Social Media President

U.S. President Barack Obama has been touted as "the social media president" and the history books will certainly mark the 2008 election as the first to be influenced by social media. Do you think that social media will continue to play an important role in the 2012 election, or is the phenomenon over-hyped?

 

I have read about the upcoming 2012 election, and I have noticed that Obama has used even more Social Media tools than the 2008 elections. I remember how big of an impact it caused on the outcome of the Elections. According to Huffington Post’s founder Ariana Huffington, “Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” I believe that because social media was such a big support in Obama’s successful election, they will continue to rely on it to get the message out. More people have been informed about updates with the election; a study was conducted by a branding agency. Digitas and they found that 88 percent of Adults in the U.S that use social media have registered to vote. I like that Obama has made it possible for the population to have access to ask questions online, talk to others with more knowledge about the debate, and even comment on how they feel about specific issues within the country. Now that social media is the number one way to communicate and create awareness, it is defiantly an important part in the elections. If you miss the elections on the television, you can still go on almost any website and find out information that you have missed. Now that the elections are made more accessible, you can find out more information about both nominees that you would never know before. You can ask questions about important causes directly on their campaign websites, and almost every other social media tools. When people can be involved it creates a more positive environment, because they feel as if they made a difference to the future of the country. There are so many reasons why I believe that social media will play a huge part in the 2012 elections, but those are just some of the important ones.

Is Social Media delivering quality information?

Social media has changed the way people receive and perceive news. It is so much easier for anyone to go on the computer or their smartphones, and find any news information worldwide. It is helpful for people to use several different tools a day to find out information.  These tools are also helping the environment by creating less paper. Although social media may be helpful towards our environment, and it makes the news a lot more accessible, we need to put more effort into making sure the information given to us is actually true.

A study by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (2010) stated that media tend to still use traditional news for their information. BBC, CNN, New York Times and the Washington Post account for 80 percent of the information given on the media outlets. I believe that most the information that is given is rooted from the truth, but sometimes spins into something completely false, to pull people’s interest in.  Opinions have gotten involved in news, and sometimes I have even seen people changing the details of the story, because they would rather others know how they perceive it. That usually involves telling people about a bad experience with somewhere they visited, or something they ate.

On the bright side, because we have so many people to support us with news and information, we are able to learn about developing stories much faster. They also provide stories that traditional news media is not interested in showing. For example, when a loved one has gone missing sometimes traditional media does not provide a story, but you can always post information on the Internet and make it noticeable to the public eye. (ex. Twitter, Facebook, Any Blog website)

So in conclusion, Social media has brought changes to the way we receive information, I don’t believe that it has increased the quality of the news 100 percent, nor has it decreased 100 percent. As long as we make sure that our media outlet is a reliable source, it is defiantly beneficial.

Social Media

  People have been debating for years about Social Media. Is it a fad, or has it changed the way we communicate with the outside world? I believe that Social Media is permanent, but I think that we will go through different tools, that make it easier for us to communicate, advertise, and network. It is only a matter of time until the old fashioned way of communicating through newspaper, paper mail, pretty much anything that is on paper, will dissapear.

 It is so easy to sell people ideas, products, and services from your own home. So why would anyone want to put more effort into making money, or a reputation, than they really have to?  I still personally would rather put my money in someones pocket, that actually gets out there and gets their elbows dirty. I believe some of us underestimate the power of social media. It has made people millionaires, and it has taken peoples lives, because people lose control.

  I truly believe that social media has effected us negativley, because we are taking advantage of how easy it is to communicate. Instead of talking face to face, people text each other instead, or complain about their lives on facebook. People are being cyber bullied, and it is invisible to any authority that can stop, or prevent it. People are having a hard time telling the difference between photoshoppped women, and real women. We have young kids growing up having a misconception of what is acceptable and what is not.

 If we take time to use social media properly, but not let our lives depend on it, than it could be a much more possitive aspect of our lives. I hope promoting a more recreational lifestyle into peoples lives will promote them to enjoy life outside facebook, and twitter!

First Blog Ever!

Well, hello. This is my first blog, second day of school and I'm lovin it! Get back to me in a month.. we'll see how I feel than!