videos on topics ranging from politics to celebrities.
Figg said said the company has more than two million users who have agreed to have their Internet-surfing activity tracked, which helps OneRiot.com determine the content placed on the site.
“The crucial question on college students’ minds is ‘What doesn’t Google answer?’ and that’s what’s going on right now,” Figg said. “It’s important that we bring these guys the hottest results on these topics. It allows college students to become trendsetters and stay ahead of the game.”
Social networking and interactive sites such as Facebook, MySpace and You Tube are frequented by students regularly. Nobleza Asuncion-Lande, professor of communication studies, said these public forms of communication were becoming more and more a part of students’ lives.
“My students from ten years ago are very different from my students right now in terms of being connected,” Asuncion-Lande said.
Becca Nyman, St. Louis, Mo., junior and marketing representative for OneRiot, said she and her friends looked at videos and articles on the site during study breaks. She said the site stayed timely because information was updated constantly.
“With the fast paced world we are living in everything has to be current and this gives it to you,” Nyman said.
Although Baym said she thought search engines were great resources, she said it was important for people to recognize credible and complete information and baseless claims.
“I think there is a shallow conception of information in that whatever Google or Wikepedia says is all I need to know about something,” Baym said.
— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe
Google invades privacy too
Online research methods may not be credible
Simply taking the first item on Google’s list may lead to misinformation ...
Privacy matters
How your Facebook profile could hurt your job prospects.
Facebook drama
Why we act and interact online.
Site offers relationship gossip
Students can find information about others’ love lives on the newly launched ...
Google picks Kansas City for ultra-fast network
Google said its new broadband network will make Internet access 100 times ...
Our electronic addiction
When did digital communication get so controversial and why are we so ...
Communication studies professor died Saturday
Nobleza Asuncion-Lande, found in her home Saturday, taught at the University for ...
Blog: The End of the World?
Doing Without: Using Google
Welcome to the World of 'You'
Move over Facebook, step aside MySpace: a new online community called YouTube ...
In 140 characters or less
The simplistically designed social medium Twitter answers more questions than, ‘What are ...
Doing the cha cha
A new information service can be used for fact or fun
Following has never been so easy
A picture really is worth 1,000 words.
Anchutz Library turns 20
Once uveiled, the more spacious building will soon be an epicenter of ...
College students join ranks of online dating ...
Some students say online profiles allow them to save time by eliminating ...
Tweeting your way into a career
Can social media really connect you with the job market?
Facebook: Best friend or worst enemy?
Your Facebook profile can help or hurt you in job searching
Users abuse Facebook
Boultinghouse: Technology transforms personal race training
New technology improves the abilities of long distance runners.
Be back soon
Editorial: Research hurts learning
When professors are researching large university projects, education suffers.
Student creates Web site for legal sports ...
Quarterbets.com allows people to legally bet on seven different sports.
Lecture outlines the perils of corporate social ...
Siva Vaidhyanathan tackled the issue in the Digital Media Lecture Series on ...
[thedatebook?]
Katz: Self-imposed target
Willingness to dish out personal information helps advertisers zone in on customers.
Online lovin’: click your pick
University promotes students’ cyber security
KU Information Technology is encouraging students to recognize and protect themselves from ...
Changes improve library services
KU Libraries improved its Web site, added a text messaging system to ...
Your brain on the Book
The psychological appeal and effect of Facebook
Facebook offers comfort after loss
Facebook has become one way people grieve after the loss of a ...
Web manager helps create new publishing tool
"Anthologize" helps users publish their work without going through a publishing company.
Allen Fieldhouse available anytime with online replica
Brian McClendon, KU alumnus, commissioned Google to create a 3-D version of ...
Facebook: Friend or foe?
Students cite maintaining their privacy and avoiding wasting time as main reasons ...
Trapped in a game
Students who encounter video game addiction could face job loss, poor grades, ...
Doing Without: Google
Absence makes the heart...?
KU Grad starts online business
The food service Web site, foodpatio.com, services restaurants and food delivery orders ...
Kansan server down
The Kansan’s files at the World Company server still exist, but they ...
Tomorrow's news
Blackle.com
Editorial: Twitter is more than a fad
Users are directed to information quickly, whether it is for groups, networking ...
A school staple stronger on the Internet
KU Info has had its ups and downs, but it has found ...
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID