The last post!

Well, as I conclude this very brief blog , id like to say farewell all and thank you for reading. Before I go however I would like to right one more post for your reading pleasure.  This might be a ramble and a little all over the place,  and I apologize. I will maintain my social media them , and bring it a step further and talk about stuff that on my mind. This will be broad in terms of the world etc.

Social Media & Society course 101, summed up in a sentence would be . "every thing you post , or do online , is there forever." o.k. yes I understand most people can't see , but someone somewhere can (shaddy government watching us) . For instance , as in my previous blog , have you ever actually "googled" yourself to see how much BS is really out there? Its remarkable how much is actually saved , and how many things come up with one Google search. Imagine what they can really store , its kinda scary. So be careful what you post , because it literally may come back to haunt you. Another thing , is how much good can come from social media. As you flood the internet with what you want everyone to see about yourself, you will find you can get a lot of positive feedback. Careers can be made through connections on facebook , linkedin etc .


Although this may sound insisting to get on the internet and start signing up for various social media outlets. I do recommend you watch out for updates. Every year theirs something new and big in terms of social media for everyone to sign up to. Look at Facebook, came out in 2004 and flourished, now you talk to adolescents (driving force of most social media outlets) Facebook is now for "old" people. Therefore if your going to sign up , make sure once you move on you delete it ! Otherwise everyone will be able to access and view that page from 5 years ago. Where does social media go from here though? I'm sure by the time I graduate there will be some sort of new social media site. Which really all they do is have a different GUI (graphic user interface) and focus on different things. I feel social media outlets will control the marketing and public relations side in business way more predominantly . Business's around the world are starting to see the on going trends and are adapting and changing the way they approach social media. I can almost guarantee that social media, will be a must in the future, and any sites where its easily accessible for employers to view your expertise will be a plus !

I do recommend you , whether it be personal social media , or career related keep them separate. Look at a comparison between a student and a teacher. A student probably has no real care, or is just blindly ignorant to what the teacher can access and view . However a teacher must under all circumstances keep every thing private , and make sure students can only view career related things. A student may view the teacher different, or feel the teacher is inadequate if he is caught on Facebook drunk with all of his/or friends. Better yet, what if a parent stumbles upon a teachers indiscretions ? This can only be a negative , so as a teacher they must separate themselves from a normal person , but rather as an educator .  More importantly , students need to always see this as well to be engaged and feel as though there learning something .

Socail Media for Dummies (kinda)

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Ok here we go again!!!

 Lets say me previous post: “what social media is predominant in your life” is irrelevant to you.  New to social media? Let me guide you through of outlets.  For the lack of a better title ill call this a “Social Media for Dummies.”  Through my whirlpool of knowledge with using social media outlets such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Various Wiki spaces, Gmail, Durham College email, Linked In, just to name a few I intend to enlighten you on the benefits and most positive, and frequently used social media platform Gmail; and the platform that I never quite got into Twitter.

 

 

My most important piece of social media is my Gmail account.  An email social media platform, that doesn’t limit itself to just email. Having a Gmail account, means you have a Google account. This can allow you to link with your phone, and anything incorporated with Google. The main reason I use this is because It was easily linkable to my dc mail, meaning all my messages from my college go directly to my Gmail. I also receive all my bills via email, and enjoy the security features / the filters it uses to get rid of junk. My Hotmail or Yahoo account never had this built in, it was always a mission to block and divert junk fail to a separate folder.  I check it daily and it is the only social media platform I have alerts for.

I will never understand the twitter phase. Twitter is just Facebook, with limitation on size of status’ etc.  I don’t care enough what is going on in people’s life. Or what the #stupid #trends #are #in #the #world. #Why does everyone #hashtag, everything like its part of our #vocabulary.  Twitter is more for people who like to follow, and look up to celebrities’ etc., I don’t know, I just don’t have the patience nor the time to care about what Lil whatever. is doing in Bermuda, just depresses me, nor do I care what your dog looks like. They are all cute. If I wanted to see cute dogs, I’d “Google” it.

 HA hence why Google is my number 1 usage and recommendation!

How predominant is social media in your life?!

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Hey! long time no talk I know…. Sorry I’ve been busy with ….stuff…..haha…anyways ! I’m back now that’s all that matters.

Ok

Where was I.

Ummm…. Now that we have the basics for this blog (social media in every day life) , lets start proving this zombie apocalypse. First task: If you ask yourself these three simple questions it will give you an indication of how much social media sneaks its way throughout YOUR life and how predominant it is. ( I took the liberty of putting my answers underneath each question for you reading pleasure. )

Your welcome.

