Final Research Paper - Introversion on the Internet

When the Internet was first invented, it allowed users to interact with each other online, in addition to providing other useful services. To introverts, who tend to dislike interacting with others face to face, this online interaction is preferable. Introverts have become more of a mainstream topic and more understood, and I think that online social interaction is one of the causes. Anonymous, online social media platforms offer a place for introverts to interact and express themselves in a way that is preferable to them.

In the article “Classifyingand Profiling Social Networking Site Users,” a group of researchers set out to classify what type of people used social networking sites so that businesses could properly advertise to their audiences (del-Amo, del-Carmen, Lorenzo-Romero, & Gomez-Boria 547). The article states that there are four reasons that people use social networking sites: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information (547). The researchers used these four needs to help categorize the types of users. The study grouped social networking users into four types: the introvert user, the novel user, the versatile user, and the expert-communicator user (548).

The study showed that the introvert users were the smallest group at 18.82 percent, and that they were the least active on social networking sites (548). This group does not update their profiles very often, do not share much, spend less than an hour on the sites a week, and mainly use it to send private messages to contacts (548). I do not wholeheartedly agree that this group represents all introverts, but I can definitely see how many introverts are not as active on heavily social sites like Facebook. They do contrast highly with the versatile and expert-communicator users (who together make up 56.13 percent of users) who share and post regularly and are on the sites for many hours each day (550). These users seem like the kind of people I see on my Facebook newsfeed: the extroverted ones who thrive on connecting with other people. Introverts are not really attracted to that type of online escape. As an introvert myself, I tire of Facebook fairly quickly after looking at what my “friends” have posted, and instead go to other social media sites that are more entertaining to me, such as Pinterest or Tumblr. I think that is why introverts can be found on the more anonymous social networking sites, and the sites that offer more than just social interaction, like Pinterest or Tumblr.

This image from Tumblr explains how the way we think about online social interactions have changed. When social media sites were first beginning, it was a fear that you would be stalked by online predators and then kidnapped or something. While that fear is still alive today, it is not nearly as strong as we have gotten accustomed to social media and let go of some of our privacy issues. Now the “fear” of Internet users is that their friends and family and other “real life” relationships will find them on the Internet. I think this is a fear of introverts because they view the Internet as a form of escape from social interactions, and want to distance themselves and have a break from the real relationships they have outside of social media.

Another article, “On theInternet No One Knows I’m an Introvert,” explains how introverts thrive in anonymous social networking sites. The article is from 2002, so it is pretty dated to be discussing social media, but the concepts still remain true and relevant to today. The researchers state that social communication is one of the most popular uses of the Internet (Yair, Wainapel, & Fox 125). With that in mind, it is important to find out what using the Internet does to users’ real life social communication. One study discussed in the article lead some researchers to believe that Internet use leads to depression and loneliness in users (125). The authors of the article disagree with this study by saying that the Internet is not just used by shy and quiet people, but by all kinds of personality types using a variety of online services (125). Therefore, because of the different personality types and amount of time spent on the Internet, the cause of depression cannot be solely blamed on the Internet (125).

A different study showed that introverts found a kind of sanctuary on the Internet where there was not a stigma associated with introversion, and they could build relationships with other introverts (125). The researchers go on to say that there are two characteristics of online interaction (125). The first is that there is anonymity and no physical presence, and the second is that there is more control over the social interactions because they can take time to think about what they want to say as well as log in and out of the site whenever they wish (125).

That idea is demonstrated in this image. You can end a conversation whenever you would like in an online conversation, but the same is not true for a real life conversation. You have to patiently wait for them to stop speaking, or else you will seem rude and probably ruin that relationship. Online conversations, however, end suddenly for all types of reasons, and aren’t seen as rude as it would be in person.

Since introverts receive their energy from inside themselves instead of others, the researchers have determined that introverts are motivated to interact on the Internet because of self-related motives (126). Their social needs are not met throughout the day in their daily interactions, so they seek them on the Internet (126). They go on to explain a concept called the “real me,” which is the ability to express your real self in a social environment (126). They stress that finding one’s true self is essential to the well being of a human, and if a person can’t find it through normal social interaction, then they will find it elsewhere, in this case, on the Internet (126). The researchers proved that introverts do this through a study that they ran.

It was predicted that introverts would find their “real me” on the Internet rather than in real life, and that extraverts would find it in real life interactions rather than on the Internet (126). They tested 40 “chat users” from ages 20-32, who entered into a chat room and were asked a take part in a discussion for twenty minutes (126). Participants also completed a questionnaire which asked them questions like “Do you think that you reveal more about yourself to people you know from the Internet than to real-life friends?” and “Are there things your Internet friends know about you that you cannot share with real-life friends?” (126)

The results confirmed the prediction that introverted people find their true self through the Internet while extraverted find it through traditional social interactions (127).

This proves that introverts are better at expressing themselves in a more anonymous environment, and that they thrive better on the Internet where they are distanced from real life interactions. That is why introverts tend to flock towards more anonymous social networking sites like Tumblr or the Whisper app.

            I keep mentioning Tumblr because it’s one of the places that I see the most introverted people, or what I perceive as introverted people. Seeing interesting and weird Tumblr users interact with each other is probably my favorite part of the Internet. As an introvert, I love observing rather than participating, and Tumblr is a great place to do that. Most of the things I follow are fan pages of the TV shows and movies I like, and I do repost content that I find amusing every once in a while. It allows me to unleash my nerdy side that I don’t always show in real life to my friends and family, without the fear of judgment. That is why introverts are so drawn to sites like this, because they can be their true selves without having to worry about having people think a certain way about them.

           

            There are some very unique and interesting individuals on the Tumblr website, and these images show that. People can say some very strange things, and it makes for some great humor. It may not be the most polite thing in the world to turn someone’s post about being a vegetarian into a completely ridiculous conversation that is way off topic, but on the Internet, people can mostly get away with it because of the element of anonymity. The person may block you, but that shouldn’t bother you because you were not friends with them in the first place. There is a fine line between being funny and being hurtful, however, and anonymity creates much more freedom for bullies, but that is a topic for another paper.

            This is my own personal observation, but I think that since introverts socialize less than extraverts, they become more involved in escapism in the form of books, movies, and television shows. Tumblr is the home to many crazy fans, or fandoms, as they are usually referred to as. There are often disputes among fandoms and cross-fandoms, and really strange Photoshop creations that are on display for the world to see. Users have virtually no restraint because they know they are anonymous. Although most people would probably find the behavior strange, I think it’s rather nice that people who are passionate about the same things can find each other and share information or just rant to each other about what they love about their favorite works of fiction.

            Another anonymous platform that has surfaced fairly recently are mobile apps such as Whisper and Secret. These platforms allow users to be completely anonymous as they post confession-type pictures to the apps. These apps are especially helpful for introverts, or anyone who has something they want to share, but not with people they know. The following pictures are examples of posts on the Whisper app, all of which deal with introversion.

  

            In the cases of these posts, Whisper is a place to vent about how introverts are tired of being labeled and misunderstood. I have certainly felt the same way as each of the users in the posts. Introverts prefer to be on their own, so they do not always have someone nearby to vent their feelings to, or have anybody at all with whom they feel they can trust. It is very helpful that there is a resource that introverts can use to share their inner thoughts without actually having to interact with anyone.

            People may think that the Internet has caused society, especially young people, to become more reclusive. Introverts have been around since the beginning of mankind, however, so it is not the Internet that has caused introversion, but rather the Internet adapting to fit introverts’ needs. Extraverts crave social interaction, and introverts secretly do as well, so it is welcome that there are social networking sites that allow us to do just that: interact anonymously.

Works Cited

Alarcón-del-Amo, María-del-Carmen, Carlota Lorenzo-Romero, and Miguel-Ángel Gómez-Borja. "Classifying And Profiling Social Networking Site Users: A Latent Segmentation Approach." Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking 14.9 (2011): 547-553. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

Amichai-Hamburger, Yair, Galit Wainapel, and Shaul Fox. "On The Internet No One Knows I'm An Introvert": Extroversion, Neuroticism, And Internet Interaction." Cyberpsychology & Behavior 5.2 (2002): 125-128. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

Image Sources:

http://runt-of-the-web.com/funniest-tumblr-posts/2

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/funny-things-youll-see-on-tumblr?sub=2075843_967782

http://www.dumpaday.com/random-pictures/funny-pictures/funny-pictures-day-91-pics-3/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/javim2/23-honest-confessions-from-introverts-bw9q

Twitter Writing Contest

            A Mashable article informed me that writer and actor BJ Novak is holding a writing contest for aspiring writers via Twitter. Contestants are allowed to tweet a 140 character story along with the hashtag #MashReads. The deadline is Friday, and you can enter up to five stories.

            It might seem easy to write a story that short, but it certainly isn’t. Telling a story in 140 characters requires a lot of creativity and precision in choosing words. An example of Novak’s is “I was sad that summer was over. But I was happy that it was over for my enemies, too.” The story doesn’t require much explanation, but rather allows readers to read between the lines. And in my opinion, that is the best kind of writing: the kind that makes you think.

            This writing contest reminds me of something I learned in one of my journalism classes. Ernest Hemmingway once wrote a six-word story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” It shows true talent if a story can be told in only six words. It also lets the reader determine the meaning of the story, which is what would probably also happen if a writer is limited to a tweet-length to write his or her story.

            I really enjoy creative writing, and I think it’s interesting that Twitter provides a medium for writers to showcase their work. I’ve tried writing a six-word story, but I haven’t been able to. Maybe writing a 140-character story will be easier for me. If I come up with anything in the next two days, I’ll be sure to enter into the contest!

Social Media and Movies

            Just for fun, I recently created a blog about movies that I watch, and it got me thinking about the relationship between movies and social media. Along with every other business out there, the film business has incorporated social media into its marketing strategy, and each film company has a different way of using social media.

            It is pretty common for Twitter and Facebook accounts to be created for movies when they are about to be released. It allows the accounts to post pictures and clips of the upcoming movie to help get fans excited for the movie. One movie that was pretty successful in doing this was The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

            I started following The Hunger Games Twitter account before the first movie came out, and I noticed that they changed the account to Catching Fire when the second movie was about to be released. I also followed them on Facebook, and that is how I found out the latest casting news and the newest trailers. I have found that lately I see new trailers for movies on social media before I see them on more official movie sites like IMDb.

            Something that I thought Catching Fire did that was clever and unique was let two of the film’s stars, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, take over the Twitter account for an hour or so and allow fans to tweet them questions. It allowed for an easy way for fans to connect with the actors and get them more excited about the movie. It also helps that celebrities are directly connected to Twitter, so the actors in the movie can tweet regularly to promote the movies they are in.

            I’ve noticed that even older movies that I have “liked” on Facebook still post things every once in a while, like fan art or fun facts about the movie. It’s also another way that movie companies can promote the new movies they are producing. I’m interested to see how movie companies will step up their social media strategies even more in the coming years.

            Also, you can click here to visit my movie blog.

What If You Could Text Anonymously?

            There is yet another anonymous app joining existing services like Secret and Whisper. This one is called Truth, and it allows users to send anonymous messages to people in their contacts.

            In order to use this app, users are assigned a username (and a cute little owl avatar) in which they use to message people in their contacts. If the person they are messaging has the app, then the message just comes up the app’s inbox. If the person does not have the app, then the “truth” will appear as a text message and in order to read the whole thing they will have to download the Truth app and view it there.

            Unsurprisingly, the app has been popular with high school and college-aged users, possibly because they are looking to other outlets that aren’t plagued by ads or older adults like Facebook and even Twitter. We shouldn’t be shocked that this type of technology has surfaced since apps like Secret and Whisper have become so popular.

            The article I read also discussed the potential dangers of this type of app, like cyberbulling. It has been proven enough that when people interact with each other anonymously, they can be vicious. Just look at YouTube comments or message boards. I would hope that if people are messaging their own friends and family in the app, they would be a little kinder, but I would not put it past certain people to be harsh to each other. It would be nice to think that people will only use this app to send cute confessions to their crushes, but I just don’t think that’s realistic. As long as Truth has a way of dealing with cyberbullying, however, I think this app will be pretty successful.

Reddit Pulls an Amazing April Fools’ Day Joke

            You should know better to trust the Internet on April 1st. Reddit announced that it was introducing “Headdit,” or “Hand Equivalent Action Detection.” This new technology allows Reddit users to use facial expressions to navigate through the site, instead of all that pesky clicking and typing.

            Users can nod to go through links and comments, frown to downvote, and open links with a surprised expression. In addition, if you hold your cat up to your computer screen, it will initiate “cat mode,” whatever that may be. All of this is explained in a cute little promotional video that Reddit made.

