Social Media and Political Participation
11 years ago
Friday, April 16, 2010
The Next New Thing
I think the next type of New Media will help people make choices. Bing is already functioning on this platform becasue it is telling its customers that it helps sort out through all of the information and choose the best results. This is the future of New Media becasue there is just so much information out there that people are getting tired of sifting through everything and companies are paying in order to be in the front so it makes information very bias. The New Media will help people decide on purchasing decisions, career decisions, entertainment decisions. People will have to fill out an extensive profile in order for the New Media service to know who you are but in the end they will be able to help you make decision!
Our Class Wiki - So Far
I am the contributor to the Marketing and Advertising using New Media wiki and the Editor of the New media and the Arts.
As a contributor I want to focus on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and how they have revolutionized marketing and advertising. I will mention new innovations in New Media which will affect marketers' ability to communicate with the masses. For example on Tuesday, Twitter announced a new advertising service which will allow companies to manipulate search, by paying of course, in order for the company's tweets to come up first in the search. This is important because it manipulates how people consumer information.
As the Editor, I will focus on how the Arts are using New Media in order to communicate with their audience as well as to market their events. Also, I will mention how people in the Arts are using New Media in order to conduct research on people's interests and wants from entertainment.
As a contributor I want to focus on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and how they have revolutionized marketing and advertising. I will mention new innovations in New Media which will affect marketers' ability to communicate with the masses. For example on Tuesday, Twitter announced a new advertising service which will allow companies to manipulate search, by paying of course, in order for the company's tweets to come up first in the search. This is important because it manipulates how people consumer information.
As the Editor, I will focus on how the Arts are using New Media in order to communicate with their audience as well as to market their events. Also, I will mention how people in the Arts are using New Media in order to conduct research on people's interests and wants from entertainment.
Friday, April 9, 2010
About My Term Research Paper
I was really excited to write my research paper becasue it is on a very popular issue in technology and new media. My research topic is on "Cybercrime" and how it affects social networking and interaction online. I chose this topic becasue I hear a lot of my friends are dealing with annoying and threatening cybercrimes such as spammers and hackers. The breach of privacy on social networking websites is a huge issue becasue it is ambiguous in who to blame for cybercrimes committed- is it the companies, the government or even ourselves?
I began my research by going to the Baruch Library and speaking with a librarian whom has a specialty in research. After discussing my topic with her she pointed out several resources I can use in order to gather more information about this topic. I used the library databases in order to find journal articles and reports on my topics.
Through my research I was able to find, to my surprise, that child predation is not the top crime online. The top cybercrimes actually have to do with phishing, identity theft, and spamming. Before I did the research I thought the top cybercrimes related to social networking would include bullying and sexual harassment but surprisingly it has to do more with spam and phishing.
Some of the conclusions I found were that there are a lot of security issues that both governments and financial institutions are dealing with as people become more tech-savvy and use the Internet for activities such as shopping and applying for jobs. Recently, some hackers were even able to hack into the US government's software, which makes it very scary for the average person out there to think that even the government is vulnerable.
I think my paper is a major contribution to New Media research becasue it outlines the future of cybercrime- an activity that affects us all. Moreover, it is ever-growing as hackers become smarter in how they break security codes and scam people. It is an issue of utmost importance seeing as it can harm a person's finances, job, social interactions and even overall safety.
I began my research by going to the Baruch Library and speaking with a librarian whom has a specialty in research. After discussing my topic with her she pointed out several resources I can use in order to gather more information about this topic. I used the library databases in order to find journal articles and reports on my topics.
Through my research I was able to find, to my surprise, that child predation is not the top crime online. The top cybercrimes actually have to do with phishing, identity theft, and spamming. Before I did the research I thought the top cybercrimes related to social networking would include bullying and sexual harassment but surprisingly it has to do more with spam and phishing.
