User:OneLove COMM2p91

Hi,

My name is Amir Joshi and I am a student at Brock University.

How social are you:

I am a pretty social person I use social networking for many reasons such as communicating with friends, promoting my interests, random rants etc. Social Networking allows me to reach people who may not be physically close to me, and it also makes it easier for me to communicate with a large number of people. Without social media I am limited to only reaching a small group, however, social media reduces these barriers and allows me to communicate with a large demographic within a short amount of time. I use platforms like facebook, msn, skype, twitter and many others.

Who are you on the Internet:

Under my real name I could not find information on the Internet about myself until I searched deep into the goggle archives or refined my search with other related topics or words that have connections to me. Most of the initial search results under my name were one particular person, a news broadcaster of some sort, who had the same exact name as me. However, when I searched under my nickname, which I use for pretty much all my social media outlets, I found more information and I was at the top of the list.

Online I have a different identity through my nickname Ammo DaKidd. When you find results abut me under Amir Joshi its hard to find and usually pertains to basketball. Under Ammo DaKidd you have access to my Facebook, twitter and instgram (among many others). You can see pictures of me and also the link to me and my friends music website, which gives people access to the 2 mixtapes we have released. In this sense I have maintained an image/brand as a rapper under Ammo DaKidd, whereas under Amir Joshi I am either a news repoter, which is not actually me, or it has information pertaining to basketball teams I used to play for. I maintained Ammo DaKidd’s image through using the name for the purposes of promoting my music, therefore when people type my nickname the results will illustrate what I am all about. If they searched under my other name it would have a completely different depiction of who I was.

My social media space tends to show lifecasting through my development as a music artist, You can see how I have progressed as a rapper and you have access to all the work and projects I have been a part of.

Consuming the Social:

The relationship has changed in one way by allowing customers to make comments in regards to the products they are consuming, this way the consumer can have some control of the production by giving input on the product (positives and negatives). Instead of being forced to consume products that we have no control over how they are made, we can now influence businesses to meet our demands/needs and make them the way we want. In a sense the consumer is now the producer, or at least they can influence production.

A few people in the class review products and services. I personally review products that cost more because I want to make sure I am buying a product that is worth all that money. I will investigate potential problems the product has and then from there I will select which brand has the most positives in regards to that specific product. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate which review is accurate because you do not know who actually knows what they are talking about from those who just do not like the product for personal reasons then bash the product. The product may not even be bad it just did not meet their particular demands.

Social media is influencing us to consume more through social commerce. Social media is now being used for advertising and people also talk about and discuss products that they buy and their experiences with that product. If I see a particular game I like on a ad it might make me want to buy the game, however, when I also see people making comments about how good and fun the game is it motivates me to make the purchase. The ads and reviews work together and can sometimes be the deciding factors that either make or break the sale.

I think culture industries are challenged because now the consumer has the ability to influence culture by making demands. Instead of just buying and following the culture created consumers now have the ability to influence how the culture is being created, giving consumers more control of the culture.

Social Media Reflections:

This course introduced me to the various ways social media is being used, and how it can have a direct influence on consumption. I thought it was interesting that there was that much female gamers, not that I thought females did not play games but the number was definitely higher than I assumed. I thought the gaming aspect of social media and the consumer/consumption aspect was very interesting.

It was also interesting that people use games or a rewarding system to increase participation, which can also influence people to use the service more. For example, the roll up the rim cup Tim Horton’s offers, this turns the everyday coffee into a game allowing the user to have a chance at winning upon purchase of a beverage. From personal experience I have bought beverages just for a chance to win rather than wanting the drink. You can see how this reward system has influenced me and many other people to keep consuming.

My viewpoint on social media has not really changed but I am definitely more aware of its existence, in almost everything, and power. Initially I did not know how powerful the reviews of my peers were but for many cases it has directly influenced me to buy or not buy a product. This class was very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot.

Personal Media Reflection #1:

I used my cell phone to communicate with everyone; the only person I did not communicate with on the phone did not have a phone, but if they did I probably would have. Most of the people I am the closest to I see the least face to face, however, we do spend the most time communicating through my cellphone and other ICTs. Seeing people face to face does have an impact in some ways because even though I communicate with them the most via ICTs, when we do get together I feel disengaged from the circle because they see each other in person more than me. Social media has played a huge role in allowing me to maintain relationships. The people I am the closest to live further from me so seeing them face to face is a challenge. Social media eliminates the problem of time and space and allows me to keep in communicate with them even from a different location.

