"Congratulations your parents joined Facebook. Your life is officially over..."

So a popular topic that I have talked about frequently on this blog and throughout my writing class is the beloved union of parents and Facebook. The topic never ceases to evoke laughter, cause controversy and create awkward situations. So I just cannot let it go.

I am writing to introduce my new favorite website. It is called "Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook." The site is a blog created by two young women whose parents apparently joined Facebook and when they realized they were not alone, they created a place where all the disgruntled and horrified kids can rant and expose the embarrassing things their older relatives have done on Facebook. Each post comes complete with a web shot that documents the horrific occurrence of parental embarrassment. Posts range from strange profile info, humiliating status updates, awkward private messages and a multitude of other instances of parents trying to be "hip" on the website and miserably failing. At first you kind of feel bad for the parents featured on the site- they are just trying to be cool and fit in, we should not make fun! But then again, if you are willing to put it on cyber space, that is motive enough for others to use it for their comedic pleasure.
Well, we all knew that parents and older relatives on Facebook was a source for potential conflict. But who knew it could be so funny!

Here’s a personal favorite:







P.S.: Something I have been meaning to mention: in class a few weeks ago, my professor explained how he avoids Facebook interaction with his students due to what he called the “creepy tree house effect.” I thought the phrase was absolutely brilliant. He explained professor-student interaction on Facebook as if Facebook was like a tree house you had in your backyard. The tree house is that special, exclusive place where you go with your friends to kick-back and relax and do “kid stuff.” Well imagine your Uncle Jim decided to climb up one day while you and your friends where hanging out in the tree house, just to join in on the “hang.” Boom- suddenly way awkward. The creepy tree house effect explained. Thanks Coach.

Making a Difference

The How
I remember being a child, stuck bored at home during the summer while my parents were away at work. What to do, what to do...play outside? 30 minutes later, the Texas summer heat gets to me and I am back inside. How about some good old television? T.V. during the day time consists of soap operas, infomercials and raunchy talk-shows with subjects such as “Who’s my baby’s daddy?” and “Help, my teen is a monster!” Sounds like great programming for our kids stuck at home to watch right? Wrong. With LAUSD canceling its summer school programs, there are a huge number of kids stuck at home on the couch thinking the same thing, what to do? I myself was blessed enough to come from a family who could afford to send me to day camps and enrichment programs, so my summer days bored on the couch were few and far between. But what about those who are not so privileged, whose parents count on summer school to occupy their kids while they are at work or whose children need the extra instruction because they are struggling during the normal school year? What are they supposed to do now? Spend their summers sinking on the couch, watching Judge Judy?

Well, with the initial push given to us by our writing professor Mark Marino, or “Coach” as he prefers to be called, my class and I created a resource to save the sinking summers of LAUSD youth called SOS Classroom. SOS stands for Save Our Summer and that is what our compilation of online educational resources does for kids; it saves them from a summer without learning. But we are not providing long division worksheets, vocabulary tests or mundane times tables drills. We are providing kids with the tools to learn in a fun environment. Hey, if LAUSD is going to cancel summer school, we can bring the summer school to the kids via the internet. That is our drive behind the site: as individuals who know the importance of an education, we saw the need and made a small step to fill the gap.

I personally feel connected to the Save Our Summer project because I love the way it utilizes technology to facilitate learning. As it is evident from my blog, I consider myself to be a technology geek: I always want to know the latest gadget or web tool and I enjoy finding new resources to help me be a better student. I also love internet games. No, I am not a World of Warcraft fanatic or a Second Life enthusiast, but I do love my casual web games. And what does SOS Classroom do for kids? It provides fun online resources, such as games, that also have an educational component so that kids can have fun and learn at the same time. So your kid wants to spend his time on the computer playing computer games? Okay, deal: have him go online and play one of the games featured on our site; I think he will be surprised that there are educational games that are fun to play as well.

The web is an enormous, often times confusing space where kids can get lost and stumble upon the wrong content, yet I think the internet has the potential to do just as much good as it can harm. SOS Classroom provides the key to unlocking the great resources that are out there amongst the garbage that seems to try to consume us all. Out with the garbage, in with the learning!

