Social Media

Before this week, I was unaware of Web 2.0. I often searched for different types of sites by typing in or googling keywords for personal interests such as ‘music’ or ‘poetry’, but did not know all of the web applications were compiled in one place and organized within categories. I found that to be helpful. As computer and internet savvy as I am (or thought I was), I can’t believe I didn’t know about Web 2.0. From this week’s materials and discussions, I gained a better understanding of social media and the role it can play in my personal and professional life. Some of the things I took away from this week’s topic included the fact that social media facilitates personal and professional sharing and collaboration, social media gives everyone a chance to contribute to information, to participate in the exchange of information, products, and services, and to both buy and sell. I also realized how social media takes reading and writing to a higher and more productive level.

Reading and writing have been a huge part of my academic, professional, and personal life, and I now see ways in which the fundamentals of reading and writing via the web can further enhance all of those areas. The video tutorials on RSS in plain English and Blogs in plain English gave me a new perspective of viewing shared information as personal “news”. I also realized how people with similar news can team up and how that can lead to a better quality of life overall. One of the main reasons for connecting and sharing with others with similar interests is commercial. Buying and selling along with advertising and promoting via the web is big. Considering the amount of time people in general spend consuming media, using media to promote business, research, various projects would be wise and allows for a level of success that would not have been as easy to obtain in the past. After this week’s focus, I feel more empowered in my abilities (or better understanding of abilities) to seek and contribute to (and publish) things I am personally and professionally interested in, and I am more likely to take advantage of those means as I now realize the significance of them.