This course was really interesting and offered a good change from the typical university setting. It was good to see that some teachers still focus on learning as a priority, as opposed to grades and achievements. However, this change was also difficult to get used to at first, as achieving good grades has been the goal of university thus far. It was sometimes uncomfortable knowing that our grades were not calculated like we were used to.

In terms of the material, I find that the knowledge I now have on the information society has helped me in my marketing and advertising efforts, as I am now aware of technologies I previously did not know about. I can now incorporate these technologies into advertising campaigns with ease and can do so better than my peers. I do however notice that I have become more skeptical of technology, especially privacy concerns. Even before writing this post I was messing around with my privacy settings on Facebook and deleting friends who I did not want to have access to my information. This protective attitude will probably continue into the future, which is a good quality in the contemporary network society.

Privacy online is something that I have always worried about, as I tend to hear horror stories about how Facebook and other social networking sites have ruined the lives of individuals. However, until the last lecture, I had no idea how faulty the privacy settings were on my Facebook account, much less how to change it. Upon learning this information, I immediately changed my privacy settings to limit access to my account and deleted any ‘friends’ who I did not feel should have access to my information. Regardless of these actions, I still feel as if I have nothing to hide. I consciously do not post revealing information on Facebook and instead use it as a rigid social networking tool to keep in contact with friends. Have there been embarrassing photos of my on Facebook? Sure. Have I suffered consequences as a result? No way. This is primarily because I manage my account adequately and am careful about what other individuals post about me.

While I have not suffered because of embarrassing photos, I do feel that the photo elements of Facebook are undoubtedly the most invasive components. However, it is important to keep in mind the context of the photos. I have many friends whose parents have lurked their Facebook accounts and come to the conception that all they do is drink and party. This is not necessarily true, and instead is the reality that they may only take photos when they drink and party. For example, when was the last time that you took photos of yourself studying? Whether intentional or not, it seems that the photo elements of Facebook portray an inaccurate image of who someone actually is, which can be both misleading and socially harmful.

Alot of my search terms were entertainment related and focused on popular music and films. Many times, I use the internet solely for that purpose and keep up to date with bands and directors that I like. In this sense, these terms could be used to describe me as a very creative person. I did not search anything that I believe could help someone to locate me. I do frequently search my city on the weather network website, but these search terms are not saved through my search engine because I visit the website directly. Other than the fact that I am creative, there were no terms that could further describe my personality. This may be because I am conscious of what I search, or may be that I do not typically use the internet for personal information. after the study of this subject, I have become increasingly aware of what I search and am more careful not to search personal data. I have at one time searched my full name or names of my friends, but I now refrain from such terms. If a third party were to get ahold of my information, I believe that they would find very little useful information. Instead, they would be much better off analyzing my Facebook profile, as it reveals much more personal information than my search terms.

For the term search experiment, I searched “the roots”, whom are one of my favourite bands. As they are not widely successful, I expected the results to be nature or environmentally oriented. However, the first three results were their Wikipedia entry, their MySpace page, and their website. This shows the impact of Google, because it targets terms directly and gives accurate information for what I search for. There was only one sponsored advertisement, which promoted tickets for Roots concerts. There were also video results for YouTube, which I believe to be a result of Google’s corporate ownership of them.

This course has been very different thus far, as it is unlike any course that I have taken. The informal approach to the course content and workload was difficult to grasp at first, but I have come to understand and enjoy the use of this method. This course has taught me many new and innovative ways to approach marketing and advertising, most specifically the use of social networking, the importance of online communication, and the uses of Twitter. Before taking this course, I thought that social networking was constricted to MySpace and Facebook, with no other useful alternatives. I also thought that these types of technologies were useless in terms of business and marketing. However, after thorough study of social networking, it is not obvious how useful these technologies can be in the near future, especially in my field of study. Online communication is also very important, with specific reference to the use of Wikis. I previously thought that these were completely useless and unimportant to my life. However, they now seem as a useful tool in the business environment as a means of transferring information. Lastly, one of the most interesting components of this course is the use of Twitter and the study of its affects on society. Before this course, I had no knowledge of its existence. However, I now see advertisements and information for its use everywhere I go. I still do not find it as useful as some people believe, but I realize that it has the potential to be an important online application for my future career.

I have done online applications for jobs in the past, and the setup was very similar to that of this website. However, this service seems much more interactive and allows companies to thoroughly search for desirable applicants. Hopefully, I will find a response from a company I would like to work for. Online services such as this are extremely important in the emerging era of technology. Currently, many job applications already take place online and through the use of email. With this service, job applications can be easier and more efficient. I do however worry that services such as this will increase the amount of unqualified individuals online. Since it is a relative simple task to create an online profile, many people whoa re not qualified for certain positions may apply, which limits the chances for qualified people. Also, I began to worry about my privacy setting, but then soon made my profile fully viewable because of the chances of employment opportunities. It is interesting to see that I am willing to risk my personal privacy for reward. Overall, this service can be useful, but certain precautions should be set in place so that it does not become overloaded.

I read over different blog posts by Megan, but the once that struck me most was her Nexus application. Due to the physical closeness between Welland and Fort Erie, I fully expected her graph to be similar to mine, in that it would consist of one large circle. However, her Brock and Fort Erie social networks were quite separated. It also was interesting to read another student blog in comparison to mine, as I tend to continue formal and academic language. Megan instead uses very informal language, which can sometimes be more appropriate.

