Monthly Archives: March 2011

Facebook: Ruining or helping marriages?

Posted on March 15, 2011 by davika.singh

I found this article online and it really captured my attention.  After all, it has to do with Facebook and relationships, two of the things that we all like to talk about and are somewhat interested in.  This article talks about how relationships, marriages are affected by Facebook.  According to this article, relationships suffer because of having exes as friends, flirting and accepting friend requests that should have been ignored.  They also mention that relationships and marriages flourish because of Facebook.

According to this article, there are 5 ground rules that married couples should follow in order to have clear communication and connection on Facebook with others without having a misunderstanding.  They also listed a bunch of ways one can use Facebook, positively to enhance their marriage or in some of our cases, our relationships. These ways vary from commenting on your spouse’s posts, flirt with them, showing your other half that you trust them and keeping in check with what others are saying about your spouse.

In my case, I have to say that most of the time Facebook tends to have a negative effect on marriages or relationships. I have seen people freak out over old posts from someone that was flirting to chaos and “temporary breakups” over private messages.  I’m sure a lot of you reading this are familiar with what I’m talking about. Do  you think Facebook helps with marriages or relationships?? Or does it cause jealousy, problems and major break ups?

Take your pick.

http://www.yourtango.com/201173002/facebook-and-your-marriage?cid=nl

Posted in Assignment 4 | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Stereotypes and Social Media, pt. 2

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Andrew McKinney

In a previous post, I talked about the possibility of stereotypes fading away with the help of social media.  Ultimately, I argued that this was unlikely.  Well, here’s an article that bolsters my point.  The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on a talk given by Lisa Nakamura at the South by Southwest Interactive conference that outlined several recent studies that have found new kinds of racism flourishing in global video game communities.

For instance, in China large numbers of users began earning a living playing Diablo 2, winning virtual weapons in the fantasy role-playing game and selling their online loot to people in the United States who did not have time to play as many hours to arm their characters. Many of the players chose to play as a female dwarf, a class in the game that can more easily win treasure on solo missions. And so other players began killing all dwarfs in the game, often adding anti-Chinese slurs in the chat section of the game as they did, says Ms. Nakamura.

The article goes on to point to the role of anonymity in the proliferation of racism on the Internet, a topic we’ve talked about in the course (especially in relation to cyberbullying).  However, can we really blame anonymity?  In the example that Nakamura gives, anonymity is important, but can we really guarantee that being able to see a profile picture of someone will make people less likely to be racist?  If there’s one thing that became apparent for me while reading your papers on your social media presence its that the vast majority of you have some doubts about whether or not the people you are interacting with online are really who they say they are.  Therefore, we only friend people we know in real life.  So, how does adding a profile picture and some personal information to a social interaction based solely on the Internet equal a lack of anonymity?

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Facebook Song

Posted on March 14, 2011 by laww

While browsing Youtube, I came across a video that is extremely relevant to this class. The FacebookSong is absolutely hysterical! It basically describes a large majority of facebook users, whose lives revolve around facebook. It is a quick clip and definitely worth watching.  It jokes on the fact that the two men singing are not normally very social, yet when they log on there is a whole website dedicated to them! I laughed when I heard this line,”Before the internet friendship was so tough, you actually had to be in people’s presence and stuff.”It discusses how information, whether whimsical or serious, is at the tip of their fingertips. At one point they say, “Who would have thought with a point and a click, I would know that Hope Floats is your favorite flick?”

Something else that was discussed is the fact that some people will add another person simply because they think he or she is attractive and not because they actually know them. I think everyone can say they have received friend requests from people with no idea of who they are. I have a friend who adds females all the time and tries to meet them in person, because he is somewhat socially akward, though he would never admit it. Before facebook came to be “THE” social internet website, myspace was huge and this is how my friend met his ex-girlfriend of at least a year. She lives in Texas, while he lives in New York, and they would meet up sometimes. The relationship did not last, shockingly, and he often gets mocked for his choice in meeting women. Personally, I will never understand it, but I was always taught, “If you have nothing nice to say, do not say anything at all.”

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Females and Facebook

Posted on March 10, 2011 by lusely.martinez

So I was doing some internet browsing on Cosmopolitan.com, and came across two very interesting articles that are highly related to what we have discussed in class.

The first article Are You Oversharing on Facebook? talks about a new study that shows that how often women update their facebook photos is directly related to their self esteem. According this study, conducted at the University of Buffalo, “females who base their self worth on their appearance tend to share more photos online and maintain larger networks on online social networking sites.” They state that women, whom care a lot about their image and appearance, use Facebook as a platform to compete and also to get attention.

