The blog site soshable.com has it right. Everything we know about communication and advertising has changed, thanks to social networking giants like Facebook and Twitter. Even television has been revolutionized, thanks to video technologies such as YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix. Now you can hear of - or even witness - current events before they have a chance at making it to the cable news channels. So, we have finally removed the shackles of the corporate media conglomerates, right? Wrong. Businesses have just found a new way to control their audiences: convince people that they want to promote a brand image (ever seen a viral product video?).
As described throughout Soshable, we now have online communities which segment into their own particular demographics, and this, in turn, gives businesses easy-to-target audiences. More than ever before, social networking has become a means rather than an ends, and that means is called capitalism. However, J.D. Rucker - the primary, strategic voice behind Soshable - explains to businesses that social networking is not just about the numbers, it’s also about the people. And, he goes on to describe the importance of looking at how people are using social media. If it wasn’t for the fact that Rucker has a vested interest in social media, his thoughts might almost seem to be trying to benefit the online community (altruistic, even).
But, this does not mean that social media is entirely superficial. From bridging generational gaps to assisting human rights protests, social media enables a broader spectrum of content to reach a growing number of people. And, as such, social networking, is just like any other powerful entity - it can be used for freedom or for control.
Q & A
Questions:
- Overall, do you find social media helpful or harmful to society?
- Does Shoshable seem to support or negate your position?
- Do you think there are “wrong ways” to use social networking?
- Why?
- What are some ways J.D. Rucker might consider as “wrong” for social networking?
- Do you think online media creates new social classes, or do online social classes merely reflect “real life”?
- Which social classes does Soshable discuss?
- Which social classes does Soshable create?
Answers:
Your answers are the answers.
I think that social media are very useful in terms of communication, because in times of everyone owning a smartphone facebook is a good way to talk and to text. It simplivies life so much. But it's dangerous on the other side, because many users are providing way to much information about them. The "wrong way" is actually just being on facebook, because in my opinion it's not real at all. You should just use it to text other guys to meet in real life. On the other hand side you can also use your facebook-profile to give yourself a good resume. So that people can get a good impression of you just by looking at your profile.
ReplyDeleteMaximilian Mogg
This blog really made me think about whether social media is helpful or harmful to society.I don't think that that is a question that can completely be answered. I really dislike what sites like facebook have done to our communication skills. Things can be misinterpretted online and it almost causes more trouble than its worth. It also gives people the chance to be different than who they really are, and helps them to skew the truth. I do not see how this could ever be seen as a good thing. Having said this, I think social media is great for making the world more connected. My parents could never say that they had the chance to talk to people from China and learn about their culture. Social media makes that possible.
ReplyDeleteI think you are completely correct in saying that social media is changing the way that we communicate with each other. These outlets create a whole new society online basically and you don’t have to be the same person that you are in real life. Overall, I feel that these social media outlets are a benefit to society for the sheer fact that they allow organized communication to develop so quickly. For example, the protests in Egypt and Libya were aided by sites like Facebook and the internet in general. I feel that since sites like these hold such great potential, the government will try to regulate it somehow in the near future. This personally frightens me, because to me it seems as if freedom is being taken away. If the government were to control the internet, it would symbolize their undying search for more power and control over the people that should have power and control over the government.
ReplyDeleteMax, I find your comments interesting, particularly when you stated that social media "[simplifies] life so much." However, I have to say that I think social media actually complicates life. Not only does it provide yet another system of communication for people to learn, social media has also produced a slew of open-ended questions such as: how do we properly identity an individual?, how do we know what is "real" communication?, what is friendship?, where is the divide between personal and work life?, and so many more... In this context, I consider Alana's comments to be quite unraveling, as well.
ReplyDeleteAlso, David, I would like to say that I support your concerns regarding government control. I am strong against censorship (not just on the internet, though). And, I feel that too many politicians are not fully aware of how their actions may affect the internet, as a whole. In part, I consider this lack of understanding to be due to the dense history the internet has produced, in such a relatively short period of time... Which also seems coincide with one of the reasons why many no one can fully understand how social media is changing the world.
Whether or not social media is helpful depends entirely on how you use it. If you use it to keep in touch with your real-life friends, it's a very helpful tool, since all your friends are in one place. It can become a detriment once you use it to create a deceiving persona for yourself online. Social media is here to stay, we need to accept that and use it properly. As far as social class goes, I'm having trouble understanding how this relates. Other than the fact that the more financially well-off a person is, the easier access they have to social media through the use of computers, smartphones, etc.
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ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by Caleb's final thoughts: "As far as social class goes, I'm having trouble understanding how this relates. Other than the fact that the more financially well-off a person is, the easier access they have to social media through the use of computers, smartphones, etc."
