Grand Finale

            I think that this class really opened my eyes to how much we use social media.  I’m not a newbie to the Internet, but by using all of these social media networks I saw just how many of my friends already had a profile on these sites.  And to think that a couple of years ago I had dial up and a few years before that we didn’t even have access to the internet…woah crazy right?!  Now with our computers and smartphones we are constantly connected and this could be with our social lives or even unrealistic gaming lives.  The social media sites are what allows us to stay in touch with others and to strengthen our knowledge about other’s interests as well. 

            It is definitely hard to say knowing that this course is cut short because it’s an online semester but I didn’t think that only having a week to figure out a social media site was enough.  I’m not too sure if it was just me but I couldn’t understand Flickr for the life of me.  It maybe because I’m not really the photography type, I don’t particularly like to take pictures or even create a profile of pictures.  But then in saying that I guess I would be a hypocrite because I am in love with Pinterest.  I could sit on Pinterest all day and browse through the pins creating and adding to my many boards.

            I am usually found with my phone but occasionally I swear it plays hide and seek with me.  I must say that constantly being connected leaves me feeling comfortable yet sometimes anxious.  I love having the power to pretty much do anything with my phone from surfing the internet, checking on my social media profiles, checking the weather, gaming, texting and calling anyone etc.  But sometimes I just want to cut the connection and shut off my phone to relax for a few days. 

            I would have to say that my most used apps are Pinterest, Weather channel, Twitter, Instagram, and my bank.  Although I may not be constantly posting information, I love to just browse through to see what all of my friends are doing and to get a laugh here and there from my twitter feed.  I don’t think that I have many unusual apps on my phone but some may not be found on any of my friends’ phones like, the app for my hospital.  This app allows me to stay in contact with my doctor’s office.  If there is a problem that isn’t an emergency I can send a message to them and they can help me with what to do until they see schedule an appointment.  It also allows me to read my health summaries, medication list, test results and show me when my appointments are.  I don’t use this app everyday but when needed it is very convenient especially due to the fact that I am practically a walking insurance policy. 

            I must say that it is going to be nice not having to hurry up after work and get my homework done but on the flip side, this class really brought many topics to my attention like, how the presidential campaign uses social media, how organizations use social media, how connected many people around the world are etc.  I would say that I probably would not continue using my Flickr account and blogging.  I like blogging and getting what I have to say out there but until I get a job or a sweet internship, I don’t think that I will have any interest continuing it. 

Whelp.....

Social Media and the Presidential Campaign

When following both of the 2012 presidential candidates I learned many things.

Mitt Romney’s twitter feed is filled with advertisements promoting his app for smartphones.  This app will give the user all of the inside information first hand like who his VP will be, etc.  He also has many tweets that are geared to share how he will better our country, the steps he will take as president, and articles filled with why he is better than President Obama.  His Facebook page is filled with all of the same information but with more pictures and videos. 

Current President, Barrack Obama’s twitter feed is loaded with advertisements to win a chance to play basketball with the President and Michael Jordan.  He also has updates on his campaign as well as what’s going on in the Olympics and what the president is doing with pictures.   His Twitter feed and Facebook page look very similar except I think that there are more pictures on his Twitter feed than his Facebook (opposite to Romney). 

I learned many things about both candidates and felt the need to research a little bit more on both so I could really understand what they are all about (can’t you tell…I’m not really the politics type).   I learned that Romney changed his view on abortion, formerly he was in full support of abortion but recently he is only in favor of abortion if the mother is a victim of rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger.  I also found that Romney is not in favor of embryonic stem cell research.  He would love to find a cure for cancer and is in full support to stop disease but does not support stem cell research because it involves bringing in a living thing to then have it killed.  Some thing that I learned about Barrack Obama is a greater knowledge for his Obamacare.  I learned many of the pro’s and con’s of this healthcare.  It’s plan is to reduce the healthcare costs, parents can add their children on their health insurance until they are 26; and some down falls are taxes will be raised in the majority of homes, millions of people may lose their company sponsored health plans, and so much more. 

