#this was probably my earliest memory of watching a viral video

[medeaschorus]

Happy 10 year anniversary to the Shia Labeouf song

[ashleybenlove]

I was tagged by @ultimatefandomtrash61 @whosthatgal and @jackiejack6

Rules:

1. Always post the rules.

2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you.

3. Write 11 questions of your own.

4. Tag 11 people.   

Since I have 2 sets of questions, it’s under the readmore.

Questions I Was Given Part 1:

1. What would you like your last words to be?

Honestly? I’m not sure? Probably “Fuck”. 

2. Do you prefer science fiction or fantasy? (If neither then put what your favorite genre is).

I like both but if I had to choose, it’d be science fiction.

3. If you could be a fictional character for a day, who would you be, and why?

Hiccup Haddock (around RTTE or later). I’d get to hang out with Toothless. And also kiss a pretty lady but mostly because I’d get to hang out with Toothless!

4. Do you think you fit in with your generation?

Yeah, I think I’m pretty much a millennial.

5. What’s a really funny story from your life?

Um... not funny really (though I love it), but my favorite story about me personally is how, on my 22nd birthday (2009), I had to take an exam for an Abnormal Psych class, which included the section about Anxiety Disorders (I have one! I know loads about OCD!). But the class was after my lunch break, so like I go to have lunch before my test and during that hour break, it started to pour rain. Like, super fucking hard. And while the building I was in wasn’t that far from the building I had to go for class, there was no coverings. I was gonna get wet either way. Also, I was wearing flip flops. So, I just stuck my flip flops in my bag and walked into the rain. I was pretty much soaked. I still took the test and got an A. 😎

6. Does your family have any weird traditions?

Nothing that I can really think of??

7. What’s your earliest memory?

Hmm... very likely, it was me getting a wicker chair to climb onto and grab a set of keys from, and then going to an electrical outlet to stick a key in it. I was about 3. 

8. Who/What has had the biggest impact on who you are?

Kim Possible. 

9. Which season is you favorite? Why?

Fall, because it’s not summer, and all the shows are back.

10. If you could only read one book/series for the rest of your life, what book/series would you choose?

Harry Potter, of course.

11. What quotes do you find the most inspiring?

If I had to choose one, probably, “Save the world. It’s what I do and nobody’s going to stop me.” from Kim Possible. Like, she... just does what she does and nobody can stop her.    Questions I Was Given Part 2:

1. What’s the best comeback line or revenge you’ve ever dealt out?

I’m not sure??? 

2. What was the last thing to make you laugh, like, a lot?

This past Sunday, I was chatting with my childhood best friend, and I made some sort of sex joke and then fucking laughed my ass off. 

3. What’s your favourite way to cheer yourself up when you’re sad?

Probably watching something I love. 

4. What’s the biggest thing you’re SUPER INTO but nobody you know really gets at all?

I’m not sure? 

5. Do your socks currently match? Not wearing socks right now.

6. Who’s your favourite fictional villain?

Shego. Yeah, that’s gonna be my answer. 

7. Best/worst/weirdest moving vehicle you’ve ever ridden in?

Vehicles as in like cars? All of them are the worst. 

8. First viral video you can remember watching?

No idea.

9. You’re ordering a pizza all for yourself–what’s on it?

Pepperoni would definitely be on it, for sure. Maybe ham or bacon. Something that goes on a supreme pizza. Maybe some sort of different cheese. 

10. Which fictional universe would you most want to live in–but as yourself, with no special powers or anything?

HTTYD. I don’t need special powers to ride dragons.

11: Hug, high five, wave or firm handshake?

High five. But I feel like these 4 depend on the person I’m interacting with.  

I’m not gonna make any questions or tag any others though.

[smartphoneteam-blog]

New Post has been published on Smart Wrist Wrap Watches

New Post has been published on https://www.smartwristwrap.com/how-athletes-are-turning-their-shoes-into-political-symbols.html

How athletes are turning their shoes into political symbols

Washington (CNN)The white Obama “O” logo pops on the black sneaker. Below, written in all caps is “MBK Alliance,” for the former president’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative. And on the midsole, the “SC” logo for Steph Curry’s shoe line. It’s an all-star collaboration between one of the biggest brands in politics and one of the biggest brand in signature sneakers, a one-of-one, worn by Curry once, at Washington’s Capital One Arena in February. Curry put them up for a charity campaign this week, with fans able to donate $10 for a chance to win them.

