After watching the movie Catfish, I found it very odd that Nev did not find it strange that everyone had the same 15 friends. Angela created 16 profiles. I assuming that each of those 16 profiles had many, if not all, of the same 15 friends. I would have found it strange. When someone adds me on Facebook and they do not have very many friends, I tend to see that as a red flag. Not that there aren’t people who do not have a lot of Facebook friends, but I find it unusual that someone I do not know that only has 35 friends would also know me, a girl from a small town and a small private school. Maybe Nev was not thinking this way (but I bet he does now). Maybe Angela added random people on Facebook to get her friend count up on the different profiles. If she did, however, she risked her lie being found out. If she friended someone who actually knew the girl in the picture she used, she would have been found out.
I do not feel that Nev necessarily had to be desperate, lonely, or desperately lonely for him to like Angela’s “daughter.” He did not go out intending to find a girl to love on Facebook. But even if he did, so what!? We cannot control whom we love or how we fall in love. I do not think it is fair to label him in these ways. Just because he was attractive, it does not mean that the women he attracted were what he wanted in a companion. Attractive people do not meet other attractive people and say, “Hey, let’s fall in love because we’re both very attractive.” Attractive people are looking for substance just like most other people. There are plenty of good-looking single people in the world. There are also plenty of good-looking people on online dating sites. I do not see anything wrong with that. If the people you have met and who you are around do not meet your standards, why settle for less? I would rather find love online than never find love at all. I am not saying trust everyone you meet online blindly because that just does not make sense. Use discretion. Nev probably thought he was doing so, but because Angela’s story was so elaborate, he just got caught up in it.
I always write my blog posts in Microsoft Word before I post them on here, and I have noticed that Word recognizes the word MySpace, but not the word Facebook. I just found it ironic that the platform that is no longer used is the one that Microsoft recognizes as a legitimate word. Below is an example from my blog post last week:
I was watching Glee on Hulu today, and I thought about our week on Media Consumption and the BBC's Virtual Revolution. When the commercials were played, in the top right corner it asked if the ads were relevant to what I was watching, and I could vote yes or no.
Then, after I voted, it thanked me and said it was trying to improve my ad experience.
Companies are trying to make the ads we view while watching online episodes relevant to what we are actually watching. This makes sense to me because if the ad is relevant, I am more likely to pay attention to it. If I am watching Glee, and an ad about John Deere tractors comes on I'm going to ignore it and wonder why they chose THAT ad to put on during Glee. On the other hand, if I am watching Glee and an ad for a dancing video game comes on, I will pay attention because I can see its relevance. If I have to view ads, they might as well make sense with what I am watching, right? :)
MySpace makes you create a version of yourself to share with others. It forces you to think about how you want to appear to other people. On one hand, you do not have to depict yourself the way you really are, as our in-class activity showed. You can be whoever you want to be on MySpace. On the other hand, if you really want to be yourself you are free to do so. However, you are faced with several questions. How much of your true self are you willing to share? If you do not share everything is it really you? If you leave significant pieces of information out, are you truly being you? Or are you hiding who you are? MySpace allows you to create whatever kind of identity you want.
The real world results of people using MySpace range from extremely positive to extremely negative. On the positive side, some musicians were discovered on MySpace. One person who was discovered after MySpace popularity was Cassie.
Ryan Leslie, a producer, encouraged Cassie to make a MySpace page to promote her music. Fans discovered her MySpace page and it began to gain instant popularity. Because of her popularity, different music labels wanted to sign her. Diddy, the founder and CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment, saw the popularity her page was gaining and he teamed with Leslie to release her album, according to TMZ. Leslie produced the album and Diddy signed on as the executive producer, which can be seen here. The negative results of MySpace are often seen in the news. People, particularly teens, have been bullied and have committed suicide as a result of MySpace.
I even read a story about someone who posted their suicide note on MySpace before they killed themselves. After doing so, his friends began posting things about him and saying that his death could have been prevented. These are the types of things that make me wonder is MySpace and social networking sites are good for society. Our lives are at stake here. People are going to jail, losing jobs, and killing themselves because of this site. It is not worth it. No website is worth losing everything that matters. I do not even understand how people can live with themselves after harassing someone else online, especially if it causes that person to take their own life. They must not have a conscience or any feelings. People need to realize that their actions online have real, serious consequences. Maybe then people will see how real this virtual reality can be.
