Social Media, a revolution for the masses, and their grandparents.

Hello dear bloggers,

I'm back and this time it's all about my addiction. No, no, no you've got it wrong it's not drugs, sex or alcohol... it's worse... it's... I'm too ashamed to admit it... it's Facebook. I know, everyone is addicted... but not as much as me. It's bad, I love to "creep" on everything and anything. Social networking is one of the most powerful things I believe this world has ever seen. I remember watching my junior year in my Marketing class a video about marketing to the masses through social networks. I learned in that video that Facebook would be the 3rd largest country, if it were to be a country. I've always thought about that fact while I am on Facebook. I knew that social networking was extremely helpful in making the world a smaller place, but little did I know how much money they were worth. In the video below, you can see for yourself.

video from mashable.com I go to mashable.com each day because I am so interested in social media. Through this website which is a website that talks about different social networks and what is happening with them.

Through this site I have found a plethora of infographics, which I must say are a serious guilty pleasure for me. I get all my information from Mashable's infographics, but I am so informed on so many things, I'm constantly throwing in a fact about how obsessed people are with Facebook, or the relationship status facts.

I am constantly amazed with what I read like this infographic that talks about the obsession over Facebook.

Unfortunately I can't put this picture to the size I would like to, however point out how truly absurd the world is with their obsession over Facebook, hypocritically of course because I myself am a huge offender. One fact I found astounding was that 71.2% of the U.S Web Users are on Facebook.

I know of a handful of people who do not have a Facebook. Other infographics found on Mashable for this subject were:

Facebook's 500 Million Members, The Biggest Brands On Facebook, Facebook vs. The U.S , Visualizing 6 Years of Facebook, and Facebook Facts You Probably Didn't Know.

All of these infographics have taught me so much about Facebook, and helped me to understand my love for it.

One of the main reasons I took this course is because I'm so enthralled with social media. Social Economics are so interesting to me, and I love to read infographics about them, and watch youtube videos such as the ones above. While writing this I looked to what I had open and it really surprised me to see how much I use social media.

I took this screenshot just to show the world of bloggers on this bloggersphere how immersed I am in this thing that is not a fad.

screenshot from my computer

From top to bottom the websites go tumblr, youtube, twitter, facebook, blogger, mashable, facebook, and ichat. I guess that's all, I must get back to everything and anything about socail media. Have a wonderful night. The challenge tonight is to look at your own social network sites, how often are you on? Are you ashamed of that number? I know I am... but am I going to stop? I guess not, after all it's not just a fad.

Thirteen Going On Seventeen- A Brief History of the Magazine that Told Us if He Liked Us and What Complements Our Bodies

photo credit to senventeen

I loved Seventeen Magazine growing up. I looked at it every issue in hopes that there'd be a new quiz that would tell me who my celebrity soul mate was, or a tragic article that ended in "DRUGS ARE BAD." I have to admit I didn't pick this magazine on purpose, I picked solely because I was surprised to see that my college roommate still read it, and it was the only magazine I could find in the room. I was excited to see Miranda Cosgrove on the cover, having a guilty pleasure addiction to iCarly. The headline next to Miranda’s well made up face says, in white which is highlighted by her brunette hair, “I want people to see the real me”- Miranda Cosgrove. At the top the magazine reads, “PSSST…You Could Be On The Cover!” As seen in these two quotes Seventeen’s main persuasive technique is Plain Folks.

Seventeen focuses on teenagers ages 13-19, despite the name Seventeen. They attract these readers with popping headlines, and by catering to all girls of these ages. In away you could say the magazine plays “the race card”. The magazine does that by featuring many different women of different ages, and cultures. In conjunction to playing the race card, they also play what I like to call the weight card. The weight card is catering to all different sizes, there are articles in the magazine about what one should wear when over weight, easy exercises to help stay healthy, and stories from those who have struggled being overweight.

Picture of different races featured on the Seventeen website.

Seventeen makes the regular girl seem like a celebrity, and a celebrity seem like just a regular girl. They do this by having articles, much like the Miranda Cosgrove one, talking about how normal her everyday life is. This makes the girls think, “wow, she’s just like me!” They make girls seem like celebrities by featuring everyday girls questions, and pictures in the magazine. This is the maybe persuasive technique. Page 132 of this issue is splattered with personal stories of amazing things that happened to girls around the world, the headline of the article reads, “What are the odds? If this crazy stuff could happen to these readers, it could happen to you, too!” This is another technique employed by Seventeen, the maybe persuasion technique, maybe if this reader enters this sweepstakes, she can be a star! This could be you on the cover of Seventeen if you just write a good enough paper on why it should be.

I have to admit. I gave in. I’ve read the magazine, I’ve looked up the clothes I should get for this spring, I entered a contest or two. Who knows, as Seventeen themselves says, if it happens to these readers, it could happen to me! Until I win the lottery, end up on the cover of Seventeen or get attacked by a mountain lion… I guess we’ll never know.

Seventeen got me to sign up for these sweepstakes by directing me to their website. The website, like their magazine is fun, upbeat and very eye catching. The site is filled with convergent media from youtube videos embedded on the site, to discussion forums for the plain folks to ask one another questions. Seventeen even has their own youtube channel. Their channel includes behind the scenes on cover shoots, make up tips and DIY tutorials.

