My experiences with interactive media

Reflecting back on the semester, I have learned some valuable lessons throughout it. The computer has become the medium for my exposure to virtual reality as stated in our textbook in our chapter on Cybertime. One is very broad but I think valuable : be open to experiencing new networks outside of my comfort zone. Up until now, I have only connected with people that I knew personally, but this class has exposed me to learning things about new people from networking sites I have never thought twice about joining. Visits from individuals such as Paul Young have taught me how important networking sites could actually become in our careers. For instance, LinkdIn, is a great example of that. Upon joining LinkdIn, I have searched for people I could possibly know through Fordham and even my previous employers. I have then stumbled upon people I never knew were connected to either.
Looking at social networking from a less professional aspect of it now, I think exposure to sites such as Lastfm.com has really helped expand my iTunes list because once again, I was exposed to songs I wouldn't typically listen to but found as a recommendation from an international listener ( I love international music!).Pandora is also a great site, but the music recommendations are chosen by the website and not other users. Speaking of recommendations, I now started using a heavily advertised by Facebook but helpful site called LivingSocial where my friend's recommendations on books, movies, etc. are constantly updated and help me make a decision based on their judgement. Furthermore, sites such as Twitter not only expose me to updates of my friends but virtually anyone who has Twitter. I am now following a number of celebrities and sometimes listening to their recommendations on books and movies. MySpace, on the other hand also has exposed me to some great bands where I can learn more about their music, their preferences and recommendations all while listening to a couple of their tracks.
I believe that the net has anything that a person is looking for. I have learned about many great cooking websites from our classmates as well as networking sites from other classmates. Watching videos about how technologically advanced we have become has lead me to believe that interactive media has become a necessity in today's economy to follow.
***I would just like to add for you all to start using this search engine : www3.hoongle.org -> every time you do 20 grains of rice will be donated to malnourished children!

Reflections

Taking a look back at the beginning of the semester - this was the blog post I came across - this blog post described my media usage at that time:

The internet is an endless source of information and resources. My daily usage of the internet consists of checking email, at least several times a day, checking facebook, and mostly doing some type of research. Three out of my five closest friends currently live outside of New York, one of them is just several hours away by car, while the other is overseas. Checking email frequently allows us to have conversations and communicate with each other on a regular basis. Even though it may be difficult for us to talk on the phone because of time differences, and schedule conflicts - emailing each other regularly makes us feel that in one way or another everyone is quite close. Also, I help come up with different projects for local youth groups, so many a times I spend my time doing research --> looking at other organizations and figuring out how they do what they do, looking for team building activities, and other useful information for youth group leaders. Throughout the day I tend to check the New York Times website regularly to get my daily dose of news. Additionally, I use the internet to instant message friends, check bank statements, and buy books.

Moreover, when the class first started out - we were instructed to blog about our social networking usage on a weekly basis. However, for me - from a week to week basis - it did not change too much from the initial blog post. Thus, I refrained from writing that I visited the same social networks this week as I did last week, but rather found different social networking sites and shared the interesting ones with everyone in class. Over the semester, I came acorss anobii, ning, friendfeed, italki, etc. And I came to realize that you can find social networking websites for almost any type of commonality or interest. Some of the students in the class also posted their findings - and shared websites about Twitter like twazzup, twitpic, along with flickr, living social, digg, TED, and slashdot, to name a few. It was interesting to visit these websites, look at what they have to offer users, and learn about the amount of people on these social networking websites.
Everyday - i continued to check my email several times a day and went on facebook once or twice a day. After we all signed up for Twitter in class, I started to check that once or twice a week. At first, I couldn't quite believe I was using Twitter, but as time went on I started to like it. We also signed up for MySpace, but I had a difficult time getting used to it. Even though I checked it about once a week and made an effort to making my profile page look a little bit exciting, I still had a hard time trying to get used to it. However, by visiting the websites the students posted - I learned about what is out there. There are a few well-known social networking websites - that most of the people are on, but it was interesting to see how many other types of social networking sites there are out there. People use social networking websites for different reasons - some to connect with their friends, others to market themselves in the business world. However, everyone uses social networking websites for the same purpose - to make connections with others and to feel a sense of belonging. I also learned about blogging. In the past, I had to blog once a week for my internship and sometimes it was fun while at other times it wasn't. Nevertheless, blogging about the readings for the class, being able to read about other student's understanding of the reading, what they found important - was a good way to learn the material. Not only, was I able to share my thoughts about the reading, but I could learn from the students - because sometimes I may have overlooked something.

