"The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace"

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm

On businessweek.com they had an article by Felix Gilette discussing how Myspace rose and fell. The article was the featured cover story in June but the article is still relevant now because of how it influenced social media. Myspace had millions of users logged on and networking. Now there is significantly fewer Myspace users despite the company’s effort to compete against Facebook and other social networking sites.

I found this article to be very informing about the business side of social networking web sites. It explained how News Corp. spent $580 million purchasing Myspace and put it on sale for $100 million. That is the loss costs the company faced when Myspace’s popularity fell. The article also discussed the millions of dollars spent on advertising on the website. I remember when I was getting more into Facebook and less into Myspace when I noticed that Myspace began to bombard users with ads on the home page and the personal pages. I thought this was a good lesson on how fads come and go especially in today’s culture where popularity of something only lasts so long.

"Blogging: self presentation and privacy"

The article, “Blogging: self presentation and privacy” by Karen McCullagh discussed blogs and its place in our social lives on the Internet. It pointed out how much privacy blogs give bloggers and how the data they share is not very ‘private’.

One of the main ideas of the article that I read about discussed how bloggers should control the privacy settings of the blogs. It gave multiple suggestions including being careful about what personal information you share that can distinguish your online life to your personal life. More suggestions included blocking IP addresses and using privacy filters to further conceal who you are on your blog.

A second main idea the article had discussed identity bloggers have on blogs. Bloggers can have multiple blog with different identities. This is an option for bloggers because of how easy it is to set up a blog on line. The audience of blogs also have the freedom to follow blogs without letting bloggers know their identity. It give blog users freedom to say what they are thinking or feeling.

The End of Books

In the article, “The End of Books”, Robert Coover discusses how books, print media, and the traditional novel are all losing its value. I found it interesting how it discussed how in the past a novel was “the epic of the middle-class world”. It is true though that the end of print media is becoming less popular in comparison to media available through technology on our phones or laptops.

I learned more about what “hypertext” is and the history of how it influences technology. I didn’t know that the term was created before there could be hypertext in reality. I learned that hypertext was discussed in many novels before we used it everyday. A quote I found interesting was “Hypertext reader and writer are said to become co-learners or co-writers, as it were fellow-travelers in the mapping and remapping of textual components, not all of which are provided by what used to be called the author.”

"Smart is the New Sexy"

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/tech/social-media/newspapers-smart-sexy-campaign/index.html

I found that this article caught my eye because of its interesting title. It made me want to know what newspapers are doing to say that ‘smart is the new sexy’. Newspapers are using social media to get attention from younger readers that turn to electronic sources to get their news. The Newspaper Association of America is hoping to promote the value newspaper have through social media and digital outlets.

The campaign uses the word “sexy” to appeal to people without promoting sex. The advertising campaign is promoting newspapers to a younger generation because by using social media they are hoping to increase newspaper readership. They are also encouraging newspaper readers to submit videos on YouTube and Facebook that explain a readers favorite thing about newspapers. This campaign is allowing newspapers to embrace the main cause for the decrease of newspaper subscriptions.

This new approach for the newspapers can make newspaper readership increase if people follow through. The mind of readers has to believe that “smart is the new sexy.”

Technomedia

Dynabook: Personal Dynamic Media

This article had a lot of interesting information about what a personal notebook can do for an individual. I found that it was informative on how such a device would can affect an individual and how we would communicate based on using a 'dynabook'. For things we do everyday it would be able to do for us. This idea is applied to us today through ipads and netbooks and tablets.

This article really pointed how technology could impact an individuals life. There are so many parts of one object that can be shaped and designed to make our lives easier. I do not personally own a tablet or an ipad but I feel that these are sources that help us communicate even more quickly. If a person didn’t have their laptops, smart phones or computers they could use a portable notebook to communicate.

I found it useful to learn from page 393 that “the interactions of humans with their media have been primarily nonconversational and passive...”. Media like books, magazines, and newspapers where you read the information and got the message and didn’t really have to convey a message back immediately after reading it. Text messaging, social media, email are types of communication where instant response is practically mandatory.

Facebook Turning Purple for LGBT Spirit Day: How to Change your Profile Picture

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/facebook-turning-purple-for-spirit-day_n_1020086.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

For years, LGBT activists have been in the news fighting for their rights. They have a history of using social media to raise awareness and break down barriers set by society. On October 20 Facebook will be showing its support to the LGBT community by changing its best known blue hue to purple. They have partered with GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, to show their support for Spirit Day. GLAAD is encouraging users of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. to change their profile pictures where they are wearing purple showing that they support LGBT activists. Other companies will be doing similar things to show their support. For example, AT&T will be lighting up their headquarters purple and Yahoo! employees will be dressing in purple to work.

Social media is important for this cause because it is the fastest most efficient way of getting information out to people. Working with the social media companies like GLAAD is doing with Facebook is a good step. They will be able to reach millions this way because Facebook users will wonder why Facebook is purple instead of the usual blue.