A Tour de Flake

In a world where communication technology is ever-changing, adapting and improving, it is hard to keep up with the latest and greatest.

Well, that could have been said a few years back but no longer can we use that as an excuse. I introduce Pageflakes, a dynamic part content aggregator, part personalized homepage that can place all that you would want to know about a subject right at your fingertips- well your digital “fingertips” that is.

So to all you social network nuts or even the social networking confused I say, “Your Welcome.” I have created a Pageflake that is a home base for all the valuable blogs, academic articles, and news that I have discovered through Diigo, Delicious, and onward. Think of the Text, Tweet or Talk flake as a hub for information regarding what is going on in the world of interpersonal communication today. Whether you want to know what is the new, hot techie trend via Mashable.com or the effect that social media trends are having on parents and teens, no problem. The content is sent straight to this one page.

Now at first glance, my Pageflake could look confusing or overbearing to someone who is new to Pageflakes. I myself found exploring a flake to be fairly confusing at first. Because of this, I am providing you with what I will call a “Tour de Text, Tweet and Talk;” in essence, a walking tour of my flake.

So grab your walking shoes and cameras and let’s head out into the content aggregator abyss.

UNIVERSAL SEARCHES

Here I provided two universal search flakes pre-loaded with search phrases. For the universal blog search I entered the phrase “online networking trends” as a default search terms. After many combinations of the words social, networking, media, communication, trends, etc., the chosen combination brought up the most salient blog resources. For my universal news search default search I chose “social networking trends” which brought up pertinent news articles that explore new findings regarding social networking sites.

Watch your step: A lot of what is brought up has to do with more of the business side of social networking, such as marketing or advertising, but nonetheless gems can be weeded out amongst the pile.

MY BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to providing links to purely online web content, I have included an annotated bibliography that includes fourteen additional academic peer-reviewed sources that pertain to interpersonal communication trends.

A Must See Scenic Stop: My favorite source that I came upon via research was danah boyd’s article titled “Facebook’s Privacy Trainwreck." boyd (yes, purposely lowercase) is a well-known scholar that I have studied in many of my communication classes so to discover her thoughts on Facebook’s effect on communication and privacy was really exciting. Don’t miss out on that one.

My selection includes a large amount of newspaper articles as I found them to be the most straightforward and simplistically insightful regarding social media trends. While searching, I found many research journal reports regarding social effects but they were a little too scientifically-dense. After reading about “placebo group N200” and “25% yields” (both which I have no clue what they are referring to) I decided to include the resources that readers (and myself included!) would find the most clear and interesting.

RSS FEEDS

Here you will find up-to-date RSS feeds from ten of my favorite social networking and technology sites that the web has to offer. I have included a spectrum of blogs that explore topics ranging the latest Facebook privacy update to TechMama’s social media tip of the day (Can’t forget those Techmama’s!). As a heads up, some of my sites tend to be a little technology heavy, but that does not mean that sources exploring interpersonal trends are not there. Interlaced between a post on the latest iPhone application and Dell’s latest notebook PC is - eureka! - an article that explains how Facebook is changing the job marketplace.

Status' Tourist Tip: For blogs with more analysis into the social effects media trends have on society visit the Social Media Today feed as well as Trends in Communication feed.

MY SOULMATES’ BOOKMARKS

And for all of you that were wondering how things are going between me and JJ, you have no need to worry. Things are still going strong in my relationship with my social bookmarking soulmate, JoannesJacobs. It is still a match made in bookmarking heaven. Since JJ has provided me with some intriguing and informative web resources via his Selicious blog list, I have included an RSS feed on my Pageflake that provides a few of his latest tags. Therefore, the flake is not solely filled with content that I personally have found exciting but content from my fellow social networking friend is included as well.

THE FINAL STOP

As the tour comes to a halt you have only one thing to do: dive in! Explore the different RSS feeds, news results and article references that my Pageflake provides. I am sure you will find something you find interesting. And perhaps you will Tweet about it…or text your friend about it…or who knows, even talk (Gasp! A real phone call!) about it.

-Status

Direct link to the Pageflake:
http://www.pageflakes.com/texttweetortalk/

It is with great happiness that I introduce my soul mate....