I posted two articles dealing with the presidential campaign and I found that few of my Facebook friends “liked” and no one commented on the post.  I believe that it goes in hand with people not wanting to speak their mind about whom they choose to support.  I also think that with my generation/age group, we are not yet out there in the real world, many of us are still living off of our parents and the little money we earn, so we don’t really follow the candidacy as much as generations older than us that have to provide for themselves or others directly. 

I feel that blogging and social media is very important when dealing with the presidential election because it is a way for the candidates to get out there and for citizens to learn about them.  I also think that it is a way for people to share their ideas and knowledge about the presidential election for those of us who are a little bit on the “clueless” side when it comes to politics.  It is a great way to share knowledge and to learn as well.  

Iran Against Western Culture

                One country that is fighting against western culture is Iran.  Iran 's leader decided that there needs to be a "cyber center" whose job is to monitor the use of the internet.  This is to prevent improper use.  My first thought after learning about this was, "How does one use the internet improperly?"  Well, Iran doesn't want the internet to be used for immoral activity which includes pornography, planning political protests, etc.  But more recently Iran has been trying to plan a "battle against the invasion of western culture".  This has not only banned sites for immoral activity but also western music and movies.  Crazy right?  While reading these articles I got the sense that Iran really doesn't agree with the western culture.  I mean, I know the western culture may to some be provocative but it doesn't mean that with western culture our people are bad.
                Iran goes even farther with blocking sites on Facebook and Twitter.  It shows that their leader or government is intimidated by their citizens sharing their thoughts.  The country has thoughts about creating an Iran internet so that it is monitored and absolutely no western culture will shared.  It's almost like Iran doesn't want their people to know or learn about anyone that is not a Muslim country.
                I guess monitoring the Internet for their citizens preserves their country because their citizens have no access to learn or even know about countries that are not Muslim.  The only access they have are westernized movies sold on the black market.  If their access was granted to any site I think that their citizens will gather together to protest.  Right now it seems as if the Iran people are deprived because the government is scared.

 Some articles that I read to learn about Iran's "battle against western culture".
http://www.bikyamasr.com/60917/iran-in-battle-against-the-invasion-of-western-culture/
http://www.masress.com/en/bikyamasr/60917

The "Occupy" Movement

             While searching for the “Occupy” movement I stumbled upon many blogs, websites, Facebook pages, tweets, videos, and news articles on the topic.  Many of which were very interesting.  I had little knowledge of the “Occupy” movement before.  I knew what the protests were about but not in detail of all of the issues the movement was fighting. For those of you reading this and not knowing about the “Occupy” movement, it is a group of individuals with different backgrounds and political beliefs but think that elected officials are incapable of representing them unlike their wealthiest donors.  So the “regular” people are now coming together in saying that they don’t want the wealthy to have power in our government anymore. The bigger issues that they are fighting are Corporate Influence, Corporate Personhood, Student Debt, Wrongful Foreclosures, Too Big to Fail Blanks, Healthcare, Living Wage, and 99% Budget Cuts.  This covers a great chunk of what they are all about. 

             They are in support of no leaders and to have the “Average Joes” to take a stand and fight back, spread the word, and take part in resisting, restructuring, and remixing.   Their web pages are very inviting.  All over their pages it says get involved, work together, we are the 99%, spread the word, and join our marches.  (occupytogether.org & occupymaine.org)

            I don’t think that the media is one sided, there are many people who feel strongly about this and not all are in support.  I think that the news is showing both sides of the spectrum here, people in favor are asking people to join together while others are yelling back “GO GET A JOB”.  I think that the media shows both sides of issues and people in favor or not. 

            In my opinion both social media sites and news centers are getting out the same message.  The biggest difference is that with social media sites the posts are very “cut to the chase” and straight forward while the news centers write articles that can be very lengthy giving the reader great detail.  

Blog Searching on Presidential Campaigns...