The Why
What is it again that you are supposed to do when you are working with children? Do you speak slowly and not use big words? Or do you tell a funny joke? Oh wait, aren’t you supposed to go around and give them all high fives? Jeez why does it feel like it was ages ago when I was a volunteer for vacation bible school back in high school? Just be yourself, everyone says you are great with kids and don’t forget they are just a bunch of seven year olds…they cannot be that brutal. Okay they are lining up outside the door. Coach, why don’t you take the reins here and tell them what to do. I’ll chime in where I feel comfortable. Wait, you are introducing me? I am going to tell them about the site? Crap. And now twenty four pairs of beady eyes atop little fidgety bodies are staring at me, “Miss Michele.” When did I become Miss Michele? Why did I volunteer to come here…I knew I should have signed up to be secretary or something like that for this project. Oh well, here I go…

And that is how my trip to Champions summer camp began. My individual job title for the SOS project was Impact Researcher, meaning that I was responsible for following up with how the site was doing in achieving our goal: saving the kids’ summers. My job was to get feedback regarding the functionality of the site and find out what the kids thought about the site and how we could improve our product. This meant that I had the opportunity make a trip with “Coach,” our professor, to visit Champions summer camp, the day camp for children grades kindergarten through eighth grade with whom we paired to test our site. At Champions, each of the age groups were given an allotted amount of time in the computer lab where they were allowed to explore the site and try out all the games, activities and online resources that we had compiled thus far. It was really exciting to get to see the kids using our site first hand as it was an opportunity to see all of our class’s hard work brought to life.

The group of kids that I worked with during my visit were boys and girls in the second grade and younger. Having to stand and talk in front of a group of around twenty five, six and seven year olds was a lot more intimidating than I had imagined. One thing was for sure: they were full of energy and had attention spans that lasted mere seconds. But one thing was also for sure: they loved working on the computer and loved what resources our site had to offer. Looks like my class, a group of 19 and 20 something college students, actually knew how to compile some great content. Once we got them logged on and exploring away on Tumblebooks.com, it was hard to get them to acknowledge my presence, let alone answer the questions I had for them regarding the site! Luckily, one girl was willing to give her input on the website and had some really bright comments on the sites she liked, what content she had seen before, and what she would change. All in all, I made it past the initial anxiety and had a very insightful and enjoyable trip to Champions.

In addition to my Impact Researcher work, I had other duties that I performed for our Save Our Summer project. Two smaller tasks I had were finding resources for the math grades six through eight section of the website and translating our promotional flyer into Spanish so that we would be able to reach the Latino population as well. I was also able to utilize my social media savviness and helped one of our publicity staff search the Twitter stratosphere for education activists, parents and anyone who might find the SOS project useful.

When I signed up for this section of Writing 340, I knew I was going to be working with blogs but I had no idea that I would also be utilizing Web 2.0 tools in a socially conscious manner in order to do something worthwhile for the greater community. Working on the Save Our Summer project in conjunction with WRIT 340 really gave a unique edge to my USC writing experience in that as the course comes to an end, I leave something in addition to a collection of insightful essays (and insightful they were!). I, along with my class, am leaving a site where kids can learn and have fun at the same time. As a child who loved working with computers, what more could I provide for those coming after me! And with all this academic enrichment, maybe they will eventually end up a Trojan!

So kids, grab onto our life preserver that we have cast out for you amidst the vast digital ocean and save your summer!

The Presentation
Question: What do you get when you combine a talented tuba player, Saucy the learning life-preserver, and sub-par Microsoft Movie maker skills?

Answer: The SOS Classroom theme song music video!

Along with my classmate, Lyndsey Hoh, I created an almost five minute “Ode to the SOS Classroom” that provides a walkthrough and explains all the different resources that can be found on SOSClassroom.org. Lyndsey, a talented musician and music major, volunteered to put her talents to work and compose an original piece, complete with lyrics that showcased the site. I on the other hand, volunteered to complete the technical task of creating a slideshow that paired as a visual counterpart for the track. We wanted to create something that was child-friendly, playful and fun. Something that would get kids excited about the site and provides a mini “how-to.” So our YouTube video was born! You might recognize some of your favorite kids songs mixed in the jingle, just for a little walk down memory lane. Enjoy!

Sending out an SOS...

