Don't Fear Twitter:
This was an interesting article that talked about how Twitter can be used to help improve journalism. People seemed to be afraid that Twitter would take over journalism and general news reporting but the fact remains 140 characters is not enough to thoroughly report. John Dickerson, the author of the article, brought up an interesting argument. Twitter actually broadens the amount of information he views or reads more about because of what the people he is following on Twitter are tweeting. I would agree with him on that. I have just recently gotten more involved in the "Twitter game" and I think I do find out more information about different things because they're being brought to my attention. I like that Twitter only allows 140 characters, it keeps tweeters from babbling and they get right to the point.
Engaging Youth in Social Media: Is Facebook the New Media Frontier?
This article discusses a research project that was conducted to see what it takes to get teens and tweens to actively engage in discussion about current events and information. In the past decade or so less teens discuss current events with one another. Researchers decided to use Facebook as a platform and create applications where users could go to share, read, and comment on articles and really create a niche community. Creating these niche communities allowed users to connect with other individuals they may not know who are passionate about the same issues they are. Through these networks people can come together and make a difference. I think using social media is a great way to find people and interact with them about the same things you are interested in and I believe that the number of different niche communities will continue to grow.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Readings for 2/9/11
Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media:
5 Key Elements
1. Social media is developing and improving everyday. A number of new users are joing the fad and creating profiles on a number of different sites on a daily basis. I personally belong to nearly 10 different social media sites so I can understand all the hype. What blows my mind is the amount of content the article talks about that is uploaded to various social media sites such as YouTube and Flickr on a daily basis. The article stated that "every minute, 10 hours of content were uploaded to the video sharing platform YouTube" (Kaplan, Haenlein, 2009).
2. The fact that many major businesses have found ways to benifit from social media sites increases their popularity. Businesses are now able to do a lot of research and advertising simply by tracking people and posting content on a number of different social media platforms. In fact, social media has also presented the opportunity to create businesses out of what is basically a social media site, for example craigslist. Users can post in a number of different cattegories and others can see what they are selling and offereing, its mainly used for buying different items and finding jobs.
3. What people fail to understand is that it takes time and dedication to become successful on the Web. The more research people do on what they are talking about on their site and blog the more factual their site will become. People will come to see this and will start to turn to those type of pages because they are confident their information is coming from a relible source. Also it is important to create and encourage discussion amoung users. If somebody is able to generate a large conversation with a number of comments, likes, or shares, more people are going to see this topic, because their freinds have already been veiwing and disscussing it.
4. Create an image or online personality and stick with it. People begin to return to the same pages if they found them useful and relevant to what they were looking for. If one week somebody wants to be the inside man in the sports world, next week he can't be talking politics. It is also important to honest, humble, and current.
5. Since social media sites allow users to connect, share, and talk to friends and family members it has become increasingly popular with users who may not have been so interested in computers or the Web until such sites. Grandparents are beginning to use such sites to connect with their grandchildren and other family members. Users can also communicate with users in other countries, which as we discussed in class has really flattened the world.
From Mine to Mobile Phone:
5 Key Elements
1. Tin, tantalum, and tungsten, or the 3Ts. I previously had no ideas how they made, or what they made cell phones with, so reading and finding out about that was entertaining. Finding out what happens to get those minerals, not so much. Seems to be the same issue with conflict diamonds.
2. Armed groups control these areas and the people that live there. The people are basically treated like slaves, being forced to work in terrible conditions and are threatened, injured or killed if they disobey.
3. They are trying to uncover more about this type of business and are trying to get workers, transporters and others involved in the mining to discuss how the process works and where different matterials are moved. Workers are very reluctant to discuss anything or give any information as they are worried they will be killed for disclosing any information.
4. It is important for companies to document and trace where they are getting their materials from so they can be ensured that they are not contributing to the terrible tragedy that is taking place in Congo. If they fail to document, there are chances of the minerals from Congo getting mixed in with minerals from other, lets say, more legal minning efforts.
5. I like that the end of the article give a call to action. Meaning they inform the readers on how they can get involved and how they can help. Knowing and understanding what is going on is only the first step. If we hope to improve working conditions, and stop armed groups from controlling people like slaves we need to act.
5 Key Elements
1. Social media is developing and improving everyday. A number of new users are joing the fad and creating profiles on a number of different sites on a daily basis. I personally belong to nearly 10 different social media sites so I can understand all the hype. What blows my mind is the amount of content the article talks about that is uploaded to various social media sites such as YouTube and Flickr on a daily basis. The article stated that "every minute, 10 hours of content were uploaded to the video sharing platform YouTube" (Kaplan, Haenlein, 2009).
2. The fact that many major businesses have found ways to benifit from social media sites increases their popularity. Businesses are now able to do a lot of research and advertising simply by tracking people and posting content on a number of different social media platforms. In fact, social media has also presented the opportunity to create businesses out of what is basically a social media site, for example craigslist. Users can post in a number of different cattegories and others can see what they are selling and offereing, its mainly used for buying different items and finding jobs.
3. What people fail to understand is that it takes time and dedication to become successful on the Web. The more research people do on what they are talking about on their site and blog the more factual their site will become. People will come to see this and will start to turn to those type of pages because they are confident their information is coming from a relible source. Also it is important to create and encourage discussion amoung users. If somebody is able to generate a large conversation with a number of comments, likes, or shares, more people are going to see this topic, because their freinds have already been veiwing and disscussing it.
4. Create an image or online personality and stick with it. People begin to return to the same pages if they found them useful and relevant to what they were looking for. If one week somebody wants to be the inside man in the sports world, next week he can't be talking politics. It is also important to honest, humble, and current.
5. Since social media sites allow users to connect, share, and talk to friends and family members it has become increasingly popular with users who may not have been so interested in computers or the Web until such sites. Grandparents are beginning to use such sites to connect with their grandchildren and other family members. Users can also communicate with users in other countries, which as we discussed in class has really flattened the world.
From Mine to Mobile Phone:
5 Key Elements
1. Tin, tantalum, and tungsten, or the 3Ts. I previously had no ideas how they made, or what they made cell phones with, so reading and finding out about that was entertaining. Finding out what happens to get those minerals, not so much. Seems to be the same issue with conflict diamonds.
2. Armed groups control these areas and the people that live there. The people are basically treated like slaves, being forced to work in terrible conditions and are threatened, injured or killed if they disobey.
3. They are trying to uncover more about this type of business and are trying to get workers, transporters and others involved in the mining to discuss how the process works and where different matterials are moved. Workers are very reluctant to discuss anything or give any information as they are worried they will be killed for disclosing any information.
4. It is important for companies to document and trace where they are getting their materials from so they can be ensured that they are not contributing to the terrible tragedy that is taking place in Congo. If they fail to document, there are chances of the minerals from Congo getting mixed in with minerals from other, lets say, more legal minning efforts.
5. I like that the end of the article give a call to action. Meaning they inform the readers on how they can get involved and how they can help. Knowing and understanding what is going on is only the first step. If we hope to improve working conditions, and stop armed groups from controlling people like slaves we need to act.
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