So - all in all - my media usage has changed- I've become more aware of and learned about other websites and in addition to the websites i went on when the class first started - i also regularly check twitter and myspace.

Demi Moore uses Twitter to help prevent fan's suicide

As mentioned before in class, I really think it is Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher that blog all the time, judging from an article in this post. Since I follow them on Twitter, I observe what they write and it sounds very personal and I think only they could write that (as opposed to hiring their PR person to do the work). Furthermore, I began to think about the impact that having 30,000+ "followers" on Twitter could have, especially now that most people have the postings sent to their phone. I think Twitter's ability to do that surpasses the impact on getting people's attention as compared to Myspace. Alhought Myspace is accessible through the phone, I have not seen an option where people could receive updates of others sent directly as a notification to their phone. Hence, not getting immediate attention. So, even though you may have 30,000+ friends on Myspace most people do not know what you're promoting unless they CHOOSE to click on your site and check it out.The site does have a great ability to draw someone in with the music and decor, which Twitter does not provide as extensively. Also, Twitter is very popular with the tiny URL's which usually leads you to a site that the person wants to draw your attention to. Myspace is not popular with using the tiny URL's-- it is actually most focused on 'updating your mood'.
To wrap this up, I basically wanted to state how today's busy society doesn't allow for us to spend a lot of time 'viewing' people's site and reading an often extensive autobiography about them to get to know what they're about. We want to glance, read, and move on. Twitter was wisely constructed.
Here, I found an interesting article that was brought to my attention by a tiny URL from one of my Twitter friends. It is basically about the impace that Twitter interactions actually could have on people.
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Demi Moore uses Twitter to help prevent fan's suicide
Apr 3, 2009, 06:08 PM | by Alynda Wheat

Categories: Current Affairs, Movies, Web/Tech

A "tweet" may have saved a Demi Moore fan's life, CNN reported today. The actress, whose Twitter blog has some 380,000 fans, received an online threat from a woman who said she was "getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn't waste time." Moore responded to the grim statement with the comment "Hope you are joking." The unnamed 48-year-old woman's suicide threat was traced to a San Jose, Calif., home, where she was taken into custody for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation. Moore, who was in southern France where husband Ashton Kutcher is shooting the crime drama Five Killers, later informed her Twitter followers that the San Jose police were in control of the situation, and that she was "very torn about responding or retweeting that woman's post but felt uncomfortable just letting it go."
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After I read this article I thought to myself, if this lady has posted the same thing with the same amount of friends on Myspace would Demi Moore pick up on it? Would it be brought to attention by someone else? I guess we'll never know but all I know is I'm glad she seen it.

MySpace + Journalism

An article I came across...

MySpace launching citizen journalism site

Partners with sibling Fox News for uReport hub

By Mike Shields, Mediaweek

April 20, 2009, 05:54 PM ET

MySpace has partnered with corporate sibling Fox News to launch the MySpace uReport community, a new hub within the social-networking site designed to showcase journalism produced and contributed by average citizens.

Fox News launched its uReport program two years ago on the heels of similar initiatives from CNN (iReport) and MSNBC (First Person). Each program encourages average users/viewers to contribute photos and videos of breaking news events. From time to time, user-submitted material was used on-air during Fox News broadcasts.