What is it again that you are supposed to do when you are working with children? Do you speak slowly and not use big words? Or do you tell a funny joke? Oh wait, aren’t you supposed to go around and give them all high fives? Jeez why does it feel like it was ages ago when I was a volunteer for vacation bible school back in high school? Just be yourself, everyone says you are great with kids and don’t forget they are just a bunch of seven year olds…they cannot be that brutal. Okay they are lining up outside the door. Coach, why don’t you take the reins here and tell them what to do. I’ll chime in where I feel comfortable. Wait, you are introducing me? I am going to tell them about the site? Crap. And now twenty four pairs of beady eyes atop little fidgety bodies are staring at me, “Miss Michele.” When did I become Miss Michele? Why did I volunteer to come here…I knew I should have signed up to be secretary or something like that for this project. Oh well, here I go…

And that is how my trip to Champions summer camp began. My individual job title for the SOS project was Impact Researcher, meaning that I was responsible for following up with how the site was doing in achieving our goal: saving the kids’ summers. My job was to get feedback regarding the functionality of the site and find out what the kids thought about the site and how we could improve our product. This meant that I had the opportunity make a trip with “Coach,” our professor, to visit Champions summer camp, the day camp for children grades kindergarten through eighth grade with whom we paired to test our site. At Champions, each of the age groups were given an allotted amount of time in the computer lab where they were allowed to explore the site and try out all the games, activities and online resources that we had compiled thus far. It was really exciting to get to see the kids using our site first hand as it was an opportunity to see all of our class’s hard work brought to life.

The group of kids that I worked with during my visit were boys and girls in the second grade and younger. Having to stand and talk in front of a group of around twenty five, six and seven year olds was a lot more intimidating than I had imagined. One thing was for sure: they were full of energy and had attention spans that lasted mere seconds. But one thing was also for sure: they loved working on the computer and loved what resources our site had to offer. Looks like my class, a group of 19 and 20 something college students, actually knew how to compile some great content. Once we got them logged on and exploring away on Tumblebooks.com, it was hard to get them to acknowledge my presence, let alone answer the questions I had for them regarding the site! Luckily, one girl was willing to give her input on the website and had some really bright comments on the sites she liked, what content she had seen before, and what she would change. All in all, I made it past the initial anxiety and had a very insightful and enjoyable trip to Champions.

In addition to my Impact Researcher work, I had other duties that I performed for our Save Our Summer project. Two smaller tasks I had were finding resources for the math grades six through eight section of the website and translating our promotional flyer into Spanish so that we would be able to reach the Latino population as well. I was also able to utilize my social media savviness and helped one of our publicity staff search the Twitter stratosphere for education activists, parents and anyone who might find the SOS project useful.

When I signed up for this section of Writing 340, I knew I was going to be working with blogs but I had no idea that I would also be utilizing Web 2.0 tools in a socially conscious manner in order to do something worthwhile for the greater community. Working on the Save Our Summer project in conjunction with WRIT 340 really gave a unique edge to my USC writing experience in that as the course comes to an end, I leave something in addition to a collection of insightful essays (and insightful they were!). I, along with my class, am leaving a site where kids can learn and have fun at the same time. As a child who loved working with computers, what more could I provide for those coming after me! And with all this academic enrichment, maybe they will eventually end up a Trojan!

So kids, grab onto our life preserver that we have cast out for you amidst the vast digital ocean and save your summer!

"The Fugly Twuth"

More narcissistic goodies...

Here is a video, titled "The Fugly Twuth" or "F Twitter," that I was also forwarded not that long ago. It is a hilarious, homevideo Twitter -rant featuring Shane Nickerson, who is the co-executive producer of the T.V. shows "Rob & Big" and "Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory" on MTV. Now the video needs to come with a disclaimer: Nickerson drops the F* bomb multiple, multiple times and he also seems to be recording this as he is driving, which is even more unsettling to me. But the profanity and wreckless driving aside, Nickerson provides a histarically insightful commentary on the narcissistic and obsessive behaviors that Twitter users begin to elicit after joining the community.

