Online Footprint

Image Taken from Families First Law Firm

This week's lesson has been eye-opening. In today's world, it can be easy to forget about our online footprint, and the effects it can have on our image and future employment. I currently have accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Each one of my platforms serves a different purpose. For example, I utilize Facebook to stay in touch with my family, whereas I use Instagram to keep up with my friends. While I do my best to ensure that I am only posting appropriate content, my biggest concern is what other people may tag me in. 

It can be difficult to catch everything your friends post especially when they post a story that is only visible for twenty-four hours. I believe that we should all be more cognizant of the content we post of other people. We may not know, for example, that they are currently in the hiring process for a job. If we all look out for one another, hopefully, we can ensure that not only ourselves but also those we are closest to have appropriate online footprints. I think the article "I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what was posted about me" is a great example of why it is necessary to ask for consent before posting a picture of someone else. You do not always know how a friend may feel about a particular picture, or if they would even want it posted.

I also need to be more mindful of how much personal information I am providing on my social media profiles. I know that many can gather I am a college student at High Point University. It is not only evident based on the location of my posts, but it also is included in my bio on Instagram. Additionally, viewers easily discover where I call home because I have several posts that are located in my hometown, even giving specifics of events that I have attended.  

Is this information I want people to know about me? I assume only my friends and family are viewing me on social media platforms, but that is far from the truth.  The reality of the internet and social media is that any person could find this personal information. Sad to admit, but our parents are often right on so many levels.  I can hear my Dad in my head saying "Do not post anything while we are on vacation...we don't want to go home and find someone has broken into our home because they realized we were on vacation because you posted something on your phone!"

For my generation, we are an immediate, conversational, in-the-moment, need to share group of people.  It may be difficult, but we need to hit the 'pause' button and think about what we truly want to share, not just with our friends and family, but ultimately those beyond our familiar circle.  The world has access to more than we know.   

Diffusion of Innovations

Image taken from Pixabay

Using the diffusion of innovations theory, created by Everett Rodgers, I would like to explore one of the more recent social media platforms: Snapchat. The innovators period began when Snapchat was created by three Stanford University students Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy in 2011. The premise of Snapchat was a social media app where content disappeared within moments. The original name for the platform was Picaboo, but the name was quickly changed to Snapchat in September of 2011.

Image taken from Wikipedia

Today, Snapchat has 360 million users each month. Clearly, the platform has made it big, but how did it get there? Using the diffusion of innovations theory, the early adopters of the platform were college and high school students in and around Stanford University and the
Los Angeles area. Eventually, the app's popularity began to spread to other geographic areas with the early majority of users still comprising mostly high school and college students. An article by Forbes discussed the importance of timing in the success of Snapchat. If you think about 2011, many smartphones came out with a camera on the front screen, which allowed users to easily take selfies. This separate innovation, in my opinion, propelled the popularity of Snapchat.

Snapchat is almost ten years old, but the platform continues to evolve to attract more users. It's hard to say if Snapchat's popularity will eventually decline. If other social media sites are any indication, it truly depends on how Snapchat chooses to adapt to the other innovations in technology. For now, the founders of Snapchat can be pretty proud of the platform's success.

Links:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/16/how-snapchat-gained-success-by-going-viral-at-high-schools-across-los-angeles/#75d494173b36
https://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-snapchat

Values of Free Expression

Free expression is a fundamental cornerstone of the United States. The right to freely express your thoughts, distastes, or even radical ideas has been given to the American people since the founding of our nation. While there are eight values of free expression, I believe that the most important one is the check on governmental power. The media's ability to check the government has become known as the "watchdog role."

Image taken from Zapiro

The watchdog role is the most important value of free expression because, without it, the other values would not exist. In theory, the government has the ability to limit the media. If the government were able to limit the free expression of the media, what would be stopping them from limiting the free expression of all citizens? The answer is simple, nothing. Therefore, with the media reporting on the government's every move, it makes it nearly impossible for the media to be silenced because the American people would not support the decision. This watchdog role ensures that the other seven values of free expression still exist.

We can take this idea of the watchdog all the way back to our nation's founding fathers. An article by James Bikales in the Harvard Political Review quoted Thomas Jefferson from a letter written in 1787. Jefferson said, "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." I find it telling that one of the most influential people in the construction of our government and a future president of the United States would rather have the media without a government. I believe this highlights the importance of the media's checks on the government.

Why does all of this matter? It can be easy to go about our daily life not thinking about the rights that we, fortunately, have as citizens of the United States. However, this passive approach to our fundamental rights is how they can be easily taken away. The media provides citizens with the ability to read and watch what our government is doing. Without the media watching our back, the government could easily begin limiting our freedoms because we often are not paying attention to them ourselves.

I hope this serves as a reminder to pay attention to your fundamental rights. While it is nice to rely on the watchdog media, it is also our duty as citizens to check and balance our government.

Links
https://www.zapiro.com/961022so
https://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/the-nations-watchdog/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716295537000010

Virtual Reality and Live Music

Image taken from Pixabay

We all know the joy and excitement of going to a concert of your favorite musical artist. In today's day and age, however, tickets have become harder and hard to buy. With popular artists, the tickets could sell out in mere minutes. Additionally, concerts are quite expensive, especially if you have to buy the tickets on resale. Well, virtual reality could be the new way to see your favorite artists.

MelodyVR, a virtual reality company, specializes in bringing musical perforces to VR headsets. Since its founding in 2018, MelodyVR has been able to work with a variety of different artists. MelodyVR allows users to switch locations while streaming the concert, whether they want to view from the crowd, backstage, or with the band.

Image taken from Pikrepo

The whole concept sounds pretty cool. I do wonder how virtual reality will change our perception of the world in the future. In theory, we could never have to leave our home to experience musical performances, travel destinations, or other forms of entertainment. This is yet another example of technology changing the way we live on a daily basis.