            It’s not a surprise that this was all just a hilarious April Fools’ Day prank. Clicking on the Headdit option turns on the users webcam and records them making fools out of themselves. It’s only a matter of time before we see a blooper reel full of people contorting their faces and hoisting their cats into the air.

            This was a pretty funny prank that Reddit pulled, and I’m not surprised that people fell for it. Technology is getting far advanced enough that people are ceased to be amazed at what their computers can do. Even though this technology seems a little silly, it could happen one day.

            In my opinion, it would be more strenuous and annoying for me to have to make certain facial expressions than to just click and type what I wanted. It would still be cool to try out the facial recognition, but I would definitely not want to use it every day.

Pictures of Faces Get More Likes on Instagram

            According to a Mashable article about a study made by Georgia Tech, people are more drawn to pictures with faces in them. Over a million Instagram pictures were tested, and the results were that pictures featuring a face were 38 percent more likely to receive likes from followers, and 32 percent more likely to receive comments.

            The article goes on to say that we are naturally drawn to faces, which makes perfect sense. We like people and looking at people and reading about people. I think that’s part of what makes social media so successful. It allows us to interact with people without ever leaving our couch.

            I checked out my own Instagram, and noted that I have received the most likes on pictures of myself and my friends, even though only about 25 percent of my photos have people in them. I’m not one to take selfies and post them for no reason.

It is interesting that faces inspire more likes. I do seem to stop more often when there are people in the pictures while I am scrolling through Instagram on my phone. I want to see who they are with and what they are doing.

I think this discovery is important for businesses and their social media strategies. It would be easy to assume that an ad on Facebook with an image of a person vacuuming rather than just vacuum would cause a user to be more likely to click on the ad and check out the product. People want to see people, and relate to people. It’s important to keep in mind that when it comes to marketing a product or service.

TOMS Coffee

            TOMS has been one of my favorite organizations for a while now, and I’m happy to see that they are still thinking of creative new ideas to help those in need. TOMS Coffee is the newest campaign, partnering with the Water for People organization to donate a week of clean water to a person in need for each bag of coffee purchased, under the usual tagline, One for One.

            This is an interesting tactic because water is not as tactile as shoes or eyeglasses, which are other TOMS products. Clean water is so much more important, however, so I applaud the TOMS company for what they are doing. The clean water is being provided to countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Rwanda, and Malawi. The coffee available for purchase is also from all of these places, in a variety of flavors.

            TOMS has also done a pretty good job of marketing with social media. They have a presence on all of the major social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. Pinterest is a really important platform to be on for an organization like TOMS because they can upload pictures of their products, and users can pin what products they think they would like to buy. If they click on the pin, it will link directly to the TOMS website where they can buy the product. It just makes it that much easier for the user.

            TOMS also uses Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to post images of their products, but they also promote events like Day Without Shoes, which spreads awareness for the cause. They also post videos and pictures of people delivering the shoes to children in need and the children enjoying their new shoes. This kind of marketing is affective in pulling at people’s heartstrings and getting them to donate to the organization. I’m interested to see how they will continue to use social media to promote the new coffee/water initiative.

MIT Students Use GIFs to Teach Computers Emotion

            There is a Mashable article called “MIT Students Use GIFs to Teach Computers Emotion,” which tells the story of two MIT graduate students who created a website called GIFGIF, which presents users two gifs, and they have to choose which one better expresses a certain emotion. The user can sort through different emotions like guilt, happiness, amusement, etc. and pick the gif they think describes that emotion. There are about 4,000 gifs programmed into the site.

            This project was created by Kevin Hu and Travis Rich in order to develop a way for computers to better understand emotions. This technology will be used to translate small portions of text into gifs, like Shakespeare sonnets. I’m not really sure what this will be used for. Perhaps to better understand literature?

            Another potential use of the project is a way of understanding the differences between different cultures of reading emotions. This would be impactful for people to learn different cultures and understand that not everyone interprets the world in the same way. This could be useful in international business and political spheres.

            I tried out the GIFGIF website, and it’s pretty fun in a simple way. Some of the gifs don’t really have anything to do with the emotion presented, so I’m grateful that there is a “neither” option. It is an interesting experience knowing that you are helping improve a technology and teaching computers to learn emotions.

The Hashtag

            Hashtags. Whether you love them or hate them they have become integrated into the culture of social media, and I doubt they’re going away soon. I found a Mashable article a while ago that discussed “Hashtag Etiquette.” Who knew we would need to know such a thing?

