MySpace and Blog Identities

From the beginning of social networks there has been concern for one’s security online. “Over the last decade, law enforcement officials both here and abroad have recognized that the Internet is a veritable shopping outlet for child pornography,” this was stated in the article: Social Networking Websites: Are Myspace and Facebook the Fingerprints of the Twenty-First Century? By:

Edward M. Marsico, Jr. There have been several cases that have involved pedophiles trying to talk to teenagers online. In fact, there have been so many of these occurrences that NBC’s Dateline came up with an edition of their show titled “To Catch a Predator.” Undercover investigators pose as young girls to try and catch the online predators. This show has proven to be effective. It makes it easy for online predators when studies have shown in the article Blog Function Revisited: A Content Analysis of MySpace Blogs; written by Chris Fullwood, Ph.D., Natasha Sheehan, B.Sc., and Wendy Nicholls, Ph.D.; that “31% of blog authors provided a full name and 36% a first name, while over half, 54% percent of bloggers provided specific demographic information such as age, occupation, or location on their blog home pages.” (685) When there was a study done on who blogs more, men or women, and what age group researchers found that young adults along with men are more likely to keep a blog or in other words, a personal journal.

One big problem with young adults online is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is defined on www.stopcyberbullying.org as, "when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.” There have been several cases involving teen suicides caused by cyber bullying. For this reason there are now a number of organizations trying to stop it.

When it comes to MySpace and one’s identity I believe that someone’s social network whether it be MySpace, facebook, twitter, or a blog, these pages show are true identity. Some of us may be shy out in public or around new people but that does not show in our online life. If you have pictures on one of your pages of you drinking, then you will be categorized as a drinker. If you tweeted or posted a status that was obscene then I know some people who would call you “un-classy.” There may be pictures of you taking pictures wearing close to nothing making suggestive poses then you may be called a slut. That is what you must expect though when you post certain things on your social networking pages. A lot of people probably do not care what others think about them; especially when it comes to what they post. I bet you will care what your future employers might say though.

If the things that have been posted are not like the person who posted them is in real life then is it really their “real world?” A virtual world is not a real world, for most it is material. You can act like whomever you want to online. Just think back to when I was talking about online investigators. So if you want to be a movie star, professional athlete, or just a ladies man on line, when you are actually just a loner in school then I believe that your true identity is at stake.

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html

The Virtual Revolution and MySpace

I found episodes 3 & 4 of The BBC's Virtual Revolution to be informing and interesting. Both episodes made great points when talking about the “virtual revolution.” In episode 4 they talk about how homosapiens might be turning into homointerneticus. In the video they try to explain how homosapiens have become so dependent on the Internet that we are now turning into homointerneticus. The citizens of South Korea are actually worried about how the South Korean kids are addicted to the Internet. Internet users put personal information out there when it would probably be better to keep it to your self. Episode 3 was about how the Internet tracks us to see what us consumers are most interested in. This would explain why certain ads show up on our internet.

In 2002 the famous social networking website MySpace, was just meant as virtual storage. It was not until 2004 when MySpace turned into a social networking site. MySpace is now named My_____. With the profile and home layouts changing every so often. The purpose of MySpace is to connect people with their friends online. Members of MySpace can post information such as where they are from or live, what they are interested in, whom they want to meet, and their goals in life, along with them being able to post music that they like to their profile. I thought MySpace was cool in middle school and beginning of high school. I got a MySpace at the end of my eighth grade year. I kept both MySpace and Facebook profiles until the summer of my senior of high school. That summer I stopped checking my MySpace. I loved being able to “pimp out” my profile when I care about my MySpace profile. I thought it was a lot of fun looking for new background designs for my profile. I just looked at the MySpace home page for the first time in months.  I think that the home page looks very cluttered. There is a lot to look at; so much actually that I do not know what to look at. On the home page there is a section that tells the most popular music artists and what people are listening to. The biggest part of the home page is a large number letting people visiting the home page to know how many people just shared what they are doing.

Blog Post Number Two

YouTube  (ˈjuːˌtjuːb)

—   -N

1.     Trademark a website on which subscribers can post video files

YouTube has now made it into the online dictionary. The function of YouTube is overall pretty simple. Anyone with an account can easily upload videos to this website for family, friends, or everyone to see. Depending on the person would depend on how YouTube impacts ones lie. When it comes to talking about me I am almost never on YouTube; unlike my friends who get their daily entertainment from it. The only time I get on YouTube is when there is a music video I want to look up to post to my friends Facebook. As a certified "Gleek" I also enjoy looking up my favorite songs from past episodes when ever I want to.

            I do not have a YouTube channel or account. I see no need for me to have a channel because I have nothing to post on YouTube or anything I would want to put out there like that. I do not even post statuses on Facebook daily so I do not think I would post videos too often. My parents however do have an account. The only reason my parents have one is for when my Dad was deployed. My brother was a huge wrestler so it made it easy for my Dad to still is apart of his wrestling by watching the matches on YouTube and then emailing my brother about what he could do differently next time.

            What is posted on YouTube could alter someone’s life drastically. It could be possible that it could help a person’s life or hurt it. The newest pop trend seems to be pop singer Justin Bieber. After he was founded on YouTube his career skyrocketed because of the talent he had. Antoine Dodson however, got fame in a different light. His fame came when people made fun of his appearance on the local news channel in Huntsville, Alabama. YouTube viewers then decided to poke fun at it by putting a remix to it and turn it into the “Bed Intruder Song.” When people post things about themselves they must be careful and notice whether or not it could hurt them. It was said in “The YouTube Reader” written by Pelle Snickers and Patrick Vonderau, “every self is bound to an exterior, which it addresses and in which it is reflected.” (187) If you are posting things on the Internet then you must be aware that it will reflect you well.

            I read in “Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube” that statistics show “that people increasingly get their information and media from social media sites.” (34) This would include YouTube. When I miss an interview I wanted to watch on the Today Show. When I miss an interview on a show or a commercial I was told to watch by a friend I can very easily look it up on YouTube.

            Even though I do not use YouTube like I do other websites such as Facebook or Pandora, it is still nice to have as an option if needed. YouTube is just another way that social media has be altered and it was definitely for the better.