English 112: Blugold Seminar

As I was searching around the internet I came across a Yahoo article on Twitter use in college classrooms. The article is about a study done at Michigan State University on professors having students use Twitter for class. They found that in courses that use Twitter to engage students, the students receive higher grades.  Christine Greenhow, one of the professors doing the study at Michigan State, says that her students interacted with each other more on Twitter then in the classroom. They were able to ask questions and get help easily. The students also learned how to summarize their ideas and keep up on the latest research.

I found that this article mirrors our experience with Twitter in our class. We used Twitter for the same reasons the students at Michigan State did. We posted stuff relevant to class, we asked questions, and tried to stay up to date on the most recent research on social networking.

For me, Twitter was a mostly positive experience. It was an easy way to connect with classmates outside of school and have conversations. It was interesting to see all the articles posted and all thoughts people had on issues that we were discussing in class. I feel like it really added to the experience of the class, especially since our theme was social media. The most challenging part was limiting my posts to 140 characters. While I probably won’t ever use Twitter for non-class related work, I wouldn’t mind using again for a class.

My question is then, do you think this news article is accurate based off of the experiences you had in class? Did it help you to improve you grades, or did it make class harder for you? Was Twitter a good experience, and would you use it again after this?

When I was reading Allison McCann’s article, “How Facebook Ruined Dating (And Breaking Up Too),” a question she posed caught my attention.

“Can I admit to knowing things you’ve done (based on your pics) before we go on dates? (McCann)”

It made me think about how common Facebook creeping is. So often teens, myself included, will look up other people that they’ve never even met hoping to get a better picture of what this person is like. We’re curious; we want to know this information before having to get to know someone. However, I think that Facebook creeping hinders our ability to build relationships with these people.

More times than not, I feel like we decide whether or not we want to get to know and be friends with these people based off of what we see on their profile. If we don’t like what we see, we don’t even give them a chance. Just the other day, I heard two girls talking about their first impressions of people based on their profile pictures. As a result of viewing these profile pictures, these girls had made assumptions about what they thought each person was going to be like and then decided whether or they thought they were going to be friends with these people. They had never even met the people that they had checked out on Facebook, but they allowed their preconceived notions to affect their openness to forming a relationship with these people. As it turns out, only one of their assumptions turned out to be true. Luckily for them though, they were forced to spend time with these people, so they actually got to know them in person and did form friendships with them. Even though this worked out for them, I don’t think that this is the case for most people. I think that after judging someone, we often don’t change our mind unless there is evidence to disprove our assumption. In regards to Facebook creeping though, if we don’t like what we see, we usually don’t try to learn more about the person.

Thus, although Facebook creeping can make getting to know information about someone easier, I think that we should allow people to do the talking, not their profiles. There’s so much that could be misconstrued because we might not understand the intention behind other peoples’ pictures or posts that this could lead us to have false perceptions about someone. We could potentially be missing out on a great friendship because we aren’t willing to give someone a chance. This is why I think that it’s important to get to know people in person. It will give them the chance to present themselves as they really are and it will allow us to make a decision, based on what we know to be true, on whether or not we want to pursue a friendship with this person.

On several occasions in class the question “what is the most viewed YouTube video of all time?” has come up. And of course the answer remains Justin Bieber – Baby ft. Ludacris with 791,636,474 views. This is number is astonishing and more than 100,000,000 views ahead of second place. The YouTube community has spent a combined total of 5,644 years watching some dude say “baby” and dance around a bowling alley. (Okay, I’ll admit to watching it for the purposes of this post.) But the insanity doesn’t stop there. The next four most viewed videos are all also music videos to pop songs. When all of these views are added up, users of YouTube have spent a combined total of 17,721 years watching these five videos.

What does this say about our values as a society?

The fact that this type of content is by far the most popular on YouTube is appalling. The statement we have made as a society by consuming this material is loud and clear. These videos do not feature the arts, science or philosophy. Nor do they promote education, communication, or literature. In fact these videos, as well as others like them, are devoid of intellectual value. They contain messages that advocate self-indulgence and the pursuit of immediate personal pleasures. This does not reflect well on us as a society, and we should be more aware of the ideals we are promoting through our consumption of this type of material. As Albert Einstein famously stated:

“Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig.”

