I've Switched Blogs!

I'm switching to a new platform, if you're looking for updated posts from me. It was nice to have you all here, but may I redirected to my new blog? 

This Post Does Not Contain Rick Astley

In the last few classes, a new word has been introduced to many people: trolling. The definition that we were given in class was that a troll is basically someone who is a part of social media but does not outwardly use it, preferring to watch instead of participate. Now, when I heard this definition, this was my main reaction: 

Inconceivable!

As someone who admittedly spends a lot of time on the Internet, trolling means something fairly different to me. To borrow a definition from Urban Dictionary: 

Trolling is trying to get a rise out of someone. Forcing them to respond to you, either through wise-crackery, posting incorrect information, asking blatantly stupid questions, or other foolishness. However, trolling statements are never true or are ever meant to be construed as such. Nearly all trolled statements are meant to be funny to some people, so it does have some social/entertainment value.

(Wikipedia also has a fairly good definition of trolling.) The definition that we had been presented in class is something I would apply more to the word "lurking," where the only use you get out of the Internet is watching but not contributing. Lurking can be really good - in fact, lurking on a website such as Reddit, which is a social news website, is very helpful because it's a good way to learn how to be a part of the community before jumping in.

Trolling, on the other hand, is not something that people should really do. It's a good joke on occasion, sure, around friends or people that you know will understand what you mean. In fact, this is probably my favorite example of trolling. But it can certainly go too far, and often it does. Trolls set out to frustrate people, to wind them up, and people who don't realize that they're getting trolled and think they are trying to reason with an impossibly unreasonable person will ultimately probably get angry, which is what the troll wanted in the first place. 

So: Lurking? Good, especially in a new community. Trolling? Not nice.

One more thing on the topic of trolling: the infamous "troll face." Often, this face appears after a troll has revealed themselves as such. This face is basically another way of say "Ha! Got you!" It's part of a much larger set of memes online, though this is arguably the most common one. So if you see this face, you should know that you've been had.

Neener-neener.

So just be careful about what you read on the Internet, because here pranking isn't just for April Fools' Day (though the Internet on April Fools' Day is a glorious place). And I wouldn't advise saying that "oh yeah, I've just been trolling the Internet" unless you mean that you just spent your time baiting people.

--
Listening to: Red by Taylor Swift
Exams/Papers So Far: 3/3
Last Movie Watched: 21 Jump Street

Don't Be Afraid of Social Media

In reading Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do (or at least the first half of it), I've come to realize that there are a few simple themes that simply keep repeating:

1. Yeah, the Internet is new - it's cool, don't be afraid to use it
2. Sure, some people are still scared, but teach them and they'll see
3. Don't be afraid to develop your voice and get your voice out there
4. It's a time for learning but don't be afraid to learn
5. Be careful about what you say - use your voice but exercise it carefully

There's a lot more in the book than just that, but those are some things that I've been prominently noticing. Because this is a time where social media is pretty freaking important, and to ignore it would actually be a shame. But just using it isn't everything, it's also important to learn how to use it properly so not only you can create a voice for yourself (point 3!) but also be able to use your voice to spread information to other people. 

I like a lot of what the author, Euan Semple, says throughout the novel. There are certainly a lot of good ideas at hand here, learning how to be yourself on the Internet while also propagating ideas for organizations and just larger ideas at large in general. There's still a lot to learn in terms of how people interact online, and that'll keep changing as more and more people start learning and social media keeps expanding. 

I'm excited to keep reading this book - while I've been a personal consumer of a lot of this media for (what I would consider) a while now, I'm excited to learn about it from not a consumer but more of a producer's point of view.

--
Listening to: what sounds like somebody hacking up a lung
Exams/Papers So Far: 2/2
Last Movie Watched: Spirited Away

Twitter for Others

It was interesting reading other people's views on what their Twitter feeds are like. No two Twitter feeds are ever going to be exactly the same, unless of course two people follow the exact same people on Twitter with no differences (and that would never happen unless it happened on purpose, which would be weird).

Of course, the big common mix is following friends from back home and following news sources. One interesting point though that Julia made was that even though we may follow a lot of variety, there are plenty of tweets that we don't really pay attention to. Yeah, there are some celebrities that sometimes I just don't care about at a certain moment, and a lot of articles that I get linked to I don't feel like reading. But at the same time without following those accounts at all I wouldn't see anything at all, and sometimes those articles are worth reading and knowing random updates about a celebrities life can be interesting.

