Facebook Privacy

sOoOoOoO ... last week and again today it was brought up that Facebook has sole rights to everything on our sites.......Am I the only one disturbed by this? No, I haven't deleted my page yet. Have I thought about it after hearing, you damn right!!!! This ties even further more to all the research I have been doing the Facebook craze! Wow we are really just e-personalities to people. We don't even have the basic rights to our "identity" online. I take a picture, I post, "they" decide they want to use it in the ad....I can't do anything about it? That's crazy!!! I feel like everyone I tell this to is so nonchalant about the thought of no rights. It's as if they are telling me well thats the price they are willing to pay for a social sites that connects you to 5th cousins, twice removes, and people you once threw spit balls at in 9th grade! Ah, I already limit my activities on Facebook, but what's the point of limitations on my part, if there is none on theirs!!! ugh....

Translators for Ebonics???

I would like to share the following the link, thought it was interesting to say the least.....
Ebonics


This article has left me with mixed feelings, more or so ill feelings I guess. I wont even get into that fact that I hate the term "Black English." I will touch on the controversy I see with the idea of a translator for Ebonics. I feel as though it's a problem waiting to happen in the midst of creating biased decisions based off assumptions. Say for instance an Ebonics translator is called in for a job before the tape as been viewed because the person they want to investigate is black. Not saying this is the true order of procedures, but what if? I'm not going go in to a tantrum of how it's racist and blah blah blah, because I'm pretty sure we can all agree that assumptions made on our character suck.

Also, I feel as though certain words, sentences, phrases, or what have you can be misconstrued in the translating process. Also, assuming the translator is black (because all black people know, speak, and understand Ebonics ::sarcasm::) who validates them as a true source.

Is there an Ebonics Translator Certificate Program I missed while picking out classes to register for next semester? I am so lost : / 

One will they determine what someone is speaking is considered Ebonics? Just because it sounds like improper English, or words that need to be decoded, makes it Ebonics? Is someone listening thinking "I don't what that means, it must be Ebonics" 

Ah, maybe it's just me..... I'm sorry I meant, It is be only meeh

The New Family Time

So tonight I went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my brother's engagement. Literally witnessed so many examples of technology advancements taking over the value of personal connectedness and family time. Besides my 16 year old sister texting the entire time to God knows who, my mom, yes my mom was uploading and updating her facebook. How did I know this? Because my other sister decided to leave her a comment saying "you're lame" in which she verbally responded "youre lame! stay off my Facebook" Wow I completely forgot why we were there at this point. The desire for them to stay connected and consumed with their mobile device and social networks overshadowed the celebration of my brother's engagement announcement! How did we get here? When did the new family time consist of every together, all while still being glued to other modes of communication. Is the family alone not enough anymore. This totally justified everything I learned thus far while researching my artifact..... I wish it didn't though :/

Transparency

Here is the end result of my paper....

Jasmine Evans

November 16^th 2010

“Living in a Transparent Society”

            There was once a time where one’s self-identity and privacy was held to the utmost highest levels of standards. People took pride in themselves, and was readily available to showcase their dignified and prestigious qualities that set them as a part of the elite members of society. What we allowed others to know personally about us was directly in correlation to the specific degree of the relationship. The thought of someone knowing more about us than what we allotted them to know was often absurd, hurtful, and damaging to the character that we spent so long grooming toward the epitome of perfection. As we fast forward to society today, a world where we depend heavily on the use of mass communication and social sites, such as Facebook, one will realize how our now lethargic approach to the preservation of our true identities and privacy will have detrimental effect. Through Facebook, its members construct “dream identities” that include modifications, exaggerations, and conformities to one’s real life, thus leading to an inevitable opportunity for unintentional consequences and behaviors in the real world.

            Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, in his Harvard University dorm room. Since its debut six years ago, five hundred million people have joined the site that has become a national phenomenon. At least one out of every fourteen people in the world can say they have a Facebook account. With this being the case, Facebook’s mission statement found directly on their website may be achievable. Their mission is simply expressed, “[Our] mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” Facebook can be considered a directory of the world’s people, “a place for private citizens to create public identities.” (Vargas) From the moment one signs up, they can start posting information, regardless of relevance or importance about themselves, as well as personal photographs and “vital” information they feel the world should know. What people may not know is while they are keeping everyone “in-the-know,” they are ironically unaware of the possible ill outcomes and actions the website can possess outside of the internet.

