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We're all advertisers: LJ9

 Almost all content creation is involved in some sort of advertising and, with the creator-centric model of the internet, most everyone has become an advertiser in their own right. Even before the internet we acted as advertising for businesses, brands, and products. In real life we wear clothes with obvious logos and brand names, we use branded tools, and we recommend restaurants and products we have enjoyed. The internet only amplifies these advertising behaviors.  Electronic word of mouth (EWOM), as discussed by Michael Luca and Previte et al., has helped to enhance word out mouth recommendations. Word of mouth is the process by which something is advertised through its customers who recommend or discuss the business with others. In the past, with limited reach, word of mouth was mainly spread through friends and families. However, with the connectivity of the internet, strangers can provide reviews of anything to anyone. Sites like Yelp allow people to post reviews, both positive a
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LinkedIn: Final Learning Journal

 I've used LinkedIn for a while now and, as such, am somewhat familiar with it already. In fact, I had already accidentally completed many of the assignment requirements, such as connecting with people and following companies. I have found that LinkedIn is easy to use and very user-friendly. The fact that I had already done many of the things listed in the assignment shows how organic the site's features are, as I made no conscious efforts to connect with people or follow companies yet had done it anyways. It's easy to make a professional-looking profile, connect with contacts, and search for job opportunities. I mostly use LinkedIn for internship and job hunting rather than communicating with individuals. I've found its search feature is straightforward and more efficient than many other job-searching sites. It also makes the job application process much easier, sometimes allowing an easy-apply option that is pre-filled with some information added to my profile. Even i
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Social Entertainment: LJ8

 Guo (2019) and Muriuki (2022) both made very interesting points about how social media influences our experiences with more traditional media like movies. Many times I've seen people flocking to social media to comment on television and movies while or right after watching them. Some even comment beforehand, going off of trailers and second-hand information. However, their discussions of movie watching becoming more social and engaging because of social media felt lacking because they neglected to mention one of, in my opinion, the most important advances in social movie watching: Group streaming. With apps like Discord or Zoom where people can share screens and computer audio with groups of people, distance and time don't have to prevent people from enjoying television or movies together. I have watched episodes of television shows along with friends and strangers both near (Gainesville) and far (Europe). This isn't even a new concept. Twitch did a similar thing years ago
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Hands-On Assignment 4

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Social Working: LJ7

Every time I see debates and discussion about allowing employees to use social media at work, I start to get a bit anxious. I hate the idea of being monitored the entire time I am working and it honestly feels like a major invasion of privacy. While I understand that there are those who use social media instead of working and allow it to decrease their performance, I feel that it's unfair to group everyone who uses social media at work into the same group. Like Firmplay (2020) states, it is impossible to completely block social media use anymore. Not only is it useful for some work functions, whether it be your job in general or answering questions, it can help some peoples' productivity (Businesswire 2018). This is the camp I find myself in. Often when doing homework or have been doing work for an internship, I need to have something playing in the background on Youtube. This could be music, a random video, or a documentary, but something I don't need to pay too close of a
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A Lawless Land: LJ6

 Part 1: It is always interesting, and incredibly concerning, to learn about social media, the internet, and ethics. In fact, it often feels like "Social media ethics" is an oxymoron. While many people do consider the ethical implications of using social media and providing these services, it is too obvious that corporations, especially the ones providing social media to the masses, lack ethical considerations. Casert and Chan's (2021) article about Facebook's rebranding to Meta and its focal shift to the Metaverse as a way to avoid controversy and current issues was eye-opening. Previous readings had merely discussed the Metaverse as Meta's next step and the rebranding as a whole, so this article and the other articles relating to it in this module helped to provide extra context to the shift. I agree with O'Flaherty (2021) when she says she doesn't think Facebook is safe and, if Facebook continues with current trends, the Metaverse certainly won't be
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Memories in Photos: LJ5

 The reading from Kray et al. (2009) made me think this week. I had never before considered how the experience of sharing photos digitally versus physically could be different. Having grown up in the junction between physical and digital photo sharing, with my younger years consisting of physical copies of photos saved in albums and my current life being dominated by technology and digital sharing, I am completely accustomed to both modes of sharing images. To me, passing a phone with an image around is no different than passing around a physical print of a photograph. However, Kray et al. (2009) draws a distinct difference between these experiences that I honestly cannot fully grasp even after reading the article. The thought of technology image sharing being "cold" and "impersonal" (Kray et al. 2009) is not something I had thought of before and while I can understand Kray et al.'s claim that "the requirement for a degree of technical understanding, which
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