Unacknowledged posts on social media can be embarassing…

Yep, it’s happened to all of us. You think of something good. Post it on Facebook. Wait for the responses, the “likes”, the “comments,” the little windows to pop up in your browser and tell you that someone has acknowledged your post- validating your cleverness and essentially confirming your worth as a human being. You live for that response. You need that validation. Only when you post….crickets. Now before you know it a week has gone by and you got one lonely little post sittin’ like a zit on the face of your profile page.

Not cool, right?

Well, lo, and behold, there’s an inforgraphic to help us make sure this never happens again! Huzzah! Praise be to the Social Media Gods…or at least to the good folks over at Mainstreethost, whom this article comes from.

The chart contains a lot of useful little tidbits like, “The best time to tweet is between 1-3pm” or the most responded to tweets contain a “call to action.” Facts like this may save us from the ever embarrassing un-acknowledged posts, which, to use a more elegant phrase, ain’t nobody got time for. Check out the chart to maximize your social network abilities. I’m serious. Do it right now.

It’s almost like I’m calling you to action…

Check out this while your at it. It’s our class twitter account, which is where I got the article from another student’s tweet.

(That’s two calls to action. I can see my views skyrocketing already!)

Balancing Social Media: Dangers and How to Stay Safe

Social Media can be both glorious and dangerous. Social media can lead to great connection, but it can also lead to unsafe situations or peril.

University of the Pacific has a safety section on their website, and one page is about social media safety and concerns. With the current dangers involving social media going on, I would like to share them.

• Identity Theft
• Catfishing
• Employers can see inappropriate content leading to termination
• School leaders determining expelling.

How to Stay Safe

• Don’t publicly post private information
• Adjust privacy settings for specific posts
• Be wary of who is following you before you post

Social Media can cause identity problems. People can pretend to be you, or pretend to be someone else to use your information or emotions. We need to make the right connections and be safe while doing so. Also, everyone must be careful about how they share. Opportunities can be squashed if an employer, professor, dean, or principal sees the “wrong” things. Be wise about social media.

Social Media: Open Door to Learning?

George Couros, the “Principal of Change”, wrote an article on his blog entitled “3 Ways Social Media Can Improve School Culture”.

His three points of improvement are increased visibility,  increased accessibility, and a flattened organization.

Visibility:

I can completely agree with his notion that social media will optimize visibility. When I was in second grade, I had a very hard time understand what lessons were being taught when I merely had to read, because I couldn’t see the projector screen. The words were all too fuzzy for me. If I had a tablet in front of me, I would be able to participate more efficiently. Also, I am more comfortable sharing my answers without having to speak out loud. If my classes used social media to create electronic forums, I would feel a lot more at ease.

Accessibility:

When more people connect, more success is created. This is what I received from this particular point, and I completely agree! Creation needs more collaboration.

A Flattened Organization:

When I first read this phrase, I will honestly admit I had no idea what it meant. Once he linked me to his “Everyone’s A Teacher and Everyone’s A Learner” article, I finally understood. Everyone can teach and be taught together in this expanding technological world.

Social media will open the doors to easier communication and social interaction. The world needs to embrace it.

Pain in the Palm of Your Hands

Blogger, Liz Romeo, tweeted an article about cyber bullying.

As a future educator, I am extremely interested in this topic. It’s important to be aware of what’s going on in a child’s world, and the proper ways to deal with it. Cyber bullying is becoming such a prevalent issue amongst teenagers, and even children. Growing up in a time when social media is booming makes it so easy and accessible for situations like these to occur literally in the palm of your hands.

The article mentions how experts are now referring to cyber bullying as “social assassination.”

Cyber bullying incidents really can have a negative impact on people. Threats can even be made through social media. Not only is a situation like this very upsetting, but it can also be extremely scary.
Cell phones make it even easier for this to happen. This small, hand-held device, has the ability to do so much damage. It all just depends on the person’s actions behind it. Before social media became so popular, there weren’t as many ways for bullying to occur. Now, there are so many ways to attack a person, which is extremely scary.

