The Internet Age of Activism

In his article “Small Change”, Malcom Gladwell discusses he thinks that influence of social media/networking on activist movements will never be as strong as they were in the past. The activists of the civil rights movement used to participate in sit-ins or nonviolent confrontations. Nowadays, many people who consider themselves activists like Facebook pages like “Save Darfur” and then continue to sit behind their computers instead of take action. Gladwell equates this to the fact that when you interact face-to-face with others who are interested in a cause, you create “strong-ties”. Yet, when you connect with people over the Internet about a cause the ties you create are “weak”. In his opinion, this is why organizing an activist movement using social networking sites won’t be possible to successfully complete.

Now I don’t necessarily agree entirely with Gladwell, I think that there are some people who are successful online activists rather than “slactivists”. Also, just because you may have bonded over the Internet with one person or a group of people does not necessarily mean that it is a “weak-tie”. As our society dives further into the digital world, many people have been creating strong connections or friendships over the Internet. It isn’t as weird as it used to be just 10 years ago to meet someone you met online. However, I do agree that in this time and age, we do not like to be inconvenienced. So many social networking consumers think that activism just means liking a picture on Facebook that says, “like and share if you are against animal abuse”. There is much more to activism than saying you agree with a cause. Sharing/liking a post may get it more attention and it may help raise awareness of a cause, but it is just a passive way to make yourself feel good for “helping out a cause”.

The “Egyptian Chronicles” blog (run by Zeinobia and can be viewed here http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/) is a great example of a successful Internet activist. Now, this is not the first time that I have visited Zeinobia’s blog or other social networking accounts. I actually wrote about her blog last year for a class.  And she still continues to keep up an awesome and informative blog. Even though some of her blogging topics are dark or dreary, her blog is bright, colorful and positive. And unlike many people who consider themselves activists (most likely because they liked a picture for Kony 2012) and only pay attention to a large-scale event for about two weeks, Zeinobia actually keeps the world updated about Egyptian affairs almost daily and has been for a few years. Her blog also contains links to multiple different social networking/media accounts including Twitter, Flickr, Youtube and a couple others. This way she is able to get her message out to more than the demographic of people who read blogs or use blogger.

In my own opinion, Zeinobia is an awesome and successful activist. She is able to spread news stories that wouldn’t normally make it to the rest of the world if it weren’t for her blog. Gladwell may have been concerned that we would lose activists due to our “weak-ties” but I think that “strong-ties” can slowly be created out of those so-called “weak” ones. 

The Trouble with F.O.M.O

During our Monday class the author of book “iDisorder: Understanding our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming its Hold on Us”, Dr. Larry D. Rosen, came and talked to us about his book along with some other information about brain function and social media use. I then attended his lecture later that night in which he went into more detail about the generational differences and how we could help our brains from becoming over stimulated and therefore better students.

One point that I thought was particularly interesting during his lecture later that night was the differences between the generations and the anxiety younger generations get when they are separated from their electronic devices. According to a survey that Dr. Rosen and his team did, they found that the three older generations preferred face-to-face interactions with close friends, phone calls then emails (the only difference was that the Generation Net preferred Internet communication over phone calls).  However, the iGeneration put texting first, instant messaging second and THEN face-to-face interaction on their level of importance. During an experiment in which half of the students had their phones taken away and the other half were allowed to keep their phones, Dr. Rosen found that students who had their cell phones taken from them in the beginning of the experiment had a higher anxiety than students who were allowed to keep their phones. Where exactly did this anxiety stem from? Are kids really that attached to their smart phones that they can’t handle being in a room for sixty minutes without them?

Rosen claimed that the anxiety most likely stems from an addiction called F.O.M.O. (also known as the fear of missing out). It seems to mainly affect those who are from the iGeneration and it seems to be seeping into the younger generations. It stems from our obsession with social media and the developed need to check your Twitter or your Facebook for new tweets or notifications. People worry that they are missing out on something more fun than what they are doing so they constantly make sure they know what is happening in the online world around them and if they aren’t constantly checking they may miss something important. Some people with major F.O.M.O. even choose to stay home rather than go out with friends because they of how much they fear missing an online event.

This anxiety will only grow larger as we become more and more dependent on technology. The fear of missing out may start to cause more people social issues due to caring more about the online world rather than about those around them. If people cannot get over this fear, our generation may have a lot more issues we need to deal with in order to function better in society. 

Is Facebook Addictive? The Answer is YES

From a small, exclusive Harvard website to one of the most well known social media platforms today, Facebook has quickly risen to the top of charts. Over a billion people around the world actively use Facebook. But why hasn't the "Facebook craze" died out like MySpace? Many call the site addictive, which is why many use it so actively and compulsively. What is it about Facebook that makes it so addictive? From first hand experience, I can vouch that Facebook is a very addictive website.

I first heard about Facebook when I was in middle school. As an eighth grader I played JV softball on the high school team and, therefore, hung out with the older kids during practice. One day they were talking about Facebook and how it used to just be a college site and that they were all making accounts. I ended up making an account during the first week of high school a few months later. From there my Facebook addiction grew.