Now, Fox News is looking to unearth citizen journalists within the vast and likely younger-skewing MySpace community. Initially, the new uReport channel is soliciting content from users for the pre-set categories USA, World, Entertainment and Politics -- while enticing them with the possibility that their photos or footage will be used by Fox News or Foxnews.com. Any user can upload content, though Fox News staffers will curate and edit what content makes it onto the MySpace uReport community -- as well as the network's own properties.

Besides user-generated fare, the new channel also serves as a promotional platform for Fox News, featuring links to profiles of Fox News anchors and hosts like Greta Van Susteren and Bill O'Reilly.



I was looking at news articles about social media and I came across this one. Apparently, according to Hollywood Reporter, MySpace is partnering with FOX News and launching a uReport community. This website will celebrate journalism of the average citizen. Users can upload pictures and videos to supplement current news - the article mentions that their content may be aired on FOX News. Even though uReport will celebrate the talents of the average citizen or aspiring journalist - I think websites like this - raise a real concern. The question becomes: How important is news anyway? If anyone can post something they consider newsworthy - sometimes it is good: local communities may benefit by knowing what is going on in their neighborhood, while learning about other things going on in the world. Sometimes - newscasters may leave some newsworthy information out of the news and people may be able to fill in the blanks through uReport. However this poses a question - how effective are journalists? are newspapers, television newsports and radio broadcasts necessary? While some may argue no, I think they are still important today. People look towards those mediums to find out what is going on in the world, even if a website like uReport allows people from across the world to share and spread news.

Into the Social Matrix (reposted from my blog)

In previous blog entries, I've mentioned my friend Paull Young, a social media expert working in the public relations field. The first entry came after he spoke to my Interactive Media class at Fordham University a year ago, and it was entitled The Professionalization of Social Networking, and it was followed by Social Media on Social Media. Of course, you will want to review those posts before continuing... Well? Okay, maybe later then.

So, anyway, Paull recently came back to the Bronx to give another talk to this semester's Interactive Media class. Which was great, I might add. And this time, he taped the talk because he was asked to do a video lecture for students at his alma mater, Charles Sturt University in Australia. As he writes on his blog, Young PR, in a post entitled An Introduction to Social Media for Undergrads:

Last week I visited Lance Strate’s class at Fordham University on the same mission, so I took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. While Bathurst and The Bronx have nada in common aside from alliteration, the principles of social media unite PR students around the world.

You can read the entire blog post, it's not very long, by clicking on An Introduction to Social Media for Undergrads and you'll find that it includes the video of the lecture, which Paull posted on Vimeo (an alternative to YouTube that allows for longer videos), but being as always public service-minded, I'll embed that video right here for your convenience:


Paull Young on Social Media from Paull Young on Vimeo.

So, take a little time and enjoy the talk, and the outrageous Aussie accent while you're at it! And while we're on the subject, Time-Warner Cable's local news channel, New York 1 (channel one on local systems in NY and NJ), ran a story on social media that also featured an interview with Paull Young, and his colleague and boss Rob Key (who I met along with Paull last year), from the PR firm called Converseon, Inc., or in Twitter-speak, @converseon. Unfortunately, they won't allow me to embed the video report (how old school, how old media Time-Warner is, and to think that they once were buoyed up by Atari videogames, and later became known as AOL-Time-Warner!!!!). So, I'll just have to give you the link and trust in your good graces to go over to their site and watch the news report: Cleaning Up Your Cyber Image For Employers. There is some text on that site, so I can give you a quote to let you know what it's about:

Learning how to cleanup your online presence is an imporant step in staying ahead of the game when it comes to potential employers. NY1's Tara Lynn Wagner filed the following report.
Sure it's called MySpace, but nothing about it, or any other social networking site, is really yours. The photos, status updates and videos you post on the World Wide Web are there for the whole wide world to see, and while the whole wide world may not be looking, potential employers are.

"More and more employers are beginning to use Google and are becoming more adept at using social media to help find information about both current employees and potential employees and perspective business partners," said Converseon CEO Rob Key.

Key's company, Converseon, is a social media agency that helps companies manage their online reputation. Key says the first step to cleaning up your cyber-image is to do a Google search.