So Curry’s shoes felt like an exclamation mark on the trip. They were a show of support for the previous president and his work, but also a show of contempt the current one, and in the heart of his adopted presidential hometown no less. And they were part of an emerging trend.

As politics has collided with professional sports during Trump’s time in office, athletes have turned to fashion to send a message. Cleats and sneakers have become a canvas of political and social expression for some of today’s biggest and most outspoken sports stars — and a way to make a statement while standing.

Customized causes

Marcus Rivero — who goes by @solesbysir on Instagram — paints shoes for athletes. He started doing them for members of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and by now he’s made custom-painted shoes for at least one player on every team in the NFL, as well as for athletes in the NBA and MLB, soccer players overseas, and boxers.

“When I first started doing this custom painting stuff, it was just changes blue to yellow, changes purple to black, and then it started becoming more messages,” he told CNN’s COVER/LINE. “Then they started to get deeper meanings.”

In 2014, the Washington Redskins’ DeSean Jackson, a longtime client for Rivero, had a specific request. He wanted “something cool” on his cleat, Rivero recalled him saying, but he wanted something else too. A New York grand jury had just decided to not indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner and Jackson wanted his cleats to read “I can’t breathe,” the words Garner could be heard struggling to say in a video as the officer held him in a chokehold.

“It was my first political shoe,” Rivero said. “I really wasn’t trying to take a stand for anything, my stuff was just artwork, and when he told me that, I said, ‘OK, I’ll come up with something.'”

The result was a snakeskin pattern in Washington’s colors, burgundy and gold, with the words written across the front, fading out at the end.

“That went pretty viral pretty fast,” Rivero said.

While most of the shoes he paints are apolitical, he’s begun to receive more requests for paint jobs related to news events. Following the 2016 Dallas shooting, he painted another pair for Jackson, this time, sky blue covered in bright yellow caution tape, as a statement against violence. After the Las Vegas shooting in October, the Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper wore “Pray for Las Vegas” cleats with various images from the Strip.

For week 13 of the most recent NFL season, the league encouraged players to support charities through its My Cause, My Cleats initiative. It’s Rivero’s biggest week of the year, and he starts working on cleats far in advance to fulfill all his client’s requests. Tennessee Titans’ Rishard Matthews selected Know Your Rights, the charity of his college friend Colin Kaepernick, and Rivero painted Kaepernick’s name and an image of him kneeling with his hair styled into a fist.

“That one probably got the most political attention, and it was very controversial,” Rivero said. Matthews didn’t end up playing that week, due a hamstring injury. Still, “the shoe had made its mark even before the game started,” he said.

🏀👟🏈

A post shared by COVER/LINE (@cnncoverline) on Apr 13, 2018 at 8:32pm PDT

An advocating addition to a uniform

Athletes are restricted in what they can wear on the court or field. But their shoes can be an exception.

“The only way that most guys in the league can get away with expressing themselves is their footwear,” said Rachel Johnson, a stylist who’s worked with some of the NBA’s biggest stars, including LeBron James, Chris Paul and Amar’e Stoudemire. Sneakers, she said, are, “the smartest and most innovative way that they can express themselves without getting fined.”

While the NFL has traditionally had strict guidelines about cleats, down to the color of the laces, rules have loosened. In 2016, a half dozen players wore red, white, and blue cleats for the 15th anniversary of 9/11, and none of them were fined, and last year, personalized cleats were allowed for pre-game. The NBA has also relaxed its shoe rules. While the league once required players to match their teammates, athletes are now allowed to mix and match from their team’s color palette and wear special colors for events and holidays. It’s allowed athletes greater expression, and opened the way for shoes with political or social messages.

Curry’s first Obama sneaker came just days into Trump’s time in office, on MLK Day 2017. It was a Curry 3 with a presidential seal on the tongue, Obama’s signature on the sole, along with the phrase “Back2Back” a reference to Curry’s back-to-back MVP titles and Obama’s back-to-back electoral college victories.