After reading, “Social Networking Websites: Are MySpace and Facebook the Fingerprints of the Twenty-first Century?” by Edward M. Marsico Jr., I have learned that people do very stupid things online. I cannot even comprehend why someone would post pictures of themselves online holding guns and displaying gun paraphernalia. I am, and have always been, dumbfounded by this. The picture is obviously incriminating and tells the police that you are in a gang. If you are in a gang, more than likely you are talking about some gang related activities on your page, which just provides more evidence for the police to use against you. If you create your online identity as a gang member and you really are a gang member and you are networking with other gang members, the police are probably going to figure that out. It is almost like criminals are getting dumber. They are not even trying to cover their tracks anymore. I guess they think because it is an online social networking site is it not real. They are most definitely wrong.
After reading “MySpace and Facebook: Identifying Dimensions of Uses and Gratifications for Friend Networking Sites” byJennifer Bonds-Raacke & John Raacke, I learned that people really want to understand why social networking sites are so popular. I find it interesting that when something becomes popular people cannot just be content with the fact that it is popular they want to know WHY. Reading this text confirms what I already know and what we have already talked about in class about the fact that people want to feel connected and they spend a lot of time on social networking sites. In order to have these sites, people have to created some sort of identity. Even if that identity does not include your picture and each thing you did throughout the day. Someone’s identity includes the pages they like and the activities they have listed. Each part of Facebook and MySpace no matter how big or small, contribute to your identity. One day, people might totally understand social networking, but I think sometimes people should just be content and not question everything that is popular. I know this is never going to happen though. We crave explanations for everything we do.
I learned a lot from watching episodes three and four of The BBC’s Virtual Revolution and I found a lot of interesting things. I was not aware that West Point makes learning about the world wide web a part of their curriculum. I thought that was very interesting and did not think about the fact that the people in the military need to be especially aware of the dangers lurking on the web. I also liked the point that was made about how a company might be named one thing today, but tomorrow it might by something entirely different. Things happen so fast online that your bank can be at wachovia.com one day and the next it can be wellsfargo.com.
Episode three also allowed me to get a better understanding of what a cookie is and does. Cookies pretty much tell companies what I search for and what I am interested in so that they can target me with specific ads for my taste. I do not mind this, but I can see how some people would think that was an invasion of privacy.
Another point I thought was interesting was that Google made their money by offering customers a free service, whereas companies like Microsoft made a profit by selling products to users. I like that Google uses their ads in a noninvasive was and they are related to your search terms.
Episode 4 poses many interesting questions, for instance, the true value of our Facebook friendships. When offered free food, people were willing to get rid of 10 friends instantly. Why be friends with someone if they are that expendable? You would rather have a free sandwich than a friendship. Yes, the friendship dissolution is virtual, but it speaks to how you feel about a person in reality.
The issues that South Korea are having are very interesting and seems very extreme. I did not realize people were becoming so obsessed that they were developing psychological problems and needing to be hospitalized and receive medication. It is a scary thought that they could be the future of the United States.
The most striking quote that I heard was about how my generation and the generations younger than me are growing up. The man says we grow up expecting to find information at a moment’s notice. What does that do to our ability to internalize information? This is a very interesting point. Do instantaneous answers hinder us, or help us. Only time will tell.
MySpace, or “my_______,” is a social networking website based in Beverly Hills, California. MySpace was launched in August of 2003. It was originally meant to be an online data storage and sharing site, but by 2004, it had made a transition from a virtual storage site to a social networking site.
Was MySpace cool? The simple answer to that question is yes. Is MySpace cool? Conversely, the simple answer to that question is no. MySpace was cool from its launch up until about April of 2008. In April of 2008, Facebook began to take over social networking with the new features it was launching. MySpace was the most popular social networking site in June of 2006, but in 2008, it dropped to number 56 in site ranking while Facebook rose to the number two spot.
I got a MySpace “back in the day” when it was cool. I used it to talk to friends, meet new people, reconnect with people I had not seen since elementary school, and share my pictures with others. I would not consider my MySpace profile “pimped out.”
