Social Media

Social media is content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology transforming monologue into dialogue. Also, it is a democratization of information that transforms people from content readers into publishers. Social media is extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal and business (Wikipedia, 2009).
Social media is growing rapid everyday with sites and tools like RSS, Blogs, Wikis, Social Bookmarking, Delicious, Google, Twitter and Facebook. Social media can be very beneficial, for example, Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows you to save your favorite bookmarking. You will be able to access the bookmarking from other computers, not just your own. Also, it allows you to share your bookmarking with other contacts, which are categorized by tags. In addition, social media can also help you find a job. For example, one can create a fan page or group in Facebook about the industry that one may be interested in or connect to people and get testimonials. There are many ways that social media can be beneficial, but done in excess, can be detrimental to one’s life. I believe that with the whirlwind of innovation and creativity in social media, it is easy to lose sight of the need for balance between the online and real world. You still need real world interaction. With using anything in excess, one must find a balance.

Advantages of Social Media:
· Relationships and conversations
· Creativity and remix culture
· Embrace your passion and identity
· Community, sharing and connecting
· Increase transparency in government and organization
Criticisms of Social Media:
· Lots of great content still gets over looked
· Writers have problems delivering content consistently
· Anonymity can engender polarization and hate
· Information overload and social networking overload
· Work/Life balance is hard to achieve

Explaining the Impact of Twitter, Friendfeed and Social Media 2.0

View more presentations from Pat Kitano.

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”—Lao-Tze

Take-Away Realization: Social media has its advantages and criticisms. Nevertheless, do the advantages out weigh the criticism? Can a balance be achieved from social media and reality? Or, do we get accustomed to the new world of technology or get left behind?

Reference:
http://compassioninpolitics.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-social-media/
http://www.slideshare.net/pkitano/twitter-friendfeed-080602 (slideshow)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

http://update.snd.org/.../cache/social-web_598x262.jpg -(image of stick people)

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.mrmeyer.com/wp-content/uploads/(image of various web sites)

Plugged In

Addiction is an obsession, compulsion, or excessive psychological dependence, such as; drug addiction, video game addiction, crime, money, alcoholism, work addiction, compulsive, overeating, problem gambling, computer addiction, etc. (Wikipedia,2009)

Technology has a way of making us dependent, like an addict. We now live in a world where advanced technology is all around us and easy accessible. We want things fast, easy and user friendly. With new technology and advanced communication devices on the rise such as video games, laptops, I-pods, and cell phones, being addicted to technology is inevitable. It is imperative to identify symptoms that may occur as a result of overextended use of technology, these include:

• Risk of loss of a significant relationship, job, educational, or career opportunity due to excessive internet use
• Internet engagement to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms
• Internet engagement used as a way of escaping problems or relieving feelings of guilt, helplessness, anxiety, or depression

The article "The End of Alone", examined how technology can put an end to loneliness. Cell phones, (i.e., Blackberries/Bluetooth) for example, will give the illusion that he or she is never alone, even if no one physically is with them. The Washington Post reported that people who rely on Bluetooth ear sets just can’t get enough of wearing their accessories. Also, technology gives a person the sense of importance; it keeps him or her in the loop at all times.

Take Away: Technology is an absolute necessity for the fast paced world. But when technology becomes a barrier to our relationships and evolves into an addiction, its benefits are squandered.

Reference:
Am I Still Here? (Doerr, Orion Magazine, 2009) <http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4234>
The End of Alone (Swidely, Boston Globe, 2008) <http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/02/08/the_end_of_alone/>
Meet the Life Hackers (Thompson, NY Times, 2005) <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16guru.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1>
The Washington Post
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjhjS-MiTIc&feature=email (media clip-Tyra Banks Show)
http://www.worth1000.com/emailthis.asp?entry=381891 (image)

Consumer Psychology

Gatekeeping is the hierarchical structure of formal organizations that places certain individuals or groups in crucial positions from which they can control access to goods, services, or information. They, therefore wield power far in excess of their formal authority (Highbeam.com)
The gatekeeper is a person or people who decide which information will pass through or not. In the media realm, the gatekeepers control the public knowledge by letting some stories pass through and not others. For example, in the film This Film Is Not Yet Rated, the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) has industry raters that operate anonymously as the gatekeepers for the film industry. The MPAA controls 95% of the film business. They rate movies from G, PG, PG-13, NC-17 and X. Each rating has control on what extent and to what capacity the movie will be seen. The rating will also control on how the movies will be distributed and marketed. Kirby Dick states, “The anonymous raters are untrained, given no standards by which to judge movies, have no apparent qualifications, and whose seemingly arbitrary decisions and inconsistent applications of standards determine film content and have played an informal role in shaping cultural landscape.” Nonetheless, media gate-keeping is showed to base their decisions on news values, organizational routines, input structure and common sense. An example of the MPAA rating system is the rating on the movie Boys Don’t Cry. The MPAA rated this movie an NC-17. The reasons: One of the scenes portrayed an actresses wiping semen off her mouth, an anal rape, and a long orgasmic scene.

Bias that contribute to gate-keeping starts with the person or people who decide what passes through or not.

Do we as consumers feed into what the producers and directors what us to see? Do consumers have to accept not knowing the full story? Or do we accept only what the media wants us to know?

Take-Away: Gate-keeping is necessary because the public should have some information censored. But in contrast, it can create a unilateral view of the topic and give an incomplete perspective.

References:
http://www.wordsinspace.net/ (cartoon image)
www.itbusiness.ca/.../Mar31/gatekeepers.jpg (diagram image)
This film is Not Yet Rated, 2006
www.HighBeam.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatekeeper_(politics)

www.slideshare.net/adrodgers/news-gatekeeping-146206 - 46k