Let it be declared that I have found my soul mate…well, my social bookmarking soul mate at least. After searching the Delicious user base high and low for my perfect match, I have found him: joannesjabcobs. Like myself, joannesjacobs (now on referred to as JJ) is utilizing social bookmarking tools to explore information regarding social networking tools, present interpersonal communication trends and the new technologies that are facilitating these changes. JJ’s top five bookmark tags are web 2.0, social media, trends, business, and social networking; all very pertinent to what I am exploring on this blog. And even though this is going to be a long distance relationship (as I have come to the conclusion that he is bookmarking somewhere in the UK), I think JJ and I are going to be a match made in social bookmarking heaven.

I would consider JJ to be the wiser, more experienced mate in this relationship as he has been using Delicious for his bookmarking needs since April of 2006. From that time, he has accumulated 533 bookmarks that he has labeled with 449 tags. Pretty impressive. I myself just joined the Delicious community last week and have about twenty bookmarks so far. Looks like I have a lot to learn!

It appears that JJ adds new bookmarks to his list about every one or two days, which attests to the usefulness that social bookmarking provides for its users. JJ has used Delicious and tagging to create a database of resources regarding social media trends that spans from 2006 to today. Although he does not comment on each individual tag, he does utilize a wide variety of descriptive tags to organize his findings. With this multitude of web resources organized and filed by unique and deliberate tags, all of his research and important finds are easy to find and can be accessed from any computer.

Speaking of JJ’s “finds,” I was very impressed with the articles that he had found regarding social bookmarking news and research. His bookmarks are unique and full of substance. In fact, the overall brilliant gem that I discovered in JJ’s list was on the first page of his bookmarks. Two weeks ago, on June 3rd to be exact, JJ bookmarked an article from the UK’s Channel4 “Platform 4” blog titled, “Technology, kids, and telly.” The article reports on some astonishing statistics that the channel found while conducting a research study titled “A Beta Life.” This study focused on the relationship young adults, ages 12-24, have with technology and produced some very remarkable statistics. Here are some stats the article reports:

• They personally own 8 devices (including MP3 player, PC, TV, DVD player, mobile phone, stereo, games console, and digital camera).
  
• They frequently conduct over 5 activities whilst watching TV. 25% of them agree that “I’d rather stay at home than go on a holiday with no internet or phone access.”
  
• A quarter of young people interviewed text or IM (instant message) friends they are physically with at the time.
  
• They have on average 123 friends on their social network spaces.
  
• And the first thing the majority of them do when they get home is turn on their PC.

While these figures did not surprise me in the least, they do provide some enlightenment for older generations regarding the intense relationship young adults have with their technology. The statistics reported from this study support the very arguments and observations that I have been making on this blog; that a large portion of my generation’s interpersonal interactions revolve around the social networking sphere. I guess you could say that my generation’s soul mate is our iPhone that provide us access to our Facebook accounts, since we seem to nurture that relationship more over any other.

With the ability to discover interesting article’s such as the “Technology, kids and telly” on JJ’s bookmark list, I would definitely consider JJ’s resource collection to be a valuable resource for myself and my blog’s readers. Seeing as I can use JJ’s finds as sources for my blog, I feel that I have the ability to find an even greater amount of web resources. As we know, two heads searching for information can find more resources than one can alone. Ahhh...this looks to be a beginning of a beautiful relationship.

-Status

Trifecta

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace. It is hard to imagine my life without the trifecta having some presence in my daily routine. But the truth is my life has not been characterized by these social networking sites for very long at all: I only joined the Facebook community a mere four years ago. I guess you could say that these sites have poked, nudged and tweeted their way into my life at lightning speed. But I am not the lone casualty in this social networking invasion. I am just one in the masses. There is no avoiding the kool-aid: social networking sites are changing the way we communicate with each other and inter-personal communication will never be the same.

As I was reflecting on how social networking sites have changed how I personally communicate with those around me, I realized something astonishing. I could not remember the last time I called one of my friends simply to ask them what they were up to or to see what their plans were for the night. I mean the last time I literally dialed the number and had a conversation.

