Fast as Lightning

 
It is not a surprise to anyone reading this blog post that we, the public, retrieve information faster today than anyone has ever in the past. I mean, think about it. We can get text messages from one of our friends from anywhere in the country and even the world. We used to think that it was amazing that we could send e-mails. Don't get me wrong it still is, but you never knew when someone was sending something to you. You would have to wait until you got home or to work to check your e-mail. Besides, who doesn't love to hear the infamous line, "You've Got Mail." Sure...I highly doubt that any of you reading this actually has that fun little sound bite anymore, but back in the day, when e-mail was first coming around that was what we heard. Heck...they even made a movie about it; a movie made completely about sending e-mails back and forth to someone. In 1998 this was a big deal.

These days you the exact time you get an e-mail.  No, I am not talking about the time stamp that is beside each and every e-mail that you get.  What I am speaking of is that awesome little "ding" that you get when (BAM!) a new e-mail has arrived.  Now, instead of having to wait until you get home to check you e-mails you can be in your favorite store, read your newest e-mail while looking at a stellar pair of high heels.  It's just the way the world is today.

Now that I have taken you back in time and helped you remember how "slow" our life used to be once upon a time, let's jump back into present day. So, I'm sure that most of you have a Facebook account, Twitter account or both. If not, well...are you living under a rock? Honestly, if you are not connected to any type of social media how do you find things out? How did you learn about the Boston Bombings or the plant explosion in Texas? When these events happened they were the top news event on each and every social media site. News spreads like wildfire on these sites. It is actually pretty awesome how fast news spreads. I do not have a television in my office, so throughout the day I learn most of my news from my Facebook newsfeed or my Twitter homepage. For instance, I just logged into my Facebook and found out that "The Possum" died. Yes, country legend, George Jones, has passed away at the age of 81. It is sad and all over the news channels, I am sure, but I learned it through the world of social media.

With the benefit of social media companies, businesses and even the news stations themselves can reach out to the public in looking for answers to certain topics. Not only did people learn of the Boston Bombings through social media, but the FBI also released the pictures of the suspects, which then spread like a virus throughout the country. Every single person was on the lookout for these people. I can use the example that Paul Lewis used when discussing the technique of "crowdsourcing." He mentioned that the company that he worked for reached out to the public hoping to uncover the truth about two incidences that happened in London. They sent out a tweet asking for help and information from any person willing to give it. What do you know? They got responses from people that witnessed that account. When the Boston Bombings terrorist attack happened last week our local news station, WSFA, sent out a tweet asking for interviews from anyone that were in Boston from our area and guess what. They got responses. They had several interviews from someone that was now living in Boston to a doctor from Montgomery who was running in the marathon.

Crowdsourcing has taken on a whole new meaning from when it was first coined in 2006. Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson said that crowdsourcing is basically when a company outsources a function to a larger group of people. Social Media has taken this to a whole new level. Companies are now able to outsource all types of information to the public with less than 140 characters. If you want information to get out to the public quickly, just as the FBI did with the release of the Boston suspects, social media is the way to go. People pick it up so fast and before you know it the news has spread. I will say that spreading news through social media is like picking up a leaf and letting it go in the wind. The wind is going to take that leaf wherever it wants to and you have control over where it ends up. The same can be said with social media. Once you let the information out, it is out there forever and there really is no way to ever get it back.  

My advice to any person reading this that does not use any type of social media outlet, I highly suggest you get one.  Whether you want to admit it or not it is the way of the future.  I am sure that sometime in the near future there will be a new social media site that is all the rage, but it does not change the fact that the news will be given in the same manner.  This day in age we depend a lot on social media to receive our information, but if you think about it the news organizations depend a lot on us as well.  They depend on us to read the information that they post to Facebook or Twitter and help them out.  They are hoping that someone in the social media bubble will see what they post and reach out.  Overall, social media is not only a way of keeping in contact with your friends, but a way of keeping in touch with the world as a whole.