Another huge issue is that a lot of these new applications and websites allow things to be posted anonymously. Now, people can be attacked, and not even know who is doing the attacking. The article mentions websites like Ask.fm, and Whisper, which allow posts to be anonymous.

Apps like this make it so simple for cyber bullying to occur to anyone, anywhere in the world.

“Why be mean to someone you don’t even know” -Lance Arrieta, high school sophomore

It’s so clear how much technology is impacting the social world. Now, threats and negative comments can so easily made and posted for the entire world to see.

Personally, I hope we can find a way to eliminate this type of bullying to the best of our ability.

The article provides a link to http://www.stopbullying.gov/. Go here to help educate yourself about cyber bullying, as well as learn ways to address these situations. Educate yourselves so we can put an end to this “social assassination!”

Think Before You Post!

Fellow blogger, Alexis Lane, tweeted about an article called “Talk to Teens About Being Responsible on Social Media.”

Teenagers growing up in this technological age now find social media to be a way of life. Are there dangers involved in this? They need to keep in mind that the footprint they leave on social media can have an impact their futures.

“I tell my kids every horror story I hear of students being rejected from college or an accepted student having his/her admission rescinded because of something they wrote on Facebook or something they tweeted. It is very hard to eliminate a ‘social footprint,'” Laurie Weingarten, mother of two teenagers, said.

Once something is deleted from the internet, is it ever actually gone?

It is so important to pay attention to the things that are posted on these websites. You never know how one slip-up can effect you in the future.

The article makes it clear that college admissions officers do in fact look at applicants social media pages to learn more about them. Adults need to make kids aware of this before they begin to make their online footprint. If they see something that they dislike, even something so minor, they can immediately decide to kick that applicant to the curb. Colleges do not want someone with a bad online reputation to represent their institution.

It is so important for teenagers to learn ways to use social media responsibly. A parent suggests that a good way to make teens aware of the existing issues is to make them feel uncomfortable about it. Do this by continuously asking them about their cyber life. Another suggestion is to ask your child for help using a social media app. This way, you can really get a glimpse of what they’re doing on social media, and how they go about using it.

By staying involved in their child’s usage, parents can really see if there are prevalent issues. Then, they can be addressed right at the start. By doing this, teens will become a lot more contentious about their usage.

Social Media: Affecting Futures

As previously discussed on this blog, social media is something that may have consequences. The use of social media is a necessity to the new generation of students and therefore they are at the most risk. Because of the young ages that begin social media use, it is important for parents to take action and provide caution with their children.

Fellow blogger, Alexis Lane tweeted about an article by Alexandra Pannoni, she discusses the actions that parents may be able to take in order to prevent their child from potentially threatening their future. The first step in helping your child understand their actions is open communication about the different scenarios social media could cause. Showing general interest in the social media apps that your child is using may be able to cause them to think more consciously.

“The Fire Challenge”

We have all heard stories about people doing stupid stunts for the sake of getting “liked” on social media. Remember the cinnamon challenge, anyone? What appeared as an innocent stunt has sent dozens to the emergency room with collapsed lungs, bleeding noses, and poisoned airways. The popularity of these challenges proves that people utilize social media as a mechanism for popularity. However, the thousands of dollars, television appearances and world-wide recognition is a veneer for the danger simmering just below the surface.

A Twitter user commented that “Rituals (YouTube challenges) of the digital culture are becoming life threatening.” His comment was followed by an article outlining the newest trend, the “fire challenge”. As described by Caitlin Dewey, it “consists of pouring rubbing alcohol on oneself, lighting it on fire, and putting the resulting blaze out before you sustain third-degree burns and/or burn your house down.”

Sounds lovely, right? Wrong.

