The Future is Endless

Holly Swenson

Comm. 404

December 5, 2010

The Future is Endless

Hey guys! Class is almost done, kind of crazy I feel like this semester just started. I am graduating in two weeks as well so it really went fast for me! Well for me this last Blog is going to be a kind of wrap up of what I have learned in this class as well as reflections I have come across over this class as well as my college career. We discussed and did a lot of real life things that we as advertising students will use in the future. Blog’s, Twitter, Facebook, social networking, journalism, media outlets, and social media networks as well we all things we have discussed and mastered in class and what will be discussed in my reflection.

So Starting it off I really want to talk about social media. This was a very huge section in the class and pretty much what our class was all about. Social media has developed this world into what it is today. People are creating new lives through social media. With social media people are becoming successful with job opportunities. Social media is making companies more popular by getting out there and connecting with people on a very personal social level where they spend most of their time, in a lot of cases now social media is what it takes now to have success. Just talking about Facebook for a second, it has become huge! It is the most popular social networking sites as you may know but it really doing so much more for people in many different ways. People now can connect with others all around the world. People can stay in touch and see what family members who live far are up to. And for companies Facebook is great for screening future employees and also just getting to know future employees. Facebook is changing a lot it now has games and is going to have its own e-mail service. Twitter is also a huge social networking site that has just skyrocketed! People love it. It was a spin off of Facebook and people just loved it. Twitter is great because you can keep in touch and see what people are doing like celebrities or other public figures. Also companies post new events or arrivals to their company.

These social media sites have sculpted how we live our lives now. They are now unavoidable. Good or bad? I guess everyone will have their own opinion but what about kids who are growing up with these technologies and social sites as second nature, do you think they will care about the past and the “old” way of doing things were? I’m not too sure if they will. I mean why would they care if they have the new best technologies to look back at the past? Just something to think about.

Another strong topic in class was technologies. We talked about new technologies, how they are changing things, also where they will go in the future. Just the way cell phones have evolved just in my lifetime really amazes me. You can watch TV on your phone now! I mean seriously! Phones are now computers, and can pretty much do whatever you can do on a computer. My friend recently received a phone in the mail from his parents. It was a Nokia N900. Never heard of it before in my life. I guess its popular in Europe, well anyways I was messing around with this phone and its crazy! It’s a computer. You can browse websites exactly like a computer, download, you can even shut off the phone part of the devise to just make it a computer. It really was amazing just playing around with it because that phone really made me realize just how crazy technology really is and that wasn’t even that craziest that’s out there! I love it but it also scares me. We talk a lot in class about if certain technologies like Goggle TV or other recent technologies will really hit it off and make it. Its so hard to know what is good or not because they just come up the new and better thing a year later. This phone I was playing with is pretty much the top phone right now but they already are making an upgrade for it and changing it. So how do you know what and when to get something? That’s what’s so hard.

Something interesting we did talk about that I really didn’t understand that well at first but later it really made a lot of sense. Whuffle Factor! Whuffle factor is really interesting because it pretty much a track of your social networking life. It rates you and grades you on how you are doing socially. In the Whuffle book the author really focused on social capitalism and how certain companies are becoming “rich” in what they are doing online with their businesses. The opportunities are endless out there and not only just for companies. Everyone can use them and if everyone does the book discusses that they will then in the end become “rich” as well. 

The social media world has become huge and overwhelming to some. The only thing we really can do is just learn more and keep up with what we can. Our generation will soon be the ones who will have to be taught new things that we don’t now about, (which is really freaky to think about by the way,) but we just have to keep learning and teaching others who don’t know as well.

The future really is endless and this class has truly made me realize that. All these things we have learned about like Blogging, Facebook, twitter, learning how to connect them all together and what you can later do with that is stuff we need to know! Also learning about what’s all out there! There are so many things out there that I never thought would exist. Televisions are now computers phones are now everything/ and everything intertwines and works together. Its amazing. This knowledge will stay with me after graduation and will definitely benefit me in my career. Getting yourself out there in social medias is what we have to do now! Enjoy the social media ride!

The power of community social networking

Holly Swenson
November 21,2010



More Social Networking talk; The older generation is catching up!!

This week we continued reading about Whuffle Factor. There was a section in the reading that really stuck out to me and it started with an advertisement for social networking help.

I thought it was really interesting this person posted this ad as kind of making fun of social networking but it was pre-twitter and pre-Facebook. kind of ironic because of how much we actually use social networking sites and how much it really effects our lives.