Appealing to your Audience

     I, for one, have never paid much attention to the types of information that I am given when I search something on the internet.  I have always assumed that everyone will get the same search results that I do.  The reason that I thought this was because, honestly, I didn't think that Google would care to choose for me what information that deemed appropriate for me to see. Why do they even care?  I mean, seriously.  Who wants to sit in a room and keep a track on what I view on MY computer.  Honestly, it's really no one's business.  I understand that it's the internet and people do try to hack people's computers for credit card numbers and such, but is it really such important knowledge that I like to play on Etsy for hours?  Do TPTB really care that I like to watch concert videos on youtube?  Probably not, but I will admit it is pretty cool when YouTube knows my favorite music. :) Check out what I found on the site. A nice listing of these they thought I may enjoy because of videos that I had watched in this past.  Why yes; I would enjoy those! Thanks for asking!

     I gave the topic of the "Filter Bubble" some thought after I watched this video for one of my Graduate School classes.  I thought it made some pretty good points and obviously, from the paragraph above, you can tell I had never given it much thought.  Yes, the filter bubble may exist, but is that a bad thing?  For some it may be, but for others not so much. 

                                                                                                      

     In reference to the "Filter Bubble" he makes statements about the internet being balanced and that that we should not be subjected to what the internet thinks we want to see; that we should be given an aray of information and we should be able to make the choice.  I am not going to disagree with this point (quite yet), but this does get me thinking.  I mentioned earlier that I had never paid much attention to what the internet shows me when I "Google" or "Bing" something.  I think the main reason behind that is because they are showing me what I want to see.  I enjoy the fact that "my internet" is tailored to what I want to see.  For instance, when it comes to politics, I do not want to read what a liberal mind thinks because, in all honesty, it just gets me frustrated and I'm pretty sure my blood pressure shoots up.  I don't mind people that disagree with me and I don't mind having intelligent conversations with people, but when I cannot state my opinion back to someone it just seems like a complete waste of my time.  This is where I think the "Filter Bubble" comes in handy; it doesn't give me things that I do not care about seeing.  In the video he shows that things have been filtered out on Facebook by TPTB because of certain links that he clicks on.  Personally, I have never had that happen to me.  He mentions that he did not like it, but I would enjoy some filtering on some occassions.  For some reason my Facebook does not know me well enough to know that I am an Auburn fan.  If it did I wouldn't have to get on my Facebook and see something related to Alabama on my newsfeed.  Filtering, in my opinion, is a good thing because things you don't want to see are not there. 


Co-Worker Search

My Search

     All of this talk of the "Filter Bubble" has me thinking about my recent searches and such.  I do believe that, yes, certain websites may filter things.  I know that websites where purchases are made do filter.  That is easy to tell because they recommend things for you from things that you may have purchased.  Amazon is notorious for this.  They have recommendations for you throughout your purchase and then, BAM!, you check your e-mail for your confirmation and there are some more.  It's almost like you can't get away from them.  This being said, I have never actually run into the filtering on search engines and such.  I type in anything and I get a general list of results.  For instance, my co-worker and I typed in "owls" by using Google and we got the exact same results, with the exception of some images on my search page.
                                                                                       
I understand Mr. Pariser's viewpoint, but I just happen to disagree with it.  I find that my viewpoint differs from his since he says, "If we are trapped in a filter bubble and not exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview it could prove to be bad for us and our democracy."  It is our democracy and the freedom to make our own choices that gives me the ability to disagree with him.  I do not feel that my life nor my sense of thought is in jeopardy because I disagree with the use of the "Filter Bubble."  I feel that I have all of my thoughts in order and that what I believe is right, so I do not need to be swayed one way or another by some search engine that wants me to become more "worldly" by showing me things that do not relate to anything that I search for.  I do not want my Google search randomnly popping up things about different religions because I put in a search for christianity.  My opinion of the whole thing: If I wanted to search for it, then I would search for it.  Just like he thinks that we should not be subjected to things that Google thinks we should see, which in turn makes it things we want to see; I do not think we should be subjected to seeing things we do not want to see.


