spring2019comm2311

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Chris Cantu - Week 3

I feel as though measuring social media can be a daunting for anyone. Where does one even start with such a task. I’d say the benefits outweigh the challenges as measuring social media can be very beneficial for businesses as well as household names and content creators alike. However, When we think of individual privacy in the social media landscape I can see that as being an area of concern when we all value what happens with our data. It’s no secret companies such as facebook, instagram, and snapchat all measure social media for improving their core services with those same tools available to verified users to better tailor their content to their users. I think at the of the day it all comes down to accepting that fate that either way we’ll always be tracked online whether we like it or not. 

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Week 14 - Chris Cantu

The wikipedia alternatives I found were Wikileaks which is wiki based meaning it to just like Wikipedia is just as open source. Upon doing research I found there's actually multiple wiki software programs such as:

Standard wiki programs

Personal wiki software 

Hosted-only software 

Content management/social software with wiki functionality 

project management software with wiki functionality 

all these implementations and extensions are in essence integrated into software and services we use today. The “wiki” component refers to something that is open source such as open source code or open source consumer software or even open source online scholarly databases...etc. The exact definition of wiki denotes a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users. There are so many sites that allow this behavior with those baked in open source libraries we mentioned earlier to allow such editing. I feel like the challenges associated with any wiki website include the validity of the content especially if it’s regulated by the outside and not by internal means. Theres wikis for just about everything from entertainment to health and food wikis all with there own users who contribute in some way to the website. 

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Week 13 - Chris Cantu

Wikileaks center in command Julian Assange orchestrated such a big plan of whistleblowing all kinds of top secret documents and government secrecy. From what I understand key people have mysteriously disappeared as a result of Assange’s actions of disclosing top secret information which is why he is currently embroiled in an extradition to the U.S to pay the consequences for all the illegal activity he was involved in with Wikileaks. Similar to Edward Snowden and the NSA only difference is Assange was expelled from Ecuador where he was living in asylum at the London Embassy. I feel like the reactions by the U.S were expected given the fact that Assange did access and tamper with government property and he had people such as Chelsea Manning help him which leads me to believe that although we do have freedom of speech we do not have freedom to access and hack through the government to expose things otherwise not meant to be accessed and that's mainly what he's being accused of doing. Wikileaks is still being run today which blatantly says that's not what the U.S government is after due to free speech. Limits on free speech should definitely not be imposed as we need our voices to be heard but in a legal manner that doesn't involve hacking into unauthorized systems to obtain information. 

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Week 12 - Chris Cantu

(⬆️ Hilarious) I really wished we would’ve explored dating apps a bit creating dialogue on what form of conduct is expected, how we typically use dating apps, and how much is too much to share in those spaces. As the gif points out dating apps can be very, well hard for most people to not only use but to navigate around without feeling unattractive at some point considering how many people judge you based on the photos you've elected to share with potential partners, specifically by not getting responses from the people you swiped right on (like). Dating apps have always signaled incompatibility for most people or maybe people are just too busy for love before they became popular in current years. We all know presentability is key with dating apps but what about societal norms at play as we know who's at a disadvantage even unconsciously we start to compare and develop frame of references between others. Beauty standards vary amongst different people for sure as we’ve discussed in class which means on dating apps we never really know if the type of person we’re in search for or like is out of reach. I imagine perfect online dating doesn't exist but at the same time dating or love in general isn't perfect either. Which leads me to believe I don't really think there's a way to make that experience better as your face to face with millions of perspectives. 

