Paper 1

“Hello, World”  

In a world where technology has become a ubiquitous and an inescapable part of our everyday lives, we are quickly learning the significant influence it has on everything that we do.  Specifically, the widespread access everyone now has to the different types of media and technology that allows information to be free and readily accessible. People rely on web-sites, films and television programs to provide news from all over the world, all kinds of entertainment and as means of education. The role of the media is rapidly becoming more and more influential and dominant in our society, especially since people of all ages are constantly exposed to it in all different forms. Now more than ever, children are learning to use the internet, watch television and movies at a very young age. Their constant exposure to the media makes technology one of the most important factor in their education.  

As a current student at the University of Southern California, I am majoring in psychology and minoring in critical studies of film and television. I am learning about both the role of the media, as well as its influence in our everyday lives. We are so heavily dependent on technology nowadays that we can’t even imagine a world without it.  In fact, social media has never been more important or more influential in our lives than it is right now. Nevertheless, because information is so easily accessible to everyone and has proven to be an essential part of our day-to-day activities, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether we have gone too far.  

While there is nothing better than watching movies and TV shows at the privacy of our own homes, or having all the information we want with a few simple clicks, we can also see how these entertainment sources are replacing other important leisure time activities such as reading, social interactions and outdoor activities. 

In this blog I intend to describe how social media has infiltrated our lives in both positive and negative ways. Although there are many advantages and benefits to having all of these technological advances, there are also consequences that demonstrate how fast our world is changing. I will specifically focus on the influence internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter and gossip blogs have on our society. In addition, the impact that the ever-growing phenomenon of reality television shows has on our culture. As well as the effects of the internet and the possible repercussions of technology on education. Because every advance we make in science, technology and media can be studied and analyzed from various angles, it is interesting to examine how sometimes we might not use all of these technological advances in the right way, and therefore at times, create more harm than good. 

Profile Post: Rachel (http://www.socialmediatoday.com)

During my search for blogs that explore and discuss the topic of social media, and the role and influence of technology in our modern society, I came across a blog called “The Social Organization”. This blog is written by Rachel, the principal and co-founder at The Community Roundtable (a network of community managers and social media practitioners). She has worked with many prestigious and highly- respectable companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Disney and ABC (to only name a few). Some of her qualification in relation to the field include: product-designer, market-strategist, business-school teacher and creator of social -networking sites. She has an impressive record of being quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA today. In addition, she has been interviewed by both NPR and WBUR. Rachel describes the motivation she has for her career as, “I strongly believe that people want to do the right thing for each other - but not at the expense of hurting themselves and that organizational structures and processes can encourage or inhibit this. My passion for solving structural problems in organizations that unleash rather than restrain peoples’ potential.”  Rachel tends to blog at least a few times a month, and at times, even a few times a week. Although I couldn't find The Social Organization on Technorati.com, it does appear on other sites' blogrolls. 

One very interesting post on Rachel’s blog is ‘The Downside of Being Popular on Twitter’ (http://www.thesocialorganization.com/2010/08/the-downside-of-being-popular-on-twitter.html). In this post, Rachel makes an interesting comparison between celebrities, public-figures and/or organizations that have an astonishingly large number of followers on Twitter with the popular clique in high-school. She describes how popularity, whether it be on Twitter or in high-school is never a long-term condition, and like beauty, it will always fade away. Rachel continues by asserting that she has never trusted popularity; not when she was in high-school and not today with popular organizations or celebrities. She claims that the general public should be a more active participant in choosing who they trust and who they listen to in the media. 

Another interesting blog post by Rachel is ‘Social Media is Not Community’ (http://www.thesocialorganization.com/2008/07/social-media-is-not-community.html) In this post, Rachel makes the clear distinction between the concept of social media and the idea of community. She argues that some of the privileges that all individuals have, such as the ability comment on news stories on CNN, or rating books and music on Amazon do not make these sites communities. Instead, communities are built over a long period of time, they discuss a particular topic or issue, in the form of a drawn-out, continuous conversation.  

I think that the blog ‘The Social Organization’ relates very well to the blog I intend to create.  Although it deals with many of the issues and topics that are relevant to my blog, I wouldn't consider Rachel’s blog to be scholarly or academic. Her posts are mostly conversational and informal. They are not very lengthy or detailed, instead they are fairly short and straight to the point. I believe some of the posts and issues Rachel mentions in her blog will definitely inspire some of my own questions and concerns. However, I intend to make my posts more comprehensive and more relatable to my own personal experience. 

Voice Post - Pam Moore “The Marketing Nut”  http://www.pammarketingnut.com/

Although my knowledge and experience with blogs are fairly limited, there is one thing I learned very early on:  the voice of the blogger is what keeps the readers coming back for more.  Other than the few academic blogs that  I’m sometimes required to read for various reasons, it is the blogs I read for fun, on my own time that I enjoy the most. These blogs are usually written in a sophisticated and witty manner, and are often a combination of formal and informal speech. 

The blogger Pam Moore has a funny and clever blog about social media and social marketing. She clearly conveys and expresses her personal voice through her many posts.  Although Pam’s writing isn’t too different from many other social media bloggers’, I’ve noticed her distinct and unusual forms of slang and informal language.  For example, in her post “Surf the Web or Surf Facebook?” she writes: “...I share who I am and what I am. Either ya’ like me or ya’ don’t!” By replacing the conventional “you” with the unofficial “ya”, Pam’s dialogue becomes extremely colloquial and the sentence quickly becomes very informal and conversational. Her slang gives us a better indication of not only how to read her writing but also provides a better understanding of Pam’s personality as a person. 

Another example of Pam’s clear voice that comes through in her writing is the use of short, fragmented sentences for emphasis and attention. She writes, “On Facebook we let people in to who we are, what we are and what we do on the weekends. Big difference!” The last part of that sentence is another example of colloquial speech that is often used in informal, casual and everyday writing. In the same post, Pam provides her readers a list called “The Top 15 Reasons Why We Surf Facebook”. Her choice of a writing out these fifteen points as a list rather than in a paragraph-form is effective in making her voice continue to be casual, relaxed and conversational. She doesn’t include many sophisticated metaphors or intricate language, nevertheless, her posts have a certain flow to them that makes them easy and fun to read. 

In a different post called “All Aboard the Social Media Train!” Pam uses the metaphor of a train to symbolize the growing number of people who are getting interested in the social media world. She writes: “It’s not news to most of us that social media is the train hundreds of thousands want to get on. It’s fast, it’s fun and it is going places.” In this post, similar to all her other ones, Pam’s voice continues to be colloquial, informal and laid-back. She even goes as far as writing “hmmm...” as to point out a pause in her thinking. I’ve also noticed that she often uses rhetorical questions in her writing in quirky and comical ways. Such as: “What many are disregarding is where their train is going? What is your destination? What will be at the other side? How do you know when you get there? What do you do when you get off? What happens if the train gets stuck? What if the seats get filled up and someone takes yours while you make a trip to the ladies or mens room?” 

There is no doubt Pam Moore speaks to her readers as if they were all her friends. Her writing is extremely conversational and have little to no complex language or figures of speech. Although this type of writing could be seen as perhaps a bit childish, I believe it fits perfectly with the subject of social media. This kind of tone and voice is carried throughout Pam’s entire blog and it definitely conveys her friendly and relaxed attitude toward her readers.