Shoes with the American flag or to honor service members are popular. Baseball’s Harper wore a fatigue brown “Honor The Fallen” version of his Harper 2 on Memorial Day. Michael Bennett — the son of a veteran who was then with the Seattle Seahawks and now with the Philadelphia Eagles — was one of the NFL season’s earliest anthem protesters and wore cleats with the image of a kneeling soldier for POW/MIA. His Seahawks teammate Blair Walsh supported The Bully Project with cleats covered in the words “Speak Out,” while the San Diego Chargers’ Kellen Clemens wore cleats for National Right to Life.

The Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade turned his sneakers into a tribute to Joaquin Oliver, a Wade superfan and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student killed in the shooting. Wade wrote Oliver’s name on his shoes and gifted Oliver’s family a pair of his Way of Wade brand sneakers customized with Douglas High’s eagle mascot.

The statement LeBron James made with his sneakers was “Equality,” written in gold all-caps across the back of his LeBron 15s.

James debuted the 15 during New York Fashion Week in September 2017 at a show for the brand Kith. The 15 was sleeker and sexier than some of his most recent sneakers. Previous editions of the line were bulky and muscular, built like a superhero, but the 15 was built for someone who has a runway show at 7 and a basketball game at 8. The day of the Cavaliers opening game, James appeared in photos for a GQ cover story wearing a gold pair of his sneakers along with $845 Dolce & Gabbana pants and a $3,395 Alexander McQueen peacoat with the collar popped. And then that night, they became political symbols.

Cleveland played the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena, their home court (and previously, the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention where Trump was made his party’s nominee). James wore pair of black “Equality” 15s, a continuation of the Nike campaign he helped introduce in 2017. When the Cavs came to Washington, he wore them again, this time one black, one white.

“We’re not going to let one person dictate us, us as Americans, how beautiful and how powerful we are as a people,” he said after the game, referencing Trump, according to the Washington Post. “Equality is all about understanding our rights, understanding what we stand for and how powerful we are as men and women, black or white or Hispanic. It doesn’t matter your race, whatever the case may be, this is a beautiful country, and we’re never going to let one person dictate how beautiful and how powerful we are.”

The shoes aren’t sold in stores, but in early March, Nike held a 400-pair giveaway, 200 in white, 200 in black, with proceeds going to the same African-American history and culture museum visited by the Warriors in February.

Feet do the talking

This NBA season has seen other examples of clothing being used as a vehicle for political speech. The Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics wore shirts that read “Accountability. We are One” following the killing of Stephon Clark in March. And a special Nike City Edition line of uniforms for the league included jerseys for the Memphis Grizzlies inspired by the Civil Rights-era “I Am a Man” protest sign, while the Phoenix Suns had the latest edition of their “Los Suns” jerseys, used previously following the passage of controversial immigration enforcement legislation in Arizona in 2010.

But shoes offer players a level of individual expression shirts and jerseys do not. And they play a particular role in fashion for the American man.

Shoes — and sneakers in particular — are where many American men first began to express themselves. As the suit, the traditional uniform of masculinity, gave way to new ideals like sneakers-wearing sports stars and tech bros beginning in the ’80s, it gave men permission to express themselves through their footwear.

“Sneakers were the first way that men could start to take sartorial choices and I think that men continue to take their greatest sartorial choices at the footwear level,” said Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum and author of “Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” “

The colors that you see in sneakers, the bold designs, oftentimes you don’t find those reflected necessarily in other garments that men wear,” she said.

Sneakers remain “at the vanguard of male fashion,” she added, and because they’re associated with athletic masculinity, “they almost don’t feel like fashion, which is often feminized, because of these hyper-masculine associations.”

And they’ve proven an effective way to make a statement. While anthem kneeling became partisan and divisive, sneakers and cleats have not yet risen to that level. When Fox News’ Laura Ingraham went after James and the Warriors’ Kevin Durant, saying they should “shut up and dribble” in February, it wasn’t over their shoes, it was over what they said about Trump in an interview. Shoes are more subtle, less in your face. Yet at the same time, they rebel against the call to not speak out as wearable pieces of political pop art.