The older generation is now using social networks!! I enjoyed this part of the reading as well because I like it that the older generation is trying to keep up with this crazy technological world. It talks about how some of the older generation is on Facebook to stay in contact with grandchildren and other relatives. For me, my grandparents are still not really catching on, they don't have a computer and barely know how to turn on their digital camera on, but a lot of my other older relatives are catching on and now have Facebook accounts. Its really nice because now when I'm away at school and miss something back home, they post pictures for me and then i don't miss out!

I thought it was really interesting because we are always talking about how you should really research what each social network is before you get one, for me all my relatives called me, I was their research. This made me think that a lot of people probably do this a lot, ask someone they know who has it. Just thought it was interesting because what if I hated it, then I would discourage them from getting it. For me I think you should do your own research and not really rely in other people but it was ok for me, I gave objective advice.

YouTube!! The older generation is using youtube as well. Its interesting because they were talking about in the reading how the older generation is using all of these social networks we use and are on youtube, but they are using it in different ways than the younger generation. The younger generation is using youtube to watch music videos, music, and other funny or other videos. The older generation are using it to post videos and communicate with their community and family with what they post.

I think its great. Everyone should use social networks, if they want, they way they want. Thats what's so great about them, they can be for anyone and all ages of people. Its connecting communities and families and bringing us all together.

For me, I wish my grand parents had some kind of social networks, or online of some kind because I don't see them that much and I would love to keep in contact more. I think they would love it because they would be able to know what all of us grand kids are up to. Well its not for everyone, and some people don't like change or new technology, like my grand parents! This reading was great! Looking and examining how and who is using all of these social networking sites we use. I really just want to know what there is to come, what's after twitter? Will Twitter stay? Just some things to think about.

The Whuffie Factor 1

Holly Swenson
November 14, 2010


The Whuffie Factor; Social Networking, Currency, and Reputation


The Whuffie Factor? What's that? Well, Whuffie came from Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. The term Whuffie now has become a synonym for social capital. In the novel, Usual incentives have disappeared and Whuffie has then replaced money, which then provided motivation for people to do useful creative things. It states in the reading that a person's Whuffie is a general measurement of his or her overall reputation and its gained or losses according to that persons actions.  As it states in the reading "Whuffie is the residual outcome-the currency-of your reputation. You lose or gain it based on positive or negative actions, your contributions to the community, and what people think of you"


I thought this was very interesting. Unlike social capital Whuffie tracks your online social networking and other things you may do online. Really cool. Also in the reading it stated that anyone can see your Whuffie factor score for free. Good or bad? I guess its good and bad for many different reasons. I decided to do some outside research and found this quote that made me understand a little bit more what this is all about. "Whuffie recaptured the true essence of money: in the old days, if you were broke but respected, you wouldn't starve; contrariwise, if you were rich and hated, no sum could buy you security and peace. By measuring the thing that money really represented — your personal capital with your friends and neighbors — you more accurately gauged your success". Wikipedia.com. 


So what happens if you have a score of 0 or a really high score, what are the benefits or are there any? Well it turns out if a person has a score of 0 that person is as capable of giving and taking away Whuffie as someone with a score if 1,000,000. But I also found out that the person with 1,000,000 point score would be invited to parties and elite events, whereas the person with 0 would probably not even be allowed into reputable clubs or restaurants. When reading about this I really was surprised to find out people with higher scores actually get something for it, interesting. This also gives people incentive to higher their score also. 


So what are the advantages and disadvantages to Whuffie? Well in my research its like all economic systems. It might tend to favor popular speech at the dispense of public discourse. And it also talks about the concept of weighted Whuffie and how it helps make better decisions on a person-by-person basis, and then making it more flexible than rating someone by their bank account. Also, the Whuffie system keeps a public history of how each person's Whuffie was earned. Really interesting. 


So basically they want us to be online 24/7 now! It comes down to networking, getting your name out there talking to many different kinds of people and just realizing the possibilities that networking really has. The more connections and collaborations you have out there it will benefit you greatly and the better off you will be in the end. This is very important to remember. 


I enjoyed reading and learning about the Whuffie factor. I think its really cool how they created an entire separate economy and currency for social networks. This will definitely be beneficial for many companies in the future and also just for anyone who wants to find out what their score is or raising your score to get some of the benefits the top elite group gets.

Check out my blog and what i learned about News and Journalism and how it has changed

Journalism and News

Holly Swenson
November 7, 2010


Journalism and news, drastic changes over time!


Have you really ever thought about how we get our news now? or all the many different ways we can get our news? or how journalists have changed the ways they give us our news? i haven't really thought about it too much, so reading Briggs chapters were really interesting to me. 


