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