Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Social Media Leads to Social Change


In my perspective I think social media can result in potential social change. Social media has been brought to a whole new level, and it is being used in various ways. There are multiple networking sites for today’s day and age: from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. With these media applications it allows us to share the news, fun facts, photos, personal blogging posts and so on. Because of this access it has made social change a great impact on many of our lives. The latest news that I can relate to this topic is “Kony 2012.” Due to the use of social media “Kony 2012” became one of the trending topics on both Twitter and Facebook, even YouTube. This recent outbreak even made the national news; in less than hours this matter went viral. The creators of “Kony 2012” are using media applications to make Joseph Kony famous.  They are reaching out to everyone across the coast to make them aware of this campaign, what better way to do it than through the media. This goes to show that social media can make contributions to social change. Everyone uses social media on a daily basis. The littlest things such as clothing trends, new music, and celebrity gossip has made a general impact on people around the world. I strongly disagree with Gladwell’s statement about social media not being able to make social change. Look around you, there’s a new change in the social atmosphere almost every day.  At the end of the day we each have different personalities and our own trends. Social media has brought new opportunities and ideas for everyone to take part in. We may not think so, and Gladwell might disagree but we all follow the trends and social change that the media has brought into this world. 

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Increase VS Decrease


Social media has recently been open to everyday citizens that are able to edit, publish, and be their own author for news and information. This has definitely become a great impact on what resources are reliable and unreliable. Everyone has his or her favourite “go to” web pages, or news. Due to the technology today, social media is one of the fastest and instantaneous ways to view and read the news and other information you’re interested in. My argument would be that social media has increased the information we have access to, but also decreased the quality of the information that is being released. All though the information has increased its hard to trust particular authors and editors because we don’t know if the information is true or false. One of the sites I never trust, and we aren’t even aloud to use for school is Wikipedia. Anyone can add information to Wikipedia whether it’s right or wrong. Unfortunately not many of us are aware of the certain sites that we shouldn’t be getting our resources from. I feel that a lot of the controversy for this topic can be avoided if users were to site their information, or even tell us how they know from their own experience. In most cases, when you’re asking a personal question you will notice people respond with stuff that has happened with them that will help you relate to your situation. When it comes to the quality of the information being broadcasted I feel the authors aren’t reaching to the potential some users are looking for. I notice for myself that I have to go to at least five different web pages to get the proper information I am looking for in particular cases. At the end of the day the internet, news, and other information gets us where we need to be and answers are questions. I feel the quality being put into these resources could be updated with more accurate and efficient data. Also not everyone should be aloud to be an editor or author because we feel stupid when the information we share with others is incorrect. 

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Social Media- Posting #1


Social media is viewed and used by billions of people throughout the world. From Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Skype and many more that we are all familiar with. When looking at online media it definitely comes with its pros and cons. Then again so does everything in life. Even though there is a great deal of negative attention from social media my perception is positive towards this matter. Online media is a great way to interact and share your life with friends, family, and even celebrities. Social media is a great way to market businesses so that customers can view deals, coming soon products, etc. It also helps businesses interact with employees that may not be living in the same city. I believe people see media in a negative way because of the people that abuse it. When looking at specifically teens I notice that they use social media to broadcast nasty things about others online. I don’t think social media should be “put down” because of those who choose to abuse it. Social media is supposed to be a fun way to express yourself, post photos, videos, follow celebrities, tweet, Skype your parents when your away for school and so much more.  With all the technology today you can even use social media on apps through your phone and tablets as well. It is easy access for when you’re on the go and have something on your mind. You can even send attachments through Facebook now instead of using Hotmail. To me I would say that social media can be viewed as a fad. I believe this because there’s only so much you can do with online media, after a while some people get bored and the usage decreases. On the other hand there is an always new change to the websites that pulls through with excitement to others. In addition, I noticed when new online media is broadcasted people get more addicted to the new product and forget about the other media they used to be on constantly. In conclusion social media plays a major role in society’s addiction to technology and the online media has continued to increase dramatically.