Some of the conclusions I found were that there are a lot of security issues that both governments and financial institutions are dealing with as people become more tech-savvy and use the Internet for activities such as shopping and applying for jobs. Recently, some hackers were even able to hack into the US government's software, which makes it very scary for the average person out there to think that even the government is vulnerable.
I think my paper is a major contribution to New Media research becasue it outlines the future of cybercrime- an activity that affects us all. Moreover, it is ever-growing as hackers become smarter in how they break security codes and scam people. It is an issue of utmost importance seeing as it can harm a person's finances, job, social interactions and even overall safety.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Privacy & Confidentiality
I think the most important concern of people with new media is its privacy and confidentiality. The problem is that when people expose themselves so much through mediums such as twitter, Facebook and blogs, they are making a lot of valuable information attainable to the general public. It is thus important to always set very strict privacy settings on these websites and also to have strict judgment when choosing what to post.
Issues of privacy and confidentiality are very related to media becasue people expose a lot of themselves online and could get very hurt as a result. In this sense, although free speech should be encouraged, I think it is the irresponsibility of these websites to censor what people post. It is also our own responsibility to use judgment when we decide to make something public. I think it is difficult to expect much privacy when one is posting everything they do and their pictures on public websites. Unless people are protected with privacy settings, I don't think they should expect much privacy. This could pose a huge issue in the future as people's darkest secrets get exposed online. It could also mean disaster for people professionally speaking becasue once something gets on the web, it is almost impossible to delete. The lesson is to always be careful and maintain sound judgment.
Issues of privacy and confidentiality are very related to media becasue people expose a lot of themselves online and could get very hurt as a result. In this sense, although free speech should be encouraged, I think it is the irresponsibility of these websites to censor what people post. It is also our own responsibility to use judgment when we decide to make something public. I think it is difficult to expect much privacy when one is posting everything they do and their pictures on public websites. Unless people are protected with privacy settings, I don't think they should expect much privacy. This could pose a huge issue in the future as people's darkest secrets get exposed online. It could also mean disaster for people professionally speaking becasue once something gets on the web, it is almost impossible to delete. The lesson is to always be careful and maintain sound judgment.
Advice to Baruch College
If I was hired as a new media coordinator in order to improve Baruch College's social media communications with its student and faculty, I would institute several changes. First of all, I think as incoming freshmen enter the school they feel lost especially since Baruch is a commuter school. Thus, to make the process easier, I would ask several seniors to have blogs of their own, which would be posted on the Baruch website, so that people can read about their experience and ask them questions. I would reward the seniors by paying them or giving them internship credit. I think this would work great becasue the seniors can discuss things like registrations, career types, and great opportunities they were involved in.
Another thing I would institute is a Facebook and a LinkedIn page for all of the Baruch alumni in order to allow them to network and also for other students who are still in Baruch to ask them questions and ask advice.
I also think the registration and financial aid need a better way in which they communicate with the student body. I know recently they added twitter and facebook, which helped a lot, but they need to post more often and allow people to ask questions more efficiently. Also, I think student life should get more involved in New Media seeing as they are supposed to be the most connected to the students. They should post on twitter and Facebook the events around the campus, outside opportunities as well as important due dates to keep in mind.
Another thing I would institute is a Facebook and a LinkedIn page for all of the Baruch alumni in order to allow them to network and also for other students who are still in Baruch to ask them questions and ask advice.
I also think the registration and financial aid need a better way in which they communicate with the student body. I know recently they added twitter and facebook, which helped a lot, but they need to post more often and allow people to ask questions more efficiently. Also, I think student life should get more involved in New Media seeing as they are supposed to be the most connected to the students. They should post on twitter and Facebook the events around the campus, outside opportunities as well as important due dates to keep in mind.
