Social media: Making the world a smaller place

Ok, so I know that most of my posts are about aspects of social media, but there is just so much to talk about! Most of my day is surrounded with social media, and a lot of what I write about has been inspired from things I have seen on social media platforms.

Communication is changing, and a big part of that reason is social media. Just as the telephone replaced the telegraph to become the preferred way to reach out to people, the web and social media have done the same, but to an unprecedented degree. People can communicate through photos, videos, text and websites with just about anyone in the world instantly.

While people are seemingly more connected, the competing social networks actually fragment the content shared by people, even if they are talking about the same thing or are at the same event. Due to the fact that social networks compete with one another, there is no one place to engage or consume the content across blogs or services like twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Facebook etc. Wouldn’t it be great if there was one place were all this information could come together? – well there is! I present Epilogger! The best way to describe this platform is as various patches of coloured fabric, each one made by a different person who may or may not know the creators of the other pieces. At some point they will want to see all the pieces come together into a quilt. Epilogger is that quilt. It takes all the content about an event or movement, or subject and creates a central community regardless of what social network people use to share content. From there is allows people to contribute to that community with the app and website in a beautiful "quilt" that's fully interactive.

It amazes me how things have changed so rapidly over the years, I remember when Facebook just came out, and now look at the technology that has become since then. Social media is fairly new and yet it is developing so quickly. We are now able to communicate with people all around the world instantly, and virtually be apart of events across the globe. We are becoming connected in ways that I never imagined possible. The world really is becoming a smaller place, and Epilogger and the abovementioned social media networks are the cause of the “coziness”. So get comfortable and make your mark!

Are We REALLY That Concerned With Privacy?

I find it interesting when people throw a fit over privacy issues with regards to the Internet. We live in a world were we voluntarily tweet, Instagram and Facebook about our lives. The Internet is a public space, and yet we feel comfortable sharing our lives through such platforms.

My question is, why do we feel the need to share so much information about our lives on the Internet? Why do we want people to see what we ate, what we wore, where we went? Where does this urge derive from?

I am sure most of us are aware that Facebook basically owns the content we post on it, and yet we still post pictures, personal information etc. We want others to know about us, we want to be “Facebook creeped” – it gives us this feeling of importance, that our lives are interesting for others to watch, almost like a form of celebrity status. This spotlight however comes with a cost, Facebook sells our information and photos to advertisers. I kind of compare Facebook to the airport – in order to fly you must be willing to give all your information, get searched and essentially give up your privacy to strangers. Same thing with Facebook – if you want to be apart of this exciting world that everyone is participating in, you must give up your information to be used at their discretion. It might seem like a “free” site, but nothing in life is free – there is always a catch. When people are concerned with privacy, my response to them is: “you should have thought about that before you sold soul to Facebook!” – Dramatic I know, but it’s partially true…

Since the emergence of social media, the best way I can describe the web is a big public scrapbook. Certain things that used to be considered as intimate such as the viewing of photo albums have now become a public thing. Pictures are selectively taken to be displayed on these social media networks for others to see as well. Moreover, our relationships have changed as a result of these platforms. Before, people who knew things about your life were privileged, where as now anyone can look you up, and find out what you’ve done and where you have been - essentially who you are. Who “you” are is at everyone’s fingertips.  We seem to “trust” the Internet too much. For example, most of us will “friend” people on Facebook after only meeting them once. Essentially we are allowing strangers have information about our lives. But in this online world, the more friends or followers you have the “cooler” and more important you seem. No one is really forcing us to be apart of this phenomenon, but yet we do it because in my opinion I believe that it is something that fuels our ego.

The Internet is public, so if privacy is your concern then you should have thought about that before you signed up for Facebook, tweeted about feelings, or Instagramed your vacation. The purpose of this blurb was not to bash all these platforms, because that would be hypocritical of me. However it is to bring awareness of what we are posting and who has access to it. Remember whatever is on the Internet is essentially there forever… be smart. 

The Internet: Public Sphere 2.0

A lot has changed since the time when coffee shops were a place to discuss issues concerning the public. Today, a similar discussion is happening on the web. The Internet is transforming itself into a place where it is easier to express oneself. This is demonstrated through the emergence of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Etc. All these platforms are designed in such a way that allows for people from all around the world to connect and essentially communicate. People’s voices are getting heard at a quicker and more efficient rate than before. People from all around the world are able to join the conversation because of these platforms.

Yes- almost everyone has a blog now, because blogs can be about anything really. But some blogs are getting recognized as alternative media. Certain bloggers are really doing their research and are producing really good journalism without the need to please a certain political view. These platforms are more than social networking sites, they are being used to respond to the media. I have noticed that my Facebook and twitter accounts are flooded with people’s responses to big news stories. The Arab Spring was a revolutionary movement on how social media created change for the people and got their voices heard. It is interesting to note that regular people are not the only ones participating in this Public sphere 2.0. Today, almost every news station or media corporation has a twitter and Facebook accounts and are relaying information through those platforms. This has created a direct engagement between people and the media. I always wondered the reason behind the mainstream media having twitter and Facebook accounts, is it because they fear of other ideologies being disseminated? Do they feel they will lose power and or authority as trusted information? Or is it simply to keep up with the technological times?

Habbermas’ public sphere theory has not disappeared; it has been redesigned to fit the new technological age we live in. I must question however, does the fact that the media such as Huffington post, CP24 etc. participate and interact with the public through these platforms, defeat the purpose of the public sphere? What do you guys think?

Its Not Official, Until Its Facebook Official!

I know it has been a while since my last post… I apologize for that. However, as compensation, this blog post will be something that most of you can relate to.

This week in class we looked at the virtual world. We discussed Jean Baudrillard famous work of Simulacra and Simulations. Baudrillard claims that we live in a simulation, making us question what is “real”. Today, our virtual world is blurring the line between what is “real” and what is “virtual”. People are living lives in the “virtual” world and are essentially giving it power to determine what is “real”.

This automatically made me think of Facebook. These days Facebook has so much power that it is sometimes ridiculous how much we rely on it for “information”—I say that in quotations marks because not everything on Facebook is trustworthy. We post so much of ourselves on Facebook, socially important information that is, that it almost seems like a “real” representation. However, we must keep in mind that this is just a simulation of ourselves and is not as “real” as we like to believe it is. Today, we say things like “Its not official, until its Facebook official”. WHEN DID FACEBOOK GAIN THIS POWER TO DETERMINE WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS NOT!? What better example to use then ones relationship status on Facebook. Some people actually believe that if a relationship is “real” it will say so on Facebook. Here we see that people are defining themselves through their second life- in this case Facebook.

Why do we feel so compelled to share our personal lives on Facebook (FB)? Why do we want people ONLINE to know who we are dating, where we went on vacation and so on. The content on FB is being seen as the “real” you more than the actual “real” you. 

Facebook is an online world - a second life rather. It does not and cannot encompass who we are truly, because we SELECTIVELY share information about ourselves, and represent only what we WANT to be shown. That being said, there is serious blur between our real lives and our FB lives. FB is being held accountable as an accurate representation of who you are- scary I know. So when there is an inconsistency between who you are in “real” life and in FB life, people question you. 

When did the Internet gain all this power to tell us who we are and who we aren’t?

I would love to hear your feedback on this subject matter.