Blog Posting #4- Social Media in the Future

The popularity of social media is continuously growing day by day. The more people there are that join the world of social media, the more technology changes. We can now access almost any social networking tool from our cell phones. How advanced will our social media tools be in the near future?


I think social media will change drastically in the future. I think that phones will become much more similar to computers than they already are. As of now, when you go on Facebook from your phone, it looks different than the actual website. They will be able to use websites on your phones the same way as on a computer. Soon enough, for example, I think you will be able to play your Facebook games right from your phone. Our smart phones will become more "intelligent" when it comes to social media.

 As stated on the Gartner website “The rigid distinction between e-mail and social networks will erode. E-mail will take on many social attributes, such as contact brokering while social networks will develop richer e-mail capabilities”. I think this is very true. Many businesspeople already use social networking sites such as twitter and facebook to communicate. I think businesses will soon create websites dedicated specifically to the employees of their company in order to communicate much more quickly and efficiently. I feel as though those who have not yet become familiar with social media technologies will have a hard time adapting when these tools become mandatory in the business world.

In conclusion I think that there will be many changes made in the near future in the way we use technology for social networking. New tools will emerge for business purposes as well as personal gain. The only thing that we do not know is how much we will advance.

Common-Based Peer Production....can all services/products be generated using these?

Common-Based Peer Production sites are very commonly used to research information. People may think that these sites do not have a big impact on our daily lives, but they do. Wikipedia is the best example of this. When doing a project or just wanting to know what something is, Wikipedia is the site we use most, although teachers usually advise against it. No one actually “owns” this site per say and many of the articles are done by different people. It is an information carrier that is accessible to anyone to obtain information, or to edit the information already posted. In fact, it has almost replaced most online encyclopedias.

There are also many other commonly used examples such as Delicious where you can have other people access your tags. Being able to share knowledge with others gives a person a sense of accomplishment. EBay would be another good example where you can sell your products without having to use a middleman at a pawn shop, etc.

Although the possibilities seem endless when it comes to generating products and services through common-based peer production, there is one service that I can think that where you cannot properly use over the internet. This would be medical assistance. First of all, you cannot be certain that there is a legitimate doctor that you are talking and sharing personal information with. Most times, you will be sharing symptoms with a friend, which may or may not help you properly diagnose, but in most cases it will not. Just because you have similar symptoms does not mean you have the exact same thing as your friend. Receiving medication would be a big issue with this. I am not sure how online prescriptions work but I know I would feel comfortable having a doctor at a clinic writing a prescription in front of me.

Has the quality of news increased or decreased?

There are many pluses and minuses to the amount of information available to us on the web. We are able to be informed much quicker about events, without having to wait until the evening news for the whole story. We are able to hear the stories from eye witnesses to happy or tragic events when they post blogs, or even just update their stauses on facebook or twitter. There are many websites where you can have discussions about events or you can watch it happen on youtube.

Many people credit the information they see on the internet as fact. The bad thing about this is that it could be someone's opinion and therefore the reader would gain information that is biased and would unknowingly agree with this person. Although people can pick and choose which information is true, the ones they choose could actually be incorrect. Some websites could look professional and legitimate, yet still be comepletely incorrect or biased. Another bad thing about news being on the web is that news becomes old much quicker than it does on television. Newer stories become much more important and people could be uninformed about new things that are happening for past events. For example if there is an earthqueake, the story may be interesting online only for a few short weeks because somewhere else a volcano errupts, and the earhtquake victims are forgotten. This does happen on television as well, but the earthquake story would still be in the news, just not the "main event".

I think overall that the quality has infact decreased. I find that these days people who post news online talk mostly about what they think about it rather than just stating facts.

Blog Posting #1

I think that social media is definitely the biggest shift since the industrial revolution. Although some social media tools may only be a fad, others will be around for many years. New ones are being created all the time and older ones are updated and improved to keep up. People consider social media a necessity, it is everywhere! It can no longer be considered a fad because people rely on it too much in their daily lives. It has become routine. They have adapted to this fast-paced way of obtaining information and communicating and it would be very hard to go back.

Social media tools are easily accessible to anyone to update, post and ask questions. Before buying a product you can get the opinions of peers within minutes whether it is a good purchase or not. You could even ask from your phone while in line to buy the product. “78% of consumers trust peer recommendations” (Social Media Revolution 2 Video). Commercials are less effective than the word of mouth. It is accessible from anywhere there is an available wireless network. You cannot look something up without using a social media tool. You can use it to search the news, weather, look for a job, sell items and shop, etc.

Social media brings people together. It could be a user looking for love on a dating site, or someone who graduated from high school twenty years ago reuniting with old friends using facebook. Teenagers and even elementary school kids use social media tools to contact classmates to gossip or for help with homework assignments instead of making a phone call. It is much more convenient because you can contact an unlimited amount of people at one time. People are even able to contact relatives from across the world without worrying about paying long distant charges. Communicating has never been easier. Social media will continue to expand with new users and new social media tools for many years to come.

Heyy

Heyy i am just testing this out