My favorite obsession: Facebook

The above video is a hilarious parody of Facebook and the "eharmony" commercials on TV.

Online communities and social networking have been often discussed in our COM 125 course. The reason why they are so important to learn and talk about is because they are apart of mostly every person's daily routine. Facebook is an example of one of these online communities that I spend most my time, share notes, share photos, and share interests with many other people alike, and unlike myself. According to Wikipedia, a decent definition of Facebook is as follows: "Facebook is a social networking website. It was originally developed for college and university students but has since been made available to anyone with an email address. People can select to join one or more participating networks, such as a high school, place of employment, or geographic region" (Wikipedia.org "Facebook"). Developed by a college student named Mark Zuckerberg, this online community has taken the use of Internet communication to a whole new level, and I am sure far exceeded Zuckerberg's expectations. I believe that Facebook is one of the most widely used social networking sites on the web, and because of this, I also believe that it has some sort of impact on our everyday lives.
I wouldn't even have to look up any statistics to add to my belief that Facebook is used by an extremely large number of people, because I have not met one person yet in my college experience that isn't on Facebook. I also belong to Myspace, but I feel that Facebook is much more familiar to me, and I have noticed that more of my friends have a Facebook account rather than a Myspace account. An article from MSNBC described part of the growing popularity of Facebook. "The site has become so ubiquitous among college students that they tell others to "facebook" them — to look them up on the site. Browsing it is known simply as "facebooking" (MSNBC.msn.com). From the same article, a student for Georgia Institute of Technology described Facebook as, "It becomes part of your daily routine. It's e-mail, the news, the weather, Facebook," (MSNBC.msn.com). A social networking news website spoke about the popular site as well. "Facebook is the second largest social network on the web, behind only MySpace in terms of traffic. Primarily focused on high school to college students, Facebook has been gaining market share, and more significantly a supportive user base. Since their launch in February 2004, they’ve been able to obtain over 8 million users in the U.S. alone and expand worldwide to 7 other English-speaking countries, with more to follow" (mashable.com). It is known everywhere- Facebook is widely used, and highly liked by people all over the world.
Facebook has an impact on people's lives because of the overflow of information available to everyone. For instance, I do not ever read the newspaper, I find it boring, and I don't think I ever will, since the revolution of the Internet. However, Facebook allows me to hear about everything going on around me that directly or indirectly affects me. Whether it be a themed party this weekend at school, or a group paying their respects to the families and friends of the victims from Virginia Tech, I read present and past news constantly and quickly at that. Facebook allows for people to learn all kinds of things about people, places, and things. Memorials groups are made for the deceased, friends' news feeds are constantly being updated, friends are made all over the world, people stay in touch with childhood friends, and much much more goes on in the phenomenon that is Facebook. Whether it is a good impact such as making new friends, or finding out that the guy you have a crush on, is now in fact single, or a bad impact, like the hours spent on facebook taking away from your study time, Facebook definitely has made a mark on my generation and generations older and younger. I will always continue to use Facebook to stay in touch with the world around me and I hope that for whoever does not yet have an account will make one someday, and join in the Facebook community.



Sources:

"College Students Flock to Facebook." MSNBC. 4 July 2005. MSNBC/MSN. 25 Apr. 2007 .

"Facebook." Wikipedia. 25 Apr. 2007. Wikipedia. 25 Apr. 2007 .

Yadav, Sid. "Facebook- the Complete Biography." Mashable: Social Networking News. 25 Aug. 2006. 25 Apr. 2007 .