If you are anything like me and my peers that I observe around me, vocal conversation is dwindling and is being quickly replaced with text messages, Facebook wall posts and iChat conversations. It seems that no longer does anyone have the desire to pick up the phone and call someone. We would rather spend 5 minutes typing up a conversation that could have been completed in a 30 second phone call. Is this because our cellular phone minutes are so few and oh-so-precious that we do not want to risk going over our minutes? I would bet no. I myself hardly pick up the phone just to have a good “chat” with someone (other than my mother, of course).

As an undergraduate college student, I feel that I am in a great position to witness this communication revolution. In addition to observing these changes in interpersonal communication, I want to analyze what effect these changes have on society. I am a communication major so I hope to utilize what I have learned in the classroom and apply it to my analysis. I also am minoring in web technology and am a self-proclaimed “tech geek.” I love everything to do with technology and I avidly follow the popular tech blogs (i.e. Mashable and Techcrunch) to keep up with new trends.

I have quite a few questions and topics I hope to address on this blog, such as: What implications does this transition from face to face, vocal interpersonal communication into digital, text based online communication have on our society? Specifically, what effects does the wide spread transition to new mediums of interpersonal communication have on my generation? Will we be able to communicate effectively with older generations?

My roommate last year candidly told me that she never picked up my phone calls and responds in text messages specifically because she feels “awkward” on the phone. Will my generation not be able to interact effectively face to face? Will we become- gasp- “socially awkward?”

Think of me as your Facebook’s “status” update. My blog will keep you updated on the trends in interpersonal communication and enlighten you to what effect these changes have on society. So keep up the Facebooking, MySpacing, and Twittering that we all cannot resist. There is a big change going on in the world around us and we cannot stick our heads in the sand to escape. Let us attack it head on and make the most out of these new tools.

-Status

Profile

Now I know what I want to examine regarding interpersonal communication trends, but what do other communication scholars in the blogosphere have to say about this topic? Are they witnessing the same trends as I am witnessing here on a college campus in sunny Southern California?

After searching a few of the thousands and thousands of blogs just a Google away, I came upon a certain blog that caught my attention. Ian Roberts is the author of a blog titled “Trends in Communication” that addresses just what it is titled- trends in communication. Roberts declares himself a

“social media evangelist with over 30 year experience in Australian PR and journalism.”

As a blogger in Newcastle, Australia, Roberts

“established this Blog as a central point for comment and discussion by communicators about on line PR and the developments surrounding social media.”

Therefore, the purpose of his blog is to provide a realm for communication scholars to analyze and discuss changes in social networking. In addition, any member of the population interested in social networking would also find this blog resourceful as it explains the power these tools have in our social landscape.

Roberts posts every few days, with time between posts ranging from two days to at most a week. Due to the fact that Roberts consistently posts every two or three days, I would assume that the traffic to his site must be fairly constant. However, I would argue that his blog is not a high traffic site as most of his posts did not contain any comments. Seeing as most of the substance for his observations comes from other sites, Roberts’s blog most likely works as a reliable source that links communication scholars to other online resources.

The two most interesting posts that I found on Roberts’ blog were titled “Truly remarkable statistics” and “Business world is getting social media.” Both posts deal with the ever-growing, widespread popularity of Twitter as a communication tool. I found the subject matter of the “Business world…” post to be extremely intriguing. It addressed an even bigger phenomenon of Twitter: the fact that the site

“is also attracting strong usage by the 55 to 64 year old audience –a remarkable step for a social media tool."

Both Roberts' and my blog subject matter is the same. We both focus on the new trends in interpersonal communication and how their growing popularity is changing how our society communicates. Roberts utilizes facts and figures from other web resources in his posts which help to add to the credibility and relevance of his postings. I would describe his posts as academic because he is not simply stating the facts but rather he is making keen observations and coming to conclusions after evaluation. In addition, Roberts’ posts can also be characterized as professional because he utilizes his professional background and experience in this field to address his subject matter.

