1st Blog Post

Social media may have originally been thought to be an outlet for socializing with close friends, but it has outgrown that limited role. Social media is now a billion dollar industry that companies will pay to advertise to its users. Social media has also become so commonplace that employers are now looking into potential candidate’s accounts before hiring. Countless stories have surfaced over the years of applicants not being hired because of what they have posted online. Not only have applicants been hurt by what they post, but people who have already landed the job have been fired over their inappropriate posts. Some of those posts have included inappropriate rants, foul language, drugs, alcohol, or illicit actions. Not only have many people lost their jobs because of a post, but many have been thrusted into the spotlight and been publicly shamed for their inappropriate actions and resulting consequences. It’s crazy to think that the 2 minutes it took you to post a pic or type a co

We have all heard that nothing is ever really free. In class this week we looked at how services such as Google and Facebook make money when they charge nothing for their usage. It is through advertisement companies that these online businesses generate their revenue. I was always under the impression that we, the people, were the consumers of these free online website. However, we are the product that these sites are selling to ad companies. The purpose of these free sites is to get as many users as possible that way the ad companies will pay more to have the rights to put their products in front of our eyes.  In the past several decades it seems that people are becoming more wary about people gaining access to their information through the internet. Some of this worry is understandable due to deleterious acts of hackers stealing personal information such as credit cards, social security numbers, passwords, and bank accounts. However, much of the concern is over hyped and unneeded.

Class discussion this week centered on the negative aspects of social media. Has social media ironically made us anti-social? Many people would argue that users are too consumed with their virtual friends that they don’t speak enough in person with their real friends. I confess that I am guilty of this too, but not with social media as the culprit, but video games. I play video games several hours each day and talk online to my “friends” through text or my voice via a mic. The friends I have on Xbox are a lot like the friends I have on social media; several of them I know really well in person and the others are people I rarely communicate with and have never met in person. With this being said, I don’t think it’s just social media that has stripped society of the natural, in-person experiences with the environment and people that used to dictate norm in previous generations. I believe technology at large is to blame for people being too invested in the virtual world. How do we change

This week in class we discussed the effects social media can have on peer pressuring people (children in particular) to conform to certain behaviors. Kids are very impressionable so when they see their peers or even other social media stars engaging in certain activities, they are likely to try it as well. This can have very negative consequences when the behaviors involve smoking, doing drugs, drinking alcohol, or other disorderly conduct. Most of the articles focused on the negative aspects, but if the influenced is unbiased in terms of good versus bad, then I say we look at the positive things that can come from this. People can be motivated if they see their “friends” on social media volunteering in the community, working out, or pursing their goals in life. It would be nice if social media could regulate the content on its feed so that illegal or largely held socially unacceptable actions could be blocked. However, this would be a difficult task since it would infringe upon the f