Trending Worldwide: Athletes and Twitter

From Nascar to golf, football to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), Twitter has swept the world of sports. Every week, I watch WWE’s Monday Night Raw, and during the course of the program, they throw the Twitter hash tag up, and people begin to tweet about the show. As the show progresses, they will show what from the company is trending worldwide. This is just one example of how Twitter is making an impact on sports.

Fast Forward to April 1, 2011, WWE’s biggest event, WrestleMania, celebrated its 28th anniversary in Miami. The buzz was focused around the return of one Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. The build-up could not have been bigger. The WWE gave Twitter and social media a pat on the back for the event’s success. WWE held their first-ever, live WrestleMania press conference via YouTube (another social media outlet). They sent out Twitter hash tags for fans to tweet about their favorite superstars. Next, the WWE launched a social media campaign, the reason, globalization. An article I found talked about why they wanted to reach out and be even more interactive with the fans. Not only were the superstars given a platform, but the superstars have been given a platform as well.

Throughout the semester, we have been posting our trends to the digital culture Facebook page. For me, this was an opportunity to research, to dig deep and find how articles about how athletes use Twitter, good or bad. One of the first links I posted was about Nascar driver Brad Keselowski. Keselowski used the red-flag delay during the Daytona 500 to tweet pictures to his followers. During the broadcast, the announcers on FOX talked about him doing this, and by the end of night, Keselowski had gained 100,000 new followers. His actions led to a lot of speculation and questions. Should he have been tweeting during the delay? In the NFL, you cannot tweet during a game. Should Nascar have stepped in? My answer, NO! Brad brought eyes to the race. Some people who might have not watched Nascar before turned the channel to the race, or looked up who Brad was.

One of my favorite Twitter trends came just last week. New Masters champion, Bubba Watson, made a ruckus over the weekend. The reason, he tweeted a picture of the General Lee, which was the car used in the show Dukes Of Hazzard, and Watson bought the original General earlier this year for $110,00. The picture showed the General Lee jumping over the lawn, in front of the clubhouse at Augusta National Golf Club.

Significant? When you consider the rich history of Augusta National and The Masters golf tournament, some people may speculate a consequence for the picture. My opinion, I think the picture is just out of fun, and it shows who Bubba Watson is as a person.

Another aspect to the Bubba Watson Twitter phenomena, last year, Watson lost followers due to his profession of faith as a Christian. I found an article from the Billy Graham website, and in their it explains how Watson lost followers, and how he gained followers. Also, after winning this year’s Masters tournament, Watson tweeted everyone who tweeted them. He probably spent a long time tweeting back, but he did because it is his platform to the fans.

Overall, this semester has been a fun one. I found a lot of unique trends and videos to share with the class. The power of Twitter is changing the world around us. News, announcements, friends, etc. They are all instantly tweeting and connecting with the world around them. Bubba uses Twitter to show who he is off the golf course. WWE uses it to connect with the fans, and Brad Keselowski used it to show what the Daytona International Speedway looked like after the fiery crash, but little did he know his one tweet would gain him some so many followers. I use Twitter all the time. It is fun to interact with other fans and let your voice be heard. I am a part of the Twitter sub-culture. I will leave with this, athletes, no matter where they come from, no matter their back background, they come from all walks of life, have one thing in common now, it is Twitter, #Sports.

Citizens’ Taking Over

Citizen journalism, good thing or bad thing? Take your pick. The emergence of new technology and the internet has brought along aspiring journalists. Or is it people who want to give their opinion? The gray area is hard to determine. One thing I’ve learned, citizen journalism can be helpful, but it can be a detriment.

We saw how the kids in Brazil were able to start their own citizen journalism program. It helped inspired the future students to join in. They had a platform where they could aspire to be a journalist. In that sense, citizen journalism is a good thing. The program was pushing students in the right direction to become a journalist.

The picture above can illustrate what a problem with citizen journalism is. Their is no fear, which may not be a bad thing, but it can be. If a citizen journalist isn’t careful, they may run into the ethical issues. Matt Drudge, creator of the Drudge Report, broke the story of the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton scandal (or caught word that Bill Clinton was being questioned). If the story had been false, Drudge would have faced a potential lawsuit. He would have been in violation of the libel law. Both Clinton and Lewinsky, may have sued him. The story turned out to be true.