Let it be said that Roberts' blog posts are undeniably short. My main critique of this blog would have to be this lack of depth and length in his posts. Indeed, the short and concise posts work to maintain clarity for the reader, but they overall lack an ample amount of in-depth analysis. I would like to see his posts expanded further with more of his own voice woven throughout. I feel that lengthening the content of each of his posts would work to make his postings more scholarly and would also help to further his analysis.

I plan to use the topics of his posts as a springboard for ideas to write about on this blog and hope to utilize the figures that he finds as support for my own observations where they are applicable. Mimicking Roberts’ fashion, my posts will aim to be full of hard facts and figures as I felt that their inclusion provided the most strength for his blog. I will stray from Roberts’ blog in that the posts on my site will be much longer and in depth, as I feel that greater length is necessary in order to effectively address a topic.

So as Roberts’ makes astute observations and analysis down under in Australia, I too will analyze social networking trends here on the U.S. west-coast. Of course, with a college-student twist!

-Status


Voice Critique

I have a question for the younger readers of my blog: how many of you have experienced the horror of your parents, aunts, uncles, or yes, even grandparents signing up for a Facebook account and adding you as a “friend?” Or maybe it is the MySpace or Twitter community that your parent or older relative has joined. Regardless of the exact online social networking community, the thought of one’s elders logging on and being able to “scope out” our online lives is a horrific thought for most. I myself have not been lucky enough to have my mother or father sign up for a Facebook account, but I have watched my friends freeze in terror when they receive that “You have one new friend request” message waiting in their inbox with- oh yes- their parent as that special new friend.

Well my friends, I have found the source of the younger generation’s panic: behold “Techmamas,” the online blog that teaches the mothers of the world the ins-and-outs of the new social networking phenomenon that is captivating America’s youth. Consider yourselves warned. As much as we would like the social media realm to be our area of interpersonal communication, it is simply not the case. The very appeal of most of these social media communities is that anyone can join and communicate with others. And yes, that anyone does indeed include our parents.

Now, as a college student with a family home in Texas eager to know what I am up to far away on the west coast, you would think that I would dislike the existence of blogs such as “Techmamas” that give away the social networking secrets. But I have to admit, I actually think the blog is quite brilliant. I enjoy founder Beth Blecherman’s attitude, ideas and overall voice that characterizes her unique blog. Blecherman’s blog does something similar to what I want to do with this blog: she breaks apart new trends, presents her analysis and finally provides instructions on how to deal with new trends in interpersonal communication. But Beth, on the other hand, does it for the audience of American mothers.

Her voice is conversational yet informative, like a weekly coffee-talk session between moms. She uses stylish lingo such as

“social media savvy moms”

and

“moms who tech”

to refer to her readers rather than isolating them as an anomaly in a digital world that seems to be occupied by younger generations. One post that best shows her voice in blogging is her post from April 16th, titled “Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, Twitter and Social Media Savvy Moms.” The post is extremely short, but she supplies her readers with the knowledge that many would probably find interesting: that Oprah tweets. She writes

What do Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, Social Media Savvy Moms have in common? They are all on Twitter! Tomorrow Oprah will tweet for the first time from The Oprah Winfrey Show. Ashton Kutcher is on a Tweetrace to get 1 million followers on Twitter. And to celebrate, TechCrunch posts about it - but the title inspired me to write a RANT over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Her clever and conversational voice presents the information regarding the world of adult social media usage in both an intriguing and critical manner. Her sentences are short and to the point. She explains how unfavorable news coverage regarding adult social networking use has led her to “rant” on her Twitter about it. By presenting the information in a voice that can be understandable to even the most tech un-savvy readers, she widens the scope of her possible audience and provides them with “tech” things they can do themselves (i.e. rant about their pestering teens on their Twitter accounts).

Blecherman’s voice stays consistent throughout her blog as she is constantly relaying information in charming, fun ways. She makes one thing clear through it all: moms can be tech savvy. The post titled “Digital Moms Panel at Google” displays her stylistic word choice very clearly. She uses adjectives such as “thrilling” to describe the panel and conveys emotions of pride and feelings of unity throughout. She refers the group with the pronoun “we,” evoking unity as moms who communicate in the digital world. Here she describes the panel:

We sat down before the panel to say hi, and although some of us had never met live - we felt like we knew each other already from online social networking.