Johnson, James’ stylist, sees political shoes as a sign of athletes maturing. As a generation of players have grown up, they’ve realized they can use their voice and platform to do more than sell products, and they’ve become fathers.

“Watching their own children grow up heightens that level of responsibility for them,” she said.

Johnson likened the political shoe trend to the sartorial glow-up the NBA has experienced since the mid ’00s.

“There was just bad fashion being passed along from season to season and now that there’s been this huge fashion evolution, younger players come in and they really understand that they can utilize fashion as a vehicle to express themselves, to express their brand,” she said. “I think that that same kind of freedom, and that same kind of courage, that same kind of level of expression is going to be handed down to the young players as they come up, through the political lens.”

Johnson said she expects the trend will continue, especially if people tell athletes they can’t express their views.

“As long as there are people telling players to shut up and dribble and that they don’t have the right to kneel at football games, there’s going to continue to be an uprising in the way that players are expressing themselves.”

Instagram gallery photo credits: 1. Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images 2. Patrick Smith/Getty Images 3. Patrick Smith/Getty Images 4. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images 5. G Fiume/Getty Images 6. Alessandra Mondolfi 7. Nike 8. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images 9. Soles by Sir 10. @stephencurry30 11. Patrick Smith/Getty Images 12. Soles by Sir 13. @Manny_Navarro 14. Rod Mar/Seattle Seahawks 15. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images 16. Soles by Sir 17. @bharper3407

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/

[2017mdia4120-blog]

Brooklynn Kramer 1.13.17

Part 1

1.       My two earliest memories of social media are very similar. My dad used AOL Instant Messaging as a social media when it first came out in the early 2000s. I couldn’t wait to have my own screenname because it meant a sense of responsibility and growing up more. My earliest memory of social media was getting a screenname and participating in AOL Red (for teens) chat rooms. It was very fun then, getting to know strangers through screennames and the information they gave you, and now chat rooms aren’t used as often because they have a bad stigma attached to them.

2.       The first blog I consciously looked for to read was Postsecret.com. I believe I began looking at this site in 2008, when I was introduced by my cousin to the blog site full of secrets written on post cards. I read the blog because the secrets interested me, and it shows you what other people are thinking and what they have the strength to say. I loved and still do love Post Secret. For a while, I was checking it every Sunday for Sunday Secrets, which is when the week’s new secrets are posted that will remain on the site for a week. I still read it occasionally, when I remember, and I still enjoy looking at them. This blog has impacted me during college because in COMS 3200, Dr. Tikkanen did a Post Secret activity where the class shared their own secrets. I then took the same activity and did it with my Learning Community students for the two semesters that I worked as an LCL. I used my experience of reading the blog to present it to the students and give them an experience they’ll hopefully keep with them for a while.

I don’t necessarily read blogs, or at least I don’t feel like I do. I read articles, that I guess are considered blog posts since someone is writing them and it isn’t on paper, but I consider blogs more personal than not. The blogs I gaze at occasionally today are different because Post Secret created its own brand and idea. If others have tried to do the same, it has a different affect (Yik Yak, Whisper). The blogs I read today are based on my interests, whether it is academic related or something I find intriguing enough to read. I read stories about love, health, beauty, and more. Those blogs are typically written by one person, instead of a collaboration like Post Secret.

3.       To prepare myself for a career in social media, I have taken different social media classes outside of the certificate program to give me a further understanding on how to create content for social media, market myself and organizations, and engage followers on multiple platforms. I have also built my resume with experience. Last school year, I was the Social Media Director for Her Campus Ohio U, which is an online publication. I supervised Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Over the time of being the Social Media Director, I uploaded content to all platforms and took charge of certain campaigns. I am currently still in charge of the Social Media Team for Her Campus, but I am President, so I oversee what is being done and chime in when need be. I also joined Social Connect Society when it was active and became a Marketing Director for the 2016 Sibs Weekend Concert. I did the social media for T-Pain’s appearance at Ohio U. I also continued working with BSCPB for this year’s concert for Migos, but unfortunately that was cancelled today (Thursday, the 12th). I learned from today’s experience, and the past 24 hours, about crisis management in the form of social media and how to present the right information on individual platforms when an occurrence like this happens. I ran the Twitter for Social Connect Society for a few months before it was abandoned. I like preparing myself with reading about new social media and keeping updated on relevant information, including memes (since they’re so popular), and utilizing several platforms to express my own brand.

