Digital Shadow

A digital footprint aka shadow is the trail left behind when interacting with the internet via posts, pictures, videos and so on. We create personal data with almost our every movement in our interconnected world.

Do you know how big yours is? Have you ever given it any thought? Search for yourself and see what comes up. They say the internet is forever...

Eric Schmidt, Google executive chairman, warned recently that "teenagers can no longer grow up without being reminded of their mistakes because a full record of their lives is now stored on the internet." He also suggested that some people’s sharing of personal information online had gone too far, saying parents to be who post ultrasounds of their babies online before even naming them took things to “overwhelmingly excessive levels.” Do you agree? 

Today's parents are increasingly building digital footprints for their children prior to and from the moment they are born. Some (startling) stats from AVG’s 2010 study: 

• In the US, 92 percent of children have an online presence by the time they are two compared to 73 percent of children in the EU5.
• The average digital birth of children happens at around six months with a third (33%) of children’s photos and information posted online within weeks of being born. In the UK, 37 percent of newborns have an online life from birth, whereas in Australia and New Zealand the figure is 41 percent.
• Almost a quarter (23%) of children begin their digital lives when parents upload their prenatal sonogram scans to the Internet. This figure is higher in the US, where 34 percent have posted sonograms online, while in Canada the figure is even higher at 37 percent. Fewer parents share sonograms of their children in France (13%), Italy (14%) and Germany (15%). Likewise only 14 percent of parents share these online in Japan.
• Seven percent of babies and toddlers have an email address created for them by their parents, and five percent have a social network profile.

These kids will never have a shoe box full of photos to flip back through and every mortifying moment could possibly be broadcast to the world thanks to a parent’s status update. Our online reputation precedes us. How much do you or would you share about your children?

Sources: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/eric-schmidt/10080596/Hay-Festival-2013-Teenagers-mistakes-will-stay-with-them-forever-warns-Google-chief-Eric-Schmidt.html
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101006006722/en/Digital-Birth-Online-World

Social Media's Impact on Relationships

 How has social media affected our ability to form and maintain relationships? Social media has touched our lives in so many ways, from "friending" a long lost friend to searching for love to finding a business connection that might not have otherwise been discovered. These digital connections have undeniably left a gigantic impact on how we socialize in today's society. This widely discussed topic has fueled many heated debates throughout the scientific community, and with no concrete answer as to whether social media is beneficial or detrimental, it has left this topic wide open for discussion. Pamela Rutledge, the director of the Media Psychology Research Center in Boston, writes how social media can be used as an effective tool in dealing with relationships. She went on to state, "People feel safer online and therefore disclose more information about their true selves". Moreover, she explains that online relationships are often based more on substance and less on looks. My question is, what about the people that display different personalities online than in person? And when looking for a romantic relationship, how likely are you to communicate with someone that does not put a face with their profile...bit scary!!! The dangers of social media with respect to relationships are without question, deeply disturbing. Some of the dangers include a shared history, adultery, loss of connection with individuals, invasion of privacy, weak security, and the list goes on and on. As you can see, the pros and cons on cultivating relationships online are vast and open to individual perception. The question that has always interested me is, does social networking allow for stronger connections with people? We would like to hear your thoughts and ideas on this topic...


http://www.ncatregister.com/theyard/social-media-s-impact-on-relationships-good-or-bad/article_cc4d9476-75a4-11e2-a8d5-001a4bcf6878.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201305/7-myths-about-social-media-and-relationships
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865576858/Social-media-impacts-real-relationships.html?pg=all

Like Farming?

No, it has nothing to do with FarmVille, or actual farming. It’s spam. We have all seen those annoying posts in our feed at some time or another.  “Click this and see what happens,” and “Like and share to cure cancer,” and so on. It’s called “Like Farming.”  These pages are very profitable by taking advantage of Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm (the determiner of what we see in our newsfeed). 

How? Basically, people start pages and post  cute/funny/sentimental pictures etc. to gather likes. The more likes they get, the more their Edgerank increases and the more valuable they become. Once they reach a certain threshold of likes, they sell the page and someone gets a page with a fanbase already built. Happy spamming!