Closeness to me means people I talk to the most, someone I can talk to about anything even important matters and generally the people I have known longer. The people who I trust more and know the most about are the people I consider myself closer to. The people I am the closest to I talk to the most, and it is through social media devices that we do the majority of our communicating.

I would say my network is very diverse ranging from students with part time, fulltime or no jobs, to people who are well established and have careers. I also talk to a very culturally and racially diverse set of people boy and girl. They also vary in terms of skill sets and they encompass a wide range of knowledge levels among one another. Basically it is not like I only communicate with only a certain group/type of people I talk to a wide variety of people. We have a majority of our connections through our phones and the Internet as well. Our views are similar but at the same time they are different as well. I can ask almost anyone for help when I need it but I would more or less use the phone to ask the people for help, its not that I cannot ask them face to face but social media makes it so much more convenient, and as soon as I need it. I do not always have to wait until I see someone face to face for help. Regardless if it is someone I am closer to or not. In terms of reciprocity it most definitely assists in enabling me to do the same in return for my friends. I would say the reciprocity is balanced it is all relative to who needs help more and what type of help they need, if its possible for me to help I will but if its not then I cannot. Social media does not in any way influence my decision to help or not it simply acts as a door allowing me to ask for and be asked for help.

Personal Media Reflection #2:

Twitter allowed me to learn a lot about my friends and people in general. I saw through their comments what they were doing and it also allowed me to get a further understand of their interests based on what they tweeted. Sports fans would tweet in regards to the game others tweeted about things that were of their interest. It is different than traditional forms of media because you never know what to expect, other forms of media are in some ways predictable and routine. For example, you may not always know is going to be on the news but you do know how they will deliver it and the order in which you will get the news. With social media you can see posts that are the most random to the ones that are the most relevant and important for the moment.

In order to search for related topics to my interests I put hashtags or clicked on hashtags, which were similar to the topics I concentrated on (for example, sports teams that I liked). I find this information different because it is on a person-to-person basis so the responses are generally the opinions of the various account holders. Traditional forms of gaining information, sports in particular, tend to stick with facts such as game scores and updates, however, through twitter you get more opinions than facts in regards to activities such as sports.

I checked out the trending topic #toronto and it had a lot of news feeds, promotions (music, parties, the city of toronto in general) and posts in relation to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The posts generally dealt with more recent activities and it shows that society is very fast paced, and that society uses twitter for many purposes, primarily or I should say mostly for promoting things such as news, music and parties.

Networks such as twitter have influenced the creation and use of new terms (i.e., lol, s/o and many others). The character limit has forced people to use acronyms to carry out a message; otherwise what they are trying to say will not fit. A new language is being created in an attempt to make conversations/messages more short and concise. This can also have negative implications because if you are not up to date or know the lingos, chances are you will miss out or not know what is being said and can be a constraint to users who would like to get involved in twitter. An advantage of twitter is that is delivers messages fast and allows people to respond quickly as well, in turn this speeds up conversations and spreads messages, globally more efficiently.

Personal Media Reflection #3:

I will discuss the article about the Arab Spring revolution → http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Eastern_Revolution

The article pretty much seemed like a definition but it was very informative and let me know a lot about the revolution. It also gave me links to click on in order to see other related articles or further my understanding of that particular word that was a link and the revolution in general. The article was laid out in many ways allowing me to understand the topic in many ways. There were stats, graphs, pictures and brief and descriptive text regarding the subject. Wikipedia also had a consistent style in its layout. The articles on Wikipedia typically start with a general definition and then go into further detail pertaining to the specifics of the subject matter. It starts at the root of the topic and then branches off into further areas of study.

It is hard to judge and analyze the people who put up these articles because we do not know how they are monitored and altered when the necessary changes need to be made. We do not know if they are knowledgeable in that field, what their opinions and biases are towards the subject etc. They do give us a reference list with the links to where the material was captured. I like how they had a table of contents available that made it easier to navigate through the article. Overall it seemed unbiased with facts about the issue, it did not really seem like it was trying to persuade you to agree or disagree with something. It did however get complicated after the first basic description. The article had a lot of information about the issue, which made it good but also complicated because it would be very time consuming to read everything. I feel like most people use Wikipedia for the basic knowledge of something and that’s it, however, if you are looking for more in depth knowledge it is available.

