My Very Own Ted Talk!

I did have some difficulty finding my Ted Talk topic, but after some consultation I finally found it! After our last project we have all gotten to use the booming social media site, Twitter. Through the usage, many of us got to see the pros and cons. In viewing Twitter in such a way, I pondered the ethics of Twitter use. One of the positives is that we no longer need to be television news anchors or newspaper reporters to pass on the news. However, this positive can quickly transform into an ethical dilemma in my opinion. Since anyone can tweet whatever they want, it is very easy for false allegations and stories to be seen as truths. So, is it ethical to spread false tweets as valid news? Should tweeters be held up to the same responsibility that we lay upon newscasters to ensure truth? Or should tweets be taken with a grain of salt, since some say Twitter will never attain the trust factor that many have with more traditional news sources? All of these questions and more will be answered concerning the ethics of Twitter…I’m excited!!!

How Celebrities and Their Fans Can Connect...TWITTER!!!

One of the most intriguing thing about Twitter is that fans can talk to their favorite stars. It is a platform like no other that allows people to interact with others, who they would never get a chance to talk to in real life. The social objects make this interaction possible. The following video is a story of a fan and celebrity that fell in love after conversing on Twitter!

Jyri Engeström...I Guess He Knows What He's Talking About?

Ok, so there's no denying the fact that Jyri Eneström is a social media genius. However, as I watched his speech in Friday's class, I couldn't help but be confused because a lot of it went over my head. Was I the only one? I hope not, but I think I made a breakthrough. Earlier today, I re-watched the video and did some research on Eneström, which I think made me grasp the concept better.

Jyri Eneström three main points of his talk are social objects, social peripheral vision, and nodal points. Most importantly concerning our Communications class is the topic of social objects. He has some interesting things to say about it. Eneström says that if you go on a social website and can;t find the social object (object that connects people through social networking, the shared interest) within seconds, then the website is a failure. I totally get his point here. Each social website needs to have an object, basically the thing that connects people. The more personal value an object has, the more successful the website will be. Flickr's social object are photos, Deli.icio.us's are bookmarks, YouTube's are video clips, Twitter's are status updates, etc. All these sites are successful because they have a conspicuous social object, as well as a social object that allows people to exchange meaningful information.

But what really struck me was what he said about texting, something we all do. Firstly, he says that whenever we get a new species of social objects that emerge, there is usually a huge opportunity to buils a social service around it. So the technology of the cell phone, and in-turn texting, inspired microblogging, from which we get the social objects of updates and statuses. I never thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. A text is a short dialogue on a one-on-one level, but microblogging expanded this into a dialogue available to all members of the social media site.

From social objects, forms verbs. The verbs are the what the user does to perform upon an object and leaves traces on the web. Commenting, updating, posting, tagging, etc. Lastly is social peripheral vision, which I'm not sure is as important as Jyri says it is. He says we have to have the ability to detect what's happening in the peripheral of our vision, meaning being aware of others' intentions so we can make plans. I don't feel like this is a necessity, just a perk. I mean it's nice to know that my friend is going to a party tonight or my cousin is going to the Phillies' tailgate, but is it necessary? I really don't think so. Even though it could affect me, it kind of makes me feel nosey to an extent, like why do I know all these things about a persons' life?

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that Jyri does know what he is talking about. All social websites should follow this model if they want to be successful. I'll leave you with something I found of relevance, a list of the ten principles for social object design.

How Social am I?

Honestly, today in class when everyone was naming these websites that I have never heard of, I realized that I wasn't taking full advantage of the social media that is easily available to me. In class I could barely think of a social media website that I go on, but now I realize that every time I go online I check at least three social media websites periodically throughout the day. They play a big role in my life, maybe too big.

My favorite social media website (and I'm sure it's probably yours too) is Facebook. Of course it is, isn't it every college students'? In all seriousness, is there anything better than opening up your Facebook to a number of notifications and friend requests? I think not, well at least for me I get awkwardly excited. I get the feeling that someone loves me...weird. It goes away fast once I realize that all the notifications are just people commenting on some picture I'm in from forever ago. Whatever, those few seconds of curiosity as to what your notifications are about still makes me anxious and excited, even after a year of usage.

Mostly I use Facebook as a way of keeping connected with people that I graduated high school with. Since graduation I still see my close friends, but Facebook is my way of staying in contact with the girl in my Latin class since 8th grade or the guy that I played basketball with for three years. It is a great tool for that, but it also sometimes gives TMI-too much information. I don't need my news feed to be overtaken with what my high school English teacher did with her boyfriend last night...that's not alright. But that's neither here nor there. Overall, Facebook does a great job of connecting people, but it does cause many to become obsessed. I check about three times a day, which I don't think is too bad. My friend has to incorporate "Facebook Time" into how long it will take her to do a random task because she can not go an hour without updating her status, looking at pictures, etc. I hope I never get to that place, no offense to anyone who is already like that...

My next most visited social media site is Twitter. Now although I don't actually "tweet," I do have an account that I check periodically throughout the day where I follow about 70 people--celebrities, news outlets, athletes. Basically friends in my head that I feel the need to know what's going on with them throughout their day. It's sad because in reality I will never know any of these people on a friend-to-friend basis, yet I know where and what they ate for lunch. I constantly ask myself, "Why do I care?" I can never answer that question, but the truth is I don't care why I care because I'm going to continue following them anyway.


The last social media website that I use regularly is YouTube. I don't post videos, but I view many a day. I love talk shows and I do this thing called college which makes me miss my favorite shows. If there is an interview that I missed and really wanted to see, I just go onto YouTube at night or on the weekends and nine times out of ten they have the video. It is such a great resource, I don't know how I could live without it. Eventually I would like to begin posting videos and share it because I think its amazing that one post to website can be seen all around the world. I'm just getting caught up with one of my favorite talk shows, Live! with Regis and Kelly. They just had an interview with Jane Krakowski, whose on one of my favorite shows, 30 Rock. Check it out, they even talk about Twitter!



Of course these three sites aren't the limit to my social media activity, just the most visited. I also use Wikipedia, because even if it's not an academic source, it has information on everything. I also follow a number of blogs that I leave comments on, so I think that counts for social media. After thinking about it, the world would be so different without social media because I feel like we depend on it so much now for news, keeping in touch, being creative, and many other things. I don't think it's a bad thing, just something to think about.