Safety Concerns With Social Networks

When I first heard of Foursquare, I was a little apprehensive to jump straight on the bandwagon. One reason being I didn't know much about it and didn't see the use in it. The main one being, I did not want people to know where I was at all times of the day. 

I just read an article that was about the privacy concerns of Facebook, Twitter, and now Foursquare. It mentioned how if you state your location, you never know who is going to use that to their advantage. The article gives the example of when someone states they are going to be out of town. Someone could in turn, then go rob your home. While this is taking it to the extreme, it is possible. 

Foursquare is not all bad. It is a great way to connect with other people and earn deals from certain companies. In fact, there are numerous businesses that offer discounts and specials for those who "check-in" a certain amount of times at their location. 

If one is going to participate in this form of social media, I only suggest that they take precautions in the manner of privacy settings. Make sure that you only allow people you know to see your updates and you should be just fine. 

Do you Digg Social Media?

In my New Media and Public Communication class we have been talking about many new social media tools that people are able to use. One of the many that we have highlighted is Digg. I had not heard much about this site so I was intrigued and interested to learn more about it.

This website is very helpful in explaining just what Digg exactly is. There is a blog that is maintained and a simple "What is Digg?" page that gives all the details that one needs to know. Such as that this site allows users to "digg" certain stories that they like. The most popular "digged" stories will be the top, trending news.

I found this website very interesting because it is not maintained by any editors. Essentially, the users are able to decide which story they think is the most important. With this "power" comes problems though.
Many people decide to all digg, or not digg, a certain story. A reason being that this story benefits or hurts them or their company.

With all new things come the good and the bad. I truly believe that this site is a great way to get your personal voice and opinion heard and out in the open.

Out With the Old and In With the New

I recently read an article, Bonding with Fans Who Can't Get Enough, which was about professional sports teams who are using mobile devices to generate an increase in their fan club. The Pittsburgh Penguins, a professional hockey team, were facing a decline in their fan support and were desperate to try anything. Jeremy Zimmer, who was the team's director of new media, came up with the idea to have a mobile fan club. This new idea would send text  messages with score updates, statistics, and news. Since this, the Penguins fan base has increased from 14,000 in 2008-20009 to 72,440. This new technique of "new media" has greatly influenced the world that we live in. Over the last few weeks I have been learning about new and social media in my college course. We have discussed the effects that Twitter and LinkedIn, for example, have had on our society; how many citizens are getting their news updates from short "tweets" or applying for jobs by networking online. The main question that I will be consistently addressing in my blog  is how new and social media are changing everything about the media and the way we get our news. I look forward to delving deeper into this issue and sharing what I learn in and out of the classroom with you.