1.     List and describe 2-3 the social media technologies that you regularly use (e.g. Facebook, YouTube etc.)

www.facebook.com

The infamous Facebook. A social media platform that allows you to stay connected to friends and family. Facebook, is more than just a book, it’s a universe. This social media outlet allows you to make a profile, and scour pages of business, and people. Many musicians have pages with special links, business with promotions, etc. Every time you go on Facebook, you will find something that will make you grin, frown, cry, laugh hysterically, or angry.  As your friends and yourself like, share, and comment on photos, videos, status’s and just general posts, this keeps you up to date on news in the real world, and personal world of each individual. Some find it a burden, and don’t care to keep in touch with everyone. Some (i.e. travelers) find it very important to document there lives with pictures, stay connected with friends, etc.

www.kijiji.com

Kijiji is the social media site that is a subsidiary to eBay, and very similar to competitor craigslist. Kijiji offers the public to post commercial advertisements, selling their products personally between seller and buyer. This is an off the book, and some say very risky outlet, but I have had nothing but success with this site. Kijiji offers much more than just an online trading store such as eBay. Many take advantage of Kijiji’s real-estate advantages (finding apartments for sale houses etc.); as well as the ability to offer free stuff (one mans junk is another mans gem). Employers use these to post job opportunities, and employees use this to find jobs. If you can find what your looking for in the search, well it doesn’t stop there, you can also post a “want” posting; what you want and for what price your willing to pay, or trade your item for another.

www.youtube.com

This social media outlet is probably used most by me in terms of sheer time spent on the site. Owned and operated by Google, this site is super easy to navigate and has a very simple platform to understand, and with Google at its helm, it just gets better and better. YouTube is an online social media outlet where the public and business can make a profile and upload videos to share to the public. Some videos offered on YouTube can range from humor, news, standup comedies (my favourite), music and instructional videos etc. However, the best feature is the recommended videos section. This is what gets you sucked in for hours. Once you search for a video (say a song), as your watching the video for that tune, YouTube makes suggested/recommended videos that you might enjoy based on the video your watching

2.   Describe 2-3 positive or negative examples of how those social media platforms affect your personal life

Let me tell you, social media outlets are a pain in my ass. YouTube, Kijiji, and Facebook are just 3 of the predominant social media outlets in my life.  I could ramble and talk about all the positive and negatives of these in my life, but lets keep it simple with two positives and two negatives. 

Have you ever run into the problem of scrolling through your iPod and just have no music you want to listen to, or you’re absolutely bored at home and have no idea what to do? No fear, YouTube is here. Name ANYTHING you’re interested in, chess strategies, cat videos, or sports analysis. There is a video for it. I have found some good tunes, standups, and many interesting and funny videos just going through the recommended or similar videos section. Something directly to blame (or thank for all the videos it brought me to) for my mass amounts of time YouTube watching is, Facebook. As I scour through the posts of my 500+ “friends” on my Facebook news feed (I know creepy when you think of it) I see videos, plenty of articles, and posts linking me to new music from my favourite artist, or funny videos people post of themselves. This also helps me keep in touch with my friends that live in other countries, provinces, cities etc. They message me for up and coming camping trips, concerts etc., and this also helps me in remembering when they are as you can “attend” the Facebook group page that is created for the particular event.  

Man though, the amount of time it takes up is horrendous. I never really realize how much time I spend on it until it’s too late. End up on YouTube searching how to do whatever it is, and you end up on there for 3 hours watching stuff completely unrelated to the main task at hand. Not only that, yea I get a lot of great videos from people, but the amount of “friends” I have is ridiculous, and it’s so out of hand, that I don’t have the time or patience to go through and delete the unnecessary people, so this is a little of a hindrance to my enjoyable “Facebooking” (is that a verb yet? tweeting is, I’m pretty sure.) All this doesn’t matter though, because in the end, the future will only change this by making social media a more predominant thing in my life, not the other way around.

3.   Describe 2-3 positive or negative examples of how those social media platforms (may) affect your professional life

We all know I’m not in a “professional” life as per say right now. However, I do know many ways this will affect my personal life and you can probably agree as well. In terms of just finding jobs, it is light years easier in this day and age with all these social media outlets such as monster, Workopolis, Kijiji etc. Although, as much as you use all your Twitter, Facebook sites for your personal life, your employers that you’re applying to can see these as well. I try to simply avoid this negative aspect by not having my last name on Facebook, and my privacy settings on high. On the plus side, having these social media sites that keep us linked in on a personal and professional level; this lifestyle will aid us in keeping opportunities and relationships alive and help stand the test of time.

