Gazing into the future.

Today’s final social media tutorial left me with some food for thought. Where is the world of social media going and what does it mean for us? Social media is a constant part of our lives, I know I would struggle without technology- even for an hour. It is sad how reliant we are but it is reality and it doesn’t seem to be going away! I am constantly on my phone, I carry it with me all day everyday and it sleeps beside me at night. My phone is the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see before I go to sleep. I use my phone probably at least every 30 minutes every day. I can’t imagine becoming more technologically involved but it certainly a part of the future. Some even say instead of homosapien’s are we becoming homolaptopicus!

Human relationships are becoming less physically dependant, long distant relationships are more common and people text instead of calling, IM instead of visiting. We are in essence, becoming cyborgs, are we are increasingly ‘always connected.’ Human beings are certainly becoming increasingly dependant on social communication. A person’s online connection can become emotional, it is becoming the main form of social interaction for many people. Your cyber social life can say a lot about your personality, it can say how popular you are how often you are ‘checked-in’, who you’re with and how well you can pose in your photos. Some people think they aren’t having fun unless it’s on Facebook. Will automatic check-ins be a feature in the future of social networking?

I think one aspect of the future that is certain is the decline in traditional occupations for example many service jobs will be replaced my machines eg ground staff at airports will no longer be needed as all check in will be done online. The role journalist’s play in media will change, as everyday people have access to the same tools journalists use just with their iphone’s! Everyday people can report news with their camera, voice recordings, video recordings ect all from their iphone’s. If the common person has access to all the same tools and can send news to media just as efficiently will there be the need for journalists in the future? There is even talk of robotic nurses in the future which I cannot comprehend as nurses are needed for so many things that a machine cannot provide like comfort, assurance and consolidation.

Social media is certainly dominating TV programs more and more, with the option to ‘tweet’ or ‘follow on facebook’ in the corner of many popular TV programs. Watching TV is a form of bonding for the modern family, and when a favourite TV show comes on it means family time! An example of social television is the upcoming channel in the UK 4seven, which is to be launched in July 2012.  4seven offers audiences the chance to catch up on programming from Chanel 4 broadcast during the previous seven days. The programs will be determined with reference to those creating the most buzz on social media.

People are becoming increasingly physically connected to social media for example the ‘nike running chip’ that you attach to your runners before exercising and you can upload the details of your workout to social media sites. The chip is a clever social marketing tool for Nike and is an example of how social marketing will become more predominant as a marketing tool.

E-commerce is certainly becoming more niche. With applications like instagram, pintrest and glancee the web is becoming more custom to each users needs and interests, thus the social marketing we are exposed to is generally related to our interest.

One thing that I will take away with me from LSM208 it to always think about the authenticity of friendships as social media plays a bigger, and bigger part in our lives. Facebook friends, and friends who you chat with online aren't genuine friends. Friends will take the time to call you up and ask to spend some time together face to face in the real world not in the cyber world. If you have a facebook friendship with someone who you wouldn't catch up with one-on-one or make a phone call to then it's probably not an authentic friendship. It doesn't mean you can't use social media to communicate with friends, social media great to maintain friendships with people overseas or friends you don't see all the time, however if you wouldn't chat to them outside the cyber world then perhaps it's not a true friendship. Sometimes people are completely different from the way they are perceived online, real life friendships are the best friendships!

I can’t predict what the future holds for social media, however I can speculate. I do predict a decline in traditional forms of advertising and marketing. I predict hard copies of newspapers and magazines will soon be a thing of the past. I predict many jobs will be lost to machines. And I predict an already increasing dependence on social media to maintain and develop relationships between humans.

Second life or Sad life?

The question whether second life is good or bad is debatable.  Second life has many distinct positive and negative features.