Pages are sold for thousands of dollars on sites like WarriorForum.com and PageHogs.com. A hamburger page with 500,000 fans was listed for $5,000 and currently on PageHogs, you can "make an offer" on God (for real). This goes against Facebook’s terms of service but with one billion users it’s hard to police.  

Be careful what you like, but we all know that, right? 

Will spam ever end? Not likely, but I'm afraid to see how it will evolve as technology keeps changing.

Sources: 

Becky Worley, Upgrade Your Life , May 8, 2013“FacebookScam Alert - What Really Happens When You "Like" 

Daylan Pearce, DaylanDoes: “All About Facebook ‘Like’ Scam Posts“   

Is Traditional Photography Being Bullied by Instagram?

Photography has come a long way. Gone are the days of negatives, waiting to see how pictures turned out and stacks of clunky photo albums. Instagram has boomed. It is a social networking site that mirrors Twitter but with photos. Users can instantaneously post pictures with filters, tag their friends and hashtag common themes. Instagram filters create a digital look based on qualities that traditional photographers work hard to achieve. Some traditional photographers have argued that Instagram creates a false sense of artistry and takes away from their livelihood. Critics have even insisted that social networking sites like this have watered-down the effect of real photography. In contrast, there are photographers who utilize Instagram for marketing. For example, Marcus Bleasdale uses Instagram to show followers behind the scenes shots we would likely never see. Fellow VII Photo Agency member, John Stanmeyer, says that it is a great communication tool and helps reach out to the public.

"Confusing most Instagram photos for real photographs is akin to comparing a long Facebook update to a Pulitzer prize winning book." -Geoff Livingston



Why such an outcry? I was surprised to find a number of articles pinning Instagram vs. professional photographers. As an avid user myself, I did not realize their work would even be compared to shots taken by amateur Instagrammers. What are your thoughts? Are the 80+ million users of Instagram outshining traditional photographers?





Sources:
Geoff Livingston - August 14, 2012
"Is Instagram Ruining Photography?"
http://petapixel.com/2012/09/03/world-class-photojournalists-share-their-thoughts-on-the-impact-of-instagram/

Michael Zhang - September 3, 2012

"World-Class Photojournalists Share Their Thoughts on the Impact of Instagram"
http://geofflivingston.com/2012/08/14/instagram-killing-photography/

Olivier Laurent - September 3, 2012
"The New Economics of Photojournalism: The Rise of Instagram"
http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/report/2202300/the-new-economics-of-photojournalism-the-rise-of-instagram

How Vine is Making Us More Focused...Wait, What Did You Say

Vine, owned by Twitter, is a stop motion video animation app. Videos created on Vine have a six second record time and are set to continually loop. "The constant looping of the six-second video, while hypnotic, is also slightly macabre and voyeuristic, but it does a lot to drive the message home."1

For advertisers, Vine is a dream come true. The hyped up video loop creates excitment around the ad while simultaneously simplifying the idea. One of the main benefits of using Vine is the reduction of useless material that is included in most videos. Only having six seconds of record time forces the producer to think more critically about what is considered to be the most valuable material in their video. Consumers gain a quick idea, presented in an entertaining format, in only six seconds of their valuable time. Check out this example of a Vine created by the band 'Daft Punk' to announce the tracks on their new album...




Pretty cool, right?!

However, I would like to propose the idea that Vine maybe isn't so good for our attention spans...In 2001, the average attention span was 12 seconds. In 2011, the average attention span dropped to five seconds. FIVE SECONDS! (I'm not yelling. I just had to type something in a different font to get your attention to last for another five seconds) For some reason, I do not feel that this is a good thing for society. For example, it takes longer than five seconds to do many important things...

...filling up a car with petrolium, merging into oncoming traffic, walking across a busy street, removing somthing hot from the oven, listening to directions...

Paying attention while completing these tasks is utterly important! I would like to suggest that maybe we should all try to do a little better at improving our attention spans. Perhaps even bring up the average to nine seconds or so.

