Tag Archives: #SocialMedia

Blog Pot #11

Posted on April 1, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog Pot #11

@YakustaLeader4

With social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, they create a connection with everyone in the world. For issues like Occupy Wall Street and the uprises in the Middle East, as well as with the LGBT communities, all it took was a common issue that a bunch of people agreed on, wanting for something to change or to be done. Thanks to such sites, it has become a lot more easy for people to organize themselves and make a protest. For example just recently witht the “=” sign to show support for Gay Marriage and Prop 8. This was made in one day, and within a week, millions of Facebook users had it as their profile picture. All of these social media sites have similar characteristics and qualities to make these protests happen. The main reason is how quickly information can be shared or “Liked” in just a short amount of time. Back 20 years ago a person had to watch the news or read a newspaper to see what is going on across the globe or just across the United States. But then in the early 2000’s social media sites came abroad and created a way where people anywhere can connect to each other and also find out what is going on in a country, state or town. Now if someone posts something on Facebook or Twitter, it can set off a fire storm and everyone in the world can find out about it. It’s almost like the news is almost irrelivant to have now because if a person is connected enough, then they could easily find out what’s going on.

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Sharing who we are

Posted on March 31, 2013 by | Comments Off on Sharing who we are

@PerrinKyla

Social media environments are able to mobilize people to seek social change by providing a different outlook on life. Social media allows people to create a new outlook of their own lives. They create a person that they want to be and when people show interest in that person they decide to change themselves in real life. Characteristics of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are being able to post statuses about your daily life, posting pictures and videos of yourself and being able to see others pictures and videos, and being able to make friends with anyone without meeting them in person. In Catfish the movie, Nev met a young girl Abby and her whole family and fell in love with a girl who did not even exist. According to Deanna Zandt when people tell stories they build trust with other people, they “build empathy.” “We’re sharing information about ourselves and our networks online, which leads to ore connections with other people and other networks” (Pg.7). People can share all sorts of information about themselves but how do you know if it’s real or made up?  How can you tell if their profile picture or any other pictures on their profile? I think that something about the unknown brings people together. “Diversity in the social network sphere is critical for generating fresh perspectives on old problems…” (Pg.19). Social media allows people to come together on issues and change not only the way they are in social situations but to change bigger issues in the world.

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Blog #9- Your Third Arm

Posted on March 19, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog #9- Your Third Arm

@ohheyitshonor

In today’s world, social media sites have become a part of the human persona. Acting as a third arm, websites such as Facebook or Twitter have often become how people know each other best, and are a large part of how they perceive others. This directly reflects Coleman and Shirky’s idea of the media changing the user.

The internet has become, as Coleman describes, a place where humans mentally reside in X-Reality, and can control how others perceive them. Coleman states on X-Reality, “…people are making their networked worlds inhabitable. In other words, the makers are making themselves at home by way of their avatars.” This control is, as the quote states, allowing humans to create a world to reside to, what they think is escaping from reality. But these “avatars” are becoming who people know us as, and as Coleman suggests, are changing us. For example, a person who is shy face to face may be very social when they are behind a screen, posting picture with friends and generally interacting more with people than in their actual reality.

Overall, both Coleman and Shirky’s theory is clearly reflected in the actions taken by social media’s users. It is clear that “avatars” are becoming more a more a part of who we are, growing into why we could call our third arm, as it is a s much a part of human’s personas as their  appearance.

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Social Media and The User

Posted on March 18, 2013 by | Comments Off on Social Media and The User

@PerrinKyla

Coleman discusses that in the virtual world people “appeared to be cooler than in life” (pg.125). This can relate to how media changes the user because on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr someone can create an account and post pictures that are not truly pictures of themselves but of someone more attractive in order to get attention from other people. Anyone can log onto these social networks and become someone that they are not. Media allows the person to think that they are able to get away with pretending to be someone else. These social networks also allow people to be more outgoing then they would be face to face. For example, on Facebook someone could talk about how much they hang out with their friends and about all the crazy things they go out and do but face to face this person is really shy and doesn’t hang out with anyone. Coleman also references Albert Bandura’s model of agency in which he states “people’s belief about their capabilities to exercise control over events that affect their lives” (pg.136). Being a psychologist, Bandura accounts for how people think of not only themselves but how others will perceive them. This falls into Coleman’s definition of agency that says agency is how we understand ourselves as actors in an environment as well as how the environment will react to us. In my opinion this plays a major role in the way that social networks are used and how their influence can change the user.

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