            Some of the examples of people using hashtags the wrong way include having too many hashtags in a post, saying “hashtag” in real life, and using Facebook hashtags. I remember when Facebook first released hashtags on Facebook, and users either groaned or started using them gladly. I wouldn’t say I was on the groaning side, but I definitely think that hashtags are Twitter’s territory. They are a nice utility to use when you want to describe something in a concise way, and in the Twitter world of 140 characters, it’s very useful.

            I know that Facebook gets a bad rep for stealing ideas from Twitter (which I think some are debatable), but Facebook blatantly took the hashtag concept from Twitter. They did not even try to change the idea a little and make it their own. That just seems lazy to me. For that reason and others, I don’t think I will ever use hashtags on Facebook.

            On Twitter, however, I do use the occasional hashtag to make a point or to create a little more humor in my tweets. I only use one or two hashtags, though. Overusing hashtags is one of my pet peeves. When the hashtags become longer than the actual tweet, you are using too many.

            It’s also a little strange that young kids these days only refer to the # symbol as a hashtag. Today I had to activate my new debit card over the phone and I had to enter my card number followed by the pound sign. When those kids grow up, they won’t even know what that means, and that’s a little weird to think about.

Wisdom of the Crowds

            My experiment was to determine what people think the average temperature has been this winter, since people have been complaining about the cold for a very long time. According to Accuweather.com, the average high temperature for January 2014 in Annville was 31.7 degrees.

            I posted a status on Facebook asking people what they thought the average temperature was, and after I received fifteen responses I told them what it was. After deleting the highest and lowest (which were 15 and 36), I calculated an average of 23.5 degrees. It is not too close to the actual number, but that is most likely because it is a smaller number and harder to average to the correct one.

            It is interesting how the theory of “the wisdom of the crowds” in almost every circumstance. It slightly worked with my experiment. I think most people guessed a colder temperature, like in the 20s, because it has been such a harsh winter and everyone is tired of the cold. I also found it interesting that it was mostly my middle-aged Facebook friends who responded to the survey, as opposed to friends my age. I’m not sure if that has any reason for the responses that I received. I have noticed that older users tend to answer polls like this on Facebook, especially relatives, because they are trying to help me out. You would think that college students would empathize with me trying to complete a project and respond to the poll, but I only had a handful respond.

Her - Is this our future?

            In order to prepare for the Oscar season, I watched the movie Her recently, which is nominated for five Academy Awards (you can watch the trailer here). The film features Theodore, a lonely writer living in the not too distant future. The world of the movie does not have a sci-fi feel, but the technology is slightly more advanced than it is right now. We see Theodore using his operating system to check emails and current news. It operates similarly to Siri by responding to voice commands and reading aloud emails and such. He then upgrades to a newer system, which has the sexy voice of Scarlett Johansson.

            The operating system introduces herself as Samantha, which already proves that it is a much more sophisticated and humanized technology than anything we’ve seen before. It’s uncanny how much Samantha sounds and acts like a real person and not like a computer. Theodore takes her around in his pocket and shows her the world, and she learns and evolves as they go. They eventually start a romantic relationship and it actually is more sweet than awkward. At the end of the film, however, the operating systems are recalled, seemingly because the users become too attached to them.

            While technologies like this still seem pretty far-fetched, it is eerie how much the movie reminded me of current trends in social media and other technologies. For instance, Samantha could tell when Theodore was in a bad mood, and she also submitted his writing to a publisher without him knowing. While it is not nearly as intense, Facebook and other websites often can predict behavior of the users based on what they post or like. In that way it kind of has a mind of its own.

            I don’t think that technology should ever become this intuitive. I would still like to make some of my own decisions, like reading and deleting my own email. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable having another entity doing that for me. I also don’t think that technology should ever have emotions or souls; the lines just become too blurred and confusing, as was shown in the movie.

Googlezon

I find it very interesting that it was predicted that Google and Amazon would merge companies. It is quite a common occurrence that large companies buy smaller companies and merge with them. Google and Amazon are both enormous companies, however, so it seems unlikely that either of them would need to join another company in order to stay afloat.