"Look at Google images, go to YouTube and search for your name there as well, you will be amazed at how many places you may end up that you don't know," said Key.

We then get to the point about how a new medium defines, and redefines who we are, our identity and our selves:

Key says when it comes to the web, job seekers need to see themselves as products being promoted. The more content you create for yourself, the more control you have over the impression you give an employer.

"You can find my blog where I've been writing for several years, you can find my linked in profile which is really my very professional CV online, you can find my Twitter page, you can find my YouTube videos," said Converseon Social Media Strategist Paull Young.

Young says while it's okay to have fun with these sites, his Twitter page announces that he is very handsome and intelligent. He adds it's important to know your audience.

On Twitter today, a number of folks have commented on the description of Paull as "very handsome and intelligent." Leave it at that. Anyway, he goes on to note the breaking down of barriers that is characteristic of all electronic media:

"Your mum could read it, your employer or future employer could read it and your significant other could read it. If all those things are fine, then you shouldn't have any problems," said Young.

But when it comes to the question of what is the role of public relations in the new social media environment, here's the answer:

While accentuating the positive is easy, eliminating the negative can be tricky. Key says you can contact the owner of a site and ask politely that the unflattering material be removed and he says you should take advantage of built in security features that allow you to untag yourself from photos posted by others. This enables you to control your image, rather than letting other people define who you are, a definition that can come back to haunt you.

"When it's digitized, it's there forever so something you do at 18 at a college party may likely be here in 10 or 15 years. It's kind of like that tattoo you got one night and years later you are going to regret that you have it, but it's going to remain there," said Key.

And there you have it. But don't take my word for it, go and get it straight from the horses' mouth. And tell them I sent you!

About Facebook (reposted from my blog)

So, let me start off by saying that I'm not a big fan of Facebook, and I'll tell you why. But first let me acknowledge that the opinions expressed here are my own, and not those of the management of Blog Time Passing...

...wait a minute, wait a minute... I am the management of Blog Time Passing, so this is, in fact, the official position of this blog. But I do recognize that my opinion may not be your opinion, nor am I trying to persuade you to come around to my way of thinking. And I also acknowledge that Facebook appears to be the most popular social networking site right now.

Popularity, of course, implies nothing about quality. Back when videocassette recorders were introduced to the consumer market, there were two competing formats, VHS and Betamax. When I started working as a salesman in a video store in the early days of this new medium, back when I was a graduate student (wonder if anyone remembers Video Shack?), VHS was outselling Beta by two to one, and Beta disappeared within a couple of years. VHS won out, even though Beta was actually the superior format, quality-wise. The same thing has gone on in the home computer industry as, for example, the Commodore Amiga was superior to the early Macintosh computers (both used the Graphic User Interface and a mouse), while Windows is a vastly inferior operating system to the Macintosh OS, but is far and away the best selling, no matter the inroads that Mac has made over the past year or so.

So popularity is not an argument in support of Facebook. But I will also acknowledge that Facebook is the most popular form of computer-mediated communication among my students. They tell me that they check Facebook before looking at their email (if they look at their email at all). They also admit that almost all of their interaction there is with people they already know. Many of them feel creeped out when they get friend requests from strangers.

To be honest, I can't imagine what life will be like for the younger generations who will now remain in touch with everyone they meet forever, through Facebook or whatever media take its place in the future. Previously, transitions such as the move from high school to college, or into a work environment, or geographical relocations, all presented opportunites to more or less start over, and reinvent oneself. Now, we leave a long trail or long tail behind us, one that we can never fully shake. It's total recall! This may be comforting in some ways, but leaves you in the position of growing up in a small town where everyone knows all about you from the day you were born, and in the position then of living in that same small town all your life. This relates to Marshall McLuhan's observation, almost half a century ago, that on account of electronic interdependence we live in a global village.

