Digital revolution

The digital world has changed our lives

        Saturday night, I did Facetime  with a friend who lives in Ecuador. We were planning his summer vacations in NY, and talking about politics here in the US and future presidential elections in Ecuador. My friend told me that during his vacations he wants to visit Canada as well, so we researched on the Canadian Embassy website the requisites for the Visa. Then, my friend tagged me on a picture on Instagram of places in the East Side that he wants to visit. We both were looking at the pictures, making comments and deciding some possible places to go. A couple of minutes later, I realized my friend and I have visited six different Instagram profiles related with NYC spots.I think having this chance is cool because although my friend and I are in different countries we can see the same information at the same time.

     Then, my friend send me a link from a video on Facebook related with politics in Ecuador. We discussed about it and watched other related videos that appeared in that profile. Next to the video I was watching different ads from my favorite stores showed up. I clicked on the ads and started looking for clothes and shoes. I visited about three different websites and ended up buying a pair of winter shoes. While I was talking to my friend I got a Facebook message from my club here at Baruch. The president asked information about Ecuadorian singers and dancers that could perform for us in an event. I immediately send him back the contact information, YouTube videos and Facebook profiles from these groups. My friend and I looked for airplane tickets in different websites, we did not buy it yet, but we signed up for alerts to receive notifications when there are low-price tickets.

     Once I finished doing the activity, I realize the powerful influence technology and media has over human beings nowadays. Our lives are based on the interaction with media and activities such as google information, like pictures, follow profiles on social media, or shop online. Digital media made our life easier because we can find all information we want just with a click on the website and even talk or see with people in other countries anytime we want. I thought, how could I do all these activities in a pre-digital era? my first thought was “ I would not be able to do it. There is no way for this.” For example, doing Facetime with my friends would not be possible. The only option to be in contact with him would be through letters that will take about a month to him to receive and then get my answer back.In order to have information about places to visit for vacations I might had to go to a tourist office, or if I wanted to buy a pair of shoes, I must had to go to the store and buy them there. In other words, these activities could not been done in a pre-digital media era. In a few words, I concluded that all human activities and interactions have changed with digital media. Through this activity, I analyzed some advantages we have nowadays with digital media such as a quicker and more access to information, facilitate communication through social media, mails, or video calls apps such as FaceTime or Skype. One of the biggest changes in media is the easy of exchange information through the use of smartphones and different social media platforms. As Couldry states on page 7, “the years since 2005 have seen a more fundamental disruption to media and media research. Digital media convergence has accelerate hugely. Circulating your photos and videos online has become commonplace; so too commenting on other people’s blogs mashups and online self-presentations. The increased availability of mobile phones with fast internet access has increased (exponentially), people’s capacities to be receivers and  circulator of media. The fast growth of social networking sites has added an entirely new dimension”. Different social media platforms give us the chance to exchange information very quickly with million people around the world. These communication platforms has influenced in the way people relate to each other and the way information is delivered. Millions of people use social media platforms as Facebook and twitter as sources of news.  The article News consumption in a digital world explains “a significant increase in social media and access via mobile devices.” Everyday more people are using smartphones and have access to internet, which has influenced in the way people read news or find information. A negative aspect about digital media era is the irresponsible way in which some people manage their social networks. There is not much control on what is published then unwanted information can be delivered to everyone in a matter of seconds.

     One of the biggest changes human beings experience with digital media is the chance to shop online. The following video  Digital Transformation – The Business World of Tomorrow talks about the future of digital business. Companies has the responsibility  and the need to innovate and transform their services if they do not want to stay behind their competitors and market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d32Ps1VYAk



Questions:

  1. How do you think social media could have a negative impact on company’s image and reputation? Give a real example.
  2. Digital media evolves so quickly and changes our lives. How do you think social interaction will be in 10 years from now?