            Facebook has created this desire in developing a “check in” behavior habitually integrated amid our daily routines. In humanistic fashion those who are “facebook junkies” feel coerced to incessantly check in with Facebook to see what’s going on. This ultimately taps into the voyeuristic side found universally in us all. It all boils down to the idea that part of human nature is the love for watching others, while at the same love of being watched by others as well. (Zakas) Though some may argue there is no harm in the thought of desiring to be watched, but the problem comes from the conformity that can arise from that desire. If everyone knows that everyone is “watching” or in the Facebook world “viewing”, then this can ultimately contribute to the shaping of one’s actions or new character developments via this fantasy world.

            Through the construction of an ideal world on Facebook, fantasies are created to match how people want to be perceived. Given the various luxuries you can pretty much input any information you want to alter the reality of your actual existence. Given that there is not a “Facebook police” to verify the validity of your claims, you have the power to create a new you, a better you, an “e-personality” per se.  Therefore, a person who is normally looked at as being a shy, reserved person can ultimately appear to be an outgoing social butterfly, literally at the click of a button. It’s because of this ability, the ability to control, alt, delete, cut, paste, and “create”, that enables people to display sides of their personalities others have never seen before, that contributes to the creation of one’s alternative life or persona. In an article entitled, “Will Social Networking Sites like Facebook Destroy Our Society?” by Noel Sheppard, there is a discussion on the idea of such “e-personalities” found through Facebook. Sheppard mentions a friend of a friend, who is usually perceived as an embodiment of masculinity, he plays in a heavy metal band, and is head of a motorcycle club, shows a different side on his Facebook page. The same masculine motorcycle “dude” posts videos on his Facebook of kittens, quoted as “uber cute.”  Maybe it safe to say that there is some comfort in the idea of revealing parts of who you are via the internet, or maybe it’s the comfort in knowing people will find admiration in believing there are other sides to you than what they normally see.

            A risk comes into play when the “alternative you” living in the “fantasy world” of Facebook becomes your true identity in the eye of spectators. For the millions of people who have a Facebook, how many people can say they know who all their “friends” are?  The same people who are viewing your profile daily have a high chance of being friends-of-friends, co-workers you barely talk to, distant relatives who only commonality you share is your last name, and other random people in which you have no personal relationship outside of Facebook. What do these people have to go off to determine who you are? It is rather disturbing to think that someone can eradicate and degrade the essence of one’s existence by the depictions of the character one portrays online.  By minimizing one’s self to be judged by the representation of their Facebook, is a recipe to foreshadowing negative outcomes. Imagine two “friends” from Facebook meeting for the first time and one of them considers the impressions of the other’s personality they perceived, only to realize they are from reality. The person created in their mind doesn’t match up personality wise in person. It is easy to place the blame on the spectator for the inaccurate assumptions made on their part, but these same people can’t be held entirely at fault for the conception of the falsely structured, fantasy person, others have elected to render.

            The question isn’t how could people mistakenly judge and label someone’s identity to be absolute just by what they see online. It is why are these profiles constructed in ways to be left to misinterpretation in the first place? Facebook is a place of complete transparency, even with the false belief of certain “privacy” settings. At the end of the day people still have “friends” who are able to see and speculate their every move. Having said that, Facebook interactions in theory force its members to change certain behaviors, and create a self-regulating atmosphere. (Zakas) The same transparency that inspires one to be open also inspires fear. The fear of being ostracized from the “Facebook world” makes one’s unorthodox ways of displaying their true character validated. This increasingly leads to the conformity of others to gain as sense of acceptance and false accomplishments. The even greater downfall is one’s identity to becoming compromised to the reality of what it is.

            Exaggerated and highly publicized visuals of a person aren’t always the leading contributing factor to identities becoming compromised. It’s not always about fabrications; even those who genuinely represent themselves are susceptible to being victimized of having their identity misconstrued. It does not matter what the actual quantity of information one can put about themselves is, the intellectual thoughts behind their posts, or the decency behind the pictures they choose to share; the true core of one’s identity will never be captured in its entirety.  There will always be that one picture, or that one comment, even that one “like,” that someone will use as a mean to determining who they think you are. Even after people grasp this idea, it only makes conformity justifiable, because most people like to be liked, and again the perception of others is so vital, people begin to sacrifice who they are for it.

