Introduction to Social Media

A social media app that has not been mentioned that’s pretty popular is Discord. Discord is like Skype but without the lags and I believe was originally made for gamers to be able to specifically talk to their friends versus talking to anyone who was currently in their game session. However, like Twitch, it expanded from gaming and has people interested in other fields as well such as animation, music, film, art, photography and so on. There are groups dedicated to an abundant amount of categories to one specific work, and like Skype you can screenshare if you want to present or watch something together. Although, unlike Skype, you do not need an email or phone number to add someone. You can just use their username or just search for a group that you’re interested in. There are many groups and individuals with varying interests and anything goes, as long as there’s nobody harassing anyone or if they’re a hate group; those people get reported and their accounts deleted. As stated before, with many groups around, there definitely has to be some supporting a specific movement or a marginalized group. I think that, along with how simple it is to reach out to others on this easy to use platform, political and social issues could be spread out as fast as they do on Twitter. People from multiple groups could be informed from multiple perspectives and be taught on how to support or fight the issue at hand.

Social media is full of rules that are written and implied. For my short report I added a whole bunch of people on social media and started messaging them excessively. I learned that it is not a good idea to do that because I got sent some very inappropriate pictures after that and had to delete and block several people but it made me think. What other ways can I break social media etiquette?

This list could go on and on. I could start posting nudes all over the internet (not recommended at all. No one wants to see that.), I could post every second of my day online (talk about blowing up someone’s timeline), of I could go and troll people over things they are passionate about (this one is kind of fun, not going to lie). Those are all pretty obvious violations but what are some that aren’t as obvious?

This list will be smaller but not less important. My classmates brought up some pretty good ones like selfies and sending someone else’s Snapchat to another party but I want to focus on Net Neutrality for my example. With Net Neutrality we will have to pay to use certain internet sites and pay more to use others so a way to break social media etiquette with that would be to go on these sites and shame others for not being able to afford to use these sites. That may seem like a really crappy thing to do but the world is a messed up place and if Donald Trump can be our president (facepalm) then there will be inconsiderate people out there who will shame others because of their access. 

Another example I can think of that isn’t as common is making a GoFundMe for yourself when you don’t really need it or lying about the cause so that you can just get extra money. I’m sure we’ve all thought about ways to make more money but making up some sob story to make others feel bad for you on social media is not the best way to make money. Especially because there are consequences to your actions and if people find out you’re scamming them you could be reprimanded. 

This semester was not at all what I was expecting. I originally took this class just because it was required but now that I look back on it I’m so glad I did because I learned a lot. From actually looking at the always ignored terms and conditions on social media sites to learning about Wikipedia, the class was full of great content that will be beneficial in my career looking ahead in life. 

The thing I enjoyed most about the class, however, is the atmosphere. Through facilitations and constantly talking I feel like I gained an excessive amount of confidence through sharing my thoughts with others which is something I have never been good at. And besides that this class was so interesting that I never really zoned out and if I did something pulled me back in fairly quickly whether it be laughing over some joke or an interesting comment. 

Overall, I’m glad I took this class and I learned a lot from Professor Holmes. I broke a little out of my comfort shell but that’s okay because I know it will benefit my future. 

I chose this meme because it is funny and relates to what some people go through to not be themselves. The image is based on white being the majority and perceives that everyone wants to be a part of that majority. Memes can have an impact on social capital and power by influencing trends such as this one.

I broke netiquette on social media by first going onto Facebook, a more family oriented social media site, and tried to convince my friends and family I was going to commit suicide. My post was “ I can’t take this anymore, I’ll just end it.” I only received a few responses but it showed that many people only respond or acknowledge you when there is something wrong. My second attempt got more responses than I would have thought. I went onto a more popular and young generation social media platform. This platform was Snapchat. I have many followers and my post of me committing suicide cake with a lot of friends caring and asking if I needed anyone to talk to. I did notice that some people assumed I was playing, I got a response stating, “ do a flip” from one of my closer friends. This violation of netiquette explains how users view each other digitally.

There are many challenges that Wikipedia and any other sites like it experience. Though they may be easy to use and grasp information from, being a site where anybody can edit and manipulate information is a different ball game. I like to think of it as an open wall to public art. If everyone had the capabilities to put their opinion on it would definitely be a disaster, considering that it would be open to vandalism. A site that also encouraged user generated content was Yahoo answers. We live in a society where we are now self-taught by simply typing in what we need in Google are YouTube. According to the Yahoo Answer policy page:

·         You can add details to or delete questions you’ve asked for as long as the question is open.

·         Once the question is resolved, you cannot make changes or delete your content.

·         You can edit and delete answers while the question being asked is open.

·         Once the question is resolved, you cannot make changes or delete your answer.

The good thing about Yahoo answers is that at some point the correct answer will be finalized and there will be no one able to change that answer. I feel that maybe wiki should have some of the same guidelines

This semester has been nothing less than expected. I’ve learned a lot from everything to hegemony in social media, social groups on media, Wikipedia, and everything in between. Essentially this class has taught me how to analyze all aspects of social media. Even though it’s easily assessable , there are ethics to using it. As content creators we must understand that there is a cause and effect to everything we may post. We learned that though the project that was assigned. The content we post allows our audience to draw a little perspective of us.

I also enjoyed the Facilitation assignments because it allowed me to get a deeper look into our class discussions and really understand the unforeseen of social media. The articles attached to the topics were great and created a space to even look beyond the class and apply it to everyday life. I’m with professor Holmes every year, so any class she is TEACHING …. I AM THERE .