Blog 11: Final Blog

     So many people say that "kids these days" are addicted to our phones and social media, and while this may be true for some I don't believe it to be true for myself and I don't think it's bad to us to be on social media, that is where so many teenagers view their news and stay up to date. While social media can be good, it can also be very negative without one knowing. I have pretty much every social media platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Linkedin, Snapchat, and I'm sure more that I can not think of. I use them almost daily, as I get older I have shared less knowing that my social media will likely be checked when applying for jobs, and knowing that whatever I put out can never be taken down even if I delete it. I make sure not to share anything having to do with politics, while this saves me from getting in arguments with family members and losing friends over my beliefs it creates more calls and texts coming to my phone during the election. Since I don't share what party I am affiliated with I get texts, calls, emails, etc from all sides of the political spectrum. 

So I don't share my political beliefs, but what do I share on my social media accounts?

Facebook: I tend to share more on Facebook for my family members who don't live near me and that I don't really talk to often to see what I am up to while at school. Facebook is the first place I go to share exciting news, like where I was going to college, when I declared my double major, and that I would be in the fall semester play. I occasionally repost memes and heart-felt stories others post. My main reason for keeping Facebook is because my community service project Paint Mt. Pleasant Gold took off and became and annual event for my town, I post regularly on the account to share facts about childhood cancer, share success stories, post where to donate, and share about lost lives from cancer.  Facebook is probably where the most information can be found on me. It has my name, pictures, where I go to school, what I go to school for, where I work when I'm not in school, etc. 

Instagram: My Instagram is a public account, so anyone who wants to follow me has the ability to, but I don't post on the account frequently, I mainly use it to see what my friends are up to and post when I do something fun or cool. If I go anywhere I make sure to post pictures after I am back so no one I don't know has the information that I am not at home, and I always make sure to be vague and not include my exact location. I think Instagram has very little information on me, it knows where I go to school, but doesn't know what I go for, where I work, it can't get my phone number or email as easily as one can on Facebook. It is pretty laid back. 

Twitter: I haven't posted on my Twitter account in over 3 years, and even when I posted it was only once or twice. My Twitter has almost no information on me, I primarily use it to view news and keep tabs on my favorite "celebrities" . I never liked the social media network, so I will likely continue my once a month use and might make the decision to start to post depending on where my career path goes. 

I'll admit, before I took this class, I tried to be careful about what I put on my social media, my dad was always on me about what I was posting, but after taking this course and learning more about my presence on social media, I am more careful than ever. I'm starting to check my settings to see what others can see about me, make accounts private, share less personal information, and watch what I am signing up for when starting new accounts. I don't plan on and can't get rid of my social media as a whole as what I plan on pursuing in life requires me to have an online presence, but I know I have to be smart about my presence. 

 

 

Blog 10: EOTO-Presentations

 

    I will admit, before the presentations were done, I did not know what echo chamber was. In fact, I had never heard of the term before, at least not that I remembered, but what I learned was extremely beneficial. An echo chamber is an environment where a person encounters media, facts, and information, but they only fit the world view of the specific viewer, hence creating a form of echo. Echo chambers can lead to a tremendous amount of misinformation and can make it harder for one to hear a different perspective that is different from their own. With echo chamber normally comes confirmation bias, the tendency to favor information that reinforces already existing beliefs. Echo chambers are anywhere information is spread, but they are especially seen online as information is able to be spread at mass rates. The internet has a special type of echo chamber called a filter bubble, these are created by algorithms that remember what you click on while online. Often people say that they are willing to change their way of thinking if they find compelling evidence to help change their mind, but this seems to be impossible with echo chambers. In person, we tend to spend time with like-minded people, and with filter bubbles it seems difficult to find differing information.  

Here is how you can recognize echo chambers: 

• They only provide one side of an issue
• The viewpoint is supported mainly by rumor or insignificant information 
• Facts are ignored when they go against the main viewpoint

Avoid echo chambers by checking multiple news sources, interact with people that have different view points than you do, and remember that even though you want something to be true does not make it true. 

Sources: 

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/

Blog 9: EOTO-Cyberstalking

 

    Merriam Webster's definition of cyberstalking is: the use of electronic communication to harass or threaten someone with physical harm. Cyberstalkers will hack into social media accounts to post harmful or inappropriate content, hack into computers to find explicit content to put on the web, and/or use your social media and/or email to cyberstalk others. 

Is cyberstalking illegal?

    In a time when social media is at a all time high and everyone is posting where they are going, what they are doing, what they are eating, where they are shopping, and even shopping online, it seems that our information is all over the great wide web, but what happens when this information is taken by someone else to use against us? Cyberstalking can be considered one of the most potentially dangerous cybercrimes, usually cyberstalking is the first step to a more serious crime, so it is taken very seriously by law enforcement. Consequences for cyberstalking vary depending on the severity of the case, they can include misdemeanor or felony charges depending on whether an actual threat was made or how much harm was done. 

Can you prevent cyberstalking?

    There is not one solution to prevent cyberstalking; however, there are steps one can take to protect their private information, thus protecting yourself from this online danger. 

1. Limit the amount of personal information you share on your accounts
2. Change your passwords frequently
3. Check and change privacy setting on social media accounts (they can change often, make sure your current settings are right for you)
4. Hide your IP address
5. Use a gender-neutral screen name: cyberstalkers tend to go after women more often than men
6. Regularly check what information of yours is available online: a quick google search of your name can provide you with information that you might now is available on the internet

What to do if you're being stalked online?

    Being cyberstalking can be frightening, but there are some things you can and should do when you think or are being stalked online. 