Music connects people.  Someone plays guitar by the campfire and people gather around to listen and sing along.  Artists make it a career to appeal to groups of listeners with their own style of music.  It’s hard for these artists to get their names out there.  Most end up failing at this.  The ever-changing music industry is difficult to keep up with.  As an avid music fan, I have several ways by which I keep up with new and trending artists.  However, there’s no way to hear them all.  Personally, my main avenues for hearing new music are pitchfork.com, 89.3 The Current (a St. Paul based music station), and my close friends who are also on the never-ending quest to find new and cool music.

As for pirchfork.com, I tend to look at their ratings for the newest albums of the year.  Through this part of their website, I come to discover albums that are rated highly that I had not even heard about.  Through my hometown radio station, I hear the best local bands to the Twin Cities, and through my friends, I can hear about any new finds they may have had recently.  One example of how we do this is through use of social media.  We use a Facebook group called “New Tunes” on which we post anything new (or sometimes old) that we may have discovered (or rediscovered) recently.  This was a fantastic idea created by one of my best friends back home, and an effective way to use social media to find new artists and also stay connected with my friends.  When I log onto Facebook, this is one of the things I look forward to the most.  Indeed, it is likely the most relevant and “productive” thing I do on Facebook.  As for you, I ask, if you are a music fan, how do you find out about new artists? What are your tactics? Do you use social media? If so, how?

Of course, after discovering these artists, you might want to get ahold of some of their material.  To you, I ask, what are your methods?  This is where it becomes hard.  If you want to have an extensive library of music, how can you do it without spending a hefty sum of that (quite rare now-a-days) cash?  It is illegal to, even if you own a copy of a CD, reproduce that CD with intentions to give a copy to friends or family.  WHAT!? If I can’t do that it means I have to buy each and every album I want to listen to!?  There are also music-pirating sites where you can use “torrents” to obtain almost any album out there. These are some legitimate ethical temptations if I do say so myself.  The music industry has taken a hard hit in the last decade, and I have been contemplating what can be done to stop this.

Link to a comic pertaining to illegal file-sharing

Link to another short comic

What if I just want to hear an album once? What if I want to hear an album to decide if I like it enough to want to spend $12.00 on it? I think there should be a system by which you pay per listen.  I have been discussing this issue with my dad (a huge music fan) and he has given some great insight.  We discussed how maybe there should be a system where each time you listen to a song, you are charged a very small amount, let’s say half a cent.  If you listen to an album many times, it means you like it, and when you like something, you are generally willing to pay more for it.  What are some of your thoughts on this method?  Is it already out there? If not, could it work? And how?

Recently, I heard about the Amanda Todd suicide story. A fifteen-year-old girl from Vancouver committed suicide after a three-year-long battle with constant bullying and friendlessness. About a month before Amanda died, she created a flashcard video on YouTube telling the world her story. While her cry for help before her death did not stop her from taking her life, the responses to her story have been outrageous, giving hope to others who are contemplating suicide.

Because YouTube took down Amanda’s video after her death, I have been unable to read the comments from people who saw her video when she first posted it. However, this story has reminded me of a story I read in January of this year. Ben Breedlove, an eighteen-year-old with a chronic heart condition, had created a video using flashcards to tell the story of his life. He had the video ready so that if and when he passed away his parents could post it, sharing his story with the world. In response to his video, thousands of people created flashcard videos telling the stories of their lives, beginning the flashcard video movement. I spent hours watching video after video and reading the incredibly positive comments that people had posted in response to people opening up about their lives. In my opinion, this movement changed the community of YouTube. It went from a website where people share funny things to a place where people can truly love each other. Through sharing the stories of their own lives, people were and are able to open up and receive support from others.

The Amanda Todd story and reminder of the Ben Breedlove story have gotten me really thinking about the Internet.  While I still believe that the Internet can cause a lot of harm, it definately succeeds in connecting people. The Internet is a place that allows perfect strangers to speak truth into each other’s lives. It is a place where people who otherwise wouldn’t be willing to be vulnerable can will themselves to open up and receive the support that they so desperately need. These stories remind us that we have the chance to speak love or hate into every relationship, whether it be a face-to-face relationship or a cyber relationship. We really do have the opportunity to change lives by something as simple as an encouragement on a depressed individuals YouTube video or a warm hello as we pass someone on the hill.  I believe that the legacies of Amanda Todd and Ben Breedlove are reminders of just that!