The second article I found, What These Facebook Statuses Really Mean, talks about some of the most annoy facebook behaviors that our friends or maybe even we may be committing. The author says that sometimes “reading status updates makes you think everyone else is happier and having more fun than you are” and that’s practically what this article is about. The Offenders here are: The Smug Newlywed, The 28-Year-Old Woman-Child, Ms Very Busy and Very Important, Miss In a Relationship and Flaunting It, and The Easy-Breezy New Mommy. Each of these women commits facebook faults of rubbing her life into others faces using facebook. I know this article talks mainly about female types, but I’m sure there are male equivalents who’s facebook updates are just as annoying. It makes us want to unfriend them, but you can’t, because they are your brother. This is a situation i’ve gotten to see first hand: Myboyfriend currently has a war going on with his brother who goes to school in Tampa, FL. Everytime my bf logs onto facebook, his younger brother has a new status update talking about the amazing time he’s having, and needless to say, theres a major sibling rivalry going on, trying to one up one another, and insult/belittle the other via facebook. Recently, my bfs younger bro posted about a vacation he’s taking to Punta Cana, and my bf flipped. These two don’t talk on the phone, and having facebook be their only mode of communication has led to major jealousy issues. So facebook offenses definitely aren’t female only behavior.

Posted in Assignment 4 | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

National Unfriend Day

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Jessica Chu-A-Kong

We’ve all had this thought go through our heads: I just want to delete this person on Facebook. However, we often reluctantly keep them as a “friend”. Most Facebook users have hundreds of friends on their lists; many of these friendships just exist for the sake of being Facebook friends. In a way, Facebook dictates these social norms that once you’ve made friends on Facebook, you can expect to have made a friend for life.

In this Youtube video, Jimmy Kimmel announces November 17th as “National Unfriend Day” or “NUD”. Kimmel’s humorous approach to all the Facebook madness might actually be shedding some light on our ever-growing Friends lists.  It’s easy to confirm a friend when that person is in your math class or you met that person at last night’s party. On the other hand, when you repeat this act for a prolonged amount of time, you’re looking at your Friends list and not recognizing many of your acquaintances. According to AOL News, studies done at several well-known universities show that we can only retain 150 friends at a time. These studies also show that there is some narcisstic behavior associated with all the “friending”. Ultimately, as the number of our friends increase, we become more conscious of our Facebook appearance, leading to more of your thoughts being taken up by Facebook.

We know that all these Friends are useless, but we’re either too lazy to remove them or conscious of the possibility of the awkward repercussions. But what’s really more important – your time or your Facebook?

Posted in Assignment 2 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Warner Bros Meets Facebook!

Posted on March 9, 2011 by melissa.colas

In reading this article, I thought it was interesting to see how big businesses are using social network sites to their advantage. The idea of logging on to facebook and being able to rent a movie is actually clever to me. Millions of people spend a number of hours on facebook each day.. why not allow them to watch movies while they do it. Warner bros is taking a unique step forward in developing more business for their company. However, the fear of piracy can be a big deal.  People will develop ways to make these movies free instead of the $3.00  rental fee or 30 credit requirement  the company will offer on the site. But whos to say that Warner bros should not take the risk. There have been a lot of movies that I’ve come across being sold by bootleggers in the street so there wouldn’t be a difference putting these movies up on facebook. Not everyone on facebook will be looking to commit piracy, they will simply want to watch it. This idea will create even bigger business for Warner Bros by allowing 500 million people to take advantage of their service. This is especially true among people who don’t have cable or simply would like to watch a movie at a much cheaper rate without leaving their house to go to a redbox or waiting for netflix to deliver their movie to their home. This idea would also be very good for college students who are on breaks at school and on their laptops with a few hours to kill in between classes. Instead of having to bring a DVD to put into your computer, it would be better for them to do what they do best.. Log onto facebook!

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Homeless man finds his fame

Posted on March 8, 2011 by sl124894

Most of the talk this semester is revolving around the question of what is the point of social networking? Why do we choose to put our information out for the public to read? For most of us we use facebook and twitter because it gives us the ability to voice our opinion and gives an even larger audience for us to talk too. But when it comes to the things that we are talking about on these social networks the question is still what is the point? Why do we want to update our twitter with a new interesting or funny quote? Why do we want to upload our cool new pictures from our spring break? Maybe its because we all just want to get noticed.

The internet is known for the vast amount of information it supplies but it is also known for rocketing the careers for the most random people in the world. Someone can get known worldwide by simply posting a hilarious video on youtube or by creating a really great twitter persona. An example of the power the internet has is shown in this article found in the New York Post on January 5th. A panhandler in Ohio was given the chance of a lifetime when a video of him begging on the roadside was posted on the internet and became a sensation. His outstanding radio voice landed him a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers and a free home. One minute this man is one the street and the next he his living out a dream, and why? Because of the internet.

So when the question is asked what is the appeal of these networks or why have they caught on so fast the answer can be simple. The internet gives people the access to the rest of the world. People are crazy and will become obsessed with anything so at this point anyone has the ability to become famous. The obsession with social networking makes sense, people want to be noticed, and the internet makes it that much easier.

