Social Media

1) I think that amateur user-generated content will continue to progress over time, due to the concept of the "democratization of media." The "democratization of media" means that all members of society have the ability to contribute to media. In traditional media, professionals choose and produce the content that they wish to release to the public. Today, anyone can create and produce their own content and share it with the world on the Internet. More and more people today are gaining access to tools to produce content with higher quality than in the past. 

2) The social networking sites that I find myself using the most are Twitter and Facebook. I use Twitter in order to remain connected with celebrities, public figures, companies, products, news sources, bands, etc. I routinely check Twitter to discover news and information about things that I am interested in. Although I follow a few of my personal friends on Twitter, I mainly use it to learn about what's going on around the world at any moment. I frequently use Facebook because it is becoming one of the primary ways to remain connected and in touch with people in my life. Almost all of my friends and family have a Facebook account that I can use to reach them. Sending a private message, or posting on someone's wall is quickly replacing giving somebody a call or text message in order to get in contact with them. Having a Facebook account has become a social norm, at least for college students, which is a main reason why I use it the most. I think that Facebook is much more successful than MySpace because users use their real name, making it easy to find and connect with someone on the site. It also has a much cleaner and organized layout, whereas MySpace is filled with flashy colors and graphics. Another aspect of Facebook that has made it much more successful is that it is easy to find people who have similar interests to you, attended the same school, or work for the same company. The "networking" aspect of Facebook is what makes it so successful. 

3) Transparency is such an important concept in the social media world because feel people that they should say things online in order to gain respect from others. It's easier to state motives for doing certain things online, rather than saying them offline. Online, people are also after social capital, which is connections between individuals in different social networks. It is easier to obtain social capital by being "transparent" online. I think that it's less important to be transparent in the offline world because all motives and desires do not need to be disclosed on the offline world. It's easier to learn about someone's beliefs and acts by viewing what they're doing online and why they are doing these actions.