For those of us not native to this digital environment, for us digital immigrants so to speak, the situation is a bit different. We wind up connecting to people that we have not heard from for many years, not having maintained contact when that would have required actual effort on our parts, along the lines of telephones calls and letter writing. So there is this new drive to reconnect, which has its charms and gratifications, and certainly can rekindle old friendships and relationships, especially if the loss of contact was due to situations and circumstances beyond our control, or at least that we had limited control over. And once contact was lost, it would take extraordinary effort to reconnect, especially if the other person has moved. But renewed contact also can be awkward, and ultimately result in reminding us that there were reasons why we drifted apart in the first place (this is not about anyone in particular, in case any of my old reconnected friends are reading this).

Anyway, what I was getting at is that my students find Facebook to be very much in their comfort zone, as of all the social networks out there, Facebook is about familiar and safe connections, while the other networks are more about, well, networking, meeting new people, expanding your contacts, etc. This is risky, yes, that's the trade-off, as psychologist Abraham Maslow noted long ago, safety vs. growth. We learn the most from people we don't already know. For that matter, network research shows that we gain the most from people we don't know well, for example in job hunting--that's known as the strength of loose ties. And for me, my other social networks, MySpace and Twitter, have provided great oppportunities for meeting new people, for growth and learning and networking, as opposed to Facebook.

Of course, I could pursue a more aggressive strategy of networking on Facebook, but another problem I have with the site is its Terms of Service. Simply put, they claim to own everything you put on Facebook, every word you type, every picture you upload, etc. Now, I question whether this would ever hold up in court, but who wants to have to go to court in the first place? And I question whether they could actually enforce such terms, especially given that this is diametrically opposed to the bias of the medium, which is all about sharing--let the spice and the information flow! But it does have a chilling effect, to use an old legal/policy phrase, and it's offensive on principle.

There was a recent uproar, as you may know, when Facebook changed its Terms of Service to say that they also own everything you put there even if you delete it, or delete your profile, and they also said they own everything you link to. There was so much anger generated by this that a few days later they backed off and reverted to their old Terms of Service, which still says they own everything you put up there, just not forever.

Now, they do say that the ToS doesn't mean what it says, that it means something else, but any good general semanticist will tell you that what counts is what the words say, not any inferences that anyone draws about them. When you assume... well, I try to avoid making an ass out of anyone, especially myself. And furthermore, as any good New Yorker would say, I don't like their attitude.

By the way, speaking of Facebook's Terms of Service, here's a marvelous editorial cartoon by Jeff Koterba of the Omaha World Herald:







Neil Postman would've loved that! He always used to point out how all these gadgets and media, from televison on, were great time wasters.

Anyway, getting back to why I'm not a Facebook fanboy, the thing about Facebook is that it is very clean and orderly, closed and safe, the profiles are very quiet, homogenous, with relatively little room for personalization. MySpace, by way of comparison, is much more open and chaotic, and more in tune with the do-it-yourself ethic of the online world. Profiles are customized, so are blogs, it's all very noisy and creative, full of spam and scams and phishers and the like, and full of creative activity--it's a great place for artists, musicians, poets, etc. Twitter, while minimalistic in certain ways, allows for more personalization that Facebook, and is full of hustle and bustle--it's a great place for intellectuals. Neither one makes any claim to own your words, pictures, or soul.

Facebook is very middleclass, and that's the secret to its popularity. To make an analogy, Facebook is like Fabian whereas MySpace and Twitter are more like Elvis. Or in more recent terms, Facebook is like Vanilla Ice, MySpace and Twitter are like, uh, well, you know, real rappers (if I say Public Enemy or Puff Daddy I know I'm dating myself, I just don't know rap very well, but I know full well the sanitizing process that gives us Ice Ice Baby). Ok, how about this, Facebook is like American Idol, as opposed to real rock stars. Facebook is just so very bourgois! It's whitebread, Twitter is rye, MySpace is pumpernickel. Facebook is the suburbs, MySpace is the wild frontier, Twitter is the big city. I could go on, but I'll stop here and add a bit more in another post. Oh, and do feel free to send me a friend request on Facebook, I don't mind. Or on MySpace. Or follow me on Twitter. And of Blog Time Passing of course!

social networking sites

As I was playing around with twitter, myspace, and other social media websites, I found a few interesting ones:

Power
This website allows visitors who have an Orkut, Hi5, or MySpace profile to access everything in one place. With so many different types of social networking websites, power makes it very easy to access everything without having to go to several different websites. I tried logging on with my MySpace username but they are repairing the website or something like that, so it hasn't quite yet worked. Their website says visitors will also be able to access facebook, MSN messenger, and enjoy Yahoo and Hotmail integration very shortly.