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Hollaback!

Posted on March 8, 2011 by lusely.martinez

In class we’ve discussed the goods, evils and just plain bizarre opinions of different mediums of social networking. Well today I came across a New York Times article Keeping Women Safe Through Social Networking. I would like to classify this under GOOD intent, but I’m hesitant about the movement this site is promoting. I will explain why:

In this article, the author tells us about a new Social Networking site created and available to women to increase our safety and comfort level. ihollaback.org “is a movement dedicated to ending street harassment using mobile technology,” according to it’s website. “Ihollaback is taking awareness to a new level in helping to create a platform where people can talk about this worldwide,” said Holly Kearl, author of “Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women,” and creator of Stopstreetharassment.com.

Basically this site is encouraging women EVERYWHERE to share their experiences with street harassment, and also ask them to map out where this occurred. The site, as viewed above, actually has a map with these points/place specified, right on their homepage. I’m guessing it’s supposed to help women know where to expect it. I understand how as women we feel objectified and at times uncomfortable being approached or harassed by men whom we at times classify as creepers. These sites obviously are to shed light on this area of discomfort and fight back using the most popular form of Communication we have, which is the internet and by default, our phones. However I’m wondering how exactly this will STOP street harassment. If you go to the site, it gives you options to share stories, information about street harassment, and locations on your facebook or twitter.

I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this site. Parts of me are like: hell yeah! empower us! make the street harassment stop! but another part of me wonders, how exactly it will help stop something that clearly occurs and is ignored in our society. I guess I’m skeptical, but found it interesting, nonetheless and thought I would share it.

Posted in Assignment 3 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What is Social Networking?

Posted on March 4, 2011 by lusely.martinez

Just recently I came across this website called What is Social Networking?
On the homepage there’s an article defining what Social Networking is and on a tab on the side there’s a list of topics related to Social networking. These Topics range from Creating a site, to Cyber bullying, and Which sites are useful. I truly didn’t think a site like this existed. Now this isn’t a fancy site with great html and Java script. This is a pretty standard site, text, bad graphics, and suck advertisements; obviously a homemade site, but it’s surprising the kind of information you find.

I explored the site a little and found some of the articles interesting and highly relevant to our class. in Addicted to Social Sites?, the author uses terms like Internet Addiction Disorder, Net Junkie, or online-a-holic to describe people addicted to being alone. it made me think, aren’t we all Net Junkies then? we get most of HW readings online, and while online, we check our email, some of us have our e-mail connected to our phones so we are always in contact, we are also on Facebook, or twitter. Who escapes this term really? The author goes on to describe the tellnig signs of Internet Addiction Disorder: “1) Excessive computer use typically associated with loss of spatial time perception; neglect of basic human drives, proper nutrition, personal hygiene, relationships; 2) Feelings of isolation, withdrawal, depression and extreme agitation, high-anxiety if the computer is unavailable or breaks down; 3) Low tolerance levels, including an unjustifiable need for bigger, better, faster computer equipment, the latest and greatest software; and 4) Low accomplishment level, procrastination, lying, social isolation and chronic fatigue.”

I wonder, how many of us can say we show all four signs?

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the dangers of posting too much information on facebook

Posted on March 3, 2011 by nichola.smith


The dangers of posting too much info on social networks.
The above video shows the dangers of having a facebook account an other social networks. It talks about keeping your private life private,evaluating what you should and should not post on as your status update and how the information requested by social networks can be harmful to your lifestyle. the video to me therefore shows a connection knowing your audience a topic which have discussed in class.
Firstly, the updating of your status should be kept on a level where your personal life remains private.eg updating your status stating Im goin to be home alone for the night or stating the exact date and time of your whereabout for that particular day. It is extremely important not to do this in a case you do not know all of your friends personally on facebook. As Kayla Mitchell stated in the video she has over 400 friends an know them personally this is why she can share here whereabouts an personalize her status updates.
Another issue is the posting of pictures and being tagged in them. The consequencs of posting thes pictures can be extreme at times where many people have lost there jobs from the routine background checks done by employers or even denied a job by an employer because of their pictures being public. It is considered that the only way to have sum control over who see your profile is by costomizing your account to friends only.
Secondly,the information requested by these social networks such as your credit card informatiion, phone number, address should also be kept off facebook because it helps prevent identiity theft. There have been many reports of identity theft victims due to the fact that they provide these social networks with access to their personal infomation. On many times i been on facebooks and there are games such as farmville and yoville which require you to provide credit cards account to buy points to further your level in the game and to my knowledge there are people who do.
In conclusion the video provides you with knowledge of what you should be kept private and what shuld be kept public and also shows connection between our class discussion about ‘knowing your audience’ which should be highly considered while having a social network account.

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