Her voice and word choice complements the subject she is blogging about as it proves the very thing that she is arguing for throughout her entire blog: that moms can and do communicate via the same social networking tools that their kids use.

So my fellow peers, watch out. With effective sites such “Techmamas” popping up on the internet giving the social media “how-to” for adults, we may just find the social networking landscape filled with new “techmamas” and “techpapas.”

-Status

"Well the real question is, are you guys Facebook official?"

Have you ever taken the time to go through your friend list on Facebook just to see exactly who you are friends with? I recently sat down and went through my “friend” list only to realize that the majority of people who I was friends with were not really people I considered to be my friend. The list consisted of individuals from a wide array of accounts of how they became my “friend:” there were people that went to my high school but I never really talked to, random assorts of people who go to my university that I cannot remember ever meeting, and individuals I met once on vacation in 2004 (or some other equally obscure fashion). There were even a few people that I had NO idea who they were and with whom we had no friends in common (no worries, I promptly preceded to remove such individuals from my friend list and send them back into the facebook abyss.)

Well the point behind my large list of Facebook friend scenarios is one crucial fact: people that I call my “friend” on Facebook are not really my friends at all. Social networking sites are dynamically changing the meaning of “friendship,” with arguably Facebook being the greatest culprit as it uses the word “friend” to denote the individuals that you make connections with on their interface. Some of you might argue in response, “Well hey Status, I know these individuals are not really my friends so what is your point? I know who my friends are and who my friends are” and I would have to agree. I too know who is my true friend and who is my Facebook friend. But I feel that it is naive to say that these social networking websites that are taking up so much of our time and energy are not having a lasting effect on our relationship dynamics.

“Oh my gosh, so is it Facebook official?”- I have heard this phrase spoken from my peers countless times over the years since I joined the Facebook community in 2005. And sadly, I would have to admit that I have said the phrase myself (eek!). What one means by “Facebook official” is has your relationship escalated to the level that you have declared it on Facebook (i.e. are you listed as in a relationship with person X on your profile?). No longer is romantic relationship legitimized by wearing your significant other’s letterman’s jacket, class ring or even simply by verbalizing “Yes we are in a relationship.” The way to solidify your relationship is to make it public on Facebook, i.e. “Facebook official.”

So what are the implications of the changing meaning of “friendship” and even the movement to legitimizing romantic relationships in the cyberspace realm? I would argue that such changes are making the process of becoming an individual’s true friend even more challenging for my generation. Yes, you can take the step to friend an individual on Facebook and know all about their lives by going through the 2000 or so pictures of them tagged on their profile…but do you really know them? For me it is scary to think that someone can have the impression that they “know” me since by being my “friend” they have access to digital snapshots of everything I have done in my life since junior year of high school. The dynamics of relationships are changing because even though we can familiarize ourselves with a person, almost to a degree that prior was not possible after just meeting a person, we are going to have to make an even greater effort to legitimize friendships. To truly become friends it is going to have to take more than “friending” them on Facebook, chatting through Facebook chat or viewing their pictures. Contact needs to be made outside the digital realm; a concept I have noticed that many (myself included) are having trouble initiating.

So how do we take our “friendships” beyond the Facebook realm and become friends? More to come…

Watch out youngins, here come the "Techmamas"

For the younger people who are reading my blog, those between the ages of 10 to 30, how many of you have experienced the horror of your parents, aunts or uncles, or yes even grandparents signing up for a Facebook account and adding you as a “friend?” Maybe it is the MySpace or Twitter community that your parent or older relative is joining. Regardless of what online social media community your relatives are joining, the thought of one’s elders logging on and being able to “scope out” our online lives is horrifying for most. I myself have not been lucky enough to have my mother or father sign up for a Facebook account but I have watched my friends as they freeze in horror when they receive that “You have one new friend request” message waiting in their inbox with their parent as that special new friend.

Well my friends, I have found the source of the younger generation’s panic: “Techmamas,” the online blog that teaches the mothers of the world the ins and outs of these new social media phenomenons that are captivating America’s younger population. So look out my fellow peers, as much as we would like for the social media realm to be our area of interpersonal communication it is just not the case. The very appeal to most of these social media communities is that anyone can join and communicate with others, and that anyone, to some people’s dismay, does indeed include our parents as well.