Twitter
While exploring twitter, I came across a few interesting things.
Twittervision
This site has a map of the world, on which twitter updates are shown. So if you update your status -- a picture of you, and your updated status will show up on the map from your location.
Twitscoop
This shows the most popular words on twitter right now and is updated every few seconds.
Tweet2Tweet
Through this site you can type in the name of two twitter users and see their @ replies.

It was particularly interesting to find out how many different websites were created as a result of twitter.

Ning
This website allows you to create your own social network. I attempted to create a network, just to see what the website provides. You can create your own network, decide whether or not you want it public or private, and then do anything else any other social networking website allows you to do (upload pictures, videos, join groups, blog, write on discussion boards etc). It seems kind of like a yahoo or google group, because you can create your own name, pick you who want to add, but then again, all other social networking sites allow for that too.

Thinking Differently

The first reading was quite interesting, because in class we started out engaging in different types of social media (myspace, twitter, youtube, blogger etc), without really thinking about the issues that the reading brings up. The idea of cyborgs, the merging of people and artificial systems, as mentioned in our reading, raises many issues. For one, it challenges the traditional notion of the self; Rucker goes on to saying that "neither men nor robots are anything but machines." It makes us think about the ethical, social, psychological, and philosophical issues about cyberspace, and artificial intelligence. I disagree with Rucker, because humans have a soul, whereas machines do not, and thus they cannot be compared on the same level.

Another interesting issue mentioned in the reading was about cyberspace's capability of changing people. The reading provided an example from an article in Wired, of a woman who was shy, wore various shades of gray, and prefered a conservative cut, who created a digital identity that was the polar opposite of reality. As a result of her interaction with men online, she changed her style in real life. This brings about the notion of behavior alteration. Its hard to determine why she would create a persona unlike herself, but it did bring about a change in her. It suggests that the interaction of people through social media is capable of bringing about change.

Mead explains that,"The others and the self arise in a social act together." Basically, the individual self is established by putting together the attitudes of others towards the self, and toward one another through social interaction, as mentioned in our reading. This relates to the story about the woman, because she was able to change herself, based on other people's perception of her. She portrayed herself one way, people started believing that is who she was, reciprocated those thoughts to her, and so she started believing that she was "The Naked Lady." You understand who you are, through your interaction with others. Through any form of social interaction, people gain a better understanding of themselves. This also brings up an issue about cyberspace, and ubiquitous computing that I never thought about before.

Additionally, there were quite a few things in this reading, that I never would have thought about in trying to understand the way social media works, but after the reading the concerns mentioned are quite important. For example, virtual reality is supposed to create experiences that are life like interactions, but what happens when the lines between virtual and actual reality are blurred? This was just one of issues the reading made me think about.

My Daily Media

I don't really follow a routine with the internet, but I am always on it. Whether it's sending .mp3's over gmail to A&R's and managers, or browsing Youtube, I am always in touch with the world wide web. I do check Facebook and Myspace almost everyday, but I am slowly stopping because I have found Twitter! Twitter is a much more simpler site, but allows me to update my status, which is what I really appreciate. I'd rather only see what my friends and some of my favorite musicians are doing at the moment than being friends with them on Facebook or Myspace (Much less junk is thrown your way on Twitter). I also enjoy looking at ESPN and a few other sites that amuse me. I'm still open to find other websites that I may enjoy, and I hope over the course of the class I will. See you guys tomorrow...