“When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place.” -Mark Zuckerberg, CEO & Founder of Facebook

I feel like I’ve gone on and on about the dangers of Social Media websites rather than discussing any of the positive things that come with Social Media, and believe me there are a lot. The Internet in general, has so much information on it, and this can be a good thing, and a bad thing. The thing is, information travels so fast now days, a photo can be posted of a celebrity and within minutes of the photo being taken, it will be on every source of Social networking there is, giving fans and critics immediate access to the latest gossip, trends etc. People can be more liberal about their views and have coherent, and valid conversations with others about it, in complete anonymity if they choose. People are given the ability to converse with people that have similar interests as them, in completely different countries, giving people the opportunity to meet people with different views on life, politics, music, and generally have a diverse viewpoint of the world.

The Internet is one of the most powerful tools of today, and I would be a fool to completely dismiss it. One of the best examples of how powerful the Internet is, would be Obama's  Social media Campaign in 2008, this was both one of the smartest moves made on his behalf, as he took advantage of the internet, and was aware, that in order to get information out, the internet is the quickest way to do that. Overnight, people became aware of Obama and he was able to connect with all age groups, diversity’s and people not only in America but also all over the world. Below are some of the amazing statistic's that Obama accumulated online. 

Facebook
Obama: 2,379,102 supporters
McCain: 620,359 supporters
Obama has 380% more supporters than McCainMySpace
Obama: Friends: 833,161
McCain: Friends: 217,811
Obama has 380% more supporters than McCainYouTube
Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110
McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993
Obama has 403% more subscribers than McCainObama has 905% more viewers than McCainTwitter
Obama: @barackobama has 112,474 followers
McCain: @JohnMcCain (is it real?) 4,603 followers
Obama has 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain

 

Numbers TALK!!

  

                              Do you like me? 

I have a growing frustration with Social media, and the values that society has put on the ‘like’ system. The like system basically determines how many people like your photo’s, your views, your taste in music etc.. Basically determining how popular you are on the Internet. The like system is most popular on “Facebook” but has been around a lot longer, Bebo was the first time I encountered it, with hearts that you could give to people. The more heart’s somebody had, the more “loved” they were. The like system also exists on sites such as YouTube, Tumbler, and instagram and many more. The thing that really annoys me about the whole “like system” is the values that a lot of people place on it, the extents in which people will go to only to get a “like” and the way, that for some people it has become more important then being genuinely liked in reality.

The dangers of the Like button!

Apart from a supersized ego, or inflation of your supersized ego, the like button has a few dangers to it. Not many people are aware of the fact that once you like, a company’s page they instantly have access to you, and your information, and you can be invited to events, sent mails etc… The danger is, by simply liking something you are “cyber exposing” yourself to complete and utter strangers. Another extremely interesting thing I have discovered via a Progressive Media article is that the like button is going to become even more public.  The like button in the near future will  share everything you ‘like’ publically on your newsfeed, and page, it will include a headline, small description, and a photo with a link of what you liked. This is an attempt to drive more traffic to outside websites. Imagine how this will effect you “liking” things in the future, would you make a conscious effort now to only “like” things that you believe are more socially acceptable, would you take longer deciding weather to like somebody’s profile picture? Or somebody’s status's.  The idea of having cyber footprints has become a lot more realistic now that even the things you ‘like’ can be monitored and observed, and complete strangers have more of an opportunity to observe your private life.

Why should this even be a problem though? We’re all in charge of your own identity’s we’re all responsible right? Unfortunately, that statement is far from true. Teenagers and young children are now growing up, on the Internet. If you think about it, when we were younger, cell phones were the hot commodities, and if you had one, you could play snake, and text your friends. Now children and teenagers, can go online, share photos of themselves, share personal information, and give updates on where they are and what they are doing. Children and teenagers are being given the responsibility of controlling their presence on the Internet, and aren’t even aware of it.

From paying more attention to my Face book newsfeed alone I was able to make observations on what people are posting and liking.

Teenagers are quite happily posting photos of them smoking drugs, drinking alcohol, or even posting sexual photo’s and comments. I am not against Facebook, I’m against how it’s being used, and the fact that people aren’t aware of the actual dangers, to putting yourself out there in that way.

Source: Tumblr

source: Instagram @harrmoney.

Source: Face book (under 16)

Social Media Good vs Bad

The Anti Social Behavior of Social Media

I have decided that my topic will be about Social Media and weather it is a positive influence on society or weather it is a negative influence on Society. I am probably a perfect example of a Social Media Addict if such a term exists. I am on at least three different Social Media Site’s and engaged on a daily basis with people on these sites, almost as reliant on them as I am on my phone. Yet weather I believe I benefit from it is questionable. In this discussion blog, I am hoping to gain more of an understanding of why I’ve become so dependant on it, but actually learn more about the thing’s that I seem to be putting so much time into. I hope that you feel free to comment, give your own opinions or share experience’s and advice. 

The Many Face’s of Social Media

I spend at least 2 hour’s if not more on Social Media Site’s every day, and Lately I’ve been starting to question exactly what do I benefit from this, it has become a routine in my every day life, that to me is extremely unhealthy.  The Internet can be viewed as an entirely different world, a place where you can create and entirely new you, editing tools help smoothen out any fine lines, or pimples you have, there are editing app’s (applications) that allow you to change the colour of your skin, eye’s, hair and even give you longer eyelashes’.  The more like’s you get or retweets the more popular you are, you can even interact with your favourite celebrities. One of the Biggest and probably most appealing aspect’s of the internet is the access to anonymity, the bait that eventually capture’s most of us. You now can say whatever you please, and not (if you choose) deal with the consequences.  Anonymity is a increasingly popular trend, Website’s such as Tumblr even promote the use of Anonymity.  Tumblr have created an option when you are viewing somebody’s page to ask a question anonymously, you can only imagine some of the things said. There is a certain power in Anonymity, although it allows you to have and state an opinion that in reality might be too difficult for you to voice, it is also extremely dangerous. It allows people to say whatever they want, and that’s when I believe people show their cyber faces. Things that society has tried so hard to Control such as Racism, Equal Rights, Discrimination etc..Resurface its ugly head on the Internet.  I do however believe that as all things there is a good and bad to everything, the Internet is an ever growing, and ever-advancing aspect of today’s society, and it would be insane to try and fight it, BUT MODERATION PEOPLE. How far until it’s all too far, and reality become’s less important then cyberspace.

I have included some rather interesting website article’s if you would like to have a look at other people’s opinion’s and point’s of view.

This one is rather hilarious:

http://christwire.org/2012/02/is-tumblr-stealing-the-souls-of-your-children/
On serious matters..... 

http://people.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/society/anonymity.html