Updating Your Life

What does the term “social media” mean to you? There are a lot of ways to answer that question, but for me the answer is simple: my job. Yes, I am a Social Media Coordinator. Basically, what that means is that I am responsible for posting all updates to Facebook and Twitter in regards to the department in which I work. Unlike some people I actually enjoy what I do because it entails something that I am good at and I have, practically, been doing since I was 17 years old. “Facebooking” (I think we have made this a verb) is somewhat of a normal thing. Can you name someone that does not have a Facebook account? Those people are pretty rare and hard to find. Anyone who is any one has a Facebook account these days. If they don't the first thing you ask is, why? Let's face it; social media sites are all the rage.  If I recall Facebook became something to use to keep up-to-date with friends and such. I read in an article that it began as a way for college campus students to update items, but then it began to spread to other colleges. Before you knew it the Facebook genuises were like, "Wait a second. I think people in their teen years could have one." Boy, were they right. When I was in high school Facebook had really just begun. It seems funny now thinking that Facebook really was not around when I was going through all of those awkward teenage years, but it wasn't. I am actually kind of glad for that. I cannot even imagine my life without Facebook now, which is really sad. :/ If you think about it what would we do with all of our spare time without Facebook? How could we stalk people that we have no interest in talking to, but we are just that nosy to want to know what is going on in their lives? Honestly, our lives might be simpler, but it would leave a little bit of a fun void; for me at least. I have no shame in saying that I really enjoy getting on Facebook. I love reading people's posts and knowing what is going on. If I don't enjoy them I simply block the person from my newsfeed. Not everyone is enjoyable; some people are just downright boring.

Nowadays Facebook is not only for social interaction, but businesses have jumped on the bandwagon. In no way do I think that Facebook or any other social media site is going to take away from the traditional website. There are so many things that you cannot put on a Facebook site that can go on a traditional website. With that being said Facebook is such a great way to reach out to your audience. Facebook updates are a wonderful way to stay in touch with clientele and give them up-to-date information. A business cannot expect the public to go to their website every hour to check out information. With Facebook they are more likely to get updates in a timely matter because let’s face it, people check the social media site way more often than they do the business site. No matter how much people depend on social media there is no way that it can replace the current form of e-mail, etc... An article that I read brings up so many great points to support this fact such as: security, the fact that e-mail works across all platforms and e-mail provides more privacy than Facebook. There is also the sense of professionalism. If you are an employer, would you really want a future employee sending you a Facebook message? It just does not come across as though he/she is completely serious about the job.

Facebook is one thing, but Twitter...that's an entirely new ballgame. Yes, Twitter is a social media site, but the two sites could not be more different. In case you are not familliar with Twitter I will fill you in on the basics. 1) You can only use 140 characters to let your feelings be known. 2) You can hash tag anything by using the pound sign (#). People will hash tag things such as television shows, #Idol, for American Idol. They also use them for things they want to happen. I am not ashamed to use me as an example. We, DOOL (Days of our Lives) fans, have been very, shall we say, PO'd about the lack of screen time for several of our characters. We started the hash tag #WeWantJandM (aka We Want John and Marlena) to get the attention of the people of Days. :) 3) If you want to connect with people you must use the “@” symbol followed by their username. Yes, it can be complicated for some people that have never used it, but it really is a lot of fun. I consider myself a major tweeter (what one calls themselves if they tweet.) Currently, I am closing in on around 8,000 tweets. What do I tweet about you ask? Well, probably a whole lot of nothing for some people. J But, that is completely beside the point. When you are not in a business and you use social media, what point do any of your posts have? I can pretty much guarantee people do not need to read my latest Facebook post, "Lazaro is gone!" This is in reference, of course, to last night’s American Idol elimination.

Facebook, Twitter, LInkedin, etc… have done so many things for the technology world. They have given people the opportunity to network and stay in or get back in touch with people they had lost contact with. It really is a cool thing that I can be sitting here in my living room, but be having a conversation with one of my best friends in Colorado. All of this is without the use of a telephone.

I do worry that people tend to forget that people can see what you are doing. What I mean by this is that young people forget that they can be seen. When I say young people, I am particularly talking about the teenagers who think they know everything, but do not have the brains God gave a billy goat. Social media sites can get people into trouble if they do not use it in the right way. A good and normal way of posting: Updating people on your day; a bad way: posting a picture of yourself doing illegal activities. I cannot tell you how many people I see on Facebook, that are, obviously under the age of 21, posting pictures of themselves with open cans of alcohol. Fact: businesses and companies check Facebook and Twitter. If you post anything they do not like that could cost you a job opportunity. When posting pictures or things on Facebook ask yourself one question; "Would I show this to my mom?" If the answer is no I can pretty much guarantee it should NOT go on Facebook or Twitter. As great as these social media outlets are they can get you into trouble if you are not careful.