 1.       One way users shape social media is the example of Black Twitter. Black Twitter is Black identified (or others who are seen as Black) users participating in their own hashtags, jokes, memes, stories, and more. Black Twitter is highly American based, but others around the world are still engaged. Black Twitter has created a separate online presence that allows for connections through social media within the Black community. For example, I was scrolling through my timeline the other night and it was blowing up with the hashtag #NiggerNavy. (Of course, I don’t and will not use that word besides this example.) I had no idea where it was coming from and what sparked it and why so many people were joining the conversation. It was a conversation I knew I needed to stay out of, no matter if it was supportive or questioning, because of the word used. After a little bit of research, I found out @YahooFinance tweeted the word ‘nigger’ instead of ‘bigger’ in a tweet referencing Trump’s want for a larger military. This tweet went viral before it was taken down, and the hashtag was created and began to go even more viral with jokes, GIFs, and videos. Black Twitter made something that would typically be seen as awful or offensive and turned it into a collaborative joke throughout the community, engaging thousands of Twitter users across the world. The lesson that comes from this social media shaping is that although something may be seen badly, doesn’t mean it can’t be changed or viewed differently. After I realized what had happened, I thought about the poor social media manager and tweeted at Yahoo Finance to plead that they keep their manager because it caused a movement, and no harm was done.

Another situation where users shaped social networks is the platform, Instagram. I knew I had Instagram very shortly after it was released, but I found out that less than a month after its release, I posted my very first photo. I was part of the crowd that tested and shaped the way Instagram was used. (I’m the 396,503rd user! There are over 500 million users today!) Instagram started off and still is a photo sharing application, but it had way less features than it does today, and I never would have imagined how far it would come back when I first got it. Users created and shaped Instagram by requesting other filters, wanting a privacy setting (there wasn’t an initial option to have a private profile), adding video (and continuing to improve on the time requirements), and allowing for different features such a direct messaging and liking comments (Thanks, Facebook.). Instagram is extremely user friendly and that’s why it has so many users today. It doesn’t make many decisions without consent or wishes from the users (but I still don’t like the colorful logo opposed to the old camera style). Users took their ideas and created a community of people through following photos. The photos of Instagram tell stories, just like Instagram users tell the story of the platform. A lesson of this situation is that users can shape their social media alongside a community of people wanting the same things. They can improve on matters with a little bit of questioning, working, and examples. Instagram wouldn’t be where it is today without all the users that take advantage of the photo sharing application.

A third situation is that social media has allowed many people to monetize their brands through ads by influencers. Vine stars especially maximized their profit by creating 6 second videos with an #ad or #sponsored post followed by the brand that paid the star to do so. This allowed for partnerships between Vine stars and companies. Brands got their word out in creative ways without doing their own work before Vine discontinued their social media platform. The lessons that marketers learned from this is that there may be another other ways that they don’t think of that work better than traditional marketing. Vine proved it has the potential to sell products without being in your face.

   2.       One prediction that I have had for at least twitter for a while is that instead of words, there will be sound blurbs that you can make, resulting in a voiced status. I don’t know how well this will be taken, but I think instead of video, you’ll be able to record your voice for a status. I know, based on my age and use of the site, that millennials probably will not engage with it as much because video is now so popular, but I have a feeling that some people would highly enjoy listening to updates instead of viewing them or watching a video. It could also be done in a row, so one user’s tweet can be read, then the next, so it goes in a timely fashion and can be used hands free. I personally wouldn’t use this feature because I dislike my voice on recordings, but I know some people who would use it very often to express themselves. Even if Twitter didn’t allow for you to make your own recording, I think it will soon add a feature for tweets to be read, so it can be hands free. Media would face a problem at that point because pictures cannot accompany the words, but it would be safer if there are people who check Twitter while driving (Shame on them!).

