Blog Assignment 4

How do you think social media will change in the future?

I feel that social media is going to grow more into an advertising platform. All the features will still be available to users but there will be much more advertisements directed to each user based on information they provide. Hopefully security and privacy will increase as well to safeguard user information.

What other trends would you add to the mix?

One trend that I would add to the mix is an event listing based on where you live without having to do a search for it. As an example, have a section in Facebook of “upcoming events near you” where every public event within a certain area based on where you live would automatically populate so that you are aware of possible venues to attend. These could include such things as concerts, family events, special ceremonies, etc. which may be appealing to each individual based on their likes and dislikes. I believe this would help with the marketing of such events and also keep users informed of what is going on in their area.

Are they any specific technologies that you think will gain popularity or emerge?

I believe that in the future we will see the emergence of holographic communications. Being able to see the person in detail to whom you are talking would greatly increase communication as body language is an integral part of communication.

Social Change

 

According to Malcom Gladwell, a well-known author in the area of social media, social media are built around weak ties and real social change can never come from loose networks of people that do not know each other. Do you think that social media has the potential to bring about real social change?

I do think that social media does have the potential to bring about real social change.  There are many people on several different social media platforms at all times of the day or night. Rallies can be organized, just like the revolution in Egypt, online and attract even more supporters then conventional advertising means such as radio, newspapers, and even TV. Even some of the elderly populace is getting interested in social media and the internet. If you are looking for some ways that you can help with real social changes check out this article. I like the fact that this article not only belittles the Twit-Out that was organized to boycott Twitter to get them to fix the instability of their servers, but it also gives ideas on how you can help with social change. “However, in light of recent world events, it's a shame that the cause the tech community has chosen to rally around is that of Twitter's instability. Aren't there more important things going on right now?” (Perez).

With Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube any organization or individual, can share information on Causes and events happening around the world. An example of a Canadian organization using social media to inform and rally for Canadian Internet users is OpenMedia.ca. “We empower people to participate in Internet governance through fresh & engaging citizens’ campaigns. We’re known for co-ordinating Stop The Meter, the largest online campaign in Canadian history, involving over half-a-million people. We’ve proven that the pro-Internet community can come together and make change.” (OpenMedia.ca).

Once you find what social change you want to participate in, make sure you share the information with everyone you know by posting it on Twitter, Facebook, and/or YouTube in order to increase the attention the cause gets.

Jonnathan Duguay

Works Cited

OpenMedia.ca. About Us| OpenMedia.ca. 2012. Web. 17 March 2012. <openmedia.ca/about>.

Perez, Sarah. "How to Use Social Media for Social Change." 22 May 2008. ReadWriteWeb.com. Web. 17 March 2012. <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_use_social_media_for_social_change.php>.

Blog Assignment 2

Social media has allowed everyday citizens to become authors, editors, and publishers of news and information. Do you believe that social media has increased the quality of news and information or decreased it?

                In my opinion, Social Media has both increased and decreased the quality of news and information.  I do however feel that Social Media has increased the spread of news and information much further than before. There have been many times that I have seen links on Facebook to news sites about stories that would make the local paper but not really national or international news, but since someone on my friends list decided to share the story I was made aware of what was happening. In those instances there was no effect on the quality of the news since it was directly from the reporting source, but it was spread further than it would have been pre-social media times.

                There are also news sites that enable people to share news topics that they feel are important, allowing them and others to give their views and opinions on the subject. One example is CNN’s “iReport”, which can be found at http://ireport.cnn.com/ , which has people submitting stories they care about. The only issue with this is that CNN does not verify every story and this has the potential of spreading misleading information. However, only stories that CNN has “vetted” will ever be shown on an actual broadcast.

                I am sure we have all had instances of hearing about someone famous dying and then finding out they are very much alive. This is because rumours really fly on Social Media. One person decides to start a rumour and spreads it amongst his contacts online and next thing you know the majority of the world knows because everyone keeps sharing the misleading information without verifying it. So even though you know the person you heard the information from would not intentionally lie about this kind of thing, doesn’t mean that they verified it before they forwarded the information. So my saying to this is “Don’t believe everything you read!!!”  

My perception of Social Media

My perception of social media is that it is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution. According to Miniwatts Marketing Group’s statistics, the world had an estimated population of 6,930,055,154 in 2011 from which 2,095,006,005 people had internet access on March 31, 2011 (Miniwatts Marketing Group). With this many potential senders and receivers of communications, social media has become viral. People are uploading videos and pictures of all types of events such as the riot in Vancouver, BC. Some of the rioters have been identified by the authorities with these videos and pictures as evidence. In part this was thanks to people tagging them on Facebook or other types of social networking sites.

The moment online communications went from being a one-way ideal (one-to-many such as any old website giving readers information but not allowing them input) to two-way communications (many-to-many such as Wiki sites where the information is mainly researched and generated by users of the site), it was the beginning of a new era; the era of cheap, affordable, and fast global communication, the era of social media. You are able to talk to friends and family back home face-to-face via software such as Skype or Msn Messenger for free, even when you are abroad, as long as you have internet access. No more long distance charges, waiting for e-mail replies, or worst, waiting for overseas mail. The only concern may be bandwidth usage charges, but that’s another topic of its own.

So basically I believe social media to be an amazing evolution of communications. You can find feedback on people, places, products, etc, all within a few clicks of the mouse (and a little bit of typing). There is, however, a bit of bad that has come along with it. Since social media has started, cybercrime has also increased. More and more people are getting caught up in scams and getting computer viruses; sending/receiving illegal contents such as child pornography or copyrighted materials. But one thing I have learned in my life experience so far is that you must take the good with the bad. The pros of social media far outweigh cons.

Jonnathan Duguay

Works Cited

Miniwatts Marketing Group. World Internet Usage Statistics and World Population Stats. 20 December 2011. Web. 12 January 2012. <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>.