             So after figuring out what exactly we should be looking for in blogs, I finally figured it out.  I found a vast amount of blogs that were about both of the presidential campaigns.  I believe that blogs are definitely making their way up the totem pole in society.  Many people are having a growing passion to write blogs and get their thoughts and ideas out there.  And one thought that is on many minds around the nation is the 2012 presidential candidates.  I think that these blogs about them are very influential and it brings up many topics and deeper thoughts that the news stations and newspapers aren’t bringing to the table. 

            I scanned many blogs for hours upon hours trying to get a deeper knowledge of the presidential campaign looking through different ideas of people that I never would have even thought about. 

            Some of the blogs that I found were on news sites where people can post blogs about the presidential campaign.  The only downfall with that is that trying to analyze these sites, because the host site was a news station there is no need for a profile of the bloggers.  This gave me some trouble trying to find out if these people actually had a greater knowledge of politics or if they were amateurs (similar to myself) and were just blogging about their thoughts with the information given by a news station.   

            One blog site in particular that I thought was very influential was by a man named, Matthew Dickinson.   He is a political science professor at Middlebury College and former professor at Harvard University where he received his Ph D.  Dickinson has many blogs about the political race.  By reading some of the blogs Dickinson seems to be give valid information from both parties.  He touches upon many topics in the electoral race like how the 2012 race is very similar to the previous, electoral landslide for Obama, why Obama may lose, etc.  Dickinson didn’t have a spot where it shows who his followers were.  It may be because it was an education site. 

            Another blog that I came upon was from Feministing.com.  The title of the post was “Is Mitt Romney the most dishonest presidential candidate ever?” and was written by a woman who goes by Zerlina.  She attended Rutgers Law School and is a field organizer for Obama’s “Campaign for a Change”.  Her writings appeared in The Loop 21, This Week in Blackness, The Urban Politico, theroot.com and salon.com.  She makes it a point to touch upon many different topics like film, Olympics, what’s new in the news, and her support for same sex marriage.  Her blogs didn’t show how many followers she had but her posts had many comments from many different users.  

Beauty In The Skin Your In

               In today's society many women have a very bad perception of how they should look.  Women of all ages look at magazines and think "I want to look like her".  They want the flawless and skinny body.  It ruins how people perceive themselves.  Girls are now thinking that they need to be a size 0 or big eyes or a smaller nose to be beautiful.
               Women should not be ashamed of who they are as long as they are healthy.  Everyone is beautiful in their own way and by photoshopping every photo that is in a magazine that morphs the way people view themselves.  People are thinking too negatively about themselves and I think that this would go along with the Dove Self Esteem movement.   Having such a negative outlook on ourselves is what is causing all of the eating disorders and this bullying mess.  Honestly it is sickening to think of all of the people with these problems and what actually impacts them are our celebrities or people in the public eye with their botox and lypo.  Women across the world now compare themselves to who they see on the magazines or in movies.  These are not real people, they are photoshopped to look a certain way.
               A big competitor for beauty is the doll Barbie.  I remember wanting to look just like barbie when I was younger.   But some people take it to the extreme by wanting to be the same size as Barbie.  Barbie is not realistic.  If Barbie were to be real she would be like 7 feet tall with a super skinny waist, huge bust, and a small head.  This is super unrealistic yet society views Barbie as a figure of beauty.
               I believe that people should feel the beauty in the skin they are in.  I dont think that people should be bringing in photos of celebs to the plastic surgeon so they can be identical.  Be happy that everyone is different and beautiful in their own way.

Body is Art (Continued)

               I chose Oliviero Toscani because his anorexia ad hit a similar topic like the dove ads.  That our bodies are beautiful the way they are.  Many believe that being skinny is the way our bodies should look but becoming anorexic to view ourselves as beautiful is not exactly the way we should be thinking.  Toscani is very controversial but I believe it sends a great message to people of all ages.  

               I looked at the website etsy.  Etsy is a website for crafts,  this is a place where people can buy and sell art of their own.  I stand by everything they are about

"Etsy is the world’s handmade marketplace.

