A Big Week For Facebook

When I sat down to write my last blog post of the semester, I wanted to write about something important. After 15 or so seconds of thinking, I decided to write about good ol' Facebook, and ironically, the last seven days have been huge for Mark Zuckerberg. Over the weekend, Facebook finally started its new messaging service (it was finished last November) and announced that it would be providing all of its 500 million users with their own @facebook.com e-mail address as part of their new messaging system. This new technology is simply amazing, in that it can combine all Facebook message and chats with e-mail addresses from all types of systems (gmail, AOL, Yahoo etc.) An even scarier part of this technology, is that it can sync with your cell phone number, so when you get a text message it appears in your Facebook inbox. Not only is this technology going to keep all of your chatting and emailing in one place, but it will be done in a very organized way, because all of your e-mails or texts from say your mom, will be in its own folder. This new interface, also allows users to send e-mails, and is capable of sending file attachments and sharing documents. It also supports many instant messaging programs such as Jabber.

On another note, this was also a big day for Facebook, because it won a legal battle worth tens of millions of dollars. For those of you who saw The Social Network, which tells the story of how Facebook was founded by Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room, you also know about the Winklevoss twins. The twins, along with their friend Divya Narendra sued Facebook, claiming that Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook, when the trio first asked him to help design HarvardConnection, which would was going to be a networking site, but only for Harvard students. After originally signing a settlement for $65 million in 2008, the trio decided to sue again in 2009, saying that the Facebook stock they were awarded as part of the deal, was actually worth less than the $35.90 they were told it was valued at. Ultimately, Judge Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the deal, which was originally signed in 2008 was valid and must be upheld. This was a major victory for Mark Zuckerberg, who could have been forced to hand over millions of dollars to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (a.k.a. "the Winklevil") and their friend Divya Narendra.

Citations: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYetluKUcCxp0Jqm_POObRHoo4nAW1kMGF1zCevm8IJyuze9a3QVkRHtsvfFCgXQR1fbwiY3HzMWB4WRTNNHwc4ZxGGvw4ERM-cL3N7qJDoWH2EnYF529i37YNarAdjqbo_2bhPO_pag5V/s1600/facebook-coke.jpg

Reflection on Blogging

After having spent a full semester blogging, my views on this type of new media writing has substantially changed. At first, I thought, "this is going to take forever to do this so often", "blogs are just for people who want to babble about their life", "I would rather write a few formal papers than write a few blog posts a week", and so on. However, things have now turned into "blogging is my favorite type of writing, it is quick, easy, and less stressful than writing a formal paper" and "I enjoy finding weekly topics to write about on my blog because I know it's a safe place where I can write about my opinions freely". See the difference?
I am so happy I had the opportunity to blog in this class, because otherwise I would have never given it a chance. Who knew that blogs could be academic, rather than just a place to just go on and on about nonsense? I know I didn't. Well, not before this experience at least.
Additionally, I know that my writing has significantly improved in the blogosphere from my first post to my more recent ones. Besides the fact that the first one took me about 3 hours to write versus the 20-30 minutes it takes me now, I also didn't use any of the resources available to me on the web. In contrast, if you look at my last few posts, you will see the addition of new media all over the place: pictures, links, jump breaks, videos, and more. Ultimately, the blogosphere is a great place for freedom of expression and has many opportunities to make a post your own. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to learn about blogging and I am sure I will continue to write the occasional blog post for years to come.

Photo from: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3130/2836828090_d44f5278bd.jpg

Just How Big is Google?

I know that the effect of Google.com on society and it's size have already been covered, but when I was stumbling on Stumbleupon.com earlier today, I came across some information that I feel has to be posted about on this blog. Click here to see some statistics that will blow your mind. Well, they blew mine at least. Although I knew how Google has conquered the internet, as it is everyone's go-to website and that one website alone gives access to everything available on the world wide web, whether it be articles, pictures, videos, maps, mail, or anything else you can think of- but after looking at these statistics, my jaw dropped and eyes widened anyway. I mean, did you know that Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have an annual salary of 1 billion dollars each? I sure didn't. How about the fact that Google's operating income is equal to the GDP of the Cayman Islands, Greenland, Dominica, Maldives, Mongolia, and Barbados combined? That a lot of money- over 8 billion dollars! If that doesn't surprise you, does the fact that if you wanted to display all of Google's indexed sites on one monitor, the screen would have to be 6 million miles from corner to corner- roughly 241 times the length of the equator? Anyway, the reason for posting this, besides the fact that this is all intriguing, is to show just how much Google has on it's servers. Just how much it does. Just how much people use it. Just how much it has impacted our society. Just look at the website (and where you get all the pictures you ever search for from) and the statistics if you don't believe it!