Second life launched in 2003. Second life is a virtual world where ‘residents’ can explore the world known as the grid, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS6Gfs-wavo

http://maps.secondlife.com/

Second life can be seen as a useful tool for people to interact with others, if they are too shy to do so in the real world. It can be used by people who may have had a serious accident which would prevent them to carry out their life ambitions. Businesses within second life include- 

• American apparel- opened a branch inside the virtual world selling digital renderings of clothing modeled after real-life merchandise.
• American Cancer Society- has held a version of its Relay For Life national fundraising event inside Second Life.
• BBC radio- recreated the 2006 One Big Weekend event on a 64-acre 260,000 m² virtual island in Second Life.
• Dell- sell PC's in second life.
• Mazda- Give away their concept car Hakaze on Nagare Island and is presenting kite surfing
• Second life police- a law Enforcement type group that has a partnership with Linden Labs to protect the MMORPG from trolls and griefers.

Anshe Chung is second life’s first ‘virtual Millionaire.’ She is a ‘virtual real estate broker and made 2 Million dollars in 30 months. Anshe Chung is the main avatar (online personality) of Ailin Graef in the online world Second Life. Referred to as the "Rockefeller of Second Life" by a CNN journalist, she has built an online business that engages in development, brokerage, and arbitrage of virtual land, items, and currencies, and has been featured in a number of prominent magazines such as Business Week, Fortune and Red Herring.

Second life can be a fun and entertaining game for users. It can also benefit users as they can make money in the virtual world which can create a profit for them in the real world. The second life currency “Linden” can be exchanged for US dollars and other currencies if users want to exchange the money. People who have trouble socialising in the real world can also socialise in second life. Many users have found friends, partners and even had marriages result from second life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TLStfPI7o8

http://secondlife.com/destinations/romance/romance_spots

Sex is also a frequently encountered in second life. Access the adult sections requires age verification, however there is a thin line, and ages can be inaccurate which brings up the topic of underage sex and pedophile which is a big issue in second life.

Second life has been referred to as ‘a game where desperate people with no lives or friends get to live out their dreams of social acceptance and sex.”

Second life has also been described as “A virtual world in which a desperately lonely person can adopt an alter ego and live out an utterly pointless existence every bit as mundane as their non-virtual life. The "noughties" version of Dungeons and Dragons but without the trolls and orcs. A baffling and ultimately sad indictment of how people interact today.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tqB5_OyGiIo

The quote on the second life website "Be yourself, love your life" is sweet but it’d referring to your ‘second life’ so what happens when people prioritize their virtual life over there real life?, Can it truly makes your life better? Second life users can challenge their personal identity and are entering a phase of post humanism/cyborgs. Post humanism is the use of technology changes into someone who is no longer human. Users who dedicate their lives to their second life avatar and ignore their first/real life can certainly be placed in this category.

I can see how second life has some positive features, people can socialize for free and have fun. However, it is my opinion that the game can create more harm than good. I think it is really sad when people begin for prioritise their virtual lives over their real lives. I really don't see the appeal. When people log on every now and then for some harmless fun or entertainment I don't see the problem, but when others are using it for their main source of social interaction and to try and make friends/lovers then it is a massive problem, and quite frankly really sad!

I WANT MY IPHONE

Young people today use their mobile phones for making connections and affirming relationships. However, the mobile phone can also be a practical tool for safely and communicating with friends or family who are overseas (with the use of skype and viber). Mobile phone also have many other essential uses, for example bejewelled blitz and Farmville, how would the youth of today survive without these essential applications? Mobile phones can also challenge power relations between generations. Some older generations have trouble figuring it out and can sometimes find it a rude practice.

Technology users today do not just use their mobile phones to communicate, most people use their mobile phones in conjunction with other communication tools (laptops, ipads, email ect). Still, mobile phones seem to be the only communication tool that most young people literally always have in their possession.

This constant need for communication must create some sort of problems with our social development. Louise Horstman and Mary R Power explain “SMS connects people in different physical locations with an immediacy that creates a close and integrated culture of people who remain in contact and aware of each others movements, however separated they are physically. It is a means of breaking down the barriers of time and space.” (Horstmanshof & Power, 2005).

Mobile phones, for some time have been an unavoidable part of modernity. Mobile phone users can create situations, which are not only inconsiderate but also extremely rude and offensive. General rules of social etiquette vary amongst cultures, consequently mobile phone users should comply with social standards.

Mobiles are a part of daily life, we are so used to them that they’re almost invisible. For many of us, your mobile phone is the first thing you see when you wake up and the last thing you see before you go to sleep.

