FINAL TEST WED
13 years ago
Class Blog
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Do social networks expand our identity?
Whither the Individual?
As we join groups and social networks from affinity sites to Facebook, are we extending and expanding identities, or increasingly conforming to the cookie-cutter profiles demanded of these interfaces? Is the loss of "personal space" and "reflection" so many users complain of merely the necessary surrender of "ego" as we learn to participate as members of a more evolved "collective organism" of "hyper-people?"
Social networks, like Facebook, are expanding our identities because it is an extension of ourselves. We can share personal information about ourselves (if we choose to) and post pictures of our lives. On a social networking site, we can document and share our lives with other people, usually our relatives and friends. The amount of information you choose to disclose is up to you, you can write as much or as little about yourself as you want others to see.
Setting your privacy settings also puts you in control of who sees this information. Facebook profiles outline what you could include in your profile, which in a way is limited, but there are other ways to put yourself and your opinion out there, through blogs for instance. If you want to let the world know about yourself, having your own blog, or your own website is possible. With a social networking site, it is cookie-cutter in the style of the site and what information you can publish on your profile.
If users complain of losing "personal space" then they shouldn't be using a platform such as a social networking site. The whole purpose of a social network is to put your information out there in order to connect with other people online. It is up to the user as to how much information they publish,and who has access to their profile. If they feel that it is violating their personal space, then they should not have a social network profile.
So many people use social networks to connect with relatives, friends, co-workers and industry professionals, that it is almost impossible not to have one. It is the "norm" in society to have a Facebook, and more and more, a LinkedIn profile. On LinkedIn, professionals can post their resumes, and network with other employees in their fied to look for a job. Once you meet someone, most people look them up on Facebook and add them as a friend. Making this initial connection can lead to conversations on the site, the sharing of photographs and of personal information.
In a blog, http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/ , it explains this era as being "The Age of Connection," because "human behavior, human beliefs, and human relations are all reorganizing themselves around connectivity." Everyone can expand their indenities online through social networks. The ability to connect with people around the world at the speed of light is given the title, "hyperconnectivity." Social networks, bring people from around the world to us, and we can connect with them instantly. By posting photographs, we are engaging in "hyperdistribution", which is the capability to send something everywhere instantaneously. Humans share because we like to reach out to our connections to reinforce our relationships or to increase our credibility with someone.
With social networks, we can be connected with people all the time, on a computer, or in our hand. Mobile apps allow us to check our social networks constantly. This shows that we are a collective organism in that we are all constantly connected. In order to fit into society, it is expected that you have a social network site to stay connected and keep relationships with people.
As we join groups and social networks from affinity sites to Facebook, are we extending and expanding identities, or increasingly conforming to the cookie-cutter profiles demanded of these interfaces? Is the loss of "personal space" and "reflection" so many users complain of merely the necessary surrender of "ego" as we learn to participate as members of a more evolved "collective organism" of "hyper-people?"
Social networks, like Facebook, are expanding our identities because it is an extension of ourselves. We can share personal information about ourselves (if we choose to) and post pictures of our lives. On a social networking site, we can document and share our lives with other people, usually our relatives and friends. The amount of information you choose to disclose is up to you, you can write as much or as little about yourself as you want others to see.
Setting your privacy settings also puts you in control of who sees this information. Facebook profiles outline what you could include in your profile, which in a way is limited, but there are other ways to put yourself and your opinion out there, through blogs for instance. If you want to let the world know about yourself, having your own blog, or your own website is possible. With a social networking site, it is cookie-cutter in the style of the site and what information you can publish on your profile.
If users complain of losing "personal space" then they shouldn't be using a platform such as a social networking site. The whole purpose of a social network is to put your information out there in order to connect with other people online. It is up to the user as to how much information they publish,and who has access to their profile. If they feel that it is violating their personal space, then they should not have a social network profile.