            I also don’t think that merging the two companies would even be beneficial to either of them. It is not as if the companies are all that similar, like phone carriers that have merged in the past. Amazon is an online marketplace, as well as an electronic reading service with Kindle. Amazon is also expanding into a video streaming service. Google is Google. It encompasses email, YouTube, Google Drive, and much, much more. They don’t really seem like they would be compatible if they were to join forces. Users go to Amazon and Google for very different purposes. I’m sure that the companies would be smart enough to figure out a way to work if they merged together, but it just doesn’t seem to make sense to do so.

            I also think that predicting these types of trends in technology is hard to accomplish. Both YouTube and Kindle were not invented when the prediction was made in 2004. Both of these concepts have revolutionized modern technology, and I don’t think they were anticipated in the prediction, at least not correctly. It is difficult to predict how technologies that are not even invented yet will affect companies and their business decisions. I do not know how anyone would accurately predict future developments in technology.

Since these inventions are unknown, I can understand how it would be predicted that Amazon and Google would merge, since they were much simpler companies back then. In 2004, Google was probably just a search engine and Amazon just an online marketplace. Now that they have grown, however, they are too different and complex to merge.

Craigslist Killers

One of the top stories in the news right now is the 19-year-old Craigslist killer, who confessed to murdering more than 22 people as part of a satanic cult. One of Miranda Barbour’s victims was Troy LaFerrara, who she met on Craigslist. LaFerrara allegedly paid for a sexual encounter with Barbour, but she ended up killing him instead.

Craigslist has become just as infamous for its Craigslist killers as it has with its services. The online community seems like it is becoming more and more of an unsavory and shady place. My brother bought an Xbox from a user on Craigslist a few years ago, and I remember feeling a little nervous when he went to go meet the guy in person. He could easily have been another victim of a Craigslist killer.

Another strange feature on Craigslist is the “missed connections” section of the site. It allows users to try to find people they see at restaurants, gas stations, bookstores, etc. who they thought were attractive, but they were too timid to approach. The users post descriptions of the person and the place they saw them, in hopes that the person will see it and contact them.

It would be a cute idea if it didn’t seem so creepy and stalker-like. Besides, I find it very unlikely that these people would ever find each other. It’s just as likely that someone else could pretend to be the person you saw, get your contact information, meet with you, and murder you. The people who peruse the missed connections page are probably just looking to prey on people.

I’m not saying that the Craigslist community is not useful in some aspects. It’s wonderful that there can be an online marketplace and a place to post job opportunities. It just makes me uncomfortable how vulnerable people are when they put themselves on sites like Craigslist.

Less is More (Chapter 7 Post)

            I’m going to try to not sound like a broken record from my last post, but the topics are pretty similar. Chapter 7 in the Qualman book discusses how Twitter and other social media platforms have condensed and shortened the expectations of information in the media, since Twitter limits posts to 140 characters. The chapter goes on to discuss how different companies are trying to adhere to these new rules.

            I’ve learned in my studies as a Digital Communications major that certain media, like videos, need to be short and concise in order to keep users’ attention. If the video runs too long (or the blog post or the article or whatever it may be), then the audience will lose interest and not view the rest of it. It is partly for this reason that Twitter is so successful: it’s condensed and concise. This is also very important in the mobile world.

            Companies need to design for mobile devices because that is the future of the industry. In an article I found on Mashable, it states that people use Twitter on their smartphones more than 10 times more than they do on desktop computers. Facebook’s number of mobile users is not nearly as impressive. That is because it feels like Twitter was made for mobile usage. It’s just natural to scroll through tweets on my phone. I often find that I check Twitter on my phone much more than I check it on my computer.

            Facebook, on the other hand, feels like a chore when I am on the app. I have often heard complaints about the Facebook app, and I have to agree with them. Besides the technical problems, the interface of Facebook simply does not have the same flow that Twitter’s does. This goes to show how Twitter is paving the way for how mobile apps should be designed.

Microblogging with Twitter (Chapter 4 Post)

            I have always thought of the term “microblogging” very interesting. I’ve usually heard it used to describe Twitter. I’ve never thought of Twitter as a platform for blogging, but it does seem to qualify. Twitter users tweet what they are thinking about, and their thoughts on current events, which is pretty much what bloggers do. It just makes it a lot easier to write and read these “blogs” because they are limited to 140 characters.

            van Dijck tells us in Chapter Four that “the initial idea was for Twitter to be ‘a sort of adrenalized Facebook, with friends communicating with friends in short bursts.’” It’s true what the older generations say about the younger ones: we have much shorter attention spans, and they are continuing to decrease (think of six second Vines and ten second Snapchats). It is evident in the fact that text messaging is the preferred method of communicating on our phones rather than calling, because it’s much faster. That is why this 140-character design format appeals to the younger generation.