An Hour Train Ride Through a Digital Revolution

As I am sitting down in the subway, I spent the next hour of my commute, not only,  surfing the web for deals on textbooks but also using different apps for music and entertainment. The first thing I did was go on Facebook, I checked my messages, looked over my notifications and I noticed there was a notification from a friend. I was tagged in various pictures  and videos but only one of the videos caught my eye. It was the advertising video of an Ice Cream Shop, which in reality sells cookie dough on an Ice Cream cone. Pretty cool, right? I thought it was a very innovative and delicious idea. Then, I quickly replied to my friend by asking if she wanted to check out the place.  I continued to scroll down through my news feed and came across a news article about a CUNY student whom was able to come back to the United States, following the decision of the Department of Homeland Security to suspend the travel ban. After reading the news article, I was suggested by Facebook to read other articles, which I decided not to read. Some of the titles seemed to refer to the Women’s March, others about political issues that are currently happening. I looked over to my right and noticed the person next to me was communicating with someone through text, that reminded me to ask my friends in the groupchat if they have a PDF file of a specific accounting textbook that I need. One of the members of the groupchat quickly replied to me, saying that she has the scanned copy of my accounting book printed out and that she can provide me with it some time during this week.

I suddenly realized how quickly an hour had passed, then I started to wonder what my train ride would have been like without a phone, or let say without Facebook or access to the internet. I , first, conluded that I probably would have had a harder time getting acces to the accounting textbook, either by having to go the school or local libray and finding a physical copy of the book. Second, I concluded that my friend would’ve probably waited until seeing me to tell me about the Ice Cream Shop. But then I thought, what other way could she had possibly find out about the innovative and delicious Ice Cream Shop without the help of Facebook ?  This made me realize how reliable and effective Social Network Sites can be for marketing strategies or simply to deliver a message. It is evident that not only businesses, but other news outlets are using platforms such as facebook and twitter to deliver their message. Facebook is, in fact, aware of such activities by media outlets, it provided guidance to them. This article is evident of this awarenses, it was posted within the Facebook network for media outlets as guidance on more effecient ways they can use Facebook.

I believe this is all evident to the digital revolution Couldry refers to, and also Athique’s argument that we live in a digital society. Although, this was only an hour of my day, the rest of my day isn’t much different from this specific hour. We, as a society, are constantly living in the digital world. Either by spending time looking for the best deals on textbooks through Google, or liking posts and pictures of our friends new vacation spots or our next ice cream eating adventure. We are constantly being surrounded by new information because of social media platforms and the internet. As Couldry states on page 10, “The internet has brought a shift in information production from a limited number of discrete forms ( books, pamphlets, letters, reports, lists) to information units of any form and size (websites).. The results are an exponential growth in data volume.. ”  This video supports this idea on how quickly the digital revolution has evolved and how quickly it has reached more and more people.

 

The ability to find everything you are searching for, from the next fun adventure with a friend to being able to obtain a physical copy of a text book, in  ONLY one social platform is one of the major benefits of the digital revolution. However, there could be some negative consequences of the use of such social media platforms. Facebook, to use the same example, has been in many controversial arguments over privacy, and their selling off of users data and also credibility checks when it comes to fake news articles. Nonethelss, I personally believe the good overorks the bad. A survey conducted by MUO also supports this idea.

We, as a society, use media as consumers and producers, and interestingly enough most of our most used social platforms ( such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram)  provide few to zero content, allowing us to produce content, and also exposing us to information from other users in the same platform. What do you think will happen if us, as consumers and producers, stop using social media platforms? What will be the next revolution in media after the digital revolution?

According to Couldry, most media scholars agree that “we are in the middle of a media revolution” (9), which not only transform human actions but also power relations.

Likewise, Athique argues that we are currently living in a digital society (17) in which technical changes lead to new social practices. Here, Athique invites us to consider coupling both technological innovations and social changes in order to understand what it means to live in a digital society.
For your first blogpost, please do the following:
  1. Spend 1 (one) hour online and carefully take down notes on any single activities you do during that hour. Did you click on an ad? Did you ignore a post from a friend that you disagree with? Did you post a photo on Instagram or comment on a reddit post? etc.
  2. Review your online activities and imagine how you would do the activities in pre-digital era. Do the activities occur only with the existence of digital media? Are there activities that can only occur without digital media? In other words, are there activities that HAVE NOT changed in our digital age?
  3. Using Couldry and Athique’s readings, explain
    • In what ways do computerization and digitization improve human activity? Why?
    • In what ways do they create negative consequences? Why?
    • Does digital media revolution bring positive or negative effects to our society?
  4. Make sure you follow the general rule of making a blogpost for this course stated in the syllabus and that you include synthesis/analysis, quotes from readings, hyperlink, visual media, and questions in your post.
  5. Categorize your post under “digital revolution.”