Friday, March 19, 2010
My Twitter Experience
I was surprised at first to see how many people bash Twitter! I think it is mostly because they are not too familiar with what Twitter can offer. First off, if you follow some very interesting people you can get live up to date information about current event around the world. It is great because you can see people's reaction in real time and build a relationship with that person by replying to their tweet. I also like the fact that certain companies, such was JetBlue and HBO, post tweets when there are sales. There are also quite a lot of tweets around fans...I know HBO has a whole twitter account for just True Blood and it updated its followers with sales, new cast, screening, new products and etc. I think if you are a fan Twitter is a great way to keep in touch with things you love. I think overall people do not give Twitter a chance before they put it down.
I agree that it was a lot more difficult at first to write in only 140 characters but then that forces you to be concise and to the point. It also allows for your followers to get a quick update of your thoughts instead of a long one which might take time to read. It is definitely shorter and maybe not as personal as a BB discussion would be or a FB wall post. And it definitely gets confusing to retweet topics so in this sense it is more complicated than an in-class discussion. But I think it is effective in the sense that it is short and simple and gets the job done!
I agree that it was a lot more difficult at first to write in only 140 characters but then that forces you to be concise and to the point. It also allows for your followers to get a quick update of your thoughts instead of a long one which might take time to read. It is definitely shorter and maybe not as personal as a BB discussion would be or a FB wall post. And it definitely gets confusing to retweet topics so in this sense it is more complicated than an in-class discussion. But I think it is effective in the sense that it is short and simple and gets the job done!
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
There are several different ways in which virtual worlds can be used. As mentioned in the the CNN article, it can be used for work purposes. For example, Second Life enabled IBM and other companies to hold meetings virtually. Another way in which virtual words can be used is in toys. An article published in BusinessWeek recently mentioned how toys such as Webkinz allow for the new generation of tech-savvy children to also enjoy the existence of the virtual world. Aside from these two examples, virtual worlds can be used as social tools in order to met new people and/or maintain relationships and interact with family and friends.
The benefits of a virtual world in a professional sense include decreasing costs associated with work travel and thus saving money, making the communication platform more engaging to professionals, and building and maintaining relationships more easier in the professional sense. The negative aspects would be that by using virtual worlds people lose the "human affect", where people spontaneously interact and build relationships. Virtual worlds can also make people anti-social in real-life situations.
Virtual worlds foster creativity because they allow people to open up and not hold their ideas inside. By being comfortable inside their home they feel freer to speak their mind and all social boundaries are lifted. It also allows for people to look up information and bring in facts into conversations that were not readily available before.
I think in the future, people will rely on virtual worlds much more in the professional sense than in the social sense. I think people still enjoy going our for a real beer more than just sitting in front of a computer and pretending to sip a beer over the internet. But in terms of getting work done and communicating with professionals all over the world, I think virtual worlds will be very prominent in this aspect. We already use so much digital technology in order to connect with people all over the world and I think in the future it will be cheaper and more convenient to have a virtual conference than to fly to Europe and have a face-to-face meeting.
The benefits of a virtual world in a professional sense include decreasing costs associated with work travel and thus saving money, making the communication platform more engaging to professionals, and building and maintaining relationships more easier in the professional sense. The negative aspects would be that by using virtual worlds people lose the "human affect", where people spontaneously interact and build relationships. Virtual worlds can also make people anti-social in real-life situations.
Virtual worlds foster creativity because they allow people to open up and not hold their ideas inside. By being comfortable inside their home they feel freer to speak their mind and all social boundaries are lifted. It also allows for people to look up information and bring in facts into conversations that were not readily available before.
I think in the future, people will rely on virtual worlds much more in the professional sense than in the social sense. I think people still enjoy going our for a real beer more than just sitting in front of a computer and pretending to sip a beer over the internet. But in terms of getting work done and communicating with professionals all over the world, I think virtual worlds will be very prominent in this aspect. We already use so much digital technology in order to connect with people all over the world and I think in the future it will be cheaper and more convenient to have a virtual conference than to fly to Europe and have a face-to-face meeting.
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