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Week 9 - Chris Cantu

I was not very surprised to know TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) was sold to a Beijing based company ByteDance which made it the most valuable startup business surpassing Uber after a 3 billion dollar investment round by SoftBank, a Japanese telecommunications company who actually owns an 80% stake in Sprint here in the United States, crazy huh. Anyways here we have a social media company musical.ly centered around creating these looping karaoke videos popular amongst young teens to rebranding as TikTok after ByteDance’s acquisition turning it into one of the most popular social media platforms now being used by teens AND young adults today, debuting with more diverse content not centered around karaoke anymore but instead short comedic videos. Further reaching a different user base, but what about our data and how ByteDance plans to strategize inappropriate content on its newly acquired uber popular social media app. With an influx of young users on TikTok it becomes not only necessary but mandatory to make sure a social media platform such as this is completely rid of content inappropriate for younger audiences. In a published article by Business Today TikToks pornography problem isn't getting any better with the app being taken down the Apple app store and Google Play in India in a court order linking TikTok to exposing kids to not only pornography but to sexual predators (Das, 2019). All of this however raises the question why this wasn't taken care of from the start, why weren't algorithms put in place given TikToks widespread use amongst kids and pre-teens? To answer this we’ve seen these kinds of situations play out many times with social media companies believe it or not. YouTube had a similar issue with inappropriate videos and so YouTube kids was developed, FaceBook has a messenger for kids application for similar reasons, SnapChat allows users to flag stories for review, and the list goes on. Quality control is such a big issue with content still seemingly passing through the cracks even today with no perfect system existing which is why social media companies with huge amounts of users just resort to creating a separate app that is kid friendly and that includes filtering out existing content on the non kid friendly version. As messy as this whole thing is with content also being mistakenly removed by automatic algorithms posing no threat of any kind just goes to show there's no perfect system in place and as repulsive and vile child endangerment of any kind is I would certainly hope social media companies are at least making bigger strides to completely get rid of inappropriate content going forward. 

Source: Business Today

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Week 8 - Chris Cantu

For this extra credit blog assignment I decided to take a look at how sharing any bit of information can be used against us. We are now in an age where we share everything about ourselves online more than ever and with that comes at a cost. By sharing something on instagram you are probably (I haven't read the terms and conditions lol) consenting Facebook to analyze that photo to share specific details to marketers to better tailor sponsored posts and ads to you. What if one of those partners included your job red flagging pictures and posts that were posted during your workday or shift that might be offensive and intolerable to a company’s image to later be reviewed by someone. That may sound a bit unsettling to you but I mean if you really sit down and think about it some employers already want access to your social media to begin with and the majority of products and services you use today tap into other third parties and services to power their own platforms with separate terms and privacy policies on each in how they handle your data. I’d say it's about time to do some spring/summer social media cleaning, wouldn't you agree?

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Week 7 - Chris Cantu

For this blog post I looked at Nancy Pelosi’s twitter account, as you all know she is the speaker of the house so with that being said I expected her social media to be top notch in terms of using professional language and making sure the content she was posting is acceptable given her line of work. Her most recent tweet thanked veterans who joined her in a roundtable to address challenges facing all who have served with images of that event following. Nancy Pelosi crafts her identity by focusing her efforts on helping America in general, to do what is right and to voice that to the world. That establishes not only a sense of trust with people but it allows us to be comfortable knowing there's someone out there with an even more powerful voice within to help make sure American’s are always heard and acknowledged. On the other hand if we were to compare her tweets with somebody like Kylie Jenner we’d start to notice two different realms of social activity. On one side we have a politician and on the other side we have a reality tv star turned billionaire makeup mogul. Kylie Jenner is all about her social presence whereas Nancy just wants to make sure only certain important political topics are being talked about. 

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Final Blog  Assignment - Chris Cantu

For this class in general I expected a lot with regards to proper social media use but never did I expect how broad the subject ended up being. Upon walking in the class for the first time I thought “well what was I getting myself into” with me changing my major from I.T this was definitely a major (no pun) change because I’m naturally very introverted which means as you all know I tend to dislike being the first to initiate conversations and I have Holmes for not only  intro to social media but for intercultural communications. With regards to social media I really don't have a social media presence and that says a lot about me in that I’m not really confident I guess in expressing myself online. Which leads me to the end of the semester as we all move on throughout each of our varying educational endeavors I for one feel like my mind was opened up not only with regards to how social media directly impacts all industries and government relations but also how social media impacts our actions online. I feel like I’ve definitely also changed for the better in how I personally use social media but also I’ve been engaging more online and also interpersonally as well. I would say it was increasingly difficult to talk about gender uses in social media for me given how widely the topic is viewed amongst men and women. To close out as I look forward to taking many more classes with Professor Holmes I plan to continue managing and perfecting how I communicate in all areas delivery. I wish everyone a good summer and I hope to see all of you in future classes. 