DIY Video from Youtube.com

I was surprised to see the amount of work that was put into the website, having all of their main focuses outlined at the top; quizzes, games and fun; fashion; beauty; celebrities; love life; health; college life; and parties & prom. These tabs help to direct the teenager easily to the things she is interested in. I checked the site out from top to bottom and will admit I got sucked into the instant makeover generator. While searching for interesting things I found that on the bottom of the site you can sign into meebo, a web platform to IM on any network. I chose to sign into my facebook, twitter, and google talk. The access to this helped me to not be on the other sites, and focus solely on Seventeen; an extremely interesting strategy. I also found that for those who subscribe to the website, they also receive an electronic copy of the magazine, which is an analog to digital shift. I was really impressed all in all by the website, and the many different strategies that were used. That’s all for now, I’ll let you all know when I win all the sweepstakes, or maybe you should enter, after all it could be YOU on the cover of the next Seventeen.

Fifteen Year Old Over Blogs, Leading to An Addiction to Tumblr.

Hello fellow bloggers, I hope today has been wonderful.

At first I was hesitant to start blogging on blogger.com, because I have done it in the past, and in my own eyes failed. Okay, so maybe that sentence was a bit dramatic, but really I'm a blogger, can you tell? I kind of hope not, in my school blogging was always seen a weird, which I completely understand because it's like having a diary online.

I've been through many different blogging sites, starting of course with Myspace, my Myspace was a place where I would say I found poems or songs, but I would really write them myself... I was what I would like to call a closet writer. Slowly I realized, like the rest of the world, that Myspace wasn't the place for my diary. I began writing in notebooks, going through about 3 a month. It came to me that maybe I should jump on this bandwagon and blog. I was an impressionable fifteen year old, and it seemed like a great idea. I jumped on to Wordpress, it was one of the most confusing things I have ever had to do. I blogged on Wordpress for a month, I almost gave up on blogging until my friend Ellie who was older than me told me she blogged on Blogger.

I created my blogger and blogged on it for a pretty long time, taking the past posts I had made and pasting them into blogger. I would write my deepest thoughts, and people began reading. I would blog things I wanted people to see like the boy I liked would read on my blog a poem I had written about him. I was a complete shut in when it came to blogging, it was as I like to say, bad news bears. Slowly everyone would read it from my town, and it got to the point where people I didn’t really know were reading my deepest thoughts. I didn’t really know how to react to it, but I kept blogging. People would put their two cents into everything I wrote, and in a way it made me feel good but also extremely exposed. Wordpress was cool again too, so I jumped back there, posting on both just in case my blog for some reason would go viral, and Wordpress would help that happen.

I was blogged out in 2009, and the next best thing was up, and it was Tumblr. I could rave for days about Tumblr. I believe that every human being should have one. I began tumblring by writing my thoughts on everything. I soon realized that that isn’t how Tumblr works, where most blogs are about being original, Tumblr is the opposite. It is a place where originality is exalted, but reblogging is expected.

A screen shot of my Tumblr Dashboard

On Tumblr I follow 125 people, mostly strangers who just post things that I enjoy. I follow a plethora of cat blogs because I love cats, tattoo blogs, E. E Cummings poetry blogs, everything I want to follow I follow. It's an interesting concept to me to see essentially an RSS feed on a Dashboard like on Tumblr. On Tumblr you can easily post photos, videos, quotes, music, links, pictures, or a conversation. Tumblr is blogging for dummies, and I needed it. I get all of my information from Tumblr. I feel so connected to so many different things through Tumblr, a friend of mine who lives in Egypt talks on the horrors she is facing, another blog The Daily What is where I get all of my news. Honestly, Tumblr is the way to go, if you don't believe me as this cutie with an ukulele.

The best part about Tumblr? I'm going to post this blog up there right now, and I gaurentee a bunch of people will reblog it, it's so much easier to go viral with Tumblr, and in a world where even the plainest of folks can blog, why not let it be viral? I have 75 people following me, what if this post alone gave me 100 more followers? It's a question that I'm sure many others think about daily.

Keeping up with the Igeneration

Hello!
I'm Kara Thomas from Manchester (by the Sea) Massachusetts. Home of Singing Beach one of the most beautiful beaches and most famous beaches in the world.

picture credit of Singing Beach to my best friend Liza Dudley

I had many fun experiences with media this vacation, but in this day and age I think that's expected. Over the course of this vacation I used facebook, applied to jobs online, watch movies, played video games, watched TV on my computer, illegally downloaded music and used my iPhone. These things however fun, were done by thousands, millions possibly billions, of people. I think that the fun aspect of this is that by using my technology I was connected to so many people, without even talking to them.

This connection reminds me of a song created in 2002 by MC Lars, " Igeneration"

The thing I dislike the most about technology is the Apple Store. My friend Jasmine and I went in there a few days ago to purchase a screen protector for her iPhone. Once we chose our product we proceeded to the register, to find that there isn't one. In the Apple Store, you are asked to proceed to a sales representative, put your name on a waiting list and wait until someone can assit you in checking out. We waited, in this store for thirty minutes. Not only did we wait, but we waited while looking at the place where you're suppose to check out, which was completely empty. Once it was our turn, we were asked to go the back of the store where there were large Macbooks connected to credit card machines. Jasmine was asked to insert her credit card, and then the "cashier" asked if Jasmine would like the receipt emailed to her. You know something is wrong when the teens of this generation don't understand technology.

Professionally I hope to play all day, and teach children, I'm hoping to teach a 1-3rd grade class. I'm extremely excited to teach Science and reading to the children. I really hope to enstill greatness into the children I teach and to show them that learning is fun.

Have a wonderful day,

Kara