Topic 2

Twitter. The time consuming monster I uninstalled from my phone about a month ago, along with all my other social media. While useful in moderation, I usually find myself looking at the clock and it is suddenly 1am when I went to bed at 10. But now that I am back in the world of twitter, I decided to follow @nasa, @TheDailyShow, and @nike. I chose NASA because I am always interested in anything space related, and it seemed like a good source for exactly that. I also went with Nike because they are the most valuable sports brand in the world. As for The Daily Show, I followed this account because it's a source of news that doesn't bore me and usually provides a good laugh. The tweets that I usually retweet or favorite would fall into the comedy category. I tend to like tweets that are making fun of others' tweets, or other comical pictures. Basically, I almost never find myself on social media for anything serious. I tend to retweet and follow things that will make me laugh. If you follow the right accounts though, social media can be an amazing source of news. For example I have a picture of one portion of my feed. NASA has a link to information on their Journey to Mars mission, and The New York Times retweeted a link on Homicide and Suicide rates. I also have another not so serious picture of the other things you can find on twitter. Like this account @TheTweetOfGod that has over 2 million followers. Social media can be good to help participate in democracy and government, but it seems most people tend to follow the wrong things if this is the goal. Democracy can be boring. God tweeting, Basketball highlights, or other hilarious pictures are all far less boring. I suppose it's just like Jeff Jarvis said, there is junk on the internet. But there is also a lot of great information. You can get whatever you want out of twitter, you just have to look in the right places.

One topic from What Would Google Do that really stood out to me was in the New Economy chapter. When Jeff discusses making a living with a blog. Where in the past a writer would be paid by a big publisher, now anyone can start a blog for free. My poor excuse for a blog would be exhibit A. Anybody and their grandmother can make a blog almost effortlessly. To put how easily it is to make a blog into perspective, my professor said "if it takes more than 5 minutes to make your blog, come see me on Thursday." Jeff started his blog and made $13,855 in ad revenue. And his blog on Buzzmachine eventually got him enough recognition to become a journalism professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Jeff also boasts that after a few years his blog was worth easily seven figures. All this for the cost of $327 a year for his internet hosting. It is mind boggling to me that the internet has given anybody with a computer or even near a public library, the opportunity to share their thoughts with the world. And maybe even make a living off said thoughts.

 One question Jeff addresses in the video is "Anyone can say whatever they want on the internet" and this is true. He then says that the internet is the first amendment brought to life, which he says is beautiful. I definitely agree with him. The fact that anyone can share their opinions and ideas with almost the whole world is truly powerful. I think the internet is still young in a sense. And that as it continues, it will only get better. Everyday there is a new amazing website to help with homework, teach people to program computers, raise money for charities, etc. There will always be junk on the internet, but the junk can't get junkier. The positives will only keep increasing. I'm lucky to be born when I was, being able to witness and live in the evolution of the internet. And I can't wait to see the future of the internet.