Now being a college student with a family at home in Texas that is curious what I am up to far away on the west coast, you would think that I would dislike the existence of blogs such as “Techmamas.” But actually I think the blog is quite brilliant and enjoy the founder Beth Blecherman’s attitude, ideas and overall voice on the blog. Blecherman’s blog does something similar to what I want to do with this blog: she breaks apart, analyzes, comments and provides instructions on how to deal with new trends in interpersonal communication. Beth on the other hand does it for the audience of American mothers.

Her voice is conversational yet informative, like those weekly coffee-talk sessions between moms. She uses stylish lingo such as “social media savvy moms” and “moms who tech” to refer to her readers rather than isolating them as an anomaly in a digital world that seems to be occupied by younger generations. One post that best shows her voice or style in blogging is her post from April 16th, titled “Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, Twitter and Social Media Savvy Moms.” The post is extremely short, but she supplies her readers with the knowledge that many would probably find interesting: that Oprah tweets. She writes

What do Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, Social Media Savvy Moms have in common? They are all on Twitter! Tomorrow Oprah will tweet for the first time from The Oprah Winfrey Show. Ashton Kutcher is on a Tweetrace to get 1 million followers on Twitter. And to celebrate, TechCrunch posts about it - but the title inspired me to write a RANT over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Her clever and conversational voice provides the information of what is going on in the world of adult social media usage in an intriguing manner yet she presents the facts critically as well. Her sentences are short and to the point. She explains how news coverage on the topic has led her to “rant” on her Twitter about it. By presenting the information in a voice that can be understandable to even the most tech un-savvy readers she widens the scope of her possible audience and provides them with tech things they can do themselves (i.e. rant about their pestering teens on their Twitter accounts).

Blecherman’s voice stays constant throughout her blog as she is consistently relaying information in charming fun ways but she makes one thing clear through it all: moms can be tech savvy. The post titled, “Digital Moms Panel at Google” displays her voice very clearly. She uses adjectives such as “thrilling” to describe the panel and conveys emotions of pride and feelings of unity throughout. She refers the group with the pronoun “we” evoking unity as “moms” who communicate in the digital world. Here she describes the panel:

We sat down before the panel to say hi, and although some of us had never met live - we felt like we knew each other already from online social networking

Her voice and word choice complements the subject she is blogging about because proves the very thing that she is arguing for throughout her entire blog: that moms can and do communicate via social networking tools that their kids use.

So my fellow peers watch out. With effective sites such as this popping up on the internet giving the “how to” for adults, we may just find the social networking landscape filled with “techmamas” and “techpapas.”

What I Want To Blog About and Blogger's Profile

My proposed theme that I wish to focus on this semester via my blog postings and subsequent papers is the trends in interpersonal communication and what the effects these trends have on society are; i.e. what effect does the emergence and focus on mediums such as Twitter, texting, social networking sites etc have on interpersonal communication within our society. After researching blogs that addressed this topic, I chose to profile a blog titled “Trends in Communication,” whose subject matter is described as a “conversation about social media, PR, and journalism.” The blog is written by Ian Roberts, who describes his relation to the field as a “social media evangelist with over 30 year experience in Australian PR and journalism.” Ian Roberts “location in the field” is in Newcastle, Australia, where he “established this Blog as a central point for comment and discussion by communicators about on line PR and the developments surrounding social media.” Roberts posts every few days, with time between posts ranging from two days to about a week. In regards to the popularity of the blog, I had trouble finding out the blogs particular rank or exactly how many hits the blog receives daily, but due to the fact that Roberts consistently posts every two or three days, I would assume that the traffic to his site must be fairly constant, therefore leading to his motivation to post fairly often.

The two most interesting posts that I found on Roberts’ blog were titled “Truly remarkable statistics” (http://timeschange.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/truly-remarkable-statistics/) and “Business world is getting social media” (http://timeschange.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/twitter-attracting-professionals/). Although both posts are very short, they offer hard figures regarding the ever-growing widespread popularity of Twitter as a communication tool and the latter post addresses an even bigger phenomenon: that “Twitter is also attracting strong usage by the 55 to 64 year old audience –a remarkable step for a social media tool."

