Principles of New Media by Pooja Patel

  A Twitter discussion is different from a BlackBoard discussion mainly based on the fact that the users have to condense their ideas into certain amount of characters. On blackboard, students have no limit to the length of their responses or comments (unless told otherwise). Aside from that, a blackboard discussion is reserved between fellow classmates and the professor. Twitter, depending on the settings can be viewed by a much larger audience. In addition, the discussions that fostered on BlackBoard tend to be more educational and have a guiding purpose (whether that is answering a prompt or discussing ideas related to the class). On twitter, the topics of the discussion can range from educational, political or social. Tweets can essentially be about anything. For example user A can tweet about the fabulous red carpet photos while user B provides their insight into the latest political debate.   An in-class discussion compared to Twitter discussion can feel more natura...

  Popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have become a vital component in our lives. Through these platforms users are able to share and like content, as well as communicate with one another.  Though Facebook is popular and has relatively easy functions, this social media platform tends to resonate with an older generation of the population. With Facebook, users are able to stay connected and updated with their friends, family and colleagues. On the initial home page, users are able to view content such as news, shared images and status updates in a chronological order. In contrast, the content that is featured on Instagram feed is no longer displayed in a chronological order. With its constantly new added features such as Instagram lives and reels, instagram helps friends and family stay connected mainly through sharing photographs. The users, unlike Facebook appear to be a younger audience with content that tends to be more relatable...

  Social networking technologies have infiltrated into every aspect of our lives. These technologies are being used as a tool to facilitate communication for personal reasons, create communities of like minded people and encourage the public to take action by providing necessary information.  Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have been used not only for social reasons, but also as a means to help improve communities. For example in the article “ In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers” by Heather Timmons states that “t he traffic police started a Facebook page two months ago, and almost immediately residents became digital informants, posting photos of their fellow drivers violating traffic laws.” This demonstrates how technologies like Facebook allow its users to take an active role in their communities by ensuring the safety of the residents. On the other hand, these technologies are used by business (large or small) to spread th...

  A blog is an online journal that enables anyone to share their thoughts, experiences and knowledge by uploading a series of posts which are displayed in a reverse chronological order. A wiki, on the other hand, is a website that allows its users to easily edit the content or structure of that page by simply pressing “edit” and “save.” Essentially both wikis and blogs enable its users to share information and be able to communicate with anyone around the world that has access to the internet. Both can also contain hyperlinks and images that would help to further support any content that is already available. Differences between blog and wiki arise mainly in the way that users are able to collaborate. Blogs have limited collaboration since users are only able to continue communicating with one another using the comment section under a post. They do not have the ability to directly alter the information on the original post itself. Wikis, however, permit collaboration by allowi...

  The topic of my research paper is Social Networking: Launching us Forward or Setting us Back?  I want to discuss the ways in which social networking has enhanced the way we communicate and connect with one another, but how it has also created newer and pertinent issues in our daily lives. I would like to discuss through examples how social networking is being used as a tool to grow and establish relationships by individuals or even large corporations. In addition, I intend to further investigate how social networking has positively and negatively impacted our cognitive functions and behaviors especially among adolescents. I would also possibly like to mention how information is being perceived on social media and whether that has affected the way we process that information. These are the overarching topics of my research paper. I intend to approach these topics from various perspectives and delve into greater detail.