Twitter- Discussion

The most annoying thing about Twitter Discussion is the limited amount of characters allowed. You have to be very succinct about what you say. BB discussion you can say whatever you want without worrying about the characters allowed. And BB discussion is more organized since you can add a title to what you are talking about. Also people can still comment on your blogs. I think BB discussion is much more practical. Tweeting is for people to just ramble senseless thoughts. In class discussions is more personal since you are speaking your mind and you can see the expressions of one another. The only thing about in class discussions is that people can interrupt you and be rude.

Modeling Virtual Reality and Virtual Worlds

One way virtual worlds can be used is in the business world. They can use virtual worlds to hold meetings with people of other companies from around the world that saves a lot of travel time and money. "Parmar told CNN that he recently held a meeting with 12 technical leaders from across Europe and Asia. While that would typically involve flying everyone to a central location, he said the meeting was held using the new Sametime 3D." (Tutton, Going to the virtual office in second life). I think it's a more convenient way to interact with one another to share ideas. The virtual world also allows you to store files in them using "dropbox" and you can also work on projects together using "basecamp". It saves a lot of time having to travel to a specific location. Also, for people who are shy, perhaps using virtual world is more comfortable for them. A negative side to this is that it isn't the real world and certain expressions and conversations may be misrepresented in the real world as we aren't actually seeing the other person face to face. 


Another way it can be used is social networking. It's like a new way to socialize. People can use websites such as secondlife.com or ivmu.com. People can get away from the real world and join virtual communities and use their avatars to even buy products that they would never buy in the real world. “Ms. Rayna, an avatar on Second Life, and her free-spending cohort can quaff Champagne, teleport to private islands and splurge on luxury brands that are the cyber equivalent of Prada waders or a Rolex watch. Real-world consumers may have snapped shut their wallets.” ( Ferla, No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the real you). It's like creating your own world that you want. The bad thing about this is that people may get tool carried away with this and spend too much time and money on their avatar. 


I think virtual worlds do foster creativity. Especially in the gaming world such as role playing games where players can interact with each other online such as Warcraft, creators have to come up with new ideas to attract consumers to buy and play their games and keep them from other competitors. 


I think the future of the virtual world can be something like we see in the movie Avatar where we maybe can control it using our mind with a headset. That's a neat idea although I don't know if it's possible or if I am watching too many movies. In the social networking aspect I think these virtual world websites can possibly replace facebook or myspace and instead of having our own profile page perhaps everyone will have their avatars and socialize through these virtual worlds. 

Social Networking

Social Networking is a new technology of the new media. It is used by all sorts of people world-wide. Social Networking has innovated new uses and defined a new way of socializing.

Social Networking is a great way to keep in contact with your friends. Through websites such as Facebook or Twitter you can see what your friends are up to by seeing their status updates. It's a new way of socializing so you don't even have to call and talk with your friends when you can leave comments on facebook to your friends all at once. A new use of this technology is job postings. Companies are now recruiting and posting jobs on twitter. "We spoke with some career experts about how you can search wisely. In general, you must sieve through hashtags, a symbol (#) Twitter users assign to their tweets that sorts them into different categories (I wrote a CIO.com overview on Twitter hashtags a few months ago). We also learned about a few Twitter handles (Twitter user names) that post some helpful content if you're trying to land your next gig." (Lynch, Twitter Tips: How to Find Job Posts on Twitter). Companies may also even advertise on Facebook creating groups to promote themselves and try to hire people. It's easier to promote themselves with these social networking websites because it doesn't cost them anything. 


However there are bad sides to social networking. For example, people can be nosy and post things about other people causing problems. During the MTV Awards when Kanye West made a rude outburst during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. Obama made a remark about Kanye calling him a "jackass" and it got around so fast it made it into the headlines. The president weighing in on the biggest pop culture story of the day was too delicious to ignore.  "Soon, e-mails about Obama's comment began circulating internally at ABC. Before news executives had determined whether the material was publishable, Moran and a handful of other ABC News employees posted the remark on Twitter." (Gold, Obama, Kanye West and Trouble With Twitter). The problem with this is that Obama made this remark off the record. Social Networking can be bad because it can cause too much gossiping. People getting into other people's business may cause problems. 


I also want to talk about this movie briefly since it kind of relates to this subject. The movie, Catfish, is a documentary film that came out on selected theaters. You can only watch it in Manhattan to my knowledge. Without revealing too much of the plot in case anyone else wants to see it, it basically is about a guy who forms a relationship with a family through facebook. He discovers using google that some of the things they said were lies and they aren't who they appear to be. He decided to take it upon himself to go visit unannounced and the things he discovers is just scary and crazy. To find out, you should go watch it. But it makes me think that people using facebook or other social networking websites can be "fake". You have to be careful with who you associate with in these social networking websites. The thing you have to think about is that when you create a facebook account, and all the pictures you post up and statuses, you are trying to represent yourself the best way possible. And people will try to look the best they can even if they are lies. They can adjust their pics using photoshops, etc. It's like a facade. And people updating their facebook or twitter statuses are basically people raising their hands in the air calling for attention. You have to be careful not to get carried away with it. That may be a bad thing about facebook. Sometimes you should get out into the real world and socialize the old fashioned way. 


In the future these technologies will improve. It can only improve. If there is one aspect that will improve on it should be privacy settings. Sometimes people have no lives and try to spy on others. Unfortunately I feel social networking may replace phones and letters. I feel it already has. Even I use my mytouch phone to contact people more on facebook. We'll see how else they can improve it on. 

Check Out Social Networking Sites

          Myspace and Facebook are different in ways that Myspace allows you to post up a music and there is a video section where you can watch music videos or music trailers. Myspace is a good source for underground bands to promote their music with the option of posting up music. Also, Myspace allows you to decorate your page with different backgrounds. And the photos of Myspace can be seen as a slideshow. I feel with the sense, Myspace is more directed to the younger generation. Facebook is more simple and straightforward. You can update your statuses and the newsfeed is the first thing you see so you can see the statuses updates of your friends. I feel it is easier to find friends. More people use it professionally and don't create fake names or alias and it is easier to find friends through different networks such as the same college networks and hometown networks. 

          Friendster is different to me. I have never heard of it but it seems simple also. Nothing too fancy, it is more like facebook. There is just a page, you can update your status and post pictures, etc. I don't think it is too popular. 

         Twitter is another social networking site. It is pretty much a site where you only update your status. It is a simpler way of posting and letting everyone know what you are doing. Also in Twitter, you can interact with famous celebrities, magazines, athletes, etc. It's a fun way to get updated with their lives.