Another prediction is making things easier to buy from a social media site. This has been in the works but nothing has quite come up to make it a direct sale. There are several times I watch a video on Facebook and want to know the price, quality, and authenticity of an item, and many times I cannot find it, even when it is linked into the comment section. Marketers will start working to improve the videos and links to make a sale easier to achieve. People may comment how much they want the item, but if they can’t find an easy and accessible site to purchase the product from, it will be forgotten within seconds. Being able to have all the information on a video or photo link next to the product will increase sales for companies and ease access to sites for consumers.

My final prediction for the future of social media is that every site will be easily accessible on one scheduling tool and viewing site. Today, Instagram is the hardest to view and post on from sites like Hootsuite and Buffer. In the future, I believe these programs will adjust to fit all sizes of photos and information. Being a social media manager for accounts gets difficult because Instagram is the hardest to schedule, so I think it’ll improve how to schedule. Instagram itself might even have a scheduling feature soon. That would work in favor of a lot of companies!

     https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/

http://wersm.com/the-complete-history-of-instagram/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/black-twitter-a-virtual-community-ready-to-hashtag-out-a-response-to-cultural-issues/2014/01/20/41ddacf6-7ec5-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html?utm_term=.1fb6df21895a http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2016/09/29/10-predictions-future-social-media/

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[2017mdia4120-blog]

Mierke - 1/13/17 Assignment

Maureen Mierke

MDIA 4120

13 January 2017

PART 1

1.     My earliest childhood memory of social media use by me is when I first used AIM messaging, about 11 years ago. Although this may not seem like the first idea of “social media,” as it seems to be defined today, it was a means of communicating with others through an online medium. However, in terms of social media we often use today, Facebook was my first social media site that I joined and used. Although I don’t precisely remember when I joined Facebook, I believe it was sometime around when I was 13 or 14 years old.

As for my first memory of a family member using social media, I think this was probably when my brother first made his Facebook account. As my older brother, he was allowed to make his account before I was and I remember asking him about as he was on it. Again, I don’t exactly remember when this was, but I know he made it about a few years before I did.

2.     I never stuck with reading any blogs, but I do remember subscribing to different YouTube channels and “vlogs” when I was younger. One of the main ones I still remember was a YouTube account called, “Smosh,” that consisted of two guys who basically just made up goofy stories or songs. There wasn’t much to them, but they were very entertaining. Another YouTuber that I subscribed to was Jenna Marbles, who posted funny videos regarding her life. Although neither Smosh nor Jenna Marbles are video bloggers (vloggers) in the typical sense of the definition, they both dip into the entertainment blogging world.

I was always one to turn to video blogs that were funny and entertaining and this has stuck with me even today, as I continue to watch Jenna Marbles videos every now and then. I also began subscribing to other channels as I grew older that stuck with this genre of “entertainment vlogging,” such as Olan Rogers, a vlogger who shares humorous stories of his life, updates of his life and animation stories here and there. As I mentioned, I followed these vlogs because they were funny and entertaining and would brighten my day. Reflecting on these vlogs, that is mostly what I remember: they brightened my day. Today still, I turn to vlogs that make me laugh. Humor has a strong place in my heart and so that is what I turn towards. In addition, I have begun reading actual blogs, too. Most of these are crafting blogs, that give me tips and ideas of different crafts to try. I guess my choice of vlogs and blogs simply has been determined by my personality and interests at the moment. 

3.     In order to prepare myself for a career involving social media, I have taken numerous social media-based courses here at Ohio University. I’m currently a part of the Social Media Certificate program, that helps with these social media courses. I also have ensured that I have joined most every social media platform that exists, so I better understand each of them. I am also a part of numerous organizations, where I have either helped produce social media content or have run the social media accounts. Finally, I have had a few internships where social media has been a priority or the organization. Overall, I recognize how important social media is in today’s modern world and I am doing everything I can to stay ahead and on top of it. 

PART 2

1.     Three situations where users have shaped social networks are, (1.) the use of Facebook Live, (2.) Twitter’s “Moments” feature and 3.) Pinterest adopting the “Buy Now” feature.