In the Palm of your Hand

    
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that technology is changing at a rapid pace. Unless you have been living under a rock it is not hard to see that the times of yesteryear have long since passed. We have gone from television that were, maybe, 10" x 10" in circumference to televisions that could be 70" wide. It is absolutely incredible how far we have come from having a computer that was thousands of dollars and heavy as a washing machine to one that cost a couple of hundred dollars and you can hold it in your lap. So, if we have made all of these improvements in the television and computer world, why not make those same improvements in the phone world? Good question!! And by gosh, those improvements have been made! Who would have thought that over the years everything would be completely wireless? Most cellular devices are now completely wireless. I remember when I first got DirecTV at my house I was ecstatic. Growing up I lived in, what some people like to call, the boondocks. We could not get cable so when I was about 5 or 6 years old we got a satellite. What a remarkable time that was; then came along the brilliant invention of the cell phone. I remember when I first saw one. My dad got a "bag phone" in his truck because he traveled (still does) a lot during the summer months. From all that clutter on the floor to being able to have one that he can hold in his hand, put in his pocket and take it wherever he goes. It is absolutely miraculous when you think about it!

Not only can we make phone calls whenever we want to or wherever we are you can also do pretty much anything you want on your cell phone. Who could have imagined the day when you could pay your bill, purchase a book from Amazon and watch the highlights from the baseball game all within a span of 10 minutes, and on the same device? No matter how cool Zack Morris' phone was it could not do all of that snazzy stuff. I cannot see you, but I wonder how many of you out there are reading this blog on your iPhone. Have you ever thought about how much we do with our mobile devices? It is kind of a scary thought if you really really think about it. What would you do, if God forbid, you were not allowed to use your phone for two days? I can hear all of you screaming, "I would DIE!" That may very well be the case because we have become so dependent on these gadgets. I can think of one example and lucky for you I can use one of my own experiences. In February I had my phone stolen at a local bowling alley (I won't name the business). I was phoneless for about one week. Let me tell you, I felt like I would die. The worst part of it was thinking I could lose all of my contacts. Next worst thing, "What if I lost all of the levels I have completed in Candy Crush?!" Is anyone else completely addicted to that game or is it just me? Luckily, I did not lose all of my contacts nor any of my completed levels in Candy Crush. If we are all honest with ourselves we could go without an iPhone. We would all be okay; we're not going to curl up in a little ball and wither a slow and painful death just because we cannot update our Facebook status every 10 minutes.

I just mentioned Facebook, which now has me thinking of a study I just read. I saw a listing of some of the top sites that are used through mobile instead of the desktop. Do y'all know what website was not on there? Facebook. Weird right? The number one website was Pandora. I absolutely love Pandora! I cannot even begin to tell you how many channels I have on that thing.

The more popular the smartphone become the more websites will be viewed on them. I believe it's the simplicity of it all that draws people to it. Basically, you are carrying around a portable computer at all times. Do you want to listen to music and play a word game at the same time? No problem! For this device the world is, literally, in the palm of your hand. It is one of the most amazing gadgets of our time and I can only see the mobile world growing. I say this because I can see how much it has grown in the last three years since I did my internship. I interned at the Mobile Department at CMT and was responsible for creating ringtones and sending out text blasts. I can only imagine how much more work would be involved in it now! If you don't have a smartphone, I highly suggest you get one! Being able to have all of your favorite things within a touch of a button is a lot of fun!

 

Not only is it your cell phone, but it is completely yours (in every sense of the word).  That is such a bonus feature!  It is completely your own and no one else's.  The older phones had the standard ringtone, but now you can have whatever ringtone you wish.  No matter where you are people will know what kind of music you like, but it would be nice if sometimes they were put on silent.  Have you ever thought about your phone in that way?  Your very own personal portable device.  It is specialized for you, by you.  For example, look at the picture above.  Fleetwood Mac is in the background.  Now, I bet I do not need to tell you that I'm a big fan of Fleetwood Mac.  That is what is so cool about all of this new technology, it is fitted to suit your personality!