Saving Our Social Reputation

Source

         
       Perhaps the hype has died down a little, but it is easy to say that the majority of days we spent in the classroom involved some sort of talk of Facebook. Specifically, the kind of identity that one makes for themselves on Facebook can be very important in terms of their professional career. Mark Zuckerberg, creator and founder of Facebook, believes that people should only have one online identity, but how realistic is this? Even when we are not online or on social networking sites, we all have many different identities. For example, I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a student, a sorority sister, a friend, a future business woman... I could continue this list with every single relationship I have and hope to have in the future. If this is the case in real life, then why would we be expected to disown any of these identities on our online profiles? Now that I have presented my case, I'd like to introduce you all to Mark Zuckerberg's worst nightmare: Socioclean.com.

Blogging: New Media's best form of expression

When I first heard that we would have to blog in SWC 200, I instantly thought to all of the people who regard it as a disgraceful and useless form of writing.  After the entire semester of typing away on "The Go Blue Crew" I have a very different mindset then I originally thought.  I love blogging.  It is the literal one place where I can say what I want, whatever I want, and have no worries of a teacher marking it as wrong or fear that people won't like what I say.  I don't have to care what others think on my blog, it is where I can be me, write like me, and feel like me.  In all honesty I may consider to keep a blog after this class is over, simply because I love what a blog allows me to do.  Blogging is the New Media version of a journal, and to any 13 year old girl (or myself) it is the best thing since sliced bread.  Composing a blog is not nearly as strenuous or painful as writing anything academic.  I wouldn't go as far to say that blogging has changed how I feel about writing, as by no means do I now enjoy research papers, but I would say blogging is a much less painful way to get your ideas across.  For example, I'm in the UGLi right now doing this post before I start my "real work".  In addition I love how one can add visuals to any post, making even the most boring of posts somewhat entertaining.  I perceive myself as a humorous blogger, but that could easily be just my ego.  I think I have the potential to bring a voice that is different, yet at the same time is common sensical and understands what is going on.  I am very flexible and can handle both a serious issue like the chaos in Japan as well as something humorous like Dave Chappelle's Comedy Tour.  In the future I plan on blogging a little more, who knows maybe I ditch blogging and just focus on my twitter (@bci2892), but one thing for certain is that there are many more New Media Writing adventures out there for me to conquer.

DJ Spooky takes advantage of Twitter

Since, DJ Spooky was so interesting I decided to go to his website to learn more about who he was. What caught my attention right away was the list of social media platforms that were on the left hand side. It says, "Join DJ Spooky on...." and then you have the option to click Facebook, twitter, myspace, youtube, buy DJ Spooky on itunes, and Join the email list. Just to see where one of these links would lead me I clicked on the twitter option and it led me to DJ Spooky's very own twitter account. As I scrolled down I saw tweets about all the places that he would be performing and then I saw some philanthropy tweets as well such as his photo shoot with Love Saves Japan and there was even a picture to follow! He then follows up this tweet by tweeting about Japan's release of radioactive water into the ocean. Showing his concern for Japan and his knowledge about current events, is an extremely important quality because it shows people what kind of person he is. This use of Twitter and this connection to current events adds to the fact that technology is apart of everyday life. Whether I am reading his tweets, or watching his mixes on youtube, everything is interactive and informative which is what these social media platforms are all about. What I find interesting is that his tweets seem to resemble who he is in real life. For instance, he spoke about the film fest and other events during his performance and he tweeted about them as well. He was also a pretty funny and down to earth guy which could be seen through the tone of voice he uses throughout his tweets Do you think that his tweets help to show an understanding of who he really is? In general do you think a person's twitter can define their character? What I also thought was interesting was how DJ Spooky can promote himself through twitter. Tweets like "@morethan88 Yo! Jason, I'm finally gearing up for the whole Twitter world. Been mad busy! Check me @djspooky" and "I'm blogging with Tribeca FIlm Fest starting in a couple of days. Check it! Tribeca is fun + I live there too - vibes!! http://t.co/Z" help him get his name out there. Do you guys think that tweets such as these can help an upcoming artist become popular? I definitely do but I want to hear your feedback as well.

Image: http://www.fest21.com/files/images/DJ_Spooky.jpg

DJ Spooky in Ann Arbor

First let me start off by saying, What a performance! Dj Spooky is definitely well educated about technology and the many different uses for multi - media platforms. For him though, it is not just about the music and Djing, it is about something deeper than that. Upon entering the room I thought, like Brandon's blog before me, that Dj Spooky was just going to DJ and I would have to sit there and listen to an array of beats. However, I was completely wrong. Dj Spooky spoke about his love for McLuhan because of his use of the cut - up technique. He referred to this ability to edit as a "rhythm science."  He also spoke about his love for his new upcoming project with apple. He mentioned how all of the technology on the table before him would be combined into one single app on the iphone. This shows that there is no limit to how far technology can go in the future. What do you guys think will be next?
Dj Spooky also explained how dj techniques could be applied to storytelling, and sample editing into videoclips as seen on youtube. This whole process of mixing, collage, layering, and sampling are all examples of digital literacy. I already mentioned how DJing is a science but it is an art form as well. Here is where the visuals come into play.