For the first one, everyone today seems to be very interested in sharing with the world what they are doing at precise moments of the day. This can easily be seen by people’s 500-second-long Snapchat stories, where they would broadcast the interesting moments of their day. Facebook adopted this idea of people sharing their lives by creating “Facebook Live,” which lets users begin and end a video in real time, allowing people to follow along with their interesting moments at the time that it is happening. This has proved valuable for not only personal accounts, but also organization or news accounts, going “live” with news updates or other featured opportunities. In an academic study, Rashid states that, “Facebook offers capabilities to its users to create, cultivate, and continue social relationships” (22). This idea is showcased with Facebook Live, allowing its users to continue social relationships in a more personal manner.

Secondly, Twitter recognized the fact that many people now turn towards social media platforms to see news of the day. By taking this into consideration, they developed their “Moments” feature, which showcases newsworthy content of the day and most talked about news of the day in one easy to maneuver space. This allows its users, who often turn to Twitter for news, to see this news in one area instead of constant scrolling.

Lastly, a feature that I think was very well thought-out is that of Pinterest’s “Buy Now” feature. So many people who go on Pinterest are searching for multitudes of ideas or products. I personally have gone on so many times and have seen something I wanted, but have had to jump through hoops in order to find where I could buy it. Pinterest changed this way of life by implementing a “Buy Now” feature that takes you directly to where you the product is sold. This has been a blessing for myself and many others and have saved us all so much time in our online shopping habits. Mikalef, Giannakos, and Pateli developed a study that shows how social media impacts product advertising and Pinterest’s development falls in line with this. Mikalef and others say that, “…social media is a viable solution for marketing and product promotion.” Pinterest paid attention to what its users were doing and what they wanted most and developed something to offer this that also promoted products in a new manner.

Each of these examples showcases the fact that users are the ones who get to decide what direction social media goes. None of the ideas mentioned above would have become reality if they had not first been noticed to be things that people wanted. In the world of social media, people have the power to decide what happens next.

2.     Three predictions I make about users’ contributions to social networking are… 

(1.) Technology, especially wearable technology, will only continue to get better and better based on what people like to do. For example, Snap Spectacles were recently introduced by Snapchat. With these sunglasses on, you can record 10-second videos that wirelessly sync to your Snapchat account and then charge themselves in the case. This form of social technology is incredible, especially right now, as everyone continues to share more and more information on their social media platforms. Rob Marvin, writer for PC Magazine, says, “Spectacles are coming to market at the right place, time, and price to make for an ideal viral toy.” As the years go on, I believe these glasses will continue to upgrade and, if they connect with some other technology companies such as Apple or Google, we could have an all-inclusive media platform right on our faces and no one would be the wiser. Users will continue to want technological advancements and this wish will be granted.

(2.) I think users will push for more interaction with TV shows and movies. Exactly how this is done, I’m not sure yet, but I think it will be something far beyond simply hashtagging while watching the show. For one, I think television will create more instances where users get to decide the actions during the show and the ending of the show. This would allow users to feel more connected with the shows they are watching and would allow their voice to be directly heard. Perhaps virtual reality will also come into play and you can put on a headset or pair of glasses and be placed directly in the TV scenes. You can either be a character in the show, or direct how the characters perform. No matter what happens, TV won’t simply be a sit-on-the-couch event anymore.

(3.) Lastly, I think users will advocate for more unified apps. So many apps nowadays do such similar things, such as GroupMe and Slack, and yet, some people still prefer using one over the other. Doing this, people end up having so many different conversations occurring on different apps that it becomes overwhelming. Eventually, people will want a single app that everyone goes to for team or group messaging; a single app for checking yourself in at places; and a single app for meeting people to hook-up or have romantic relations with. Right now, each app has enough of its own personality for the separation to be okay, but at some point, this will change.

Resources:

MARVIN, ROB. "Spectacles Are The Missing Piece Of Snapchats Business Model." PC Magazine (2016): 131. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.

Mikalef, Patrick Mikalef, Michail Giannakos, and Adamantia Pateli. "Shopping And Word-Of-Mouth Intentions On Social Media." Journal Of Theoretical & Applied Electronic Commerce Research 8.1 (2013): 17-34. Computers & Applied Sciences Complete. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.

Rashid, Ayesha Tahera. "Online Befriending On Facebook And Social Capital: A Socio-Psychological Study On University Students Of Assam." Global Media Journal: Indian Edition 6.1&2 (2015): 1-25. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.