Social Media: Good or Bad?

The ted talk is from Dr. Cal Newport.

Why you should quit social media

https://www.ted.com/talks/cal_newport_why_you_should_quit_social_media/transcript

I could not find a ted talk that directly related to my blog theme, of social media safety. So I found this one and I thought it was interesting. He starts by saying he has never had any type of social media and says we shouldn’t have one either. He explains that its “not a fundamental tool.” That it’s simply there to entertain us while these companies are able to gain information from us and “package it up” and send it all around. He says social media is not essential to have in order to be successful. It’s interesting because a lot of people have become successful through the use of social media. To me personally learning through this course I can see how social media can be used as a tool and to help you in your career. Its interesting to be able to see things from both sides. Like when we learned about citizen journalism, that’s all possible because of social media, and I like that we are able to learn about real things that are happening directly from the source.  

A Blog as a Job?

If I told you, you could make money just from writing and posting about things you love, would you do it? That’s the amazing thing about blogging is that you can actually make a living on it, how amazing of a job would that be? Getting paid from your blog is called monetizing. Here are 5 steps to get your blog monetized.

1.     I think the best first step is google AdSense. (dairyofuday.com) there are two ways you can do this either based on impressions or based on clicks. Impressions will actually depend on the amount of views you get on your page. Clicks is based on how many people will click on the ad. I think a lot of people start with based on clicks, and as their viewer count goes up they go to base on impressions.

2.     The next step is selling private ads. (bloggingbasics101.com) for this one people will come to you to advertise their product. One thing I would recommend for this one is having a business email on your blog somewhere so companies are able to reach you.

3.     Another step to go on is selling products. Maybe this is what your blog is for, so start with eBooks, tutorials, workshops, anything. (bloggingbasics101.com)

4.     Another step is when you should start monetizing. From the website magnet4blogging.net, says build your blog and audience first. Use other social media as a marketing tool for your blog.

5.     Another step is when you have grown your audience, you can try sponsorships. One important tip from diaryofuday.com is to be as transparent as possible. I would recommend not just doing any sponsorship, you want to do one that does apply to your life in same way.

 Rid Yourself and your blog of Tire Kickers by Doing This

This blog is talking about how to get rid of cheap companies, trying to sponsor you know as “tire kickers.” These sponsorships are not offering you a good deal, and they just want you to post a lot about them, for very little in return. You have to remember this is your job and passion, and you shouldn’t just give your work away for companies that don’t care. He states that you can fix this problem by spending more time with big bloggers, and happy and prospering bloggers. This means talking to these people online and commenting on their blogs. Just by surrounding yourself with these people you’re going to attract good positive people to come to your blog too, and positive companies.

Technology and Social Media

The way I see it technology isn’t going anywhere its only going to continue to evolve. With anything, technology can be seen as good and bad. I like to think of technology as a good thing. Look at all of the things we have discovered and even made easier with the use of technology. Now with the question “what does technology want,” I’m not sure how to feel about this question. The speakers we listened to when they talked about this. The examples they kept talking about were utensils such as a spoon. We know what a spoon is used for, but when it’s just sitting there what does it want? I didn’t understand their analogy they were trying to make, my views on the question of what does technology want is its constantly changing, we are discovering new ways to use the technology we have. I think to answer the question is technology wants to be used and wants to change as time progresses. They also state that humans cannot prevent or direct course of technology. This is interesting to me because the way I see it technology needs people to be able to make something of this technology. Without our efforts what would technology be?

Another question that was interesting to me was “is the evolution of technology always driven by humans or could it be driven by a larger force of nature?” Although I can see how other forces can drive the advances of technology, such as disease drives scientists and doctors to find cures. It is not only the disease that drives advances in technology and medicine it’s the people. We are driven to find cures to help and save people.

Digital legacy is something I have never even heard of until this week. I have never even thought about what I would want my “digital legacy” to be. I’m not really big on posting on my social medias, so I’m not sure what message I would leave as of now. I would want to leave the message of “do what makes you happy.” I think its important to not consume yourself in the idea of doing what everyone else is doing, and actually do something that makes you happy, not based on everyone else.

Although I don’t have kids I can see the importance in knowing what your child is doing online. I think nowadays, kids grow up so fast with the vast amounts of technology they have readily available. They would rather have a phone than go outside and play. Which is why it’s important to teach them safeties about the Internet and social media websites, and important to know what they are doing on these sites.

I have seen the ways social media has benefitted bloggers. Social media is huge and people are able to get their names out there in a way they weren’t able to before. They are able to reach all different types of audiences, from all over the world. Which in turn can be a bad thing, getting a lot of negative comments, from people that have just randomly come across your blog. Yes I would love to use social media tools on my blog. I think using the social media tools, will help a wider range of people than If you didn’t use them!

Citizen Journalism?

With all of the technology we have at our fingertips, most people use their phones, computers, and TV’s to stay up to date with the most recent news. So it isn’t surprising that each of us probably have seen citizen journalism more often than not. Citizen journalism is exactly what it sounds like its information directly from the general public. All it takes is form someone to see something and take videos, photos, or even just to post about it on social media or, from a blog. Blogging is a great way to hear about some of this information as well. There are all types of different blogs where you can find out information about anything. Although getting information around in these ways there are some pros and cons. Some pros are that we are able to get the information out to millions of people. We are able see so many things that are happening from other parts of the world, and it’s really cool. With pros, also come cons. A con of this is that how are we able to know if it is actually true. It’s not like seeing things on the news where it’s assumed to be credible. I think we have all witnessed citizen journalism, in some shape or form. I see a lot of examples of it on Facebook. There are so many different personal stories from people in other places, and they share it on social media and we are able to see it here. What’s even more amazing we are able to help them, like when there were those really bad hurricanes, not only did they get lots of people to volunteer to help in any way they could, people also set up go fund me accounts to help them too. I think it’s really amazing how much we can do with the technology we have today. I could envision myself as a citizen journalist. I just really like the aspect that we can help people with the things we share if I were to become a citizen journalist, I would definitely want to post things that can make a difference, even if it’s a difference in one person’s life.

Ted Talk

In response to one of the Ted videos I decided to watch Yossi Vardi’s, we’re worried about local warming… in your lap. I wasn’t sure what the video was going to be about and it was actually really funny. This video is about how blogging may be hazardous to your posture, and how to take care of yourself when blogging in 5 easy steps! I wanted to know more about Yossi, so I looked him up. He is actually a chairman of international Technologies. From the website edge.org, they state “He is one if Israel’s hi-tech veterans, with 37 years of founding and helping build some 40 hi tech companies in Internet, software, telecommunications, electro-optics, energy, environment and other areas.” (edge.org) without people like this we would not have the technology we have today. It really blows my mind that people are so smart that they can do things like this. If you want a good laugh I suggest watching his ted talk!