Sabrina Mohan - New Media

Something that I've been actively working on for work is GIF creation. I currently assist with managing the social accounts for Lip Sync Battle with Chrissy Teigen and LL Cool J. I think that GIFs are a cool concept because they can be widely used and you can encapsulate one moment and loop it forever. Here is the link to one of the GIFs I created:  https://twitter.com/lsb/status/977183184206094336

The article that I was most fascinated by was "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" by Claire Cain Miller. It was written in 2009 so it's interesting to see the longevity of this user-innovated features such as "lists" and "retweets." The ability that companies give their consumers to innovate is of growing importance in the business environment. Consumers are the ones actively interacting with the interface. They know the product better than anyone else. This truly fosters creativity. As opposed to having a collective group of minds within one company come up with ideas, they outsource the innovation to users to give them an objective perspective on making changes. One company that has been receiving a lot of backlash lately from consumers is SnapChat. The user outcry has not yet been responded to, so we have yet to see what the outcome of this situation will be and whether SnapChat will take user input into account and implement changes.

Virtual worlds are a fairly new concept and allows for the extension of oneself. Like Dwight Schrute from The Office said, he liked his first life so much that he wanted a second one and that is something that a lot of people use these virtual worlds for. In Mehta's piece, After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?, she brings up the point that we need to be critical and assess what advances virtual worlds can offer us. Jacki Morie, a virtual world designer, states that these virtual worlds can bring connectedness. Many think that sitting behind a ccomputer screen can cause isolation. Morie argues that this is not the case since virtual worlds allow you to create a body that you are allowed to live through and among other people who are doing the same thing. One disadvantage that people can use digital worlds for is creating fake personas. Technology gives you the tools needed to leverage your identity. In the article by Itzkoff, he said that his girlfriend said that his

I think that Twitter is very effective for discussions. Not only can you succinctly talk about your topic, but you can add supplements to it such as videos, pictures and links to further your point. This will help the person communicating with you better understand your message. Twitter is also virtual and online and is easily accessible by phone unlike BlackBoard. I feel that BlackBoard discussions are usually long-winded because people feel pressured to add more words (usually of empty value) just to prove that they did something substantial. However, Twitter's character limits forces students to create clear, concise thoughts. It may seem crazy, but I think that Twitter discussions closely resemble classroom discussions as opposed to BlackBoard Discussions because it has a more "real time" effect to it. Students can respond to one another right away and give each other feedback right on the spot.

I personally love social networking sites and I think they each have their own unique qualities to offer. I am actively on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. I mostly use these apps on my mobile phone since it is convenient. For Facebook, I usually use this platform for keeping connected with family and friends. I don't really post much on my page but I do scroll through my feed. One thing I dislike about Facebook are the "spam" ads. I'd constantly get ads on my feed that are fake quizzes and companies where the items are suspiciously cheap. I find that is is most popular among older family members. Twitter is one of my favorite social platforms because it is current. There is always something happening and the Twitter community is always the first to know. Twitter recently added their "Bookmark" feature which I like a lot. You can now save posts without having to like them to view later. Twitter also emphasizes activism. Today was #nationalwalkoutda

I believe that social networking is entirely innovative and an exciting field because it is fairly new. There is so much about it to be discovered which is why there is a lot of  "trial and error" that comes with the use of social networking sites. One site prominently used is Facebook. Almost all of us use it, typically in the 20-years and older demographic since a lot of younger people consider it outdated. The complex thing about Facebook is that people long to be private while being public which is a bit contradictory. We tend to put information out there that we want people to see but not everyone to see which is why Facebook has many complicates privacy and security settings. In the article by Marc Perry, he states that students care more about the privacy of their posts. He accredits this to Facebook displaying prompts as to when a new security update has been added making young people aware of it, causing them to pay more attention to their settings. There are many fa