Final post!

The module network society and the media expands on various interesting topics such as convergence, the transformation of news ect. One of the topics i really enjoyed was the networked self and ideas of community. This specific week was interesting to me as it gave  strong insight on how we portray ourselves online in regards to what online community we are a part of. This topic easily relates to regulation and social media and also privacy and surveillance. How private are we? Who sees what we post? Privacy and regulation and social media link as it is referencing to social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat ect. as us as users put content out there, regulations on social media are more relatable to this generation as we are revolved around the internet. Social media has become an essential part of peoples everyday life.

Internet memes and remix cultures was also an intriguing topic as it requires the audiences participation on what is trending and what is ‘popular’ in the internet world. Memes can be viral meaning that they spread rather quickly and become sort of famous. The convergence topic links really well with internet memes as Esteves & Meikle said it is the form and practise of storytelling, artefacts of remix culture. In conclusion the internet is a vast space of unimaginable content, it is so useful and relevant to everyone.

 

Spotify!

 

 

Spotify is one of the most popular online streaming service and it is a subscription based site. Although Spotify gives an option of a free trial, the Spotify premium gives access to much more features that gives the audience an easy and cheap option of exploring and streaming all different types of music. The free trial on Spotify however, is occasionally interrupted by adverts and limited to certain songs or playlists and not allowed to pick what you want unless you are on Premium.

Spotify has been causing controversy, a huge scandal in which pop star artist Taylor Swift pulled out all of her songs from Spotify as she feels that her music should be valued and that her music and albums should not be free to non-paying users. This clash resulted in Spotify unfortunately being hit with a lawsuit.

Artists generate money from Spotify as it has built a listening platform for music lovers, each paying their way into the world of music (unless you’re on the free trial). however if Taylor Swift or artists refuse to have their music on Spotify surely the internet has other ways to listen to it via apps like Spotify or illegally downloading. Illegal downloading, something everyone has done once or twice or maybe a million times, do we think about how we are harming artists’ sales on their albums?

Spotify link.

How visible am i?

How visible are you on the internet? Do you have everything on private?

I spend probably a good 60% of my time on the internet, which is a lot considering i’m at university and have a job. I started using social media websites from the age of 12 starting off with Bebo, for those who remember! I came to Facebook at 16/17 and since then I have various accounts on the internet including an Instagram, Twitter, a WordPress blog, a tumblr page and a snapchat account. Information that I choose to put out there is my full name and what country i live in and also pictures i wish to share with friend and family. I am a very private person on social media sites only following people that i know, but nevertheless, does that mean people i don’t follow can still see my stuff if they look pretty hard?

Privacy has boundaries and these boundaries are different for everyone. Although this is what i control and put out there, there is information i have given when signing up for stuff for example my email address, home address, mobile number ect which Facebook and Instagram and many other sites sometimes ask for. We also always agree with terms and conditions without reading them! As i’ve grown older and know risks and content i should and shouldn’t put out there, my posting is sometimes limited to what i want people to see and what they should know.

 

The Student Room Online Community

Ever needed a place to vent or just complain about the struggles of university and life? Well… the student room provides just that!

     The Student Room link here.

An online community is a place on the internet where people  virtually communicate and have the same interests or likes from all around the world. Online community brings people closer together as a collective group. Students pass down their wisdom and usually give advice about student life and engage on the online debates and discussions. Although the student room is made for university, college and secondary school students, advice about relationships, home life, hobbies and trending topics are also discussed on the site. Many people feel more comfortable and open on an online community than they do in real life, the pressure to feel accepted in real life is more daunting than a virtual world. Personally i think that this site has a variety of subjects in sub forums that i use and certainly feel a part of this community.

Audience participation on twitter

Audience participation is seen everywhere, games, videos and mostly online. The example that I have picked out is Twitter. Twitter is a huge growing social network where people speak their minds (with the limit of   140 characters of course) and the ability to follow and access friends or other people’s profile. Photographs, videos and posts are seen (unless put on private) and also can be retweeted and shared.

HASHTAGS on Twitter is a trend created by the users. The audience participates in the newest trends or make trends themselves. This is to expose content for any audience to see. This causes communication within different groups of people creating a community with similar interests and topics. It is easy to search a certain topic just by typing in the hashtag instead of scrolling down to find it. Hashtags are not just for the use of trends but also for the use of marketing brands, movies, clothing etc. To improve reputation or create awareness of something.

 This is an example of what is trending on Twitter at the moment according to hashtags and how many times that they are mentioned in posts. Audience participation is also seen on Facebook, Google + and also Instagram. Twitter is just one of the examples that is the most popular.

can you think of any popular hashtags that have trended on twitter?

Convergence.

Convergence is a form of emerging two different types of media into one. As time goes on media convergence is a transition that affects mostly everyone, this is done by using old media and new media, for example; print and the internet, this form of convergence is seen as there are now applications for newspapers on smart phones and also accessible on the internet. People may argue that old media is being pushed aside but, is it? or is it a new form for the audience to watch/read their desired content on a different new media platform?

An example that comes to mind is buzz feed. Buzzfeed is a website releasing headline news, celebrity gossip and entertainment and video. and on the internet which then came out with an application for mobile phones. This convergence is important as it comes with many advantages, being:

• -easier access and quick to search
• -downloading application is free
• -more variety of choice (news, entertainment, gossip ect.)
• -easier to connect with audience

But why is an app on your smart phone so important? well, it offers to option for users to engage with the stories that Buzz feed publish, always having the buttons to share, like and add your response. This makes it easier to advertise and spread the word for more people to know about Buzz feed

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Online resource

 ONLINE RESOURCE CLICK HERE

The online resource that i have found is a tumblr blog of an online reporter Aleks Krotoski who has PhD in social psychology, focussing on relationships and influence online. On the website i have found that there are many subheadings that lead you into certain subjects, for example, the one i found interesting and relatable to the network, society and the media module (week 6 – Privacy and surveillance) that we are currently studying is an intriguing post that she published called;

What the Internet is Doing to Us Part 1 of 3: Our Selves (QUICK LINK TO POST HERE)

in this post Aleks Krotoski links psychological identity to social networking and talks about the pros and cons about the ‘online revolution’ including:

• the amount of surveillance online
• personalising privacy
• cultural trends
• social media and convergence

The online reporter Aleks Krotoski also varies her posts including data and statistics, research, pictures, analysis of news and many posts about society and journalism including news and other topics linked to media online. Every week a newsletter is published discussing important media or society issues and the social effects of the online world which is obviously so relevant today. i would recommend having a look at this blog and read a few posts as it is interesting the way the online reporter links psychology to the media.

 

 

The history of the internet

Take a minute.

Think back to 1950, a world with no social media or any forms of communication via internet nor mobile phone. Heartbreaking right? The processing of electronic computing 1950/1960s, has made it possible for us all today to expand our knowledge and dive into the world of the internet.

   

In the early 80s the first ever mac was presented by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak successfully creating the personal computer that everyone could be able to afford and sure enough, it happened. By 1998 nearly every household in a populated city would have access to a computer, was this a turning point in history?

By the 90s adventure games became popular, making every child’s dream come true. Let’s fast forward to 20 years later, it is now 2016 and the world of internet is an ongoing non stop journey that has no end! In todays day and age it has become incredibly easy to rely on the internet for anything and everything, especially having internet on mobile phones makes it all the more easier to customise it for everyones individual needs. With main websites such as Facebook, Youtube, Google, Netflix etc. who knows what next website is going to be the next big thing! Will these sites stay in the lead in a few years? Or will new websites pop up catching our eye, forcing us to leave sites like Facebook and Twitter behind?