Network Neutrality

Network Neutrality is an extremely controversial topic basically between big businesses and small businesses. To better understand network neutrality I had to look on Wikipedia for a good definition. "Network Neutrality...refers to a principle applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all broadband networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment attached and the modes of communication allowed would be considered neutral by most advocates, provided it met additional tests relating to the degradation of various communication streams by others" (Wikipedia.org). Net neutrality is something that some businesses are striving for, and others want to reject. There are two extremely strong arguments to both sides of net neutrality. The big businesses such as telephone companies (Verizon) and cable companies (RoadRunner) that oppose net neutrality believe that the small businesses such as YouTube, and Google are offering too many media files which could lead to viruses and other problems that are slowing up Internet access, which is affecting the big businesses that provided the Internet for them (with a monthly fee) in the first place (Information Week).
The supporting side of net neutrality (the small businesses) are basically arguing that the Internet providers, and big businesses are opposing the neutrality because of financial incentives. Information Week explains the supporting side in one of their articles..."Proponents of net neutrality argue that cable and telecommunications form a duopoly that threatens the current system. They say that, without some type of anti-discrimination law or standards, cable and telecommunications companies could control users' access by blocking content from competitors, favoring certain applications, charging higher rates to deliver information into people's homes and offices and failing to inform people of their capacity" (Information Week).
I support the supporting side of net neutrality because I find that an argument i found Information Week is extremely true..."The Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people at each level of the network to innovate free of any central control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform for innovation" (Information Week). With the big businesses wanting to put restrictions on the Internet, that will just degrade the large amount of free innovative ideas and work that people are coming up with. The Internet should be the one thing that big businesses can't control, because we, the people are so involved with it that we won't let them make it controlling and manipulative. Rock The Net also brings up a good point, that these big businesses would be putting a sort of "Internet toll" on society. "Some cable Internet service providers such as Verizon and AT&T have proposed charging Internet content providers for having their web sites load faster. It's essentially a toll for using the Internet "highway" these ISPs have built. The proposal would create a "tiered" web. Companies that are able to afford the fees would have better service. Those that can't pay would be relegated to slower service. In the worst-case scenario, ISPs might even block certain web sites" (Rock The Net Why Net Neutrality is Important for Musicians).
So to sum up net neutrality, the people that are for it are the big businesses, the Internet providers. The people that are opposing it are the small businesses, and people like me, who don't want to pay more to access the Internet. For the big businesses, they are complaining that the heavy flow of media usage from small businesses are creating a traffic jam on the Internet, which is affecting their revenue. The small businesses and I don't want to have restrictions put on Internet connection and content, because that will change our everyday lives. We have grown so use to the Internet, and the way it works, that if Big businesses change this, there will be a very big uproar from the common user and small businesses.

Jones, K.c. "Net Neutrality Debate Remains Contentious." Information Week. 16 Mar. 2007. 13 Apr. 2007 .

"Why Net Neutrality is Important for Musicians." Rock the Net. Rock the Net. 13 Apr. 2007 .

Print Articles vs. Online articles...which one is better?

March Madness is among is and everywhere you look you are seeing stories and signs dealing with the very awaited NCAA Basketball Tournaments. Brackets are being filled and people are losing sleep over the anticipated wins. Print articles and online articles can tend to be different. I examined an article from USA Today, and I looked over an online blog dealing with the NCAA Tournaments. Both differ greatly in the layout, style, and speech. The USA Today article I found is from today, March 30Th, 2006. The name of the article is, "For Players' Parents, few Perks from NCAA", by Steve Weiberg. The article is featured on the front page of the newspaper and has graphics of basketballs and a colored picture of the crowd at an NCAA game. I used Google to search for an NCAA Basketball blog, and found a great one at, http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/ncaa/. This blog is produced by Dustin Dow, and Jennifer Scroggins. The blog, titled, "NCAA Hoops Blog", has been around since March of 2005. The layout of the blog is different from the newspaper article, being that it is online text and you can scroll down instead of turn a page, however it's not that different. Their layout is basic with the text of their posts, each one having a title and a date with it. The one thing that is different about the layout of the blog is that it doesn't have any visuals with it, photos and such, like the print article did. Although the layouts don't differ that much, the tone and the way the articles are written do differ. With an online blog, of course the tone is going to be more relaxed than a print article in a well established newspaper. In the NCAA blog, Dow talks about personal experiences too, which is a big difference. Authors of print articles are getting paid to just deliver the news, but blogs deliver news on a more personal level, we actually know a little bit about the author, and know their views on certain things. Blog articles on this page also are short, compared to the longer articles you will find in the newspapers. With the growing of technology, there has been a change in how news is spread and what medium is more popular to read and look to for information on event and news. I believe that blogging is rising to the top of the mediums that offer people present news on a lot of different areas. Newspapers I feel will be around for a while, because they are traditional, cheap, and educational, however the new generations are learning to lean towards blogging and people are beginning to make their own blogs. Newspapers have been around for a while, and were the main source of how people figured out what was going on around them. In, "From Thomas Paine to Blogs and Beyond", the author states that, "Newspapers flourished throughout the 19th century...The best were aggressive and timely, and ultimately served their readers well...Newspapers have provoked public opinion for as long as they've been around" (Pages 2, 3). Some people can argue however that although these two mediums (journalism vs blogging) are different and conflicting, they can actually help each other out. Ruby Sinreich, a blogger states that, "Political and issue-oriented blogging is made possible largely by the work of professional journalists and researchers. While bloggers tend to be quite discriminating in our choice of media, we often do rely on local and national newspapers as well as specialized outlets for our sources of information" ("Moving Past the Blog vs. Journalism Debate"). I think that overall, with the ongoing debate over journalism vs. blogging, that they both will still influence whoever they are aiming to. Blogging may become more popular just because more and more people are using the Internet in their everyday lives for hours and end, but either way we still get accessible information. So unless you are a journalist or a strong blogger, I don't think you have anything to worry about.