There is a quote in the book i really liked, "It is often said that information wants to be free, but it is truer in the digital age that information wants to be analyzed, shared, synthesized, curated, aggregated, commented on and distributed." This quote to me really made me think, its so true! Before when we wanted to watch the news we had to wait until it came on TV at 5:00 and 9:00 news on channels 5, 9 and 11. There was no news online. Its so amazing to think now all the different ways to get news and from all around the world. 


When reading chapter ten in Briggs book i really enjoyed when he was talking about news as a conversation. it talks about how many journalists prefer news as a lecture but now they have adapted to the idea that the future of journalism means managing online communities and participating also in various social networks. It also goes into saying that the plain fact is that in the future journalists will have to develop these skills if they want to succeed in the future where the readers are also their writers. I thought this was very interesting because that is really what it has come to. Now you can even comment on news articles or other news that is posted online which in the book said that this has resulted in a lot of positive feedback with comments but also negative. But this is a great way to discuss current events that are going on in the world with others and really connect with people. This really beings people together and allows people to talk and converse about things that are going on, it could be very comforting to hear others comments about issues you feel strong about. 


The way they use social networking for relating news is really new and really seems to be effective. People are constantly on social networks, Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace ect. now there are news pages on these sites and they send you updates if you are their friend on what is going on and news that happens. I happen to be following CNN on Twitter and i constantly get posts about everything that is happening around the world even. i love it, its a way to stay connected with the news especially because i do not watch that much TV anymore, i think its really convenient i really enjoy it. 


There was another section i really enjoyed in the book, it was about how comments on news articles or just comments from the public has helped journalist with stories they are working on. This is really interesting to me because i'm sure it really does happen. If something happens in someone's small town they could send an e-mail or blog or even comment to a news journalists about something that has happened that is news worthy and they will get that news much quicker than they would without the person in the small town's advice. Its a way of showing awareness to the issue and letting journalists know what is going on in the world that they might not know otherwise. very interesting concept to think about. 


These chapters were great to read, i learned a lot. The way we receive news has definitely changed. For better or worse? Do you think now because the news is everywhere its overwhelming? I'm not sure, i really like how i get updates on twitter with what is going on in the world. its my way of keeping up with current events. i have realized when reading these chapters that social media really represents a new way to connect with people and communicate information. For reporters and journalists they always have to do that. A quote i really enjoyed, "Like the telephone and e-mail , social media is the latest change in how people are connecting and communicating. But the change is tactical, the standards and values of journalism do not change." 

Mobile Future

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!
Holly Swenson
October 31,2010

Our Crazy Mobile Future!!

When reading over chapters 5 and 9 in Briggs book, chapter 5 really interested me so that is what I am mostly going to talk about in this blog. Chapter 5 was about mobile technology and the future of it. Now reporting has completely changed with our mobile phones we can capture something that has happened in a matter of seconds now instead of waiting for a camera crew to get to the site and then wait to set up, reporters now can use their cell phones and capture video footage and pictures very fast and conveniently if and when they need to. I thought this was very interesting because it really is amazing and so helpful for not only reporters but everyone to be able to all be mobile connected. reporters get footage quick if they need to with something that they always have, their phone, really cool.

seriously if I think about my parents first phone I think it might have been the size of my entire arm, it was huge! And could do nothing but dial phone numbers. phones have come a long way. Even if you think about the first camera phones, the quality of picture was horrible. There was no zoom, and the number of pictures that could even be stored on your phone was really low. Now the quality of picture is absolutely flawless, you can zoom, the camera quality is like an actual digital camera you would buy separate, it is truly amazing the improvements phones have made. Now because of these improvements we are using them for important thins like catching breaking news, or creating memories and sharing with others.

Also just the GPS function phones have now, you can be located wherever you are with your phone, and never get lost. Amazing. In the book he talks about how GPS will also change the way people contribute information. It also talks about how as it becomes normal for mobile devices to attach latitude and longitude information to a photo, video or text, people will be able to quickly and easily publish to sophisticated web sites that organize content geographically. I thought this was interesting because i really think about it in this way and it really will be amazing to have this much freedom and connection with the world, technology is unstoppable. The things technology is capable of and how it has changed this world is really amazing to think about, and terrifying at the same time.

I really enjoyed reading these chapters, they're really interesting. They bring but topics that we all should think about a lot more and really learn a lot more about. We have to keep up on all of this crazy new technology that is going on around us or we'll get lost!!

My Video Blog on Telepresence