Nickerson dramatically reenacts the life of a Twitter addict; how one's days are comprised of constant wondering of who is Twittering and the intense craving to log on and see what is indeed going on. He vocalizes the self-conscious behavior and neurotic inner dialogue that goes behind a Tweet: "Maybe if I write something like this I will get re-tweeted. Please, re-tweet me!...I need to re-tweet that...I need to re-tweet myself.... RT @shanenickerson I rule RT." He comically explains the preoccupation with follower count and the panic behind the realization that you lost a follower. All in all, his 3 minute video clip is an authentic and insightful comedic portrayal of how Twitter can consume is user base.

Although I feel that the profanity could have indeed been left out, I think this video nonetheless has value. Here's an idea: I think that once a Twitter user Tweets their 20th Tweet they should be forced to watch this video. Or the first time a person exceeds 5 tweets a day, they should have to watch it. OR, when they reach 60 followers, guess what? They get to watch the video. Seeing a person hit rock bottom, as Nickerson depicts, can be a sobering experience...

So kudos, Shane Nickerson. You hit the nail on the head. Watch the video (with the disclaimer in mind!):

F Twitter from Shane Nickerson on Vimeo.

Look at me, look at me...

I was forwarded this image a while ago by my mother and it has resonated with me ever since. The image is absolutely brilliant- a no excuses, non sugar-coated representation of the core of social networking.

Now when I first saw this Venn diagram I could not help but laugh; these entities are exactly what each of these communities promotes. But sadly, as much as I would like to deny it, I also felt a little personally guilty by this image. I DO use Facebook and Twitter religiously every day. Heck, I even decided to dedicate my blog to these sites as I feel that they have such an effect and presence on my day to day life as a college student. Am I one of the narcissistic, ADHD-plagued stalkers that I like to poke fun of and laugh at?

That is a sobering thought and I am not going be in denial. I am a part of my generation; I use Facebook to post the highlights of my life for all others to see and take the time to view the highlights of others that are broadcast across the site for my viewing pleasure. I check Twitter on my iPhone via Tweetie multiple times a day, just to see what fun things people are doing. I may not Tweet every day myself, but I do check the Tweets of others.

I recently had a conversation with my mother regarding Twitter. I was attempting to explain to her the phenomenon and why people are so intrigued and obsessed with it; more importantly, I want to convince her as to why I thought she should jump on the band wagon. I figured the best way to get her to join Twitter was to tell her about all the awesome, positive things that can come out of a simple Tweet. As I explained to her how famous professors, politicians, research experts and even actors use Twitter for great reasons, i.e. sharing worthwhile news articles, spreading awareness, promoting causes, etc., I realized a sobering fact: my peers and I do not use Twitter in these same great ways.

I thought back to my friends recent Tweets: “At the beach with @soandso and @blahblah. Party On!” and “Wow, work is so boring. Can’t wait to get back home and then go out! Who’s up for hitting up Bar X?” All my friends Tweets were statements regarding what they were doing, what they did, or what they planned to do. Everything circled around them; it is all about me, me, me! I looked at my Tweets: although they were not as blatantly status updates, they more or less did the same thing. Why do we feel that anyone else would even care to have updates of what we were doing every two hours in the day? What makes us as individuals so interesting or important?

Bleh. There really is no way of getting around it: the Tweets by me and my peers are fueled by narcissism. But yet I still like to check my Twitter to see what people are up to even when I know how pathetic it is…what is wrong with me?
There HAS to be more to Twitter…

TO BE CONTINUED

Literary Review

Previous studies have been conducted regarding the relationship between privacy and social networking sites, all of which have come to the ultimate conclusion that privacy concerns do not lead to users’ withdrawal from the networking sites. Zeynep Tufekci from the University of Maryland conducted a study on 704 college students exploring the boundaries between public and private on the sites Facebook and MySpace (20). Tufekci concluded that there is “little to no relationship between online privacy concerns and information disclosure on online social networking sites” (20). Simply put, concerns for privacy did and do not lead to college students putting less information on Facebook or MySpace (Tufekci 20). Instead, college students adjusted their visibility, meaning who could see what (Tufekci 21). More importantly, Tufekci found that students are using “boundary mechanisms,” like how doors, walls and locks used in a physical realm, to keep certain people out (21). Summed up, the “MySpace Generation” is fighting to keep their “private space online…public to [their] friends, but private to [their] parents” (Lingstone 405). Which such a sharp division, the ability to maintain such a dynamic appears to be doomed for ultimate struggle.