Our mission is to empower people to change the way the global economy works. We see a world in which very-very small businesses have much-much more sway in shaping the economy, local living economies are thriving everywhere, and people value authorship and provenance as much as price and convenience. We are bringing heart to commerce and making the world more fair, more sustainable, and more fun."

               Etsy is geared to help create businesses easily.  Many people use this site because there are endless possibilities of art that one can find on here.  The site is growing and growing where no matter what a person is searching for I'm sure they have it even if they don't quite have it under a certain category.  

               Of art that is on digital media sites I think that messages are sent both indirect and direct for example some of the art are literal pictures of the controversial topic showing viewers exactly what they are meaning, where others like cartoons are a drawn picture of the perception.   

               I believe that more recently digital media is growing.  More and more with the technology of smart phones people are having the luxury of being able to share their digital photographs.  This is changing our perception of digital art because I think that art is gaining a greater meaning.  Art used to have the title of something that can be captured or created and now I believe it has the same meaning but it can be created by many in so many different ways where art can be anything.  Art could be a blurred picture, a clear picture, a garden, or even a sculpture.  Art is anything, one just needs to keep an open mind to view it as art. 

Body is Art

            

             This week I searched for videos for Dove.  Dove is a line of personal care products but their foundation is geared to raise women’s self esteem.  I found many videos that dove has posted for their Self Esteem Movement. 

One, asked women what their least favorite body part was, and women were quick to give an answer with a reason.  Next, they asked women what their most beautiful body part was, and the answer took much longer.  This video was to show to women that they need to stop having negative outlooks on their body and think more about what makes women beautiful. (Video at bottom of blog, Titled: "Dove: Inner Critic")

Another, was geared to show what are on young girls minds when they think about their bodies.  Many of the topics that came up were very negative like, anorexia, ugliness, too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, having no friends, etc.   Some even were quick to say that in today’s society no one cares about personality it’s all about how sexy a person is.  Society is full of pressures and this generation has to deal with the thought of not being good enough.  Dove’s ending remark was that “things won’t change until we change them” and I think that has a lot of meaning.  Today young girls need to feel beautiful because this generation always thinks about the negatives about a person and that needs to change.  Girls need to start believing and thinking that everyone is beautiful because they are.  It may sound super cliché but I believe that everyone is beautiful in their own way and we all have something to bring to the table, to help one another out. (Video at bottom of blog, Titled: "A Dove Film- Girl's Self Esteem")

This goes hand in hand with art.  I think that the body is a beautiful thing and although I do not have a favorite artist I have found what speaks to me the most.  Artists that show women how truly beautiful their body is.  I have also found an artist who is well known in controversial photography, Oliviero Toscani.  Some of his art may hit close to home to many people I do believe that it clearly gets his message across.  He is the artist that took photos of the anorexic model, Isabelle Caro to send the message that being skinny isn’t as beautiful as people think.  Toscani also has photography that deals with race issues like the picture of three hearts with the captions of white, black, and yellow.  All of the hearts look very similar but some feel that they are not equal. 

 This art may hit close to home for some people but I love the messages that are being sent. 

 

Newbie to StumbleUpon and Tumblr

Pinterest is a very interesting site, it shares sites that one would not normally explore when surfing the web.  Like in my previous blog I use this as a source to just waste my time away when I have nothing else to do.  I can find things to just look at, activities for my campers, friends, and activities to do around the house.  One thing that I noticed is that the profile of a person on Pinterest doesn’t share information about them.  A profile on Pinterest shows a picture of their choice, their name, and the boards that they created.  This does not limit what someone can find out of this person.  I believe that the things that are pinned on someone’s board can really explain that persons interests and who they are. 

These past few days I have joined two new sites that I never had experience with, StumbleUpon and Tumblr.  I don’t really enjoy Tumblr because I don’t like blogging but it is very interesting to just observe and read what everyone else is blogging about. 