ReplyDeleteI pose a few questions:
_ Do social classes surface through online communications?
_ How does wealth affect your class in relation to social media circles? (assuming class exists in such a spectrum)
_ Should/does financial stability give rise to social communication?
Does anyone else have any thoughts regarding these questions?
I have never realized the social media,especially Facebook is so powerful in US before I came here. In China, we have something similar with Facebook, we call it "RenRen", in Chinese, it means public. At beginning, RenRen is popular around high school and college students,it is easy for us to discuss and share same topics that our generation are interested in. But right now it is the most popular social network in public. Adding RenRen name is more important than adding phone number when two people first meet. Social network has already revolutionized the way we communicate and live. However, in US, the function of Facebook is stronger than what I imagined. Even a package reminder can be send to my Facebook. It is so amazing that eveyone need Facebook to live. Now, I think I need to add more friend in my Facebook to get involved in local culture.
ReplyDeleteShiyun Hu
Actually,I think social media has both advantages and disadvantages over contemporary people's life.It could be very helpful and efficient when you want to communicate with your friends and families.Instead of talking to them face to face ,you just need to send them \messages on the face book,which really save us a lot of time and money.But on the other hand ,it could also become very harmful and cause very bad effects ,when you did not use it in a proper way .For instance, a lot of scandal and sexual video or images of celebrity are always spread from the internet.When people fail to keep their personal information safe in their computers,it is easy for somenone to steal it and put it online.It would cause a lot of damage to a person's reputation and fame ,especially the elite.In addition,I also believe the social media is not a good way if we want to maintain a long and close relationship with somenone we care.Since we always connected to them through the Facebook or other social media,it is easy form them to feel the distance between your and them .We could not completely express our feelings and emotions to each other by just texting them or chatting online. So I suggest no matter how busy we are ,we should always spare some time to hang out with our friends.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Matthew’s questions a few posts up, I believe that it is harder to see social class through social media, yet it is might be possible. By looking at the topics people post about, as well as the grammatical accuracy of their posts, it could be possible to see social class. But even I think that is a bit of a stretch, since it relies heavily on stereotyping, and some very intelligent people may not care about the grammar of their posts on the internet. Perhaps social class could be seen by whom one is friends with, but even that is highly subjective, since people of different social classes can easily interact and be friends. Therefore, I believe while it may be possible to see social class in social media, you may end up with the wrong impression of people if that is all you look at.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand,the social media is improving our daily life.There are much ways to know the world to receive all kind of news.The most important part is you can follow your interest and promote the relationship with friends having more common topics.At the same time.you have a space to share your feelings and show yourself.Also it is a bridge of friendship.We can make friends in social media.On the other hand,there is some negative parts with social media.The first is a space to spread bad information and cheat to people for money.It need more powerful supervision.Secondly,the not rigorous websity system causes the privacy information leak including the personal chat.It is disrespect to people.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social media is very helpful to society. I'm sure no one out there can say they haven't found out breaking news through Facebook at least once. Without any type of social media news would circulate much slower than it does with mediums like Facebook and Twitter. ‘Groups’ like NBC and CBS help to make Facebook a great place to check for the news. In high school I was in groups that would tell me when school was closed, what the theme of the next football game was, and many others. These types of features make social media such a great way to keep up with everything. I do believe that social media can be used in very negative ways as well. People using social media to falsify information are, in my opinion, using it in a negative way. In order to continue making social media helpful to society people must limit their time on it and only use it when necessary.
ReplyDeleteMiranda Granche
I have to agree that the social media is totally ruining our communication skills. People do have more of a chance to lie about who they really are and could put things in a difficult situation. However i do think that it is a good way of communicating, for example with talking to people. I love being able to have a way to talk to my parents from here with them being so far away and a best friend who may have moved miles away. I think it goes both way. You just have to make sure you are using it in a way that you can benefit from instead of meeting someone who you find out later is the complete oppostie and using it to meet people your not even sure exist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Max, because I think it depends on the situations when we said that some social networks have harmful impacts on the way of life of the public. In fact, most social networks give more freedom to users to build their personal resumes, such as their favorite hobbies, where they go to school, interesting thing about them etc... Then people can know them who they are as individuals. Today, people use social networks as a mechanism to fulfill their intentional aspirations. Mass Media are also important because sometimes they keep us up to date with important events from around the world. We could not know any events without the social networks and the mass media from the world in few times. Nowadays, the Mass Media and the Social networks are bringing the outside world into anyone’s home; this outside news may help to put anyone in happiness. Today social networks are becoming part of our cultures and social customs that lead us to connect globally say something about it. On the other hand, mass media may sometimes in some circumstances twist the public view of truth and attitude by propagating embellished inspirations, to control the public from been responsive to universal truth. For you general questions, I don't think any social networking sites are wrong. It's not the sites themselves that make it wrong, users just make things wrong.