In December 2011, CNN, a world news organization, laid off at least 50 staff members (www.wired.com). According to the report, CNN was looking in the direction of the Ireport. The problem with the direction of Ireporting and citizen journalism, the professionals are being put out of a job. It is cheaper and easier for a news outlet to have people send in videos of an event. They do not have to pay one of their reporters to go out and cover the event. They can have contributors to a blog, and it’s voluntarily. Good thing? It’s smart, but now the people who want to be a professional are having to find a new avenue to become a major writer. In that respect, people have to think outside outside the box, whether it be starting a blog, contributing to a major blog outlet or they are working harder than everyone to get their chance at writing. In the end, I believe the major news outlets will allow the cream to rise to the top.

One place where citizen journalism has flourished, disasters. The book in class talked about the tsunami of 2004, which was the first event that truly brought citizen journalism to the forefront. The 9/11 terrorist attacks had raw footage from the citizens of New York City, but it took some time for the videos to be gathered. In 2004, technology had allowed for a video to be instantly uploaded and viewed. The tsunami disaster saw videos being posted instantly. The great thing about the raw videos, first hand accounts. We are able to see what happens before any news sites are able to get there. The videos are sad. When you see a person being killed, or you see destruction looming, it really can hit hard. Should it be shown? I don’t know. It’s not for me to answer. Ultimately, it’s up to those who make the video and post it.

Not only are disasters major in citizen journalism, but politics overseas are a major story. The Egyptian revolution was started by social media, then was played out in front of the world. Saddam Hussein’s execution was supposed to be private, but someone recorded the execution, then put it online. Former Libya leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed, and then his body was shown on video and in pictures. The visuals may be hard to look at, but I think the people wanted to show he was dead. Citizen journalism did its part. They ensured the rest of the world knew what was going on in their part of the world.

Overall, citizen journalism has changed the way news is reported. You have to be extra careful if you go the citizen journalism route. Know the ethical laws, and be a good reporter. One thing the book taught us, as long as a truthful account is being presented, no one cares if both sides are being reported. They may not be a good thing, but every story has some biased to it. You just have to find a niche that comes across as impartial. My opinion, citizen journalism is on the rise, and it will make it harder for myself and others to land a job in the writing field. With hard work and dedication, the work I produce will allow myself to land a job with someone. Starting a blog would not be a bad thing either. I can find my niche and get noticed.

HACKERS, GOOD OR NOT GOOD

What to think about a hacker? Are they doing good works, or are they a risk to national security? In our world today hackers are at the front of controversy. WikiLeaks is a group that wants to bring confidential documents to the public eye.

The hacker group, Anonymous, has been at the front of controversies as well. Anonymous, like WikiLeaks, wants to show the public how easy it is for someone to hack into accounts, and they want to expose things to the public. Is this an issue of national security? Are their intentions good? Maybe, maybe not.

Our founding fathers believed in a check-and-balance system. It is apart of our constitution. People keeping a check on the government is not an issue; however; in America, we elect officials to do that. Sometimes our representatives may not do a good job, or they may not be the most credible people for the job. A group like Anonymous wants to take the responsibility. They want transparency in America. They contradict this thought. If you are going to bring something to light, why not, in the words of coach Herm Edwards, put your name on it? Why not own up to the discoveries? Not as group, but as a man or woman. They want transparency, yet they hide behind a mask. They are the vigilante to America, like Batman is to Gotham City. Sometimes we do not need the vigilante. The vigilante does not always win.

Digital Age

In today’s world, we live in the era of iTunes. This site, application, place, etc. gives us a platform to download music legally and at a cheap price. iTunes is where the Digital Music age has taken us.

After every American Idol performance, Ryan Seacrest will announce that all the performances will be available on iTunes. When John Cena is running down to the ring on a WWE-televised event, an advertisement will pop up in the corner of the screen. The advertisement says you can download John Cena’s theme song at iTunes.