StumbleUpon is a site whose mission is to help others easily discover sites on the web, these are sites that they wouldn’t normally find.  Upon stumbling the user creates a profile that can be accessed by other online stumblers.  The profile has info about the user like name, a picture/avatar, gender, state, and country that you are from.  The user then is able to select what categories he or she is interested in.  Once that is done the user then stumbles, which brings them to different web pages.  The user then has the option to like or dislike a page this helps Stumble narrow down your searches to better the user’s experience. 

When reading the Terms of Conduct and the Privacy Policy nothing is public information without the users consent and they do not sell any private information to other parties.  If there are any problems with StumbleUpon the user can contact them by clicking on their link and it will email their problem.  StumbleUpon will then try to fix the problem and email the user bask as soon as possible. 

While I was browsing StumbleUpon I noticed that it was hard for me to add people as followers or friends to see their profile.  I t may have been that I didn’t have many friends on Facebook with a StumbleUpon account.  StumbleUpon has a mobile app so that it can be accessed on a smartphone and many can access their Facebook page, Twitter account, and their blog to learn more. 

Another site that I joined this week was Tumblr.  Tumblr is a blogging site in which the user can follow other blogs, and by doing this when accessing their home page a newsfeed of recent posts by the blogs that are followed.  These blogs can consist of things like a text, photos, quotes, links, chats, audio files, and videos.  The posts can also be tagged so that they can be categorized.  A Tumblr profile has a picture, an about me, and likes and dislikes.  Similar to StumbleUpon their Privacy Policy is that no information is public information without consent.  Tumblr does however is have a Code of Conduct this shows what is not allowed on Tumblr; Malicious Bigotry, Harm to Minors, Promotion and Glorification of Self Harm, Gore and Mutilation Content, Unflagged NSFW Blogs, Uploading Sexually Explicit Videos, Non Genuine Social Gesture Schemes, Username and URL Abuse, Spam, Mass Registration and Auto, Unauthorized Contests, Sweepstakes, or Giveaways, Copyright and Trademark Infringement, Impersonation, Stalking, or Harassment, Privacy Violations, Disruptions Exploits, and Resources Abuse, and Unlawful Uses of Content.

Pinterest is very much like StumbleUpon because both are way for users to access and view sites that they wouldn’t normally view.  Both give users the option to choose a topic in which they browse.  If the users choose not to pick a topic they can browse sites that are random in category.  I do not believe there are many similar characteristics between Tumblr and Pinterest.  I do not think that I would be interested in Tumblr if it weren’t for this class.  I am not really interested in blogging myself but I am curious to read what others have to blog.  I will however continue to use StumbleUpon because I prefer to browse and not write about my thoughts.  Although, I am writing for this class I prefer to talk about what is on my mind instead of writing them down.  :] 

Just A Little Pinning

I am not very active on many other online communities but one that I am active on is Pinterest.  I love browsing through Pinterest to pass the time and to find new ideas.  I like to look through the “Everything” category because it really is a little bit of everything.  I can find things like food recipes, drink recipes, clothing ideas, do it yourself activities, and even find activities that I can do with my campers at my summer camp.  

There is so many things and ideas on Pinterest that it can really be for women of any age.  Pinterest can attract many different women because there are categories for everyone and the awesome part is that anyone can comment, like, or repin.

Many of my friends have recently become active on Pinterest so we can share ideas together.  Everyone uses Pinterest for many different reasons.  Some choose to pin images of the same category while others take advantage of all that Pinterest has to offer.  More and more Pinterest is becoming popular.  Sometimes my roommates and I would be on our own computers all looking at Pinterest and showing each other what we find (sounds pretty cheesy…).  We even attempt many of the do it yourself activities, crafts, and recipes! I know that I spend way too much time browsing through all of the pins but there is always something new and interesting.  

Well now that I’m done with this blog I can probably be found on Pinterest! :]

(sorry it's so late for some reason it wouldn't let me post)

Wiki Week!

            This week was all about wiki’s.  I have had the luxury to use wiki’s in one class before.  I believe that wiki’s are a great way to work online in a group but on the “flipside” wiki’s can be a little confusing and to some not be worthwhile.  I have realized that when working in groups it can be very hard to share a wiki.  One person will put information on a wiki, the next person will then add information and submit.  I feel as though it is very rare in which someone edits the others information on the wiki.  Many people are too worried about editing something wrong.  I have noticed this and sometimes second-guess myself when editing other’s work without even knowing them or how they may react to my corrections. 