ReplyDeleteTedros
I find social media both helping and hurting to today’s society. Social media links people together, enhancing networking to new heights. For example, a guy on my floor is from Korea and he recently added me on Facebook. The beauty of this is that he can stay connected with his family and friends in Korea, typing in their language, and his friends and family in America in English. However, social media has made every aspect of people’s lives social. Instantly pictures, videos, blogs, and more can be uploaded to thousands of sites with or without ones permission. Social media has also diminished the value on communication. Years ago, communication was more intimate. You either had to meet with someone personally or over the phone, now you can video chat with people and so much more. So though the evolution of social media has linked the world together in many ways, it has torn the world apart at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI think that social media is a helpful way to keep people informed. In a world where communication is probably more important than money itself, social media now allows us to talk and communicate from a distance in real time and share information on real events.
ReplyDeleteThe cost of all that is looking at all the ads of the companies that foot the bill for us to take advantage of these opportunities; however, taking away advertising opportunities is unbeneficial for business because as time goes on businesses need to adapt in order to reach the target market efficiently at all.
I think that social media effectively accomplishes for both the needs of the consumers and the advertisers fairly.
In general, social media has really changed the way people communicate in general. People around the world can contact one another more quickly and easily, share photos and videos with friends, let people know what they are doing, and more. However, in doing so it has clearly diminished the amount of face-to-face and even over the phone communication we have with one another. As far as the relationship social networking has to social classes, I feel that the most significant thing is that people who cannot afford computers or internet are not able to access all that social networking has to offer as easily, or at all. That could be considered one disadvantage of social media in that people who don't have the ability to use social networking might feel left out or lack the ability to communicate to sort of bridge the gap between themselves and people of different social classes, or at least people who can readily access social networking websites. On the other hand, as far as people who do have access to social networking, it can help transmit information more quickly and communicate more easily.
ReplyDeleteSocial network has become a important part of our daily life. Almost everyone use those network tools everyday. People can have a online communication through it. Also, we can know more about one's life through the pictures or blogs he posts online. We can contact the friends everyday easily instead of coming out.Something people can not say out in daily life can be posted on the website.And the information can be transferred quickly online. But i think we should not put too much time on it. We can not only contact friends online, especially for those close friends. And we should tell which information is correct which in not on the website. Because some people will deliberately say something on the website to mislead us.To me, two years ago, I spent much time on social networking everyday. But now, I prefer to meet friends face to face.
ReplyDeleteJake Johnson
ReplyDeleteI think social networking has become more and more integrated into our lives. More and more people from each generation, young to to old, are getting involved in this social networking. Ask anyone, regardless of age, if they have a Facebook page, and the answer will most likely be yes. Part of the appeal of these pages is that they are constantly changing. They are always coming up with new ways to keep people interested, and new ways to make their websites more and more a part of your life. For example, Facebook has integrated a system where you can put where you are posting from, so everyone can know where you are at all times. Twitter also integrrated this system recently. Social networking websites also have made it easier to post to their sites, with the addition of the ability to send a text message to an assigned number, and that posts it directly to your page, whether it be a Facebook status or a Tweet. I personally don't see a problem wiht how much people focus on these websites. Now, there are some that ONLY live on Facebook, or Twitter, but for those of us who can use these sites while also realizing that they are not our lives, and we need to live outside of them, they are just in good fun, and a way to keep up with friends, in particular now that we are all off at different colleges. I do think, though, that for those people that don't go out and live their lives beacuse they are only living through socialnetworking sites, it is not good. As long as people can handle the site, and not hide behind it in an attempt to live THROUGH the website, then there isnothing wrong with a consistent use of these sites.
Although I am one of the users in social networking who think it is a useful and joyful tool to make people feel satisfied and pleased, I think, social networking actually harms people to be fool, not supports us to be smart. As the writing above mentioned, the Soshable can contribute it's power to other business and control us what they want to promote without being noticed and blamed by us. Moreover, although the Soshable leads people to contact world-widely and aid us to share the opinions more freely, the tool actually limits the topic of the communications. To be honest, people hardly share the opinions toward serious issues, such as politics and social issues, but often upload their currents moods and status. Furthermore, because the social-networking devices protects the users to be exposed from others, some of people abuse the power of it, such as blaming others without any specific reasons and result victims to be harmed. Additionally, the devices cut the communication of people who stand near to us. Although we meet some people to talk and share information, we often use our cellphones, check others' status and leave comments, without being channeling back and answer to people who actually sit beside and talk to us. Frankly, although I realize myself the the function of the social-networking is useless and wasting my time, I just can't stop it, but more deeply be addicted and follow what they've intended.
ReplyDelete