Creativity and New Media

New media helps foster creativity. Second Life is a virtual world in which you live your life as your avatar. I created an avatar based on my imagination and creativity. In Second Life, I am able to tell my avatar to do anything I want. What I normally cannot do in real life, I am able to do in Second Life because my avatar does not limit me to my abilities. Below is a screenshot of my avatar in Second Life. I am a vampire that is flying in the sky. By using the new media tool, I am able to recreate myself virtually. 

Creativity

New ideas are fostered from existing ideas. When Twitter first started, they did not have lists or retweets. The idea came up only after monitoring users. Also, in 2007, they were reluctant to start the "#" symbol to mark conversations but it became popular and Twitter users adapted on a fast pace. Moreover, Flickr started as an online game and then suddenly changed to a photo sharing media because it has a higher demand based on their consumers. Social media of today let users exchange ideas very easily and let the companies see what they can improve on. Ideas generated on new media leads to an even greater idea from another person. Thus, new media fosters creativity because there is always someone who tries to improve on the current media.

Work Cited

Miller, Claire C. "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 25 Oct. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

In today's society, virtual worlds have become quite popular. Virtual worlds can be used for personal, educational, and professional situations. It lets you socially interact with others and do the things you would like to do in the actual/real world. For example, a congressional subcommittee hearing used Second Life for their meeting. They created a virtual world identical to their meeting table in the building. Even though they are not all physically there together, the virtual room environment enhances that feeling. Moreover, Second Life had been used as an educational tool to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills with drills and real life cases they may face. Virtual worlds can foster creativity by having no boundaries as the person you are virtually. You may choose to live the luxurious life you always wanted or do the things you were always afraid to do. You can live a limitless life in the virtual world. However, a main concern is that one can be so coupe up with their virtual self that they tend to forget that it is not real. Some people spend an enormous amount of time on their virtual self when they should be improving on their real self. I think that virtual worlds will grow in the future and more people will be using it. I feel like it will advance on a professional level such as companies will use it for business related scenarios.

Work Cited

Ferla, Ruth La. "No Budget, No Boundaries: It's the Real You." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.

Musgrove, Mike. "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.

Simon, Stephanie. "Avatar II: The Hospital." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 13 Apr. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter discussions are very different from Blackboard discussions or in-class discussions. Both Twitter and Blackboard discussions are done via the internet and in class discussions are done in person. In an in-class discussion, you are physically interacting with others and hearing their voice, which is the most ideal form of communication. In a Blackboard discussion, discussion is made from a single post. Someone starts a post and the comments under it will become the discussion. This creates a thread such that someone can make a comment under the original post or under another comment. On the other hand, Twitter discussion is made by re-tweeting, tagging another person, or using a hash-tag under a certain topic. Twitter is more complicated form of discussion compare to the other two because you cannot directly comment under a post. In a Twitter discussion, you can follow a hash-tag by clicking on it to see discussions by other users. Also, you can re-tweet a post and add a comment for it. Tagging another person to respond to a post of theirs makes a smaller discussion mainly between you and that other person. Therefore, Twitter, Blackboard, and in-class discussion very different from each other. 

Social Networking Sites

There are many different kinds of social networking sites. Four popular social networking sites used today is Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Tumblr. Although these sites are very similar, I have different impressions of them. Between the four sites, I feel like Facebook has the highest social interaction with other people. It lets you easily interact with other such as using Facebook message. Facebook lets you post pictures, view your friends posts, "like" pages that interest you, create an event and much more. Facebook includes more features than the other three sites. Myspace, on the other hand, is more towards blogging. Myspace lets you make your own unique profile background, add music, and post. Tumblr is very much similar to Myspace. Tumblr lets you post, and re-post other's post. You are able to follow certain people or just something that interests you. Tumblr is mostly used as a blogging tool and posts only things that pertains or interest you. Twitter and Facebook can both be used for networking with professionals. Twitter, like the others, let's you tweet about topics that interest you but the difference lies within the word limit of each post. In addition, for twitter post, you cannot directly comment under the post but instead re-tweet, hashtag, and/or tag the person you are responding to. If you like to keep up with the latest trends or updates, Twitter would be best. 

All four sites, lets you add friends, post, and allow others to interactively respond to your post to start a conversation. Even though, the sites sound similar, they have their own unique usages. Out of the four social networking sites, I prefer Facebook the most because I feel like it provides more than the other sites. 

Social Networking

Social networking is a way to connect with different people on a social level but can also be a way to connect on a professional level. Many companies use social networking technologies such as LinkedIn, "a network of 8 million professionals spread across the world", to find suitable candidates for certain positions. They can use the site to filter out candidates and see their job experiences through their profile as a way of online recruiting. Social networking technology has done recruiters from companies a great deal of help in a more efficient way.

Social networking technologies increase social activity among individuals. They can connect with people they never met with the same interest and develop a friendship. In addition, messaging on social networking sites can help build and maintain strong relationships with others. A very poplar social networking site is Facebook. It allows others to see posts and pictures from their friends list and keep up with current events and activities. If there is a friend you have not talked to lately or is living in another country, sending them a message online is a fast and efficient way of communication. Social networking technologies provide easy communication access, which help others develop socializing skills.

However, the increase of interaction between people over the internet can lead to society no longer engaging in face-to-face contact with each other. Socializing online and in person is completely different. In addition, instead interacting physically, people can video chat with each other. Future generations might not know how to interact with others in person. Another problem to this is that people are occupied with social networking technologies indoors that they may not experience the outdoor lifestyle and environment interaction.

Work Cited

Dubner, Stephen J. "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum." Freakonomics. N.p., 15 Feb. 2008. Web. 03 Oct. 2014. 

Langfitt, Frank. "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting." NPR. NPR, 22 Nov. 2006. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.