            This wiki site is new to me.  I was very pleased in the tutorial on this page and the fact that I can have a tutorial anytime I need is very helpful.  When navigating this wiki page I struggled to get the hang of it but after a while it was very easy. 

            Our organization is Dove Personal Care.  They sell items like soaps, hair products, deodorants, etc.  Dove’s mission for their social media is to encourage women and young girls.  While exploring their Twitter feed, they mostly tweet inspirational quotes and advertisements for their products.  Some examples are: “Dove ‏@Dove “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau” and “Dove ‏@Dove “Most conditioners work at the surface of your hair. For deeper damage repair, try Dove Intensive Repair Daily Treatment Conditioner!”  On their Facebook page it’s all about advertisements.  If someone shares their post Dove will give them a coupon for their products.  I noticed that they do have a line of items for men but their target audience is all about women.   This is very obvious when looking at their Facebook page because their cover photo on their timeline is a group of women.  

Virtual Space Cadet

             I would think of myself as a well-rounded person in the virtual world.  While being very active on Facebook and Twitter and I enjoy browsing on YouTube.  I think that if someone were to look at my profiles on all of the virtual spaces that I am active on, they would know very much about me, yet think that I still leave information for privacy.  I am a very open person but I make sure that I am careful about what is posted for my safety.  I do not believe that the information posted could be used against me if it were scanned for an interview.  I think that many people are much too active online and post information or pictures of things that should not be posted for the entire world to see.  For example, someone that I was friends on Facebook who happened to attend my high school, posted pictures of their self half naked because they thought that those would be the pictures to get her crush’s attention.  She then was unsure as to why she didn’t receive a job after they scanned through her Facebook.  I think that behavior like, posting sexual pictures should not be put on your Facebook and in todays generation Facebook is like posting that picture in the local newspaper.  Although, her profile may be private, people that are friends with her have access to it and they can be the ones to share with the rest of the world. 

I make sure that I am frequently checking in online while still keeping a regular social life.  In today’s society people live and breathe through their online networks.   I think that having a life in a virtual world is very important in today’s world but I also believe that having a social life out of the virtual world is equally important. 

On my virtual spaces I favor Facebook and Twitter.  I think that sites like these are “fool proof” and are very easily accessible.  Facebook allows me to chat with many of my family and friends that are far and near.  Even better Facebook recently joined up with Skype so that if you have a webcam you and easily Skype a Facebook friend without actually being friends on Skype.  The other site that I favor is Twitter, this is a great network because I can post my thoughts in a matter of seconds while using my smart phone.  I decided to make my Twitter private because I wanted to limit who follows me to people that I am familiar with.  I can also see what my friends are thinking while still having a mixture of news, horoscopes, jokes, etc.  I follow many people and organizations like UberFacts, The90sLife, VSPINK, Cosmopolitan, BestOfPisces, FunnyOrTruth, and many more.  I love following VSPINK because Victoria’s Secret post things like what’s on sale or insiders on their latest styles.

I must say that I use YouTube, but before this course I did not add videos that I liked or manage a channel.  I would use it to upload my videos and to search for other videos and music.  Trying to manage a YouTube channel was a little tricky in the beginning but I am starting to get the hang of it unlike, the photo post site, Flickr.  Flickr for me is the most confusing thing.  I can’t seem to get the hang of it.  I guess I just think that there are many other sites that have a photography base that are easy to navigate. 

Just a little video that I think is very comical.  It's a video of a girl who just got her wisdom teeth out and because of the anesthetic she is on she acts unusual.  The story she is describing is so bisarre she even attempts to rap.  I would love to hear other's feedback and what they think about the video.  The comments on the video are mostly just people repeating what she said and not actual feedback.  

                  Hope this made you smile! Have a great week!!