From Me to You: Social Networking

A day in the life of me, and social networking. Wake up, creep facebook, shower, get dressed, creep facebook, eat, goto class (and creep facebook), nap, creep facebook, eat, creep facebook, see where I'm going with this? Facebook has actually become a part of the users life, when I type in my name and my profile appears: that's my entire public social life on one screen. "That's me, those are my friends, there's my mom, here's some pictures from a party I went to, I went skydiving see that? I wrote happy birthday on his wall ( I really don't even know who he is), oh 'lol!' I took that picture she was so wasted." It's a phenomenon that has taken over the lives of not only teenagers and young adults, but older people too; I for one can admit that I have my grandma on facebook, she can hardly pick up a phone and dial but she can post on friend's walls and poke strangers, it's not right. However, I'm not complaining, I love it. Facebook is the ultimate social networking site, its a marketing personnel dream land. It is a database of information that could help advertisers, marketers, product designers and the list goes on. The information that is on facebook is a goldmine for any company looking to appeal to the mainstream society. My involvement in this social networking site is only minor, there are people that I know of who spend hours upon hours 'creeping' through people who they don't even know, it's almost an obsession. However, I believe that sites like these are important to keep in contact with those who you rarely see, like those friends who I've moved away from to goto university, although they may be miles from me they're really only one click away. In reality I actually wouldn't even have to talk to them to see what they're doing, I can check their pictures to see where they were last night, I can see all the new friends they're making at school and see what they're writing on their friends walls. Even though all that is great for those who know them, its a nightmare for privacy advocates and those who detest any private information that is made public; but I've always had one thing to say to people like that, if it's not you online then mind your own business; if we want to share our lives with the world, then let us.

From Me to You: Buy Nothing Day

What is it? Go here: Buy Nothing Day . This website does a poor job of advertising this event, and what really annoyed me is that there is no Canada link to see what events are planned right here. But don't worry, America and Europe are on there; its funny how we're always left out. Anyways, to get back on track I think buy nothing day is just a waste of everyone's time. It seems sort of mediocre and pointless, the event is supposed to quickly help us to stop over consumption. But the one thing that society should have learned by now is that almost nothing happens over night, change takes time and it takes constant irritation to get people to do the simplest of things, like putting down the toilet seat. The creators of this event can not expect society to actually go one day without buying something, it's a great idea on paper, but in reality it is a flop. In a previous blog I spoke about the power of advertisement, and this event has none of that. Commercials, magazines ads and billboards would be a great start. Social networking ads and chain mail text messages would be great mediums of advertisement to get this into peoples heads. However, I hadn't heard of this event until I read it in the syallbus for my mass communications class. But in the defence of the creators of this event, the Earth Hour phenomenon is another thing that I thought would also phase itself out, however my highschool took part in this event each year I was there, and statistics show that it actually did make a difference in lowering hydro consumption in that hour. However only because millions of people took part, which is where mass communication comes into play. I was told this event was to take place on the 25th, but upon further research it appears to be taking place on the 28th of November. The creators of this event have their hearts in the right spot, but not their minds. Organization is key, and advertisement is the way to get the message out there. After reading up about this event I promise that I myself will sign onto facebook and look for this event, and if one doesn't exist then I'll create one and send it to everyone, after all its now up to us to change the world, the generations before us have failed; so, who's with me?

From Me to You : Mass Media

According to Wikipedia, the term mass media refers to: a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience. Wikipedia itself is mass media, or the news on television. In one of our first mass comm classes we learned that mass media is made up of a variety of different mediums, the internet, television, radio etc. What is the importance of mass media? Why does it impact our lives so much? Because it just does. We are in a world where the news is always different, from day to day, hour to hour and minute to minute. We are in a society of nosy people, we always need to know whats going on. We are always more interested in the tragedy rather then the happy ending. Front page papers with the words death, money or damage are keywords of tragedy, and they sell papers. Mass media is a part of everyone's life, and in a way always has been. If I were sent back in time with the knowledge of the media that I had now, I would have to consider letters, group discussions and even wall writings (if we go way back) as forms of mass media, obviously a little outdated but the elements are there. Ways of relaying information to groups of people, the definition of information has changed throughout the years as does mass media. In 'the playboy interview', first article that we were said to read, was from the 1960's, yet the speaker refers to mass media multiple times; so even before technology took over our lives mass media was there. I personally would define mass media as: the multiple methods of relaying information to large audiences. I would change this because the word media makes me think too specifically, such as movies, music and television which are types of mass media, but I believe the word information allows for the mind to consider any type of mass production.