Dow, Dustin, and Jennifer Scroggins. "NCAA Hoops Blog." 30 Mar. 2007. 30 Mar. 2007 .


Gillmor, Dan. "From Tom Paine to Blogs and Beyond." O'Reilly.Com. 30 Mar. 2007 .


Sinreich, Ruby. "Moving Past the "Blogs Versus Journalism" Debate." Lotus Media 2.0. 19 Oct. 2006. 30 Mar. 2007 .

Wieberg, Steve. "For Players' Parents, Few Perks From NCAA." USA Today 30 Mar. 2007, sec. 1A: 1.

Politicians and the Internet

It had to happen sometime; Politicians adapting the use of the Internet to post their obnoxious views on everything under the sun. The Internet is a huge outlet for everyone to gather and post and view peoples' thoughts especially with the help of blogs. To tell you the truth, I am not into politics at all, and before writing this blog couldn't tell you the first thing about them, except that they are very outspoken and have views on everything. I started off my search of looking for a political blog by doing a basic Google search. I came across a website that I thought looked pretty reliable. The URL is http://nbjr.speakupwny.com/, and I have to say that this website did turn out to be a very well constructed political blog. The name of the blog is North Buffalo Journal and Review: My views through a prism of free market values. The blog belongs to Michael Rebmann. Rebmann began posting on this blog in March of 2006, and it clearly has developed into a well established site now with advertisements, and even interactive polls for visitors. Rebmann currently has an ad for Ron Paul, a presidential candidate for 2008, had I never visited this site, I wouldn't have even known who that is, sadly enough; I just am not into politics. Rebmann figured it was his time to start his blog in March of 2006, after posting on others' blogs for a while. "I decided it was time to join the league of bloggers. I have been posting for awhile on other blogs, now I want my own. This page will be updated soon, however, since this is my first day and I’m still busy playing around with all the features..." (Rebmann "About me and this blog"). The blog's date of birth is officially March 16th, 2006. Rebmann is a Paralegal, and is currently just a citizen blogger with a lot to say. His blog rank is Rank: 92,746 (326 links from 45 blogs). The one thing I like about Rebmann's site is that it isn't all about politics, he offers his own photography and recipes for cooking. I must say that before searching for a political blog, I wasn't interested in this at all; I always thought of politicians or people with strong feelings towards politics as annoying. I have to say that Rebmann is not so bad after all. His posts are never too long, and he adds pictures most of the time which make it more attractive to the eye. He is witty and uses some humor which I would have never believe anyone interested in politics would do. Rebmann definitely is internet friendly and that shines bright through his use of the website. He fully accesses the advantages of having an interactive site where he can post his views. He offers links to many interesting sites, and helpful sites at that. He doesn't make the blog boring with plan text, but yet offers interesting pictures he took, and he kind of adds a little humor here and there to some of his posts to keep his audience lively.
In Alinta Thornton's thesis on the growing use of Internet use and politics she states, "There is intense interest in the Internet’s potential to contribute to various sociological phenomena, primarily from American Internet enthusiasts. Foremost among these ideas is that the Internet will contribute to, or even be primarily responsible for, a new era of participatory democracy and a revitalization of the public sphere..." Thornton also mentions something about how now-a-days, politicians and people need to use the new media offered if they want to get ahead. "Instead of reporting on politics, the media are active participants in the political process through their role in publicity. Increasingly, the media has become central to political life. Politicians who do not constantly stay abreast of the media's requirements and actively plan their publicity tend to fall quickly out of favour. Those who are not good 'media performers' suffer the same fate (Thornton "Does Internet Create Democracy?"). Political blogging will continue for however long the internet exists, which seems like forever. People post blogs on meaningless things that no one cares to read about, so why shouldn't people post their political views? They should, so it all works out in the end, people post their views, get comments back, and all is happy.


Rebmann, Michael. North Buffalo Journal and Review. Mar. 2007. WordPress. 25 Mar. 2007 .

Thornton, Alinta. "Does Internet Create Democracy?" Oct. 2002. 25 Mar. 2007 .