However, as seen above, I did have a purple leopard background and I had the MySpace music played filled with songs that I liked at the time (below).
Now that I think about it, I also used MySpace to stay up-to-date with what music was popular. I would look at other people’s profiles and see what songs they had, and if I liked them, I would download them for myself. But back to the point, I do not consider my profile “pimped out” because there were not flashing animated graphics or anything of that nature. My layout was very simple, but still cute :).
From touring the site, I learned that many things had changed. I did not even know how to navigate the site well anymore. I was attempting to delete something off of my profile, but when I went to edit it I was asked if I wanted to change to the new profile; I did not even feel like messing with it so I just left everything the way it was.
On the homepage of the site, there were games you could play and current events. I saw an article about the fashion from the Grammys, which occurred only a few days ago. The homepage also said that thousands of people were sharing what they were into right then, but ironically, I had zero friends online at the time. It was 12:45 AM, a time when most college students are still awake and browsing the web, but no one was on.
I also noticed that MySpace now has a “Highlights” feature that is very similar to Facebook’s News Feed and the whole premise of Twitter. I think that because of MySpace’s dwindling popularity, they are trying to use methods of sites that are known to be popular in an attempt to re-popularize their site.
Overall, I do not miss MySpace. Like many relationships, it was good while it lasted. I often ask myself why I haven’t deleted my MySpace yet and I have an idea of why. I think I might have a sentimental connection to it. About four years ago, I met an amazing person on MySpace who is now my confidant and best friend. I can’t see my life without this person so thank you MySpace. You will always hold a special place in my heart, even though I never log on :)
YouTube is a place to: connect and communicate with others through videos, learn new things, share one’s life with the world or family and friends, make your dreams come true, be discovered, be yourself, or be someone else. It “allow[s] you to post a video which might incidentally change the course of history” (11).
YouTube functions in many different ways. If someone misses a performance from an award show, they can view it on YouTube.
People can watch music videos and listen to music on YouTube. “The music channels … are able to deliver both music and videos, providing something like MTV-on-demand with a few bonuses" (31). It is easier to get on YouTube and find exactly what you want to watch than to wait for it to come on television. If someone wants to re-watch a commercial, they can search for it and watch it as many times as they would like on YouTube. Here is one of my favorites:
YouTube is more than just entertainment. YouTube also functions as a "how-to” guide for a variety of subjects.
Many teachers and professors use YouTube videos to help students get a better understanding of different concepts. I had a class where we had to submit our projects for extra credit to YouTube. A select group of lucky (or unlucky) people gain recognition as a result of YouTube.
Their videos get popular and then news shows begin to air them and sometimes music producers take note of aspiring musicians. Opinions can be expressed on YouTube in comments and in the posts themselves. People often take it upon themselves to post a video review of products they have bought (hair products, cell phone cases, electronics).
On YouTube, people can be whomever they choose to be. They can create a completely new identity and virtual life that is very different from reality.
I think that sharing so much of one’s life on a public video channel is appropriate for some people and in some cases. Personally, I like to keep most aspects of my life private. However, for some people, exposing their lives to others is exciting and fun. Some people thrive off others being interested in them (reality television). People need to think twice before posting certain things. Some things can come back to haunt you. Jobs can be lost or not be received because of something controversial on a YouTube channel. Also, after posting something, it is the property of YouTube and they can do whatever they want with it.
I do not watch videos on YouTube very often or embed them on Facebook. I do not do so because I never know what to search for or how to find something interesting to watch. I usually only get on YouTube when I am looking for something specific. I watched the most YouTube in high school because my classmates would get on YouTube during yearbook and show me funny stuff that they had found. I never understood how they found such funny videos. When I get on YouTube, I never think, “That video looks interesting, maybe I should watch it.” I get on YouTube for a reason and when I am done, I get off.
I think that YouTube is useful, entertaining, and valuable. I think that it being useful make sit valuable. The number of things to be learned from YouTube varies in very large amounts. Below is a video that my psychology professor showed last week:
In addition, it allows people to take a step back from reality, relax, and indulge into something entertaining. Like this video of this adorable baby:
Snickars, Pelle, and Patrick Vonderau. The YouTube Reader. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden, 2009. Print.