            Public perception becomes so important to people that compromising who they really are doesn’t seem to bother them. Not knowing that one is being subjected to being seen as nothing more than and fictitious character in a social medium is a frightening thought.  Suddenly things you would not normally say or do become completely natural to showcase on Facebook. (Sheppard) In my opinion people who constantly post their cool whereabouts, or their drunken filled weekends often do so to compensate for something missing in their real life and feel the need to enhance their “fantasy life” to appear to be something better than what they are content at showing.  The extreme measures individuals are willing to take to fit into a particular mold of acceptance are highly alarming because of the unintentional threats that come alive in the real world.

            The veracity of what people decide to post about is not the problem of the matter; it’s the reactions of others that can cause controversial actions.  With all the information one starts posting about their life form their upcoming vacation, stories about their children, the new promotion at work, even the drink they are having at “happy hour,” someone is bound find something to be jealous about. (Sheppard) Although jealously won’t be on any leading-killers-of-the-year lists, it definitely serves a purpose in the initiation of destruction. The same people who become envious of one’s life through what they share online, real or fabricated, correlates to the idea of the extremities people will go to when giving into the pressures to obtain or become something or someone they aren’t; thus leading back to the issue of false misrepresentations.

            Jealousy isn’t the only form of ill behaviors path that can come about to lead to the damaging of one’s true identity. The world of cyber-bullying is tremendously emphasized as playing a major role in land of this fantasy world. Sitting behind a computer screen, or in these days Facebook is easily accessible through one’s cell phone, taking on passive aggressive behaviors isn’t far-fetched because direct actions or consequences are often taken out an equation as opposed to its real life equivalent situation. Calling someone out their name at school may can you scolded by your teacher, but who is stopping you online? There are those that will argue that dealing with bullies is just a natural component of growing up. What happens when new personas, conformed identities, “fantasy you” take on the role of being a bully; a role often associate with school violence, delinquency, and unfortunately even suicide. (Perez) While not all bullies are just ill-mannered for no reason, bullies themselves have higher levels of depressions and other psychological problems and in the “fantasy world” of Facebook this can be easily composed in the process of living out new personas.         

            The idea of Facebook as a whole isn’t necessarily bad. The danger forms when one’s dream self becomes their reality. When the constructed version of one’s self online starts to live out in one’s real life, they, and the people around them are subjected to unintentional harm and behaviors. If Facebook’s mission is “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” then it has done its job. However, nowhere does it say to be open and connected with limited representations and false identities with those who one decides to “befriend.” With a social networking site meant to make it easier to communicate and sustain “relationships,” it sure does make it hard to trust the authenticity of “online personalities” as opposed to what true interpersonal relationships convey. Before one starts “checking in” daily to Facebook, they should consider its transparent nature and proceed with caution, while remaining completely aware of the absolute consequences sustaining a “dream identity” can entail.

           

Works Cited

Perez, Sarah. “More Cyberbullying on Facebook, Social Sites than Rest of Web.” Read

 

            Write Web. 10 May 2010. 6 November 2010.

 

<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/more_cyberbullying_on_facebook_social

 

_sites_than_rest_of_web.php>

 

Sheppard, Noel. “Will Social Networking Sites Like Facebook Destroy Our Society?”

            News Busters. 25 August 2009. 6 November 2010.

<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/08/25/will-social-networking-sites-facebook-destroy-society>

Vargas, Jose Antonio. “The Face of Facebook.” The New Yorker. 20 September 2010.

6 November 2010. <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas>

Zakas, Nicoholas C. “Facebook: Transparent Society” NCZ Online. 27 October 2008.

            6 November 2010.

            <http://www.nczonline.net/blog/2008/10/27/facebook-the-transparent-society/>

No Technology!

The professor mentioned an ideal assignment where he would ask the entire class go without technology for a week and journal or record their experiences, thoughts, ideas, etc. Though maybe not entirely feasible for a college student to go through this, for good reasons, I started thinking well, why not?


I mean how often do we stop and think what the hell did I do before the internet, or before my "smart phone" or before TIVO, or before Facebook even.....I mean we made it. 