I believe virtual reality could have implications on how we communicate as well. If VR gets to a place where we are constantly wearing a headset, then face to face communication will decrease significantly. I am not saying that VR will get to that point, but it is definitely something to think about. In the meantime, I am going to look into MelodyVR and see if some of my favorite artists are available to watch.

Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/tech/vr-live-music-intl/index.html

Twitter is Testing a New Feature

Image taken from Pixabay

Twitter is joining many other tech companies by offering disappearing tweets. Twitter is testing disappearing tweets, called Fleets, in Brazil. The concept will allow users to tweet something, and it will delete after 24 hours. The Fleets will not be in a user's regular feed. Instead, it can be viewed by clicking on a profile's picture, or avatar. This feature is similar to Instagram stories or Snapchat. Additionally, Fleets cannot be retweeted or responded to by anyone. Only direct messages can be sent regarding Fleets.

The new feature is already attracting criticism. People are wondering how Twitter will be able to regulate content that disappears after 24 hours. A spokesperson from Twitter said that Fleets are "subject to the same rules as tweets and the company will take enforcement action against violators." It is also important to note that Twitter will keep Fleets in their system even after they disappear. Apparently, this is to help enforce Twitter's terms and conditions. If the Fleet is not in violation, it will eventually be deleted from Twitter's system.

I personally do not use Twitter. However, I am on other social media platforms that use similar disappearing technology. I think the feature can be useful when you want to post a birthday shoutout or even when you want to post a picture but do not want the pressure of getting likes. I believe this new feature could be a good way for Twitter to stay competitive in the tech community. I do think that Twitter needs to be transparent with users and let them know that their 'disappearing' content will be saved for a certain period of time.

It is unclear how long Twitter will test the technology in Brazil before releasing it worldwide. But, only time will tell if Fleets will be a success for Twitter.

Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/tech/twitter-disappearing-tweets/index.html

Evolution of Technology: YouTube

Image takne from Pixabay

YouTube is a platform that I use every day, whether that is for entertainment or educational purposes. There are so many different types of videos on a variety of topics. Until our class presented on the evolution of technology, I had little knowledge of the creation of YouTube. The platform was created in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. It is crazy how quick YouTube has grown considering it was created only fifteen years ago. The platform was originally envisioned to be an online dating service. However, the founders quickly changed the direction of the platform once users began uploading videos of all topics. 

It only took a few months for a video to reach one million views, which proved the power and popularity of YouTube. A year later, Google purchased for 1.65 billion dollars in October of 2006. After Google's acquisition, the platform continued to evolve. In 2007, advertisements were introduced to videos. They began as the little banners that pop up at the bottom of videos. Since then, ads have been added to the beginning of videos, and during the duration of videos. 

Just four years after the creation of YouTube, the site had one billion views a day. Just think about that number for a second. One billion views a day. It is crazy to think about how many people interact with the site daily. I know I add to this number because I use the platform daily. 

So where is YouTube headed? The future of the platform is hard to predict. I believe that YouTube will continue to change with the times. It will be interesting to see what kind of content becomes popular in the future.  I enjoy using the platform, and I hope that it is around for many years to come. 

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-youtube-in-photos-2015-10#october-2010-hurley-a-youtube-cofounder-steps-down-as-ceo-in-his-place-google-appoints-salar-kamangar-who-the-company-says-was-already-leading-youtubes-daily-operations-for-the-last-two-years-25

The Printing Press

Image taken from britannica.com

This week in class we were tasked with choosing something that changed the way people communicate. I chose the printing press. The printing press is a device that allows for the mass production of texts, whether that be books, pamphlets, or even newspapers. According to History.com, an early version of the printing press dates back all the way to around 868 AD in China. However, the printing press was not perfected until 1450 by Johannes Gutenburg.

Johannes Gutenburg

Johannes Gutenburg was a goldsmith and inventor born in Mainz, Germany around 1395. While he did not perfect the printing press until 1450, he began working on his invention many years prior. Gutenburg created only one book, a Bible. Today, it is commonly referred to as the Gutenburg Bible. He created around 180 copies of the Bible, with each one being slightly different from one another.

How it Works

To make the letters, metal was poured into individual molds. Once the metal was cooled, rods were attached to each letter. The rods could then be arranged and rearranged to form different words and sentences. Paper was clamped by the press, and the letters were pressed into the paper. While this may seem like a tedious process by today's modern standards, the printing press was a huge step in innovation. Prior to Gutenberg's invention, texts were often hand-copied, which took exponentially more time than the printing press. Clearly, the printing press was the most efficient way to mass-produce books, pamphlets, etc.

Impact

The creation of the printing press increased the spread of ideas. It allowed for literacy rates to increase and higher education rates. The printing press also helped ordinary people gain information. It was no longer just the wealthy that were able to learn and read about new innovations. It was able to bridge the gap on a variety of levels. Additionally, the printing press allowed for the creation of the first newspaper, which is still a prevalent mode of communication today.

Concluding Thoughts

Clearly, Johannes Gutenberg created something that transformed the distribution of information and knowledge. The printing press was revolutionary. It allowed for lower-income individuals to have access to information that once was only available to the wealthy. Without the creation of the printing press, we may not have things like newspapers today. Next time you pick up a book, a newspaper, or even a flyer, think about Johannes Gutenberg and how far technology has come. We should all be thankful for his innovation and creativity.


Sources:
1. https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press
2. https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-gutenberg-bible
3. https://www.biography.com/inventor/johannes-gutenberg
4. https://www.howitworksdaily.com/see-inside-the-gutenberg-printing-press/
5. https://www.britannica.com/technology/printing-press