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Discuss the explosive popularity of social media sites such as YouTube and Flickr. What makes them so attractive? How can the power of social media be leveraged? Is there a cost?
I dread being embarassed in front of people I respect. Has this ever happened to you? You are at social gathering with some colleagues, relaxing while interacting. Suddenly, you are put on the spot and asked to form an opinion on a subject you are vaguely familiar with. Wouldn’t it be nice to push “pause”, do some research on the topic, gather your data and sources, formulate your best response, and finally, push “play”? No one wants to look foolish, especially in front of people you respect. When applying technology through social media sites, we are afforded the opportunity to acquire data and respond. Social media allows us to become absorbed in our own private (although you can make these public) “think-spaces”.
Creating content in the privacy of your “think-space” is comfortable and non-threatening. Unlike, meeting people face to face, we can pause and think about our responses or opinions on a social media site. When having an intellectual conversation in person, it can be awkward to pause and retrieve the best response. There always seems to be a lengthy period of silence as the responder sifts through the many neural connections forged over the course of their life, looking for the best answer. Our fragile ego begins to play tricks with the mind: “They must think I’m slow because I am not answering them as quickly as I/they would like.” However, posting/writing/vlogging our responses can disguise these types of social shortcomings. It allows us to slow down and think of our best response. This actually portrays our intelect in a more accurate and rewarding manner. Some people I respect the most for their intelect are actually social misfits. But, get them to respond to queries via e-mail/g-mail and they reflect their true intelligence. Social media sites afford the user to state opinions and thoughts without the fear of being judged immediately. This delay alleivates the consequences of social faux-paus. Some of which are: being laughed at, riduculed, ostrasized, or singled out for personality attacks.
In my opinion, there’s a percentage of Americans (and maybe humans in general) who would rather watch an event. We watch television, sports, mother nature, musical performances, artistic expression, and others in a crowd. When we want entertainment, generally we gravitate to some form of voyeurism. We like to watch others in their successes and failures. (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997294-4,00.html) And another percentage of Americans (and in general, humans) who like to show off. Look at my life, look at my house, look at what I can do, basically “LOOK AT ME!!!” The explosive popularity of social media sites can be explained, in part, by the need to satisfy these two personality types.
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Social media is not bound to one or two sources. Content in social media can take the form of text, graphics, audio, or video. Several formats can be mixed. Social media is typically available via feeds, enabling users to subscribe via feed readers(RSS, Atom), and allowing other publishers to create mashups. Social Media signifies a broad spectrum of topics and has several different connotations. There is no set number of pages or hours. The audience can participate in social media by adding comments or even editing the stories themselves. In the context of Internet marketing, Social Media refers to a collective group of web properties that are driven by users. For example, blogs, discussion boards, vlogs, video sharing sites and dating sites. Nielsen NetRatings reports , sites which allow users to participate in the creation of content are the reason behind the boom in the top 10 fastest growing web brands in the U.S. These include MIXX, Facebook, and Flickr.
We are the dead center of our own lives. And we have many social contacts all around us. These contacts are part of a bigger network of people, information, and news. Visualize a pebble causing a ripple in a puddle of water. We are the pebble. Our friends would be the first few rings. Our colleagues the next few. Our colleague’s contacts and social network the next few. And so on.
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One of the biggest advantages of social networking via media, is the speed at which information compiles. Quality information floods the internet every minute. Current news articles, whimiscal stories, advice, and life management topics to name a few. All of our immediate social contacts and those contacts on the outer ring, who we may not know personally, can be leveraged as our own researchers/gatherers of information. This insures, quality information percolates to us.