Amanda’s Video: http://www.ibtimes.com/amanda-todd-15-commits-suicide-after-sharing-video-about-her-bullying-ordeal-video-845399

Ben’s Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90q15xbXCRM

All over the news this week has been the tragic story of Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old Canadian teen who took her life on October 10th. It’s been determined that the thing that ulitmately provoked her death was extensive years of bullying from her fellow classmates, in person and online. The bullying caused her to change schools several times, and after being assaulted at her second school, she attempted to take her own life multiple times in various ways until she finally succeeded.

On September 7th, Amanda posted a video to youtube outlining her tragic story. It all began when screenshots of her nude taken by a stranger on a chat site got forwarded to her classmates through Facebook a facebook page made by that same stranger, who stalked her to the point where he knew the intimate details of her life (the names of her friends and family, her address, etc). She was then ridiculed in public and through the private sphere of social media, and even physically assaulted. Videos were posted on Facebook of the fight, and kids encouraged her to kill herself through websites such as Formspring. She took it to heart.

Amanda Todd’s Youtube Video

She was diagnosed with depression and was being treated by anti-depressants to help her cope with the terrible anxiety caused by the constant bullying of her classmates, which finally ended in her deciding that she couldn’t cope with it anymore.

It’s pretty clear that without the involvement of social media, Amanda Todd’s story would be very different. There’s even more than that. It’s been much discussed that today’s youth doesn’t much value privacy. Is it possible that the lack of this value is what caused Amanda Todd’s problems in the first place? Exposing oneself on webcam for random strangers isn’t something that exactly reflects the value of privacy. Or is it more of a reflection of how today’s youth are deeply effected by low self-esteem, and approval of online strangers can supposedly remedy it?

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13183580-amanda-todd-the-fifteen-year-old-canadian-school-girl-commits-suicide

Last week, Nick Leeder, Google’s Australia and New Zealand Managing Director announced that there are three big changes heading for the web that we must be aware of at Google for Entrepreneurs Day in Sydney.  One of these changes was the idea of mobility, and that Google will hold mobile considerations among the top priorities for development for the company. Leeder also mentioned that we as citizens should avoid restricting ourselves to only our smartphones and tablets for mobility, hinting that there may soon be other devices that we have not thought about that will provide easier mobility (Coverage of this speech is available here).

This news didn’t come as much of a surprise to me, considering we live in the era of smartphones coming out with ways to link to our online profiles more and more seamlessly. It is clear that mobility is the goal of all social networking sites, since it enables users to stay connected no matter where they go. Twitter, for example, was originally intended as a way to use text messages to connect with a group and not just the one person you were texting. The 140-character limit still promotes brief, precise messages that force users to be creative and to the point (I still struggle with this) and is very easy to use on-the-go. Clearly, the creators of Twitter had mobility in mind, and we are all aware of Facebook and Pinterest apps (to name a few) that allow us to take our social networking with us on-the-go.

What concerns me the most about this drive for mobility is news that surfaced just this morning about European regulators finding legal problems in Google’s recently revised privacy policy, making claims that Google being able to combine personal data from such a large network of people puts the privacy of users at risk. Essentially, Google has made it easier for themselves to tie together user information from multiple services, painting a better picture of its users and allowing for more personalized advertisements (more information can be found here). If Google is trying to paint a better picture of its users by giving itself access to more information about what services its users are using, then mobility is exactly what Google needs to improve on to make that happen. Not only will users stay connected to their services around the clock, but Google will be able to determine where we are using these services and with whom we are using these services.

Being able to connect to social networking services and other other internet sites has provided a lot of benefits in my life, and often times it is more convenient to pull out my iPhone instead of finding the nearest computer. It is important to acknowledge, however, that Google and other companies are on a mission to find out as much information as possible about you, the user, and increasing mobility of its services allows Google to track its users’ patterns everywhere its users go. Scary, if you ask me. Almost Big Brother-ish. Luckily there are regulators out there who are aware of Google’s strategies and concerned with preserving the privacy of users, because I am sure almost all of us rely on several online services in our daily lives and are not in a position to completely change the way we use these services.

Does anyone else find it alarming that this push for mobility has come at the same time that Google changed its privacy policy to allow for more access to its users’ personal information? Seems like Google made its goal pretty evident with this recent move.