From Me to You: Decoding Advertisements

Advertisements have always been an interest of mine within mass media. They are so persuasive and they know how to push your buttons. They have hundreds of people sitting in rooms thinking, "what will make someone want to buy this?" Ad companies spends hours and hours picking precise words that will effect the reader or spectator the most. Lets take a well known advertisement as an example, zoom zoom. If someone from another planet who understood english but nothing else read these words, they would think that they had been written by a kindergartner. However you and I both know that these two words are the trademark slogan for the car company Mazda. Most commercials depict a very satififed driver, gripping the steering wheel tightly and barreling around tight corners with ease. The driver is always smiling, so content, they've just purchased the best vehicle. Their lives are now complete, they've got the girl (or guy) and sometimes the dog and now they've got the perfect car. It almost makes you jealous, you want that car, you want that feeling. However, when we feel this we should know that the ad companies have won, they've received the feedback that they want, greed. In John Berger's Way of Seeing he says, "The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life. Not with the way of life of society, but with his own within it ... if he buys what it is offering, his life will become better." (142) I believe he couldn't have said it better, he completely understands the mission of an ad, to make you feel dissatisfied and empty. A successful ad will leave you thinking, "If I got that, I would be happier." Material possessions are beginning to rule the world, they make people "think" that they are happier when meanwhile what they were upset about to begin with had nothing to do with their crappy car, and will probably never be revealed to their conscious minds.


Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. N.p.: Penguin Books, n.d. Print.

From Me to You: The Ecology of Media

The term ecology of media was a phrase foreign to me until I enrolled in mass communications and will be explained with a simple biological metaphor. But now I want to dedicate this post to a search engine giant, a program, a corporation and a lifestyle; Google. This website is amazing, it gives me access to any piece of information that I want. I can Google "what is 6 X 187268" and get an answer instantly, or I could search "history of math" and learn why 6 X 187268 is 1 123 608. Google dominates my firefox, it is my homepage and my only means of searching. It launched in 1998 with a very interesting story, it began in a garage with two students, and became something they could never have imagined. Neil Postman explains the ecology of media as a petri dish, replacing certain terms will give a clear definition. You will remember from the time when you first became acquainted with a Petri dish, that a medium was defined as a substance within which a culture grows. Postman continues to say that if you remove the term 'substance' and replace it with technology, then you have defined what the ecology of media is. The invention of any new 'popular' technology is a funny thing. The world is like the petri dish, the substance inside is the technology and whatever begins to grow with the substance is society. We just can't wait to latch ourselves onto a new technology. To us, anything that is faster, better and more efficient then our last of piece of technology is automatically accepted. I can personally relate to this, I decided that my days of buying cheap computers were over, I was going to buy a mac; and not just any mac, a macbook laptop. It cost me a summers work and $1500, and I loved it. It was faster, more reliable and lets face it, just downright sexier then my old one. I was in love with my white polycarbonate macbook, that is until the sleek new aluminum 2009 model appeared 3 months after I bought mine. Saying I was pissed off would be an understatement, but then I realized that it didn't matter what I bought, in this day in age something is always waiting in the shadows to upstage it. Which is why I have chosen google for this post, it is almost timeless because it is a technology that I believe will never be upstaged. Society has chosen google as their search engine, and nothing even comes close to being as popular. The entire world is at my fingertips when that six letter website loads, and I believe that information is more powerful then anything physical in this world, which makes this technology one of the most unique inventions of ALL time.

Postman, Neil. "The Humanism of Media Ecology." Keynote Address Delivered at the
Inaugural Media Ecology Association Convention. Media Ecology Association .
Web. 10 Oct. 2009. .

From Me to You: My first blog

Ok, so this is officially my first piece of work that I have ever published online. It seems sort of unusual to me, talking to no one yet talking to everyone who uses the internet. I know that as I write this, I can be myself, but also I can be someone completely different; yet the reader would have no idea of who I am. Blogs are interesting, they give you the confidence to be yourself and/or the ability to be someone else. A blog reminds me of an online diary, a little less private but somehow the same. I myself really enjoy history; I like to find out where things came from and why. So naturally I googled the term "history of blogs," and as per usual, thousands of results pooled in. Within a minute I had scanned through several pages and found the information I wanted. I'm not going to specifically cite anything but it appears the general history of blogs is like almost anything that is popular, at one point it wasn't. Blogs started as online forums, and most users didn't have a term for what they were doing. The term blog is a relatively new one, which created a buzz when Blogger was released. My personal thoughts on blogs vary, when it comes to research it's almost impossible to find a credible blog. However, blogs let the reader get "up close" and "personal" with the author about any subject that they write about. I believe that the only way a blog can make an impact is if the author has a purpose for writing, why should the public care about why red traffic lights irritate the author? When there is a point to be made, then blogs are a key communication tool which internet users should not take for granted.

"The History of Blogs." University of British Clumbia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct.
2009. .