Maybe Vine is brilliant for capitalizing on what we already know to be true about our short attention spans? Maybe Vine is to be blamed for contributing to, and perpetuating an already serious attention span problem?

If you have beat the odds and managed to read this far down the post, please feel free to comment and tell us your favorite color. And while you are at it, tell us what you think about Vine.

by INFO 3130 Social Networking, Jessica Finster



Special thanks to our sources...

1, Dane Cobain "How Vine is Changing the Face of Online Journalism"
http://socialmediatoday.com/danejohncobain/1451086/how-vine-changing-face-online-journalism
2, Ty Kiisel "Is Social Media Shortening Our Attention Span"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tykiisel/2012/01/25/is-social-media-shortening-our-attention-span/
3, Neil Vidyarthi "Attention Spans Have Dropped from 12 Minutes to 5 Seconds, How Social Media is Ruining Our Minds"
http://socialtimes.com/attention-spans-have-dropped-from-12-minutes-to-5-seconds-how-social-media-is-ruining-our-minds-infographic_b86479

Facebook Fatigue

Circa 2007, I joined facebook and updated my status to "Jess is happy"

Circa 2008, I logged in to facebook every few days, updated my status as "Jess is happy", smiled and laughed at the cute photos of my friends

Circa 2009, I logged in to facebook once per day, still happy, smiled and laughed at cute photos of my friends, acquired farms and badges, corresponded with friends on facebook chat

Circa 2010, I logged on to facebook a few times per day, semi happy, half smiled and nodded at the cute photos of my friends, tended to my farms and badges, corresponded with friends on facebook chat

Circa 2011, I logged on to facebook as soon as my eyes opened and when I was waiting in line and when I was walking and right before I fell alseep, moderately happy, glanced at the cute photos of my friends, all of my crops had shriveled, corresponded with friends and enemies on facebook chat, allured by the "like"

Circa 2012, I logged on to facebook when I was...um....wait, I was no longer logging in...I was definitely not happy, I deleted all of my friends with excessively cute photos, acquired a facebook messenger stalker, "unliked" 237 brands


Facebook, for better or worse, has helped lead me down the path of social networking fatigue. Fatigue can be defined as a subjective feeling of tiredness. Some anotnyms for 'fatigue' include 'lethargy', 'exhaustion', 'dullness', and 'weariness'. I so desperately want to stay socially engaged with my friends and favorite brands, but, let's be honest. I'm busy and tired and simply do not have the emotional capacity to process the massive amount of information that accompanies being connected with several hundred people and brands. Any given scroll through my status feed could yield results such as...

"Ginny is drinking coffee at Starbucks with Ryan, Mary, Ed, and Renee. Anyone want anything?!"
"Allison I have a flat tire!!! HELP!! I'm broken down on the side of the road"
"Peter SOOOO sick bro...I've been puking up green stuff all morning...omg sooo sick"
"Mallory ok seriously, don't talk to me. I won't try again. Don't love me if you are going to hurt me"

While being in the know about all of my friends is a good thing, I find that I am becoming more and more numb and cynical to their online personalities. For example...

Ginny, I would love a Starbucks but you live 70 miles from me and I think it would be inconvenient
Allison, I feel bad for your flat tire, but I met you in high school, and we have not actually talked in years
Peter, C'mon man. That is gross. Go to the doctor
Mallory, Do you want me to ask you the details or do you not want me to ask you the details

Multiply this example by a couple hundred status updates, add photos of cats and babies, and we've got ourselves a decent representation of how much social information there is to be mentally processed on a daily (read, hourly) basis. And the worst part about being mentally aware of Ginny, Allison, Peter, Mallory (cats and babies) is that I cannot do anything to physically interact with these people - live - in person - in the flesh - real time. This makes me somewhat sad and a little apathetic. Have any of you experienced these feelings of facebook fatigue? Do you think that a healthy society can be cultivated online where we all still celebrate coffee with friends, a flat tire fixed, a sick person getting well, and yes...even the purchase of a new kitten...


INFO 3130 Social Networking, Jessica Finster