            The longer that I use social media the more I realize that Twitter is more geared for users giving their opinions and being witty, while Facebook is becoming more of a diary used for either bragging and complaining. That isn’t to say that there aren’t funny posts on Facebook or their aren’t annoying posts on Twitter, it’s just my general impression. I think that since users only have 140 characters to make a point, they are limited in what they can say so it forces them to be creative in how they word their posts, and maybe makes them a little more clever than they would be writing a paragraph-long Facebook post.

             Facebook is a large database in which users can do a number of different things, while Twitter is simply for brief, concise posts. People get to their point much more quickly. For me, it makes it a much more enjoyable experience because I can blow through tweets and laugh and retweet the ones that I like. Maybe I’m just not a patient person, but I prefer the short bursts of information that Twitter provides.

Extra Blog Post - Facebook "Trending"

I saw the “trending” feature on Facebook a few days before it was brought up in class, but I did not look too much into it because it seems like Facebook is always adding new features and I just don’t have the time or desire to keep up with all of them.

People have been saying that Facebook “stole” the trending feature from Twitter. In my opinion, they aren’t all that similar. Twitter’s trending feature seems to be solely based on what users are tweeting and hashtagging, while the Facebook trending feature just reports popular news that is going on. It might be based on what people are talking about, but when you click on one of the trends, it takes you to articles about the topic. That leads me to believe that the Facebook trends are not what Facebook users are talking about exactly, but simply what it popular news at the time.

In the van Dijck chapter, it says that Facebook is based on the idea of people connecting with other people and sharing things with their friends. With that in mind, it makes sense that Facebook executives would add the trending feature to the site because it is yet another way that Facebook users can find and share information with their friends. It perpetuates the feeling of connectedness that Facebook seems bent on providing for the world.

As far as why Facebook stole the idea from Twitter, I think they saw an opportunity to expand on a feature that Twitter has had for a long time, but that not many users utilize. As a Twitter user, I hardly ever check to see what is trending. Facebook has improved the trending feature by tailoring the trends based on what the user is interested in. I have yet to see how this is done, since my trends were the exact same ones brought up in class, but it may prove to work over time.

This trending feature is just yet another way that Facebook is attempting to create a massive, interconnected society that shares information, whether it’s about themselves or the world around them.

Humans of New York

            Last semester my creative writing professor suggested that we follow the Facebook page “Humans of New York” since it showcases people’s stories. The founder, Brandon Stanton, created a blog called Humans of New York (HONY) in 2010. He walks around New York City and stops people he comes across and asks if he can take their picture. He also asks them questions like, “What was the happiest moment of your life?” “What advice would you give to a large group of people?” or “What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?”

            He also posts the pictures and answers he receives to the Facebook page, and since I’ve started following HONY, I look forward to the pictures he posts every day. Some are funny, some are heartbreaking, and most of them are incredibly inspiring. He doesn’t comment, doesn’t judge, doesn’t discriminate, he just allows people to tell their story. 

            Brandon commented on one of his pictures a few days ago. “I get nervous as the blog grows that the culture will fall apart,” he says, “but with 2.7 million and counting, the HONY comment section remains a sort of rare internet jewel where everyone, for the most part, is really nice. And when there is a mean comment, it sticks out as an anomaly, instead of the other way around. So thanks for that.”

            It warms my heart every time I see someone offering encouragement on the pictures. The internet is a vicious place, so is so awe-inspiring to see an online community that builds people up instead of tearing them down. I could write pages and pages about this blog because I love it so much. It celebrates the very best of humanity, and I think everyone needs to be reminded that we are all humans and we need to stick together.

            I encourage everyone to check out the HONY Facebook page. It always makes me smile! Let me know if you find a post that really speaks to you.

"My parents have always been very dismissive of 

depression in other people. So I'm afraid to tell them that 

I think I'm getting depressed."

"I love crazy!"

"What's the hardest thing you've ever gotten through together?"

"I know. And he knows. But we'd rather not say."

"I'm feeling masculine today."

"I got it when I was young. I made the mistake of 

trying to stop someone from picking on me."

"I pretty much only read fantasy because I've 

had more than enough of reality."