Moblogs:

The most interesting thing that I found when browsing different Moblogs was the intensive use of photos. almost every single post was preceded by a photo that was subsequently commented on. I guess this makes sense, because bands on tour, whom are the biggest users of Mogblogs, can post photos from their phones to provide a visual for what is happening. This also allows them to keep in contact with fans and maintain public interest. For example, the band blog that I checked out was Bloc Party, who posted concert photos from Dublin and other areas. This is a great idea to promote themselves and keep their fans content. Another thing that struck me was the extensive advertising on these websites that collaborated with the image search. For example, I searched vancouver in the tag search and was brought to images of the ocean. When I opened the photo there were many advertisements to do with ocean front property, beach clothing, and vacation packages. Nice to see some new approaches to advertising for once.

Photoblogs:

For a few years now, I have been a fan of a photographer from Toronto. He keeps a website where he can load his photos and where people can comment on them. He also provides a brief commentary as to what the photo was about or how he shot it. Much of his photography has inspired many of my graphic design efforts, as he is also a talented graphic designer.

Videoblogs:

The drummer from my band turned me on to this extremely talented drummer named Cobus. He is from South Africa, and continuously posts videos on his YouTube profile of drum covers of popular songs (he even made a Jonas Brothers track sound good). Anyone can visit his URL and comment on his videos. Most of his videos have thousands on comments from different users around the world. There is a section where he posts his favourite YouTube videos so his fans can also check those out. I find this an excellent way for him to show the world his talents, when they would otherwise go unnoticed.

Audioblogs:

As a musician, Audioblogs seem like an innovative way to reach your audience, as opposed to formulating the oh so typical MySpace routine. I checked out Stereogum, one of the first audioblogs ever created. This is an interesting website, becauaise it has suggestively sparked the careers of many popular bands. Along with the use of photos, it blogs about what is happening with new artists, and provides mp3s for the public to listen to. Apart from these obvious promotion uses, I find that Audioblogs can be incredibly useful when working on a new album. Imagine the ability to get instant feedback from your fans when crafting new songs. Bands could post demo versions of new songs to see what fans like and don’t like. They can then use this advice to either fix the songs or toss them. Kanye West used this approach when working on his new album, 808s and Heartbreak. He leaked a rough version of the song Love Lockdown to the public to see the response. After his fans offered advice on how to make the song better, he re-recorded it and made the appropriate changes. This is something that has never been done before through the internet, and through the use of Audioblogs this can continue to happen.

Before the introduction of this concept in lecture, I basically found no use for organizing my bookmarks or favourites more accurately and was never curious if there was an online tool available to do so. However, upon learning about these types of online resources, I find that it could not be be a use for the individual, but also the online community. It is an interesting way to look for articles online instead of simply using Google. Also, if you find someone with similar interests as you, it’s like having an automatically updated website of your interests. Unlike Delicious, Digg does not work with tag words. instead, it uses a more standard search function of title or description matches. For example, when I typed in ‘Superbowl,’ any matches that had that as the title or article description came up. This is a good idea, but it does not have a unique way of categorizing. Instead, it uses very rigid categories that you can choose from a list.

In adding websites to my Digg account, I found that surfing the web for specialized material can actually be entertaining. I was engaged in the material I found because it pertained to my interests and actually found some articles and websites that can help my with my career goals. It was also interesting to see some of the emerging technologies available, such as Radian6, which keeps track of information on social networking websites. This information is sold to advertisers who can then keep track of what their market is thinking. Yes, this is slightly invasive, but yes, this is great marketing.

By now we all know that me and Twitter don’t get along. I find it invasive, annoying, and incredibly pointless. However, due to my enrollment in this class, I’m giving it a chance. I tried posting some stuff today, pointless information, such as my attempts to make friends with Twitter, and found that other people were ‘twittering’ about their pointelss daily activities as well. Some of it was informative, such as the people still working on journals for Comm 2F50 (you slackers), and some was basically useless. The only time that I feel the need to change my status is when I will be somewhere that people may not be able to get ahold of me. For example, sometimes i will change my MSN name to “@ work til 11″, so that friends will know where I am if they are trying to reach me. This also helps with making plans, because they will know that I am not going to be free until then. However, some people take this to an extreme. I have a friend who changes his status to every single activity he is doing that day. So on his busy days, his name will read something like “class til 2, gym, homework, nap, work til 8, more homework, sleep”. No offense, but I’m not all that interested lol.

Alright, so I checked out some of the Wikis posted on the course blog, and found that when done properly, this can actually be a very productive use of the internet. When everyone involved in the Wiki has the same objective and does not intend to hurt the process, people can share opinions and educational assistance very easily. Also, some of the Wikis a tried to edit were password protected, which allows only serious users who sign up for accounts to take part in altering the material. Therefore, if people intend to deface this type of material, they must have far too time on their hands. If given the appropriate purpose, i would definitely create a Wiki to organize information between groups of people. For example, if I were to start a business, a Wiki could be an easy way to transfer information between workers, as opposed to individual email that may not be constantly updated. Task lists could be posted on the Wiki and when someone completed something, they could simply check it off. When used in the manner, Wikis are definately good for business and other organizations.