1. Trust your gut: if you feel like you are in an unsafe situation, trust your gut and shut it down. Block the person if possible. 
2. Keep evidence: make sure you have proof of the incident to show to the authorities if it comes down to you having to go to the police. You might feel better deleting the information, but it is more helpful for you to keep it. 
3. Go to the authorities: if the situation gets worse or you start to get threats take all the evidence you have and take it to the local police department to see what they can do to keep you safe. 

How can cyberstalking affect victims?

    While cyberstalking does not involve any form of physical involvement, victims can still be negatively affected in many ways. Victims can experience sleep disturbances, recurring nightmares, high levels of stress, a feeling of being out of control, a pervasive sense of the loss of personal safety, and much more. Don't think that just because you can not see the abuser that abuse is not happening, cyberstalking is very real and very scary, make sure to check in on someone you know has been or is experiencing cyberstalking. 

Sources:

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-awareness/what-cyberstalking-prevent/

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/is-there-a-law-against-cyberstalking-or-cyberharassment-31710

https://www.cybereason.com/cyber-stalking-prevention

Blog 8: Privacy Online and Off

 

    After watching the provided TED Talks, I was left stunned, I never truly thought about how little privacy we have when it comes to technology. These TED talks left me frustrated, we hear people add commentary about how our privacy or lack thereof is only going to get worse with social media, that companies are taking our information without us truly knowing they are doing it. I have always made jokes about how I talked about a certain shirt and I start seeing ads about it immediately after talking about it (I'm sure I'm going to start getting a bunch of ads for shirts once I post this), but now I know how scary it really is, so many of my social media platforms know what I am looking at! Why do they need to know this? 

    I continued my research on online privacy and was led to The Harvard Gazette, and what I read truly shocked me: "In April, Congress voted to allow internet service providers to collect and sell their customers’ browsing data." I did not know that Congress voted to allow this, why should it be allowed, what good is it doing? When you sign up for a new social media network you have to agree to the terms and agreements, if you don't you can not use that platform, but why do we have to accept the terms and agreements, why don't we have the option to not agree? Why do I have to agree to let these random companies keep my information, I'm sure they wouldn't give me theirs if I asked for it. 

    I was born in a time where social media was beginning to boom, I don't really truly remember a time without social media, so I didn't know any better than to just click the button to let me sign up for Facebook or Instagram, I didn't understand what I was agreeing to and even if I read the terms and agreements, I am sure I still wouldn't fully understand what I was agreeing to. There has to be people who read all the fine print and still agree to use the site, but why would you do that knowing your information is going to be taken? Seems a little, scratch that, a lot sketchy to me. 

    From now on, I plan on reading the terms and agreements before I let random websites access my information. I don't share anything that can do any damage to me, but it still is terrifying knowing that these random millionaires can know whatever they want about me. I know to be more cautious. 

Sources: 

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/08/when-it-comes-to-internet-privacy-be-very-afraid-analyst-suggests/

https://clario.co/blog/live-secured/what-is-online-privacy/

Blog 7: Diffusion of Innovations (Or Ideas)

 

    The image above shows a visual representation of Everett Rodgers' theory: Diffusion of Innovations. This theory that explains how people take in new ideas through four different elements: the innovation itself, communication channels, time, and social systems.

    For this post I will further explain this theory by using Facebook as an example.

    Innovators: Facebook wasn't always for our parents and grandparents. Once upon a time, Facebook dominated the social media market. In February of 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook, which originally was meant for fellow Harvard students to connect with one another (think LinedIn but for friends). After over a thousand people registered for the site a day after launching, the site quickly expanded becoming one of the most significant social media companies in the world. Of course, this success came after some failures. Zuckerberg created FaceMash, a site that allowed Harvard students to vote on which two randomly selected Harvard women was prettier, just a year before Facebook. Naturally, there was some backlash from various parties about this site, but Zuckerberg knew he could make something out of his site-making skills. 

(Example of a post from FaceMash)

    Early Adopters: Facebook was a hit with college students, naturally, that is who it was marketed towards. After FaceMash, Zuckerberg was a big man on the Harvard campus, so naturally he had a pretty big following ready for the launch of his new site. This obviously worked in Facebook's favor as the site received over one thousand registered people on the first day of the launch alone-and it was only available to people with a Harvard email address!

    Early Majority: Facebook started as a closed community, available only to Harvard students, but branched out peaking the interest of other college students, making it available to virtually every college campus in the United States and Canada. Facebook started to take the younger MySpace users as they were interested in the newer features of the newer social network. In May of 2005 when Thefacebook officially became Facebook the network was open to high schoolers. 

    Late Majority: With so many other social networking sites and apps being created like Instagram and Twitter, it seems as though Facebook is for our parents and grandparents. According to Sprout Social, Facebook users aged 65 and older are the quickest growing age-group on Facebook making up 40% of their users. Teen users are quickly declining according to Sprout Social, "In 2015, 71% of teens were active on Facebook. Currently, only 51% of American teenagers between 13 and 17 years old, use Facebook."

    Laggards: As various social media networks are becoming more and more popular or more are being invented (Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok) Facebook seems to be seeing a drop in new users as they are not coming up with the newest in the design for networks. 

    Overall, after looking at Facebook through the lens of the Diffusion of Innovations model I found that as with everything else, all good things must come to an end, and while Facebook has not yet died, we may see that it will soon disappear as MySpace did  with the rise of new inventions. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations

https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2017/09/15/the-science-behind-social-networking-and-why-myspace-lost-to-facebook/

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/facebook-launches-mark-zuckerberg

https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/history-of-facebook/#:~:text=The%20world's%20greatest&text=Then%2C%20finally%2C%20in%20December%2C,social%20platform%20in%20the%20world.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/breakdown-facebook-users-age-63280.html