Mobile phones can have a huge impact on relationships and social interaction Linguistics professor Naomi Baron explains “However, new online and mobile technologies increase the range of options at our disposal for choosing when we want to interact with whom. We check caller ID on our cell phones before taking the call. We block people on IM or Facebook. And we forward email or text messages to people for whom they were never intended.” (Baron, 2008)

Instant messaging. Blogs. Wikis. Social networking sites. Cell phones. All of these allow us to communicate with each other—wherever, whenever. (Science Daily, 2008).

The paper titled “Mobile phones, SMS and relationships” by Louise Horstmanshof and Mary R. Power included a focus group study about the role of SMS communication in young peoples lives. The paper was published in the Australian Journal of communication.

  

Discussion in the focus group comprised of questions including-

Ø  Whom the participants communicated with

Ø  Lists of numbers they held

Ø  How numbers were grouped

Ø  Rules about responses

Ø  Concepts of time

Ø  Language used

Ø  The effect on written language

Ø  Reactions to group messages

Ø  Costs and expenditures

Ø  Desired changes

Ø  Frustrations with the system

Ø  And imagined futures

Findings from the study included participants mostly sent text messages to close friends. Different groups of contacts included close friends, family, work contacts, corporations, and others not so frequently contacted. SMS was seen as a cheep, effective and convenient way of communicating one to one, as a way of maintaining social connections both locally and interstate or overseas. SMS use is an example of adapting and appropriating technology intended for other purposes to social ends. Themes discerned were desire for control of communication and protection of personal privacy. (Horstmanshof & Power, 2005).

Texters were impatient with their peers who sent group messages, unless they concerned arrangement of meeting a group of close friends. Even reluctant users admitted they could not stay in ‘the loop’ without their mobile phone.

Increasingly, young people want to store and retain information on their mobile phones. This is both for convenience, and to store messages that are precious or important. This practice of sharing and storing is an example of the disrupting and destabilising of accepted boundaries. Messages, including potentially damaging gossip intended only for the receiver, can be shared with others (Horstmanshof & Power, 2005).  All with the click of a button.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZGWTIzRMM&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLF9143E25156E9868

Politics and Social Media

Social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook have begun to influence the political landscape. Many politicians across the Western world are utilising new technologies to not only reach out to a larger audience but also a younger audience.

Social media is now a key tool for any politician during a political campaign or boost their public profile. Social media has a greater chance of reaching young people that traditional media.

However, there is a problem with politicians being on the social media scene. As we are in the era of citizen journalism and Produsage, the public have the power to post anything online (facebook, youtube ect) which can embarrass and damage the reputation of their leaders. These YouTube clips are a perfect example, while they are quite funny they are a bit humiliating for our leaders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DRS8fjSKLY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qv7k2_lc0M

Media Democracy: Produsage

Produsage replacing consumerism? A wonderful concept, although doubtful reality.

What is produsage I hear you ask? The idea of user-lead creation rather than mass production. A good definition comes from Professor Alex Burns “Participatory environment which breaks down the boundaries between producers and consumers and instead enables all participants to be users as well as producers of information and knowledge.” The emergence of Produsage has been made possible by the existence of user communities and their networking through many-to-many communications media.

Examples of produsage are-

Þ   Wikipedia

Þ   Blogs

Þ   Second life

Þ   Youtube

and other types of social media that are created by ‘the people’.

Problems with produsage?

Some of the predictions of the impact Produsage will have on society are-

Þ   Grassroots activism

Þ   Civic participation

Þ   Democratic engagement

Þ   Less importance of traditional media eg. Radio, Newspaper

Þ   Citizen journalists

Þ   Issues with intellectual property rights

From visiting Axel Bruns site, I don’t think he is trying to make the claim that produsage is going to replace conventional production/consumption. However User-Led Content Production and Collaborative community Engagement is defiantly ever-increasing. For example as a Social Media student I do a lot of reading of blogs and other types of ‘citizen journalism’ rather than traditional forms of research. Bruns says “For the last half-century or more we have applied physical production concepts to our understanding of and engagement with information, with increasingly unsatisfactory results. Today, we're seeing that alternative approaches are possible - and produsage as a concept is designed to think through these alternatives.