During high school I was completely addicted to playing Facebook games. It first started with FarmVille (a Facebook game that allowed you to tend to your own virtual farm) and went downhill from there. I played Mafia Wars, Happy Pets, Treasure Isle, FrontierVille, The Sims Social, and many other games during the first few years of Facebook use. Many of the Facebook games make you do tasks or quests that require you to gather items from your friends or come back on later days to continue. Now, not all of my friends played these games but when I was younger enough did that the games were enjoyable. I could send them item requests and slowly complete levels on multiple games over time. My friends and I would have contests to find out who could attain a higher level on FarmVille or who could complete the Treasure Isle quest first. Just the excitement of opening new quests or gaining levels made playing the games worth while and kept us going back for more.

Nowadays I don't play many Facebook games as I used to in high school but I still check my Facebook account multiple times a day. I have many Facebook friends from across the country who I still keep in contact with. I also am an administrator on a few Facebook pages and groups that I help keep updated. I am constantly checking for new notifications or messages. I like to be updated on what all of my friends are doing or how events like the Super Bowl go.

There also could be a scientific reasoning behind Facebook's addictions.  Multiple articles claim that the sensation of receiving a notification on Facebook causes the brain to release dopamine. This would explain why many people are addicted to Facebook, because the sensation of getting a notification makes them feel good so they crave that feeling and continue their Facebook usage to feel it again. (Example article: http://thecerebralcortex.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/facebook-and-the-dopaminergic-response/)

Do I get good feelings when I have a new Facebook notification? Yes. Could someone argue that I am addicted to Facebook? Probably. So, if someone asked me if Facebook was addictive I would answer with a 100% yes.

The Social Network

For our class we viewed the movie The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield. I actually had never seen it before and all I knew about the movie is that there were two twin rowers and that a meme sprouted from one of the scenes.

One thing that I thought was interesting was the contrast and comparison that can be made between the portrayal of Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg and the actions of the late Steve Jobs. Now, we did not actually read a biography all about Zuckerberg but we did read and watch some interviews with him. I personally really liked Zuckerberg (and approved of his music taste) even though we didn’t get to learn too much about him. But since we just finished reading the Steve Jobs biography, the portrayal and some “real life Zuckerberg” things seemed similar to actions of Steve Jobs.

Now there are the obvious differences. Zuckerberg went to Harvard and invented Facebook as a college student and Steve Jobs didn’t actually end up finishing college. But, both men are brilliant and are/were heads of giant companies along with a few other similar factors. For example, the way both of them dress is very similar. While many company creators or owners may dress sharp or fancy when going to meetings or interview, both Mark and Steve always seem(ed) to keep it casual. Jobs had his uniform of a black turtleneck, jeans and sneakers. Zuckerberg also keeps it casual in interviews and in the movie where he often wears a sweatshirt or sandals. I think the way both of these men dress would be a good example of the Google rule “You can be serious without a suit”. The way that Zuckerberg handled and interacted with people in the movie seemed very similar to Jobs. He often would tell people exactly what he thought even though it could come off as rude or hurtful. An example of this instance from the movie would be when Mark is talking to his ex-girlfriend in the beginning of the movie. Jobs was also very hard on people especially during interviews by asking questions that seemed “awkward” or not relevant. That social awkwardness crossed with a great knowledge seems to come at both a blessing and a curse for both Zuckerberg and Jobs.  

I think that the Social Network movie was very interesting even though they put a Hollywood take on the creation of Facebook. With that said, I think I will be looking forward to the movie that will be created about Steve Jobs in the future. 

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Is Vine the Next "Cool" App?

In This Week in Google, the group started their podcast by talking about different social media updates and news. At one point, Leo Laporte briefly mentioned that Twitter put out a new app called Vine. However, he did not further discuss it and the group went back to discussing Google Plus. And even though I am not the biggest Twitter fan I decided to look into this new “upcoming” app to see what it was all about.

The description on the iTunes app store describes the app… “Vine is the best way to see and share life in motion. Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see.” With this free app, Vine users can upload unlimited videos, instantly share them on Twitter OR Facebook, use hashtags just like Twitter and even find and follow other users.

(View an example of Vine being used here: http://vine.co/v/bOIqn6rLeID)

Vine is becoming so popular because it allows users to easily share more parts of their lives with their friends and family over Twitter. People who love using Twitter are all about sharing personal stories or photographs with their followers so adding Vine to their phones would be an added bonus. Vine also makes watching other people (including celebrities who use Vine) a lot more interesting because you can see six second snapshots of their lives.

According to an article on Tech Crunch, in it's first week, Vine was able to swing onto the top 10 free apps in the Apple app store. Vine has already beat out the other Twitter video uploading app competitors (http://keyhole.co/realtime/lg5sbR/TwitterVideo). However, many worry that many people will use Vine to upload porn. In it's short existence, Twitter has already had to deal with and respond to multiple NSFW tags and problems on Vine. 

Will Vine become the Instagram of videos? Or will it become another Chatroulette? Only time will tell at this point. 

If you are interested in Vine, check out this "CNET How to: Get Started with Vine" video...