I do not use Wikipedia often I only use it when I need to know what something is whether it is a definition or who a person is etc. I have only used it as a reader so I do not know anything about it from a contributor’s standpoint. I have no idea how frequently it gets monitored and maintained for accuracy but for brief knowledge about something I tend to trust its validity. I would never look for anything too in depth but for common knowledge like know what something means I believe that Wikipedia is fairly accurate. I also like the fact that it gives me links on words so that I can find out what that word means as well. Although Wikipedia gives me the sources I never go out of my way and check if the sources are true, I just somehow am inclined to trust the content on Wikipedia. I have yet to come across a mistake or something that is not true on Wikipedia, but then again I never do the research or check the sources to make sure.

Personal Media Reflection #4:

The games I played for this reflection is NBA 2k13 for ps3 and Draw Something on my IPhone. I have good experiences with both games what I do not like about playing online on NBA 2k13 is that when the other person I am playing online has a slow connection the game lags. This makes me want to stop playing that match entirely. In NBA 2K13 I do a lot of communicating with the other player. I pretty much brag and trash talk for the entire match regardless if I am winning or not, but usually I am more quite when I am wining. Draw something is more like a teamwork game so its not as competitive, therefore the discussion tends to be comments on the pictures or just brief messages in general.

The meaning of social varies between these 2 types of games, both games allow you to play together and interact through the game. With NBA 2k13 you are allowed to engage in longer conversation so you have the ability to talk about anything and communicate back and forth more. Whereas Draw something limits the communicating and typically just allows you guys to play together with an objective. You guys are both playing together and contributing to the game though that is something that the two have in common. Both games allow you to play with strangers, however, for draw something I tend to play among my friends.

In NBA 2k the social aspect of the game makes the winning more gratifying. It makes the game feel more realistic as if I am actually playing basketball and not just pressing buttons. When I play against the computer it is not as much fun as when I play online. Playing against the computer also makes the game seem unrealistic because after a while you learn the computers moves and can anticipate what they are going to do. It’s the whole aspect that when you win you are beating someone and not just a computer. On draw something it feels good when you win because you know that it was a collaborative effort. If I had to play draw something with the computer it would become less fun for me. The fact that I can engage with someone and play the game makes it more amusing.

Social games are popular because they allow for interaction. It is always more fun playing with someone than playing by yourself. Although these games allow you to play by yourself, in other words the social is not the only aspect of the game, yet to me it seems like the most fun and rewarding part. Winning online feels way better than when you beat the computer, to me at least. I have also met strangers online that I now play with frequently. The social aspect of the games allowed us to become gaming buddies. The only real constraint to the social aspect of gaming is connection really, provided you have the necessary phone or gaming console, the only thing you really need is a connection to the Internet. If you have connection than you should have no problem playing these games with people online.

Personal Media Reflection #5:

The Kony movement has shown the true power of social media. Social media allows the common citizen to make a difference and enables them to gather a lot of supporters to back him/her up. Incentives include engaging in civil action and making a change in the lives of those who are not able to make a change themselves, for example the kids in the Kony Case. It also gives people a self-gratifying feeling that they are doing something, or affiliating themselves with something good. It is also nice to feel like you are a part of a huge movement. It also makes you feel a part of society and a larger community connecting people throughout the globe.

We learned a lot about the constraints to social media that limit people from being connected. If something like this were to happen in Western Society it would 1) be very known to the public and 2) be put, or attempt to be put to an end. On the other hand, in countries like Uganda with a limit in infrastructure and economic resources it is difficult to make the necessary changes. It is hard to put the power into the hands of the common citizen in countries like Uganda. I had no idea that this takes place until the Kony incident got popular yet it has been happening for many years.

The benefits to the social media incentive are immense. It raises awareness to the various issues that need to be addressed. It can also bring people together in efforts of helping those in Uganda. At the same time the constraints are present as well. Although you have the freedom through social media to talk about issues and try to influence change, actually making the change in a country like Uganda is not as easy. In theory it might seem like it is bringing a lot of people together, however, in practice it might only be spreading knowledge and not bringing an end to the issue, it is merely a temporary Band-Aid for the problem. Another problem with Social media is that topics go away like fads. Once a topic is hot it may seem like it has become so strong and can bring an end to the issue, on the other hand a few months later once it dies down it tends to be forgotten and something new has taken its place.

Although during 2012 the campaign become huge and some improvements to the situation in Uganda could have potentially been made, like most other disasters and news in the world it has gone away, unnoticed over time. The problem has not gone away but the movement has decreased tremendously. I think a movement of this magnitude has demonstrated to people how powerful social media is. Social media alone can spread knowledge of a wrongdoing and gather people who want to correct the wrong. The Knoy movement has definitely shown people that they can use social media for collective action and activism. You can participate in debates, protests and activism in one place from a completely different location. You can also recollect information from various people to see what they are doing and how you can join.