This blog relates very well in regards to the topic that I wish to blog about this semester in that it focuses on the new mediums of interpersonal communication and how their growing popularity is changing how our society communicates. Roberts utilizes facts and figures from other web resources in his posts which help to add to his credibility and relevance of his postings. I would definitely describe his posts as academic because he is not just stating the facts regarding the changes that are occurring in interpersonal communication but rather he is making keen observations and coming to conclusions after he evaluates these facts. Roberts’ posts can also be characterized as professional because he is using his professional experience and background in this field to present his argument.

My main critique of this blog would have to be the lack of depth and length of the majority of his posts. Most all of his posts are very short and concise, which works to maintain clarity for the reader but it also does not provide much of an in-depth analysis. I feel that lengthening the content of each of his posts would work to make his postings seem more scholarly and would also help to further his analysis of these ongoing trends. I would argue that the audiences of Roberts’ blog are interpersonal communication scholars and any member of the population interested in the direction that communication in our society is heading. Anyone who is interested learning more about using Twitter, social networking sites, etc may find Roberts’ blog useful in that it explains what a powerful tool such mediums can be and also attests to the growing importance these tools have in our social landscape.

This blog might feed my work in that I can use the topics of his posts as a springboard for ideas to write about on my own blog and I could use the figures that he finds as support for my own observations. My site will differ in that I am not interested in what direction journalism is heading, a topic that Roberts covers on his blog, but rather I will focus on trends in interpersonal communication and how these new tools are affecting our communication with each other, not on how we are communicating widespread news. The posts on my site will also be much longer and in depth in comparison to Roberts as I feel that greater length is necessary in order to effectively address a topic.

Hello World!

Welcome!

Can you remember the last time you called one of your friends and asked them what they were doing and what were their plans for the night? And I mean, actually dialed the number and had a conversation? How about the last time you called that specific someone who you are newly interested in just to see how their day was going? If you are anything like me and my peers that I observe around me, vocal conversation is dwindling and is being quickly replaced with text messages, Facebook wall posts and iChat messages. It seems to be that no one has the desire to pick up the phone and call someone but rather they would like to spend 5 minutes to type up a conversation they could have had in a 30 second phone conversation. Is this because our cellular phone minutes are oh so precious and few that we do not want to risk going over our minutes? I’d bet no- as I hardly pick up the phone myself just to have a good “chat” with someone other than my mother.

Here is some information about myself and why I feel the need to explore these issues. I am a female undergraduate student on the west coast, between the ages of 18-24. I am studying communication and minoring in web technology and want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, whether that is in film, television, fashion, new media, etc. I love everything to do with technology: I avidly follow the popular tech blogs to keep up with what is the new thing as it is ever changing (i.e. mashable and techcrunch). In addition to my interest in technology I am also a member of the greek community here at my school and am constantly observing how new media trends are affecting interaction within the community.

Some questions and topics I hope to address on this blog are:

What implications does this transition from face to face, vocal interpersonal communication into digital, text based or online communication have on our society? Specifically, what effects does the wide spread transition to new mediums of interpersonal communication have on my generation? My roommate last year candidly told me that she never picked up my phone calls and responded in text message specifically because she felt “awkward” on the phone. Will my generation not be able to interact as well face to face? Will we become “socially awkward?”

These are some of the topics that I hope to address and ponder on this blog. I want to explore how this transition into new mediums of interpersonal communication such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, texting, etc. is effecting our relations with older generations (i.e. the baby-boomers response to our new communication trends: will they ever be able to adapt or are these mediums suitable for widespread use from all generations?). What are these new mediums doing in regards to the meaning of “friendship” and close relationships with the use of jargon such as “Facebook Friends” and MySpace’s “Top 50” etc.

So tune in as I explore interpersonal communications trends in relation to upcoming technology…there is big change going on in the world around us and we really cannot just stick our heads in the sand to escape. So let us attack it head on and make the most out of these new tools that are becoming available to us while being careful to not be oblivious to the implications such transitions have on society. Read on…