Blog about Twitter

Twitter is a social networking website where people across the globe can access you and comment on your post. On the other hand, blackboard is a tool mostly used by educational institutes for sole purpose of sharing information and documents, and communicating with people within your class. Blackboard discussions are mostly private and are based on particular topic assigned by the Professor or within the domain of the particular course; whereas, twitter discussions are public and on random topics as you can post or discuss anything. Twitter also has a maximum length of 140 characters per tweet so people usually will use lots of hash tags and ‘@’ symbol in there discussion to pass the message. On the contrary, blackboard discussions have no word limit and are more formal.  

                When comparing in-class discussion with twitter’s discussion, things are mostly different. In class discussion takes place in a room or a particular location and it is important for one to be present over there at that time to participate and contribute with ideas. However, as twitter can be accessed via internet (which is available mostly everywhere), the element of presence is eliminated and one can contribute at anytime from any place. Nevertheless, it is easier to express and explain your ideas in in-class discussion compare to twitter as there is no limit to number of characters or words within in-class discussion.

All together, all of these platforms for discussions have their own merits and de-merits. There are certain similarities between them and it depends on the participant how they use them.

Social Networking

The world has progressed a great deal over the time. Old technology is constantly being replaced by new technology and methods. One of the new additions in technological world is Social networking. Social networking is a popular phenomenon these days. It has been widely used by people around the globe.  J. Ruker, a web blogger, traditionally defines social network as “An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby.”

However, this traditional explanation has now expanded to become computer based, which includes customers of the company that you are working at, your favorite celebrities and politicians. Some of the famous social-networking websites such as My Space, Facebook and twitter are popularly used by all and sundry around the globe. This phenomenon started with the advent of the internet. However, according to Ellison Boyd, it took the shape of social networking with the launch of sixsigma.com in the year 1997 and has been expanding since then.

                These social networking websites are functioning in many various ways. It has became a big platform where users interact with new people, companies use direct marketing strategy on their target market with the help of advertisement and publicity of their products by famous celebrities. Moreover, social networking is also helping users to find new jobs and make connections with recruiters. As in the article Social NetworkingTechnology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, “Professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technology.” In the same article, Maureen Crawford-Hentz recruits for Osram Sylvania says, "Social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting — ever."

                The influence of social networking on masses can be measured with the help of President Barack Obama campaign for 2008 elections. David Carr in his article, How Obama Tapped into Social Networks’ Power, writes, “The Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans.”  

                On the other side, there are certain issues related with social networking. One of them is privacy. Almost all social networking websites sells the information of their users to companies for different purpose, example, marketing strategy. Secondly, there are quite clear chances of identity theft with the help of hacking in someone else account. To protect users some such events, the social networking are working hard and coming with new ideas and privacy settings. In addition to this, few people also think that due to these websites, the physical interaction between people is decreasing and such websites are waste of time also.

                However, the way technology is advancing and new methods are being introduced, it won’t take long for something new to replace these social networking websites. To extend  their cycle, the developers of these websites are constantly working on new updates so the users don’t switch to something new in near future.

Blog vs Wiki

In recent years, blogs and use of Wiki has become quite popular among the users of Internet. Both of them have also added a new flavor and variety in media. At same, they are considered a major component of ‘new media’.

In simple word, a blog is an informational site published on Internet. Individuals write blogs to express their opinions regarding anything, varying from current affairs to product views to discussion regarding block party. The person who writes a blog is sole owner of his or her page and only has the access to edit or delete the content. However, the blog can be read and viewed by other people. In additions to this, the readers can also post comments and views regarding the topic.  Few examples of popular websites for blogging are www.blogger.com and www.worldpress.com. Presently, there are millions of websites available for blogging. Michael Wilson, in his article ‘Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid’ writes, “Most neighborhoods in Brooklyn have at least one blog — and in some places, there seems to be one in every house, every bedroom.” Blog serves as a new source of information and more importantly, from ones personal experience; whereas in newspapers, not every topic is covered and most of the news are being reported by a reporter, who is a third person

On the other side, Wiki is quite similar to blog in many ways. Margaret Locher in his article More on How to build Your Own Wikipedia defines Wiki as “a software application that allows groups of users to create, edit and comment on online documents.” The feature of editing the content by multiple users differentiates Wiki from blog. In present business and technology driven world, different individual can share information and communicate with each other on same topic on same platform at same time via Wiki. It helps to minimize the communication channel and barriers as multiple admin of a particular Wiki page can share or edit information with each other directly. In connection to this, Wiki can be very helpful in group projects. All group members can see the performance of individual team mates along with overall group performance at same time. They can add ideas and correct the mistakes of their teams mates without even asking them. Among hundreds of Wiki websites, ‘Wikipedia’ is the most famous and commonly known.

With the introduction of these two cost-effective and user-friendly mediums in media, the flow of communication and information between individuals is getting faster and effective with the passage of time.

Media of the 21 Century and How It Affects a Common Man

Media can be defined as the means of communication, to influence people on a very large scale which, can be done through newspapers, radio or TV etc. These Mediums are also generally called the various types of media. 21 century Media is far more advanced than the old media. Over the past few years media has struggled to conquer pressures for the powerful giants of Government and has brought many hidden and forgotten social issues out in the open. It has not only explored different dimensions but also created awareness among the people. The important aspect of today’s media is the utmost ability to reform rigid views and opinions.

Although the existence of media is essential for the equilibrium of the society but, the misuse of it can bring many damaging and undesirable affects. This research will highlight the impact of this kind of media on the common masses; the new face of this century’s media has totally made us dependent on it for communication. Joining sites like Facebook, Twitter etc are not time consuming but offers a wide variety of opportunities to befriend unknown people. With the help of Facebook and Twitter numerous advertising companies promotes their brands, encouraging people to buy their products online. Apart from that, many known celebrities have accounts on twitter through which they directly stay in contact with their fans. Also many famous faces advertize the brands they are associated with on these accounts, for their fans to buy the items.  Incidents related to social issues are ridden with false facts to attract a larger audience. Apart from this fact now a days there is a huge collection of newspapers companies and channels all claiming to broadcast only the truth while, on the other hand very are unbiased and free of any political influence. The phase freedom of speech has very well been exploited and sometimes misused in order to hurt other religions.

 Media of our time has become powerful and has the potential to go towards extreme exploitation if unchecked. Keeping in mind both the sociological and psychological well being of the people, different tactics used by the companies will be explored and studied.