Blog Three

Today in our society almost everyone you know over the age of I say 12 has a facebook, twitter, or MySpace.  Social media has become so big and demanding that it honestly takes over individual’s life to a certain existence. For example, cell phone companies have joined forces with internet providers to allow their customers to access the internet at all times when they are mobile. An example of this would be the Verizon Wireless Incredible phone that not only gives you access to internet on your phone but allows up to five other devices such as a laptop to have access to the internet. This is a great idea because this allows individuals to connect through a phone while they are on their laptop on a road trip, or somewhere else besides their normal wireless area.

There are many strengths and also weaknesses when it comes to social media. This can be for many reasons but the biggest weakness on sites such as facebook, twitter, and myspace do not actually know who you are talking to. Yes, it shows pictures and information but you are not 100% sure that the person your communicating with is the person you want to be communicating with unless they are right next to you.  It’s sad to admit it but predators use these websites to target the younger youth because they are  not always mature enough to fully understand the dangers that come with these sites. When facebook first started you were only allowed to join if you had a college email address. This was because they wanted to have an older group and allow the younger youth to stay with myspace. This however changed over the years as facebook got bigger and now almost everyone is on facebook rather than myspace.

The biggest strength from media groups is being able to stay connected with individuals from your past, such as old high school friends who now play sports at different colleges around the nation, family members from back home, and also peers in your classes in college. I know that I personally use facebook and twitter to do all three of these things because it is easier and I do not have enough time in between school and football to be able to pick up a phone and call everyone to stay in contact.  Another strength social media has is the ability for politicians to campaign over these websites. “Kim and Kann argue that the Internet represents the possibility of greater direct political involvement by people who may not otherwise have a political voice” (Provine, 2010, pg. 232). I know that I personally read about the last presidential campaign on the internet and it honestly helped me decide on whom I was going to vote for because I did not have enough time to actually sit down and watch television during the campaign.

                I honestly am very into social media such as facebook and twitter that I use it daily. I always tweet what I am doing, how I feel, ect. I realized how much I was on twitter and how much my life was revolved around twitter that I gave up twitter for lent as well as other things such as fast food. It was hard and still is hard not to log into twitter and let my followers know what’s going on in my life but I will make the forty days.