Twelve years ago, Napster was where the digital music age kicked off. However, Napster was illegally downloading and sharing music. In Lehman’s terms, Napster was not paying any artist for their songs being shared or downloaded, unlike iTunes which will charge people $1.99 for a song or video.

The band, Metallica, sued Napster in 2001, which in the fall of 2001, Napster was forced to shutdown. It was a victory for Metallica, who was at the front of not being paid for their music being shared.

After Napster, you had your Kazaa, Bearshare, and other music-download websites that eventually got the boot like Napster. iTunes offers the same thing Napster did, but it’s legal. iTunes is convenient. If you have an IPhone, then you more than likely have an iTunes application on the phone. We have a store in our own phone.

iTunes is here to stay. Until some other company comes along and really competes against them, they will dominate the music-industry as far as sales. CDs are fading out. No one wants to pay $15 for a CD anymore. You can get an entire album on iTunes for $10-$13. You can buy songs individually, so you don’t have to deal with the songs you don’t want. Like I said before, iTunes is convenient for us the consumer.

The only question left is what’s next for the music industry? How long will the artists stay with iTunes? My answer: As long as they’re getting paid for their music, iTunes will stick around for a long time.

Nostalgia

Wow! Kids, how thoughtful they were to Turkle. I nearly laughed when I read the kids talking about the old days. I laugh at myself when I say the old days.

However, the kids brought up great points about distractions (mainly cell phones). Some of the kids felt neglected by their parents use of a cell phone. I can understand their feeling, however, we had to learn that our parents had to accept our use of a cell phone, or technology in general. I can recount numerous times where I was distracted by the cell phone with my mom, or with my dad. Looking back on it, the cell phone should have been off, or left in the car.

In my opinion though, technology, or a cell phone is not to blame completely on an adult, or a kid multi-tasking. Have you seen the people who do their make-up while they are driving? Have you seen people read the paper and drive? It’s scary to think about. Neither one of those has anything to do with technology. So people get lost in non-technological things.

People do not write letters anymore. Writing is a lost art. It is a lost interpersonal skill as well. How can we find the art of writing again? Will we compromise our technology? Our society is one that wants responses, so can we develop the patience to wait for a letter? I think I will write a letter to someone just to surprise them.

Not only is writing a letter a lost art, but talking to people face-to-face and over the phone are lost art. People do not like to talk over the phone. Turkle said some of the students gave the reason of ‘ackwardness’ as to why they do not talk on the phone. How is it ackward to talk on a phone? Certain subjects can be ackward, but not just because it is over the phone. Talking on the phone can help these young people with their verbal skills. They should talk on the phone more often.

So my last question, what has happened to our communication? Are the barriers our doing? I say yes, but I also say no. However, we can overcome the barriers. People just have to put in the effort to get past the barriers. Sometimes you have to step outside the comfort zone.

Ring! Ring! Do You Answer?

Do you still call your family, friends or colleagues? Why are people constantly texting or facebooking? I know I do both, but not every minute of the day.

Texting can be convenient, however, texting can be distracting. You can be in the middle of class and lose focus because of a text. You can be driving and try to text a friend back, and well, we know what has happened. Federal Laws have been trying to ban cell phone use period in a car.

Texting can slow your walking pace down. Texting is also the new norm for relationships.

One thing a text will do that something like Facebook will not, disappear. Once you post something online, it becomes a permanent fixture. Younger people do not realize posting things can have consequences, whether it be personally or professionally. So my advice, be careful.

Ultimately, the thing lost through texting and facebooking, communication, interpersonal communication to be exact. Are people afraid to talk anymore? Have they forgotten how to verbally communicate? A lot has to do with how technology has formed a different type of communication skill. Letters are rarely written anymore. People are becoming to reliable on the technology. I know I have.

Our class keeps us talking though. We do not completely lose our talking ability. We face-to-face talk.  A thing most teenagers and young adults are not doing. So next time the phone rings, ANSWER! Someone on the other end may actually want to hear a voice. Is that the reason why we hate technological recordings when we call for tech support? They are not a human, but yet we do not think about it when we just text or facebook someone.

