Web 2.0 Discussion Questions

 1.Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional production values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY?                           

I personally do not think that production values will continue to drop because big budget productions are still viable. The "homegrown" content is used for to create a feel for what it is displaying rather than displacing polished productions. The amateur content seems to be the medium that will continue to grow and improve, as technology advances and improves as well as drops in price. The two styles will probably coexist very well as they are used for different purposes.                                                                                                      

2.What social media sites do you find yourself using the most, and why? In your opinion why is Facebook so much more successful than MySpace, and do you think Facebook is "here to stay" for the long term.before answering question #3 please read the Transparency in Social Media Blog Article

I definitely use Facebook the most as well as Twitter occasionally. I believe Facebook's available options and more adult oriented user base has increased the popularity over MySpace.

3.Why is transparency such an important concept in the Social Media world? Is it MORE or LESS important in the offline world? Why?

Transparency is extremely important because of the proliferation of social media. It allows us to easily see the motives and actions of individuals and companies over the internet. This openness and honestly can be interpreted as good or bad because the it gives us insight into things we have no idea about. The downside could be the discovering of bad business practices or inconsistencies in ideas and policies of certain people or companies, exposing  harmful material.

McLuhan Photoshop Final Post

What I wanted to communicate and convey in this image pertains to Battle.net, an online gaming service provided by industry giant Blizzard Entertainment. The whole gaming culture in of itself is very developed and highly personal, and the computer is the first step. I chose an Alienware laptop, a well known builder of computers designed for gaming to show the advanced and sleek design of the entire gaming culture. The computer is also the basic mediium through which all the others i will discuss run through. Battle.net is linked up though many Blizzard games such as Starcraft and World of Warcraft. Millions of people play these games daily and these gamers have their own little society through using Battle.net. The system allows you to fully integrate a social experience by keeping track of your friends and activities as well as notifying you when you interact and play the games with total strangers. This is what Battle.net does  very well, allowing you to make and grow relationships with people who these games. The message of this medium is the social experience and  happenings inside a virtual world. This is unique in video games as it helps you become a more involved into the digital community and interact on a more human level as opposed to the anonymity that is the norm for most online gaming and socializing.

Chosen Medium

The medium that I am choosing to explain is Battle.net. The content would include instant messaging, video game play (either competitively or cooperatively), and an editing and creating tool for custom games and several more. The message is the excitement, joy and social interaction that is involved in all of these mediums. The aspects of a social gaming network are complicated yet easy to use and become engaged in.

New Mediums

   One of the most important and emerging mediums for delivering information are smartphones. The one pictured here is a Motorola Droid, which I have and can attest to the ease and multifaceted uses. It is an extremely versatile mediums as it allows to you to interact with hundreds of other mediums through it such as the internet, Facebook, Twitter and so on.

StumbleUpon is an Internet community that allows its users to discover and rate random Web pages, photos, and videos. It has a personalized recommendation engine which uses peer and social-networking principles. It is an interesting tool to discover things that aren't always available or accessible through normal internet use. 

Battle.net is a premium gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. It was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external interfaces used by the other online services at the time. I can say that this is a very important tool for people who play video game son their computer as it helps become a social event as well as you can contact your friends and play together through the service.