9781422280744

computer and ability to connect to the Internet—was developed in Japan in 1999 but gained popularity in the US in the 2000s with phones such as the T-Mobile Sidekick and Blackberry devices. The iPhone hit the market in 2007, commercializing touchscreens and apps on mobile devices. Social networking through the Internet became a global phenomenon in the 2000s with

Friendster in 2002, LinkedIn and MySpace in 2003, and Facebook in 2004. While Friendster and MySpace are no longer commercial social networking sites, there are 433 million LinkedIn users who connect for mostly business purposes and 1.7 billion Facebook users worldwide—a startling 23 percent of the world’s population. By 2010, the Internet was accessible to more than 25 percent of the global population, and 70 percent of the world owned a mobile phone. Websites and Internet resources were integrally connected with mobile gadgets. Tablet computers such as the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy became wildly popular, and cloud computing — storing computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the Internet—allowed devices to connect to vast amounts of data and so ware from anywhere in the world without a large hard drive. ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL LIFE The digitization of information has had a profound impact on traditional media businesses, such as book publishing, the music industry, and major TV and cable networks. As information is increasingly transmi¥ed in digital form, businesses across many industries have sharpened their focus on how to capitalize on the Digital Age. As much as economies have been affected in this era of digital information, social relationships may have changed

Facebook is an online social networking

service founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates. Today, it is one of the most valuable companies in the world.

even more. Gone are the days of mainly communicating face-to-face or through le¥ers or phone calls from one home to another. With social media, text messaging, and video cha¥ing, the means of communication—and thus, relationships—are fundamentally different. ISSUES IN THE DIGITAL AGE With this degree of change, there are many issues that are important to consider as citizens who live in a digital world. In this country, Internet access is legally available to

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