The social media giant, Facebook, has just recently opened up a new option to its now over a billion users. Users now have the option to pay a certain sum of money (anywhere from a couple dollars to a couple thousand dollars) to promote their posts to their Facebook friends. You may be wondering, “Why do I need to pay for my friends to see my posts? Can’t they already see what I post?”. The answer to this is yes and no. When Facebook was originally designed, the software included an algorithm which determined what posts a user would see on the top of their news feed. Many Facebook users have upwards of one thousand “friends”, but these users do not see updates from every single one of their “friends”. This algorithm works in a way that users typically will only see posts from people they interact with on the site. Now, Facebook’s introduction of promoted posts will allow for users to ensure that all of their friends see their posts. This is one of the worst ideas that the social network has made throughout their existence. There is a reason why the content-censoring algorithm was created, and that was to ensure that users see posts that are geared towards them. This new concept of promoted posts will no doubt cause anger among users, who will now see posts of users who are utilizing the promoted posts feature. Then again, if you are only friends with people whom you actually care to see information about, these promoted posts will not affect your Facebook experience all that much.

More about promoted posts in this article from Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/10/04/facebook-to-charge-users-to-promote-posts-to-friends/

What are your thoughts about promoted posts on Facebook (or Twitter, which has been using promoted posts for quite some time already)?

I feel that technology today has far too significant of an impact on our personal relationships.  Facebook, in particular, has started to become too important of a factor in relationships.  “It’s not official until it’s Facebook Official (FBO)” has become a commonly heard phrase.

It’s truly sad to me to see how Facebook can affect relationships.  I’ve decided to analyze this topic chronologically, from the start to the end of a relationship.

So you start a new relationship, and one of the biggest worries is over who should change their status first.  Do you make the change first and wait for them to follow suit? Or do you play it cool and wait until the other person changes their status?  (I know these questions may seem ridiculous, but bear with me.)  Once it’s changed, you watch as the likes and comments start pouring in.  Because, of course, we’re all seeking approval, and when all of your friends are approving of your relationship, the serotonin starts flowing in your brain.  (As twisted as it seems, it’s generally accepted that people thrive off of getting likes on Facebook.)  Now, you’re a few weeks in and the relationship is going fine; you add tons of pictures with your significant other and write lovey-dovey messages all over their wall.  This can appear “cute” to your friends, or it may make them want to gag.  The amount and type of publicity of the relationship obviously varies depending on the people, but it can get to be quite a bit.  I could probably write a short novel about Facebook relationship etiquette and my opinions of how public a couple should be on Facebook, but that’s for another day.  So anyways, a few months pass by and you start to fight.  Now this doesn’t always appear on Facebook, but the more dramatic members of our society may choose to go after that much-desired attention and change their status to “it’s complicated”.  At this point, there is an outpouring of support from friends: “I’m here for you <3” and “Oh no, I told you they were trouble :(”, and all of a sudden, there are all these other people chiming in on your relationship.  These comments alone can lead to other problems in the relationship.  Let’s say that the problems get to be too much and the relationship is called off.  Now comes another problem: who declares their solitude first?  If you’ve just had your heart broken, you’re not likely to rush to your computer and announce to the world you just got dumped.  Which means, that when the time comes and your ex changes their status, you have to stare at that painful, little, red “single” heart on your page.  Now it’s decision time again, do you leave the heart and risk having to explain the situation to caring friends, and view all of their comments, or delete it and act like nothing happened? And if you’re the one who broke it off?  It’s likely that you’re eager to change your status and see who likes your recent availability, or you could want to delete the heart to save your ex’s feelings.   After the statuses have been changed, here come the after-effects.  Who “liked” when your ex became single?  What did people say about the breakup? Did your ex comment about what happened to the relationship?

While all of these questions may seem quite superficial or shallow, I know that (especially with teenagers) they’re ridiculously common.  To many, especially those who haven’t been in a situation similar to this, you may be thinking, oh my gosh, teenagers are crazy, (there is some truth to this, of course) but in all reality, these are the things that go through our minds nowadays.  The sad part is that the online aspects of the relationship play such a large role.  When you start dating, you shouldn’t be worried about who’s going to make it FBO first, you should be enjoying each other and reveling in the happiness of a new relationship.  When you have a fight, you shouldn’t be worried about putting it online, you should be trying to work through it with your significant other.  When you go through a breakup, you shouldn’t have to worry about changing your status and watching the world react, you should be grieving with sad movies and a bucket of ice cream.

While I’m not saying Facebook shouldn’t have a “relationship status”, or that people don’t have the right to share this information or be a little bit dramatic about it, I just think we’re influenced too much by it.  It saddens me that Facebook can at times be the judge of whether or not your relationship is “official” and that the effects of a breakup can be magnified online.  Facebook is too big of a primary concern, when it should just be an afterthought.