I think it's all about the balance of Twitter - as someone else said (I can't remember who, sorry!) after following a certain amount of people, there's a point in which you have to decide: do you spend your life constantly checking up on Twitter, or do you just accept the fact that there are tweets that you will miss? I used to be the kind of a person where I would spend at least an hour a day going through all of the tweets that I had missed (long before I had a smartphone), but I just can't handle that anymore and so I accept that yes, there will be things on Twitter that I'll miss, but there are lots of good things on Twitter that I still see. Twitter is what you make of it.
--
Listening to: Live While We're Young by One Direction
Exams/Papers So Far: 1/2
Last Movie Watched: Cabin in the Woods

My Twitter Feed

That is a screenshot of what my Twitter feed looks like at this exact second (though I apologize for the small size - bigger sizes don't seem to fit on my blog. It's a decent representation - you've got your Lehigh news, webseries, two "news" sites (one for fan news and one that's fake news), celebrities, and companies that I'm a fan of. I'd say it's a decently accurate representation of my Twitter feed normally.

Of course, that's not everyone I follow on Twitter. In reality, a decent chuck of the people that I follow are people that I (sort of) know in real life - mainly friends that I've met at conferences, and this my way of keeping up to date with them because the only time I ever see them in person is at said conferences. There's also a large amount of Youtubers and online content creators ("online celebrities") from the online community I mentioned in my last blog post. A few Lehigh sources, because it's a good way to see what's going on on campus, a few general news sources just to keep myself up to date (though honestly, if there is some kind of breaking news I'll just check the trending topics for the quickest news link, if I don't just try Google), and organizations/companies that I'm a fan of.

I think that I have a really interesting mix on my Twitter feed, at least for me. Besides following online content creators, I also follow a decent number of young adult authors. This mix is great for me because not only am I fan of these peoples work, but these are also the two fields that I want to go into: young adult writing and social media. (Not necessarily together, but the former cannot be done without the latter anymore anyway.) Twitter helps me keep up with the publishing industry and the social media industry, and I feel like I am a part of the constantly changing Internet. It's the perfect way for me to learn all about what I want to keep doing with the rest of my life.

I'm still constantly changing my Twitter feed - some people (like Dominic Monaghan) tweet entirely way too often for me to care, and there are always new people and organizations to find and follow. I love being a part of this constantly expanding worldview, and Twitter has definitely been an awesome tool for me these last few years.

--
Listening to: Into The Sunshine by Julia Nunes
Exams/Papers So Far: 1/2
Last Movie Watched: Spirited Away

I Love Online Communities

I'm going to try and prevent this from getting too long, because I can honestly talk about online communities for hours. There is an absolute beauty in online communities that can be a little hard to see from the outside, but when you're a part of one it can be the best feeling in the world. I became a part of one (or two, sort of - there's a lot of overlap. I can count myself as part of either one community or about twenty. It depends how specific you feel like getting) at the beginning of high school, so I did what I count as the most important part of my growing up with it. Or something like that. [Note: This is potentially about to get very nerdy. I apologize in advance.]

I See What You Mean

While I have my own opinions on Facebook and Twitter, it is always interesting to get someone else's perspective and to see how other people use the same sites I do in different ways. There were certainly a lot of common opinions - using Facebook to share pictures and to talk to your friends, while using Twitter for the news. One point that I really liked was made by Julia, where she pointed out that Twitter prevents her from getting completely stuck in the campus bubble that I know I get trapped in when back on campus. With Facebook, it's entirely possible to just be trapped in a continuous loop of a college campus, while Twitter can bring you back into the real world.

I think all of us have a lot to learn about the worlds of Facebook and Twitter. Sure, everyone has different levels of experience with the sites, and some are way ahead of others, but it is definitely going to be a group learning experience throughout this semester. I know I'm very comfortable with using these sites for myself, but I'm definitely still hesitant for running a page for some larger organization. I've been slowly getting practice (though not with either Twitter or Facebook, but Tumblr) of running a page for an organization, and I know I can't wait to keep learning more about this emerging industry.