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.  

3. Transparency is important in the online world because it can have mixed motives for people for post things online.  People may post things on social sites for personal gain, to try and get respect or recognition from others, or they can be greedy and say things they don't believe in for money.  Online, people do not have to be honest, they can say things they don't mean for some sort of self benefit.  People can respond to other people's tweets or comments because they want them to like them more.  I think transparency is more important in the online world because you can connect with people that you otherwise couldn't meet with in person.  You can help to develop relationships with people online through different forms of communication.