The Future of Social Media

How do you think social media will change in the future? What other trends would you add to the mix? Are they any specific technologies that you think will gain popularity or emerge?

Like all new inventions, it will continue to grow and change into something new. Without one step the next cannot be taken. Like with tapes, CDs wouldn't exist. Without Computers, downloading and graphic would not have been possible. Without Buffy, or the X-Files, Supernatural wouldn't have become what is it today. Well it didn't probably happen in that order and there was probably a whole lot of factors. The idea is that social media will change and evolve.

Now because all this new technology is coming along, I think people are going to start not talking to each other face to face (ie the movie Wall-e. Now I think thats an extreme). But we are human beings have a need to connect with others, which I believe will see an increased reliance on social media for this connection. With this idea I wouldn't be surprised if the future saw the emergence of more social media sites out there and people having an account on 3 or more of them. Another thing I think we could see come one day to social media is the ability to talk face to face via facebook (unless that has happened already then, well I really don't have a come back for that) since MSN messenger as already introduced that a while ago. In addition to Apple introducing Facetime as well.

A technology I can see growing is the use of social media on cell phones. I have seen and known people who would rather use a cellphone to access their social media rather than a computer. People like the idea of mobile and can post anything any where. Which is probably why the desktop computer is slowly going out. But not completely.

Well its been a good year everyone. Sound off below and........

Reminder to me to relate this to the lesson.

Privacy

"Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance"

Privacy has always been an issue. Its just this century it is becoming more of an issue. And there is many different kinds of privacy. Ever since Facebook appeared, more and more people are creating profiles, thus doubling its original size. The issue of privacy really came into question, when the internet was created and became a worry when people began to spend more time on the internet.

With the invention of social media, people began posting information and pictures of themselves. Unknowingly slowly destroying their own privacy. A survey found that 52% of adults post information about themselves. The criminal side of the internet has noticed this. So every time someone posts something personal about themselves, they open themselves up more for cyber criminals to take advantage of them. In a video, they discuss how Facebook has killed privacy in a way.

All it takes it the wrong person to find this at the wrong time and they could ruin your life. Even those little status updates can hurt your privacy.

If you think about it, we are unknowingly giving our information out today. An example is when we travel with passes, we give away our location when we use transit passes such as Presto. It may seem simple, but within moments, you can be found (if it was found necessary) and your location compromised. So those ideas that happen in movies (ie Borne Identity) could really happen. A study found that out of more than 470,000 Web surfers, 83.6% had left an identifiable "fingerprint".

The key to keeping your privacy is to remain anonymous and keep personal information close. Be careful of the sites that you visit and make sure you absolute want to create an account. Remember whenever you create an account, they ask for your personal information. If you really wish to go in depth about it, there is a really good article to read at the global mail site, read it here. Most sites out there, give you the option to create an account, and allow you to create an profile page. On these pages you can display: Name, Location, Age, Gender, and thats just the tip of the iceberg. Image to the right is an example of a youtube form that users can fill out to control how much information is given out.

Unknown to us, every action we take on the net gives a piece of us away. Think of it like having to pay one cent for every time you look at something. It may not be a lot, but it adds up soon and will eventually become something big without you knowing it happened.

Move To Bring Change

Do you think that social media has the potential to bring about real social change? Well lets look at all the facts out there.

First a little look at the past, before to get people to work together to bring change was a lot of work. It required someone to speak in front of small groups of people many times as well as hitting other medias to bring attention to it. Nowadays, all it takes is for a group of people or mainly a celebrity to bring about change. The key to their success, social media. By all means, social media has the potential to bring about change. Social media allows people to connect, makes groups and organize events. Making tedious work much more easier. So no more phone calls to hundreds of people, but just one post and it changes everything.

An example of this is the Supernatural fan base. From what I have seen, the actors of Supernatural have used their fame to bring about change. Misha Collins who plays Castiel has a twitter account and uses it to connect to fans and one way or another, he and some fans created Random Acts, an organization helping countries like Haiti. Because of his connection with fans on Twitter, Misha and the fans are now helping building schools and such. Another example is when Jared Padalecki announced he and his wife were having their first child, and later tweeted his fans to send gifts not to them but to St. Jude's hospital instead. In result, Fans began donating money. All it took was one tweet from Jared and people donated. In fact, Winchester Bros. (who took charge in organizing it) put up a widget on their homepage tracking the donations, as well as giving information on it.

Social media can help in many ways to make change. Flash mobbing is one. The video below is one of the best examples I believe, and makes you wonder how much planning went into it.



Take a look at this:
Whats Trending's Article
Random Acts Trip

Spread A Little Thin, but the truth is there

Do you believe that social media has increased the quality of news and information or decreased it?

You can always find one truth in a hundred lies. In other words, despite the fact that something can be posted over and over again with different versions, there will always be one true fact. Unless of course you count gossip.

Since the dawn of social media, information can get out much faster. Both professional and citizen. But to the point, I believe that the quantity of the news has increased, and the quality has slightly deceased. As pointed out in one of the videos which talked about Citizen reporting, the high profile news stations will look towards news that will draw in viewers and shape it to make it appealing. While citizen news will bring out the facts and the human side to the story. Another thing is that now with internet on cell phones, people can tweet or post news happening at the moment. Like when the earthquake hit japan, people all over wrote about it.

If you think about it, if there were 100 people at an event and each posted a piece of information different from each other; you would have a detailed story. Of course thats if people stayed close to the truth. With this said, I think the quality has improved, because we as a people are getting two sides of the story, and have many different ways to access it. We get the popular view and perhaps a personal view. With news sites having their own blogs and accounts on various social media, the public can quickly access this. Information is not in short supply these days.

Social Media

Is Social media just the latest thing or a shift for the industrial side of the world. Personally I think social media sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter is a complete waste of time, despite the fact that I have a facebook account myself. The fact is that now adays, everyone is at least on one social site. Personally, I'm on Facebook, Youtube, Wikia, and Blogger (rarely). The fact of the matter is that we, as people, want to reach out to others. This is where social media kicks in.

Not to mention that companies know this and use social media to promote their products to people. For example, if you like a tv show on Facebook, they will tell you when the next episode is coming, if the show got renew, premier date, and more. In addition to offering you exclusive information if you "Like: it. This aspect is in a way a good and bad thing. On the plus side its a good source of information. On the downside, it makes you relay on them to give you it. Further more, constantly posting updates. The good thing is that you can turn off the notifications off, at least Facebook realize that some people don't tons of stuff on their page. As for youtube, companies are now creating their own Youtube channels to promote their products. People even post stupid videos about themselves. In a way, Youtube is similar to Facebook other than the fact its more geared towards video rather "I ate soup today. It was yummy. :D".

I could rant on about how much I dislike it, but the fact is, its a part of my life, and a way to connect. Also, I recently have discovered that fans can follow their favorite celebs on Facebook or Twitter. Although, some leave creepy messages about how much they love him or her. One word for them: Creepy. I know you love them, but don't scream it at them, their people too, and it borderline weird. So my friendly advice for you all, use social media wisely, and don't live your life on it. Later Days.

The Start of An Assignment

For a course at Durham College we needed to create Blogs. Lucky for me, I already had an account made for another Blog I use. So I am a Multimedia Design Student at Durham College (I am withholding my name unless the professor says not to), and will be posting here. Although I'm still very new at the whole online course so bear with me.