So many people use social networks to connect with relatives, friends, co-workers and industry professionals, that it is almost impossible not to have one. It is the "norm" in society to have a Facebook, and more and more, a LinkedIn profile. On LinkedIn, professionals can post their resumes, and network with other employees in their fied to look for a job. Once you meet someone, most people look them up on Facebook and add them as a friend. Making this initial connection can lead to conversations on the site, the sharing of photographs and of personal information.
In a blog, http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/ , it explains this era as being "The Age of Connection," because "human behavior, human beliefs, and human relations are all reorganizing themselves around connectivity." Everyone can expand their indenities online through social networks. The ability to connect with people around the world at the speed of light is given the title, "hyperconnectivity." Social networks, bring people from around the world to us, and we can connect with them instantly. By posting photographs, we are engaging in "hyperdistribution", which is the capability to send something everywhere instantaneously. Humans share because we like to reach out to our connections to reinforce our relationships or to increase our credibility with someone.
With social networks, we can be connected with people all the time, on a computer, or in our hand. Mobile apps allow us to check our social networks constantly. This shows that we are a collective organism in that we are all constantly connected. In order to fit into society, it is expected that you have a social network site to stay connected and keep relationships with people.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Social Media Questions
1. Advertisments or TV shows that look amateurish to emulate the Web are common today, and I think they will continue to be. So many people turn to the Web to watch videos (on YouTube for example) and are used to seeing that "homemade" looking quality. They are used to seeing it, and are drawn to commercials that emulate that feel because they can connect with it - it is something that looks like someone else made it, not necessarily a professional. Geico commercials use this home made appeal to show that in the fifteen minutes it took them to make a commercial, is how long it would take to save on car insurance.
2. Social media sites that I use the most are Facebook and LinkedIn. I look at Facebook to see what friends are up to, and connect with family members that are far away. Groups send me messages to let me know of meeting times. I can connect with classmates through Facebook to communicate with them about a project, or have discussion when we can't meet in person. LinkedIn is a professional social networking site, where I can follow companies that interest me, as well as connect with other people in the industry I am looking to get into. LinkedIn has professionals from these companies which makes it easy to make connections and for them to view my profile, or my resume. LinkedIn will be very helpful to me when job searching, and internship searching.
Facebook is more successful than MySpace because you can constantly add content to your Facebook profile page. You can upload pictures and videos and share them with friends. MySpace was more of just a profile, like your own website, but I feel that Facebook is more interactive, and that is what draws users to it. Groups can be created within Facebook for easy communication with a lot of people. Events can be created that you can invite others to.
Monday, February 14, 2011
McLuan Photoshop 2
I chose texting as another medium of communication. I was able to start this Photoshop assignment in class, but it is not finished. I wanted to show how much texting has become a part of our daily lives, and how distracted it makes us. People text during class, while driving, and while walking. This connects us with people constantly, but makes us lose touch with our surroundings. Texting is distracting, and limits actual conversations with people around us. In one way, is is connecting us to people, and in another it is limiting our face-to-face social skills. This is a medium because it is an extension of ourselves, almost everyone texts.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
McLuhan Photoshop Final Post
The medium that I chose to do the Photoshop assignment on was YouTube. YouTube has changed our society because anyone can record, edit and upload a video onto YouTube for the world to see. Everyone can put themselves out there to have their 15 minutes of fame. I tried to depict this in my Photoshop image by showing a Camcorder and a Flip Camera to show how accessible it is to film a movie. I then put in an image of Windows Movie Maker, one of the many free editing softwares that is available to edit movies. Not only can people edit their own movies by cutting out scenes or rearranging them, they can get a movie offline (like a music video, advertisement, or a speech) and use an editing software to add text, music or voice-over, and other elements. YouTube is a global platform, which means that anyone searching on YouTube can see your video once you publish it to the site. This public viewing is why I chose to put the world behind the YouTube logo, and have an audience watching the computer screen. Like McLuan said, YouTube is a medium because it is an extension of ourselves.
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