Instant Messaging: Easy way to say what's on your mind

A group that I identify myself with, which is entirely mediated by the Internet would be AOL Instant Messaging. AIM opens up a whole new opportunity to talk to people through an exciting different medium. I currently am using AIM Triton, which is the newest version of the instant messaging application. "On September 29, 2006, the newest release of the AIM Triton 1.5 Beta was renamed to AIM 6.0, with a Beta 1 release made available. This version again changed the UI (albeit slightly). The final stable version of AIM 6.0 was released on December 15; new features included connection to AIM Pages, updates that make profile, away message, and general user updates into RSS feeds, new customization, the ability to send messages to users who are offline , buddy list capacity being increased to 1000 buddies, and compatibility with address book programs and sites through a "Universal Address Book" powered by Plaxo" (Wikipedia.org, AOL Instant Messaging).
Through instant messaging, one is allowed to send IM's to another person anywhere in the world, at any time they want. People are also allowed to use chat rooms, where multiple friends or strangers gather to talk to each other. With these interesting outlets in communication, it is apparent that communication is going to strengthen. AIM can strengthen peoples' relationships because it offers something that is new and different. It allows people to physically type out what they want to say, we get to take our time to make sure what we are saying is right, and better yet i can do it in my bath robe waiting for my hair to dry. It is extremely easy to use and I completely prefer speaking to some people on AIM. It is much more comfortable because I don't have to worry about my appearance and I feel that Instant Messaging allows me to get my feelings our easier than in person. The technological development of Instant Messaging applications allows people to speak freely, and more confidently to people anytime they want, anywhere in the world. For example, my friend has a very hard time telling me how he feels about things in person. He gets quite when you ask him anything personal and doesn't know how to verbally word what he wants to say about his emotions. Talk to him online; it's a completely different scenario. I find him much easier to talk to through the AIM application because for some reason, he feels safe behind the computer screen and has more time to type out how he feels. IM is something that is extremely popular among teenagers. "Why do teens flock to IM?...Adolescents have adapted IM technologies to their own needs and purposes...the majority of teenagers have adapted instant messaging in a way that adults have not...the popularity of IM among teens is a result of their need to socialize while confined to their homes..." (Boneva, Quinn, Kraut, Kiesler, Shklovski).
The main way I communicate with people is through instant messaging. The fact that I can see if my friends are available when I need to send them something, and get an instant response makes this technological advance in communication so great. Mediated communication through the use of technology is a great advance for generations to come.



"AOL Instant Messenger." Wikipedia. 20 Mar. 2007. Wikipedia. 20 Mar. 2007 .


Boneva, Bonka, Amy Quinn, Robert Kraut, Sara Kiesler, and Irina Shklovski. "Teenage Communication in the Instant Messaging Era." Carnegie Mellon University. 20 Mar. 2007 .

What would I do without my Google Calendar?

The web application I want to talk about is Google Calendar. Google Calendar is an interactive, and easy way to organize your life with a few clicks of a button. The above hyper-link takes you to the easy accessible website where all you need is a "g mail" account to sign up for your own calendar. I made my own personalized calendar labeled "Emily's Calendar", and what is so great about this site is that it is so easy to follow. I can organize all my events I have throughout the week or month by just clicking on a time slot on the day I have something scheduled. I simply type in my event and there it is, for me to recognize when something is coming up. The website is very much to the point looking. If you know how a regular, hard-copy agenda is set up, then you won't have a problem understanding the lay out of this site.
One great thing about having this interactive calendar, agenda book type thing online is because seeing as how I am always online, I am constantly updating it and being reminded of things to do. Being a busy college student, this interactive site makes it more fun to write down my assignments instead of using the old fashioned pen and paper idea. Some of the benefits of Google Calendars are as follow, "Events are stored online, so in the case of a user's hard drive failure, no data is lost. The application can import Microsoft Outlook calendar files (.csv) and iCalendar files (.ics) (the de facto open calendaring file format), although at this stage only when the fields are all in U.S. format. Multiple calendars can be added and shared, allowing various levels of permissions for the users. This enables collaboration and sharing of schedules between groups or families. There are also general calendars available for importing into one's account which contain national holidays of various countries" (wikipedia.org). The site allows me to name my agenda books anything I want to, and I also can use different colors to make certain events stand out if I want to. TechCrunch offered an interesting quote on how this site is so great, "CL2 makes it easy — even effortless — to keep track of all the events in your life and compare them to what your friends and family have going on in theirs. We’ve designed a calendar that works for you — helping you add events from email, friends, and other public calendars — so you don’t have to spend all your time maintaining your schedule" (techcrunch.com)
Google Calendar is so beneficial because it is free, easy to use and understand, and just extremely helpful in keeping people organized! People love to be interactive on the computer and Google Calendar allows them to be their own organizers on the internet. When i read about Google Calendars I instantly went to the website (www.googlecalendars.com) and set up my calendar using my "g mail" account. Not too many people use Google Calendar because they simply don't know about it. Spread the word, it's easy and fun to use!






Arrington, Michael. "Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar." TechCrunch. 8 Mar. 2006. 17 Mar. 2007 .


"Google Calendar." Wikepedia. 7 Mar. 2007. Wikipedia. 17 Mar. 2007 .