Social Media - Week Two Journal Entry

Uggg, the dreaded journal!  Regardless of understanding the learning potential surrounding this activity, I just cannot make myself like journal writing! 

Like so many other things, "like" does not correspond with "do."  Since "do" corresponds with "grade," I will "do!"

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by this week's required readings.

My introduction with the required text Personal Connections in the Digital Age by Nancy Baym was very pleasant. 
I found Chapter One interesting, easy to read, and very informative.  

Points from Chapter One I found interesting enough to highlight included:

• People always respond to new media with confusion (this is my general reaction!)
• There is concern that the communication of today has become shallow (communication of today does seem to lack personality, depth, and content)
• Digital media has changed the nature of our social connections (One does not necessarily have to be "social" to connect these days!)
• We are trapped by the same state of perpetual contact that empowers us (Is there a digital "do not disturb"?  If so, would anyone even care or oblige?)
• Face to face communication now harbors a specialness due to its full range of cues, irreplicability, and shared physical space (Is this a good thing, or just really sad?)
• The internet was not built as a personal communication medium, it was developed to safeguard military knowledge ( I have never really thought about the birth of the internet.  This segment detailing the back story of the internet was fascinating!)
• Just under a quarter of the world's population use the internet (No way!  I would have guessed this number to be significantly higher)
• I am a "netizen" (Really, another label!)

With regard to the additional readings (articles) most were interesting and informative.  The articles I chose to read discussed Twitter demographics and American social media users.  While the information highlighting American social media users was not surprising, it was interesting.  I was surprised that many older Americans utilize social media to connect with friends. 

Regarding Twitter, I was surprised that ethnicity rates among Twitter users is so drastic with primary users being African American.  (I have to say my surprise surprises me, it just does!) 

I also read an article by Dunlap, J. C., and Lowenthal, P. R. (2009). Tweeting the night away: Using twitter to enhance social presence which discussed the use of Twitter in online classrooms to create social presence.  Considering I have yet to discover much value in Twitter and tweeting, this article was very insightful.  Being an online learner, I can attest to the isolation and lack of connection between fellow peers and an instructor.  This article explained how two instructors use Twitter as an informal meeting place for learners to get to know one another and their instructors.  Evidently, tweeting with peers builds connections, promotes motivation, and facilitates learner engagement.  (Maybe after I figure out how to use Twitter I will get more out of the experience than frustration!)

In closing, what I found most interesting about this week's reading material and the discussion board conversations was the vast differences in defining social media, uses of social media, and frequency of social media use.  Everyone seems to have a slightly different perspective on social media.  Some see social media as rewarding, valuable, and vital to their functioning, others recognize the convenience of social media but do not rely heavily on its use, some see social media as an invasion of privacy, and others consider social media a waste of time.

While our opinions concerning social media are divided, we would probably all agree that social media has definitely impacted our life.  Here is a funny video detailing what could have been...