 

 

“Am I On?” I’d Say So!

“Always On”, what does the phrase mean? For Sherry Turkle, and her book, Alone Together, “Always On” means we (people) are always connected to technology in some way, shape, or form. Does being connected have its positives and negatives? Sure it does. Right now, this blog is part of “Always On”. I’m at a computer typing the blog. I don’t blog constantly, but for class and sometimes for experience, I will type out a blog.

A lot of my time is spent on Facebook and Twitter. My Twitter account is set-up to where when I “tweet” it will pop-up on 1) Twitter, 2) Facebook, and 3) My blog. In my eyes, my tweets and status updates (Facebook) aren’t always the same. It may give off a different dimension of who I am.

Turkle talks about if you lose touch with reality and relationships. You become an “Avatar” if you’re  “Always On”. I don’t belong to website or group, where people pretend to get married. The internet has different websites where you can truly create your own “Avatar”. Why do people do this? Is it for fun? Are they bored? Do they have friends? Are they lacking something in a personal relationship with their significant other? These are questions that I’ve thought about when it comes to Avatars. However, If you have a blog, a Facebook or Twitter account, a dating website account, etc. then you’re creating an Avatar on these sites. I’m an Avatar to a certain extent. You can control what goes up on your own profile (unless someone hacks into your accounts). You control the pictures people will see of you. I feel people want to put their best foot-forward, even if it is Facebook.

However, like Dorothy and her friends found out in the land of Oz, the curtain only opens for a select few. I may my thoughts online with the friends list, but to truly understand a problem, or what a status may mean, you personally will message someone about it. You are only lifting the curtain to them. You allow them to take control. Just like in Oz, when Dorothy and her friends found out the wizard was just a normal man behind the curtain, they had control.

Another aspect of “Always On”, and to me it is the biggest aspect, my Iphone. I am constantly messing around on my phone. I may jump on Facebook, send out a tweet, listen to ESPN Radio, or read my favorite newspapers. The newness of my phone hasn’t wore off yet. I’ve had the phone for eight months or so, and wow! I still get enthralled with it. For me, it is an awesome piece of technology. Is it distracting? Yes. Can we minimize the distraction? Yes, but our society as a whole has become a distraction. Turkle talks about what used to be the only distractions were television and Super Mario Bros. Now, you have shopping, television, movies, computer, Xbox 360, cell phone, Ipad, etc. Now, multitasking has become that much more important. If you can limit and handle the distractions, you can easily succeed in the world.

Digital Culture

Hi Everyone,

I’m Charles. In our first class we discussed DIGITAL CULTURE. This culture is what we live in right now. Digital culture is also a postmodern concept.

So how does digital culture affect my life? For starters, what we are doing for class with our blogs, this is part of digital culture. All the new phones with their applications, digital culture. I have an Iphone, and most of the applications on my phone are news applications. I have USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Foxnews, FoxSports, Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, WSB, PGA Tour, and ESPN. Virtually, I’m covered when it comes to my news.

Another aspect of digital culture in my life is social media. Facebook and Twitter I use frequently (Facebook-Daily and Twitter-weekly). The social media sites allow us to interact with our friends, and in some cases celebrities. At virtually anytime of day, if you want to know what is going on in someones’ life, just check Facebook. Many people put their life story on there for us to read. With Twitter, I like to follow my favorite celebrities like Charlie Sheen, The Rock, SportsCenter anchors, etc. Another neat thing I like about Twitter, Trends. You can see what the top-10 worldwide trends are at any given time. Tonight for example, the South Carolina debate has been trending consistently, and then WWE Raw has been trending.

Probably the biggest aspect of digital culture in my life is movies. I collect movies on DVD and Blu-Ray. When I first got a DVD player ten or eleven years ago, I thought it was the coolest technology around. With televisions evolving to what they are now, it was only fitting I got a Blu-Ray player. For someone who watches a lot of movies, I could easily tell a difference from a standard DVD to a Blu-Ray movie. The picture, the sound, everything looks better with a Blu-Ray. 3-D televisions and Blu-Ray players are becoming a norm in digital culture, so hopefully I will not have to convert to those anytime soon.