With this concern to keep certain people out in conjunction with the relative ease with which an individual can access certain information, social sites like Facebook has created a new type of threat to privacy. Unlike the times of the past, these new “privacy threats” are result of “voluntary disclosure” (Tufekci 20). People no longer have to dig through your dumpster to steal your identity; they merely need access to your Facebook account to know all about you. Tufekci put it simply: “The kids want to be seen” (20). Tufekci argues that the central motivation for college students joining Facebook and MySpace is to “being seen by those we wish to be seen by, in ways we wish to be seen” (20). Therefore, current research has boiled down to college students’ fear of being seen on Facebook by “unwanted audiences” (Tufekci 24). This means that instead of worrying about an absolute stranger gaining access to their profile, they are more concerned that a parent, employer or teacher might be able to view their profile. Tufekci studied “unwanted audiences” such as future employers, potential romantic partners or government agencies (24). This paper is concerned with the new “unwanted audience” that is infiltrating Facebook: the college students’ parents.

Another scholar in the communication field, danah boyd, studied the notion of privacy on Facebook and deemed the relationship a “trainwreck.” In her article adequately titled “Facebook’s Privacy Trainwreck,” boyd studied how the implementation of the News Feed feature on Facebook upset users idea of privacy. Like Tufekci, boyd points out that students are voluntarily providing such information but their “privacy” becomes compromised when it becomes corrugated and broadcast in an obvious manner (13). boyd argues that students maintain “security through obscurity,” meaning that when their information is out there but not blatantly mass broadcasted, their sense of security is not threatened (15). It is an important characteristic that Facebook has been referred to as a “gray zone” between “secrets” and “purposely broadcasted info” (boyd 18). boyd exposed that news feeds disrupted the social dynamics, making Facebook no longer a comfortable “gray zone” but rather a place of vulnerability (18). Parents’ addition to Facebook has bulldozed that idea of a “grey zone,” as whatever a student puts on his or her profile is conceived by their parents as purposely broadcasted info, placing students in a position of vulnerability to parental judgment.

One important thing that boyd points out is that blocking certain data from others makes the person suspicious (16). The default on Facebook is “hyperpublic,” so therefore you have to block certain things from certain people if you want to maintain privacy (boyd 16). If certain information is obviously missing from your profile, one is naturally going to ask, “What do you have to hide?” (boyd 16). This inherent suspicion will have an important role in the relationship between parents and their children on Facebook.

Facebook Stalking: Exposed

Facebook stalking. We all do it, we have done it with friends, and we secretly hope that someone is doing it to our page.

But wait, isn't stalking supposed to be a bad thing? We all hear about the crazy celebrity stalkers who camp outside the celebrity's mansion, follow them to the grocery store, and leave flowers and other special gifts on their front porch. So why would I admit to being a stalker?

Today it seems that "stalking" as it is most casually used around my age group does not come with such a negative stigma. But when we use the word "stalk" it is normally in conjunction with the online social network Facebook- i.e. "Facebook stalking." But let me clarify: Facebook stalking is not just what creepy perverts do alone in their basement at 2 in the morning (shudder). Rather it is what the average Jane does when she comes home after class as she is perusing Facebook. She reads her news feed, sees that Bobby Smith posted pictures of his trip to Cabo and then clicks on the album. She looks through every picture. She visits the profiles of the other boys who were tagged in the album. She then goes back to Bobby's profile and looks through his other albums. And then all the photos that were tagged of him. Pretty soon, 20 minutes later she has clicked through all 400 of the tagged pictures of Bobby and seen all 7 of his albums. Does she feel like a psycho or a total creep for exploring Bobby's profile for a full 20 minutes of her day? No. Yes, she thinks "wow, that’s pretty pathetic I just went through all his photos" but she does not feel like she’s done anything different from anyone else.

I personally have done the same thing. I have been bored in my room, exploring Facebook, clicked on someone's photo album and then proceeded to go through ALL of their photos. Yes, it sounds pathetic when I look back on it, but I am not that troubled by it.

This topic I want to explore more through my research project: what is happenning to our notions of privacy? Why do we feel that it is now normal to explore every minutia of a person's life? It is out there for us to browse through. So it has to be normal and healthy...right?

More to come.

-Status

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.”