Does anyone know what the library is?
The telephone?
Damn, an encyclopedia (do those still even exist, I mean the actual book, not Wikipedia!!!)
A house telephone line?


Manually setting the VCR to record a tv show? ....I mean where did these basic things get away with us. 


Im starting to believe that maybe it isnt a matter of whether we could do it, but is it truly possible given the various things that truly depend on the use of technology to work. 
We live in age where we email teachers and classmates for questions and concerns. We'd rather text than talk. We'd rather "Google it" than visit the local library.... I just feel as we rising in our technological advances the idea of going without it will seem unreachable and scary!!

Bullies via Facebook

I found this site while doing research on my narrative paper, thought it was interesting and appalling... Take a look..
More Cyberbullying on Facebook, Social Sites than Rest of Web


What happened to good ole days were bullies were in your face throughout the school punking you for your 2.50 lunch money..... Technological advances have now enabled bullies to reach their victims without even being physically present. One think this would have some sort of advantage, but sadly it's almost worst. I feel like kids get any even false idea of confidence when they can bully from afar but there isn't that immediate retaliation they have to worry about. Sadly, the outcomes these days or horrifying to think about. Whenever I have kids I dont want to have to worry that if they get teased so much to the point that they will contemplate or even worse commit suicide. It's a scary thought but this the reality of how far kids are taken on the stress and torture they are living through every day. 


I have a little sister in high school and she showed me Facebook pages her fellow classmates have dedicated to certain groups of people like "the hoes" "the ugly girls" "the easy ones" etc....though it seems funny to someone who didnt make the list I was outraged that this was found on a social site designed to bring people closer, not torment individuals. Its very upsetting, but, what can you do....


ponders in thought...

Advertising to Children

I had to write another paper for another class on Advertising to Children and it brought awareness to me on the media and advertisers roles over the mind of children. 


My thesis was as follows: 
There is no denying advertisers’ influence over the minds of children when it comes to marketing strategies used against them; however, research shows how advertising to children can have various adverse effects.


 After conducting all my research and the completion of the paper it was mind boggling what people will do to make money. Even if means convincing a child they aren't cool or popular unless they keep up with latest trends and brands. Even if it's not clothes advertisers influence children's food choices....which is a leading cause to childhood obesity because most food marketed to children isn't good for them. 


I feel like this ties in to my artifact of mass communication because it more relevant than ever that children have so many sources and opportunities to be manipulated by marketing. It's not just commercials on TV anymore, it's on Facebook, on their "smart phones," in school and so on. 


Though advertising affects us all in one or another, the goal should be to educate children and bring awareness to various aspects in the world of advertising. If we don’t, they will.

 

Identizine!

 

A.B.W. SAY WHAT?

  

BECAUSE EVERYONE NEEDS TO HEAR WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY

57 FOODSTHAT WILLFEED YOUR ASS

TOP TEN PLACESNOT TO EXPLICITLYEXPRESS YOUROPINION

´IT¶S OKAY! I¶M STRIPPING TO PAY FORSCHOOL!´

ONE GIRL¶S STORYTHAT WILL INSPIREUS ALL!

DDOUBLE DUTY:HOW TO KEEP A MAN & STILL BE ABAD, INDEPENDENT, B%$#!

LIFE AFTER VIDEO VIXEN:EXPLORING YOUR CARREROPTIONS:BEAUTY SCHOOL, INTERNETMODEL, GROUPIE

YOUR BABY DADDYIS HE REALLY THE ONE?

BONUS QUIZ:FIND OUT HOW LONG YOULL REALLY LAST WITHOUT A MAN

ABWREGULAR:READERSWRITE IN &SHARE MOSTUSEDPHRASETHAT WILLMAKE THEMSNAP

This was probably one of my favorite assignments I have ever done for the class. It was creative, fun, and alarming.

The awareness it brought to all of us that put a lot of thought and effort into this, is incredible. I really felt like I 

came to a greater understanding of the power over the media. It is a source that can dictate and shape one's life 

tremendously. It can tell one what they should do, what they should strive for, what they shouldn't do, etc etc etc. 

People will waste years trying to live up society's expectations and standards presented in the media.... I only 

hope that when my daughter conducts a personal Identizine she has different images, ideas, representations, 

and what not to go by.