SOCIAL MEDIA ZOMBIE APOCALPYSE IS UPON US!

Ok, so 1^st post, ever! (WOO). SO! Here we go.

I have to do this blog for a Social Media & Society class (yes, I know cool assignment) and we're going to have some fun with this over the next couple months (or more if I get addicted). First thing is first, things I will promise you:

1) Proper English? pfft. This is a blog, don’t hate on my improper grammar, or English, cause well:

a) this is a blog, and my blog at that.

b) Aint Nobody Got Time For That

c) For the most part does anyone use proper English on personal social media sites ;)? (Facebook, twitter etc)

However, I will do my best.

2) This is a social media blog that is written by me and only me. This blog is ONE PERSONS opinion on the way the world is, and is becoming. I do not intend to offend anyone, but rather enlighten, and if you wish, follow what’s on my mind, and/or what my teacher assigns for me to write.

Basis of the Blog: Article 1 - Introduction

Zombie Nation you ask? What is that all about? What’s that have to do with social media? Well, I found this small article, and was captivated, because I’m a nice guy, here’s it in short. The social media zombie apocalypse is among us says Megan O’Neill. She has this brief article accompanied by this clever little photo that outlines some types of zombie's and what you would feed on in terms of social media.

(In an attempt to avoiding plagiarism I will avoid posting the photo, so please, go to this link and find out what zombie you are http://socialtimes.com/social-media-zombie_b108631 )

I know many people that relate to certain zombies on the given list and even I have some of those lovely zombies on my friend’s list.

“The check in zombie” - “this zombie is the most elusive, they always let you know where they are” 

“The hashtag zombie” – “#speaksonlyinhashtags”

(they have promptly been deleted from showing up on my Facebook wall)

I however, am going off menu. I am a zombie that feeds on photos, whether it is funny pages, and quirky ones, or to those cliché keep calm photos. I am promptly adding my classification of zombie to the list:

“The Re-post zombie" - "re-post/share/like enough to fill your news feed"

On a more serious note, after I read this article, established my thoughts and sorted them out, I realized something, this is actually TRUE! Yea, every one flicks by it laughing at it, including myself, until I realized; this is nothing to be proud about, a bunch of zombies behind a computer screen. So I am going to take this “Social media zombie nation” to the next level.

I am going to attempt to continuously prove that society today needs to be woken up. As scared as we are for a literal zombie apocalypse (its gonna happen, I swear). We need to realize that the social media zombie apocalypse is already among us. We walk around sucked into this “social media” crap and let it control our lives like we're a bunch of zombies that feed on it. I mean, they tell us, “stay connected with friends,” ask yourself though, is that really all that is needed to be considered a “connection” with someone these days? A Facebook friend, or someone following you on twitter?? 

You look at something like the wedding vow and connection you must have to spend your life with someone.  Yea, the “M” word, marriage. Everyone knows it; the rate of divorce is drastically higher than back then. Why you ask? *Answer, daily double* Well, I came across this picture, and it says it all. These days, the one thing that is supposed to be pure and true in life, is ruined. The divorce rate is telling you, (rudely I might add, snapping their fingers, starring) that even the ONE person your supposed to care about the most and fight for the most in the word, isn’t worth the fight, or worth the time. So, how do we expect as a world, and society, to have even FRIENDS that won't backstab us, talk shit, or trust people, and treat us all equally and with respect, if most can’t even honour the tradition of marriage, and stay true to the vows they say to their loved one.

So ask yourself, is there really a point in “staying connected,” because we all know what you're really doing. Comparing your life to others, and depending on who it is, will have 4 different reactions. 

a)    Gloat. “HAHAHAHA my life is way better than yours, I'm keeping you”
b)    Envy. “Man, I wish I could do shit like that, you do cool shit, I'm keeping you" 
c)    Die of Laughter. "You post the dumbest, funniest shit! I'm keeping you"
d)    Delete Everybody. (well, pretty much)
 

Lets face it, for the most part we're all a bunch of creepy zombies who lurk around each others Facebook and look at their photos, and who posted on whose wall etc. All we are doing is alienating more and more people in our lives, and it’s all down hill from here. Cure the social media disease before the Zombie Nation spreads and there is no hope.

(I DO REALIZE THERE ARE SOME FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK THAT ARE LEGIT, AND SOME MARRIAGES ARE AS WELL)