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Final Blog Assignment Esther Barrera,

           In just 16 weeks I can genuinely say that in terms of communication in social media, I have learned so much. Although I thought I had a good idea of what the course was going to look like, I think that everyone’s different point of view when discussing topics just made the course more valuable. At the start of the semester I remember talking about our own personal social media accounts and how what we post, re-blog, or even like can affect our professional opportunities. This is why I wanted to accomplish to clean and re design my social media accounts by the end of the course. The person I am now is much more cautious about the things that I post online than the student that started the semester back in January.

           I do like to think that I am a better person than I was at the beginning of the course. Being more socially conscious has really helped me in not just my verbal communication, but also my written work. A concept that I feel that I mastered would be the digital divide and how that impacts how you are represented in the media. So much so that my teammates and I decided to write our paper on the subject. A topic that I really had little knowledge about before the course was social media and finance, as well as social media and government. However, I have to say I learned so much from the teams that took on that topic for their class facilitations and those were the ones that became most interesting to me.

           Although I know I gained great amounts of knowledge, I still have plenty of room for improvement. I would like to explore different social media platforms and not just stick around with the ones that I am comfortable with.

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Self Analysis - Jorge Mariano

I’ll be honest, when I came into this class, I really thought it was going to be about how to use social media for marketing or how to use it to market yourself out there. Boy was I wrong. Coming into this spring as a transfer student, I honestly felt weird going into class on the first day. I hadn’t been in a physical class in over a year. I won’t lie thought, I know many people here did learn a lot of new concepts, but I already knew a good chunk of the stuff. Especially when we talked about privacy. Switching over from a different degree, It was actually kinda funny seeing people’s reaction when they found out what type of information companies collect on you, how your phone tracks you, how much information these companies collect on you. I even knew that other countries had limitations on what they could do on social media. I still did learn something in the class that I did not know about. For instance, I didn’t know how much an iPhone can track you until I took this class. I know I did not really talk a lot in class, but I was glad I was able to make some new friends. Coming into this school, I would just go to class, then I would just go home. Now I stick around. Going forward, I hope to improve my communication skills with others and try being a bit more talkative when it comes to having discussions in class. 

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Self Analysis- Justyce Peters

Coming into the semester in this intro to social media class I literally thought it was going to be about us just being on our phones and talking about what goes on, who we follow, and link up all of our accounts follow each other, and you know just evaluate each other on social media. Turns out we did nothing like that. I wanted to accomplish me actually getting to know why and how people use social media which I actually did. The information we learned this semester regarding that topic increased my knowledge a lot about how others think and use social media in different ways. At the beginning of the semester I was this lazy person who really didn’t like to come to class and learn about anything until towards the last month and a half of classes I actually decided to start showing up and doing my work, and actually listening to the conversations we had in class. Everyone actually said some pretty interesting things throughout the semester even though I didn’t really talk much during this class session. This class has taught me more about how to effectively communicate with others through social media and how people’s minds think either alike or differ from each other. There was a few things that I didn’t understand until we had the facilitations to help me understand better of the point of some topics, but besides that I honestly don’t think that anything was really challenging in this course. I’d like to continue the studying on people’s different identities on social media I feel that, that was a very strong topic and not everyone notices it but we do have different identities. In conclusion this course has taught me a lot of the basics and even in depth of social media. 

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Last Post, Armando

I honestly didn’t know what to expect in this class, I actually ended up taking this last minute because advisers didn’t tell me that I needed this course. At the beginning I just wanted to get through the class, but I actually took away a lot from it. I learned how to properly prepare presentations and speak loudly. Me being an introvert I also learned how to find my voice and speak my mind without feeling like I was butting in. I didn’t really have trouble with concepts I think that was due to me taking intercultural and social media campaigns at the same time. One of the most important things we learned in this class to me is managing your image on social media, and how much information we allow to share about ourselves. It’s made me more aware of things I post and content I put out into the world. Also it has made me conscientious of how connected all of our devices are so I try to limit connectivity as much as I can.Going forward I hope that I can continue to improve my public speaking skills, and properly have a discussion without letting emotions take over. 

