Social Media and Web 2.0

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 believe that as the web changes, tv shows and advertisements will continue to change to reflect what is seen on the web. With how fast aspects of the web are changing, I do not believe that it will stay looking as amateurish or homegrown as it does now. For example, Paranormal Activity did well in the box office because people were interested to see how a movie would be looking as though it was shot on an everyday video camera. However, the next big visually exciting movie may not be looking ameteurish, but something new entirely. When this look fades and something else comes along for the internet, this will be the new way to shoot these tv productions.

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.

   I use facebook more often than any other social media site, and I believe that as it is so popular, it is here to stay. However, I believe that as our technology continues to grow, websites that are popular will develop even more. I have had a facebook for three years, and it looks much different now than it did when I first joined. I believe that once I have children and they get facebooks that how they use the site, how they access it, what the website does, and how it looks will be foreign to me. I think that facebook is so much more popular than myspace because it is a lot safer and more easily controlled by its user.

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

   I am very confused as to what transparency is, however it is defined as openness, communication, and accountability. From reading the article, I do feel that it is an important concept because I think it allows for people to communicate with people they may not know and make themselves seem different than they actually are and this should not be taken lightly. It is less important in the offline world than it is in the online one because so much of our communication today is online that our true "selves" could potentially become abolished with how much we use our social medias. If a person spends most of their time online and creates this new persona there, then face to face communication will continue to slowly decrease.