A fifteen-year old from Kentucky, who received second-degree burns after attempting the stunt, warns others against it. He says, “You can get caught on fire and die. Your house can get caught on fire. Wherever you’re at could get caught on fire.” This does not sound fun at all, yet teenagers everywhere are rising to the challenge. The dangerous thing about these stunts being advertised via Youtube and Facebook, are that the risks are not being associated with them. Teenaged participants, often struggling with fitting in, feel that accomplishing these challenges skyrocket their popularity. They forget that they are not as invincible as they assume.

While social media is a great tool for sharing material, users need to be more careful to screen information. Risks need to be clarified. The danger involved in these stunts cannot be felt online; the challenged cannot feel the heat of the fire until it consumes them.

“Like” this hanger

Fashion has morphed over the years, once being made specifically for comfort and practicality. Now, calico dresses are gone, replaced with cotton tights, high heels, and sequined blouses. Clothes aren’t just a means to stay warm; they define our desired personality. Author Jay Bolter would characterize this shift as “remediation“, the process of a new invention replacing an older one.

Staying on top of the ever-evolving clothing industry is burdensome. We watch movies. We observe friends. We spend hours at the mall. But what if we could keep track of the upcoming trends by marrying social media with real life? Brazil has developed such a creation. They introduced a clothing hanger with a digital screen displaying the amount of likes that the garment receives on Facebook in real time.

Stores hoped that the innovative hangers would attract more sales; however, experts still remain skeptical. Krista Garcia, an analyst for eMarketer, reports: “There hasn’t really been research yet measuring the value of a ‘like’ in-store, since this is such a new area for marketing”. This viewpoint was further backed by a poll of 15,000 shoppers, all who were asked whether a high “like” count would influence their shopping. Of those people, 52% said that it wouldn’t. Another 23% declared that it would discourage them.

The Facebook hanger may not have caught on yet, but it does prove that social media has an enormous impact on buying. Pinterest, Facebook, blogs and Twitter are just some of the many websites that lure Fashionistas to buy the latest products. A recent search has proven that businesses are rewarded with an average of $8 per ‘like’, and $14 for every share on Facebook.  Peer influence over social media may just revolutionize the clothing industry. With this invention, we may start to see a remediation in advertisement once again, this time focusing on blending social media with daily life.

Accessibility is Key

There are many writing applications that are available to download on a Smartphone. Werdsmith is an intriguing app by Nathan Tesler that assists writers in completing their work. The application allows you to write, share, and receive ideas.

This application is a basic way for writers to keep track of multiple writings on their one device. Werdsmith organizes all different writings into two categories: ideas and projects. The ideas section is basically a place to jot down draft ideas that you are willing to explore. The projects column is a place for almost finished or finished ideas that have progressed into projects. There is a place on this app for you to plug in your e-mail address, which allows you to connect your projects and ideas with your e-mail as well as fellow e-mail addresses you may have such as friends, publishers, etc. This application is unique because it allows the writer to pick a time preference when they enjoy writing, such as the morning or the evening. After picking the time preference, Werdsmith will nudge you (alert your phone) to begin writing which is a struggle for many writers.

This app adds a bit of flavor to the process of writing and publication that many new age writers are looking for. With Werdsmith’s accessibility and reliability, it is easy for writers to be intrigued by this application.

Keep The Social Spirit Alive

Everyone is forewarned that the Internet is forever. In other words, the things that you post on your social media sites can pop in different aspects of your life at any time. Individuals have become cautious with the amount of information they have put onto these sites because of this reason. However, in Laurent Francois article he claims the exact opposite. Francois believes that just as technologies fade, social media fades as well.

Francois argument is accurate because we have seen AOL instant messenger fade as well as Myspace. Facebook is in it’s way out the technological door as well. Francois’ point is that while these social media outlets fade out, our information and history with the sites go with them. In an article by Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.” they address these exact issues relating it to the shift from the world web to simple internet explorer platforms. They write “Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display.”

Technology and social medias are fast pace changing and there is no option to slow the process down, but it is possible to preserve our aspects on these social media devices. Twitter’s most recent update has made all members tweets public, which has eliminated the option for anything to be changed or forgotten with the emergence of new technologies.