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Vanessa Rodriguez - Final post

Whenever I first sign up for this class. I honestly thought it will help me be more organize on what I need to post and shouldn’t post on my social media platforms. Which was exactly what I was looking for so I was pretty excited. However, throughout the semester this class taught me so much about my self in every points of view. I never thought how much one little decisions can cause so much damage. This class definitely brought a better person/version of my self. Especially on how to take every little decision more seriously. How to not be afraid to talk in public presentation. Although, I’m not best but I’m trying to get there and that’s all that really matters honestly. It’s definitely getting me to be more outgoing rather to always be afraid. Which I’m absolutely proud of! I will take what I have learn and use it throughout my journey. I’m glad I was able to be part of this class and was able to find myself and what really matters in life. However, my main focus is to continue to work on my public presentation and become better.

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Final Post- Erika Segovia

When I joined this class I did not know what I was signing up for. I thought I was taking a class that would help build a following, or what to post to grow a profile but it was something completely different. The concepts that were the most challenging was the democracy and Twitter. I would like to continue to work on my public presentation. I was a completely different person at the start of the semester than I was at the end. I am a worse version of myself now but that is completely my fault. At the start of this semester I was a more outgoing person who talked to everyone and wasn’t afraid to be herself and as I progressed throughout something in me completely changed. It was not this class fault but my own and I’m gettimg back to where I need to be. I hope to accomplish how the specific social media skated worked and how they interacted with the public and I believe I know a little more about that now.

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Self Analysis: Faleasha Goden I am not a huge fan of rap music, but I do enjoy a Tupac song every once in a while. Tupac Shakur passed away in the mid to late 90's, and during his prime he was considered to be a lyrical genius. He could rap, and he was wise beyond his years. The world was not ready for him, so he made an early departure. I chose the quote that I have listed above to show, that we all should want to continue to grow and not be stagnant. During my brief time in Intro to Social Media, I learned so much about how social media currently plays a pivotal role in our every day lives. We as a people have grown so much, yet have placed a lot of emphasis on social media. As social media continues to evolve and expand, hopefully the public will be able to grow with it. The quote also represents how I have grown as well. I feel completely different, than when I first began and I think that's a good thing. I am not where I once was in the beginning of this semester, I have grown a great deal since then. In the words of Tupac "You either evolve or you disappear".

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Cassandra Alvarez - Self Analysis

When I added this class to my class schedule for the semester I didn’t know what I was signing myself up for. When I saw “social media,” I thought of an easy class where we would learn about branding and have projects dealing with the making of some sort of website. The class turned out to be something really different. We basically taught each other every week in class and I feel like that made it more interactive and inclusive for the class to participate.

We were exposed to the many things happening behind the doors of social media. I knew that we were being “tracked” but being in this class opened my eyes even more. Sitting in class and actually talking about HOW we are being watched and tracked 24/7 was scary to hear. It’s scary to know about how our phones absorb everything we do in them and later on use it to advertise different items to us. Because of this, I noticed that I unconsciously sort of changed my usage on my phone. 

When we learned about building our social media profile, I seemed to not actually “like” certain content even though I did. I did this for it to not be associated with my online persona. I decided this because I now have important people following me and even though it’s social media, I can’t be liking or sharing any type of inappropriate content even though I believed it was hilarious.

I guess I can say that I am now more aware of the risks of social media. Social media is already a big part of me because it has been normalized in the generation I’m in; therefore, I don’t believe I’ll get rid of it, but I will limit myself on what is done. This would be the “better version of myself” because of the now awareness of how social media impacts one life, for the good or bad. I would like to continue these habits in order to be more careful about my online and real persona.

It was challenging to learn about other social media uses in other parts of the world. Because I personally had never been exposed to them, it was different to hear about them. Although it was a bit challenging to learn about, it was also entertaining because it was new. I got to see a different perspective on things. 

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James Skierski - Final Post

This is the second time in this class.  The first time I took it, I learned a great deal.  As my second run through, I’m still learning about new aspects of social media.  As with most of Professor Holmes’s classes, it was a lot of fun, with a lot of in-class interaction.  I’m definitely using Twitter more often after this class, if for no reason other than to have something I can show companies that I exist.  I don’t feel like there were concepts that I struggled to “master,” but that may be because this is my second time through.  My problems with this class were slightly more existential than physical.

By that, I mean I thought a lot about how corporations own most everything, and that they are not far from owning the government, though I have seen the shadows of a shift coming from that direction.  I just hope it does shift.  I feel like the future of social media can be viewed in one of two ways: Black Mirror or... I suppose it would be considered Less Pessimistic?  By that I mean, our lives will be on social media.  How we react to it is up to us.