Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Assignment 13


Part 1:
  •       To see why Facebook and other social networking sites have become so important in our everyday lives. 
  •       To see and better understand the addicting qualities of social networking and to understand why it has made such an impact in our lives.
  •       People who are using social networking sites, as well as those who come in contact with or know people who are avid social network users.
  •      People who are interested in technology and the world of social media and networking are going to be affected.
  •       My sources address concerned parents, business people, doctors/ professionals, and social media users.
  •      Like my sources, I’ll also be addressing these stakeholders, however with examples of how each could be and are affected by social networking.


 Social networking, it’s around us constantly. But why has it become so important that we access social networking sites on a daily basis, sometimes even frequently and constantly throughout the day. Advances in technology such as smartphones, tablets, and more advanced laptops are giving users the ability to access social networking sites. With the help of wireless internet expanding, it is becoming extremely effortless to pull out a device with internet capabilities and log into your favorite social networking site with the click of a button or the tap of a screen.

Part 2:
Introduction: My introduction will include my newly formed controlling purpose, but along with that I will also discuss the other aspects of social networking I will talk about. I will give the reader a brief outline of how in which I plan on going about my paper, and what topics they can expect to read as they continue.
Body 1: My first body topic I will talk about the way in which the genders differentiate from each other when it comes to how they respond to situations on social networking sites. By talking about this, it gives the reader a slight background in how each gender shows their gender roles on social networking sites. This is important to include because each gender reacts and uses social networking sites in different ways and uses them for different things.
Body 2: My second body topic will begin talking about social networking as means of communication. This section of my paper will talk about the many different ways in which social networking can be used for, whether it be as a communication device between friends, or a study tool in forming groups, or even an outlet for a business, all of these will be brought up and discussed.
Body 3: For this essay I think it’s important that I explain to my reader negative things about social networking, and how in which they are a bad influence, and the ways in which it can be a negative within society. With this section of my essay I will write about negatives such as cyber bullying which can negatively affect a child’s life, and lead to even possible death. I will talk about how many businesses think that social networking, if allowed in their offices, think that it will reduce efficiency, and be a distraction to its employees and maybe even possibly damage the business, as well as its reputation. Another point in which I will talk about is the lack of privacy and how social networking sites can be a distraction.
Body 4: In the previous section of my essay I wrote about how in which social networking sites can be a negative, and within this section I will refute that and talk about the many ways in which social networking can be a positive in daily life. Ways I will do this is talking about how social networking sites can increase businesses, how it can help to improve previously formed friendships, and how it can keep people in contact with each other, whether in the same room, or across the world. This section of my essay will be important to show that social networking sites aren’t all bad, and that they have positive attributes affiliated with them as well as the negatives that we may hear about.
Conclusion: In the conclusion I will fully state that I don’t know the exact reason why social networking is important in our everyday lives, however, I will continue to make connections between my four body sections and my purpose. Within the conclusion, although there isn’t an exact reason why social networking sites are important in our everyday lives, I can state the many reasons in which I talked about throughout my essay, and reassure readers that social networking sties are what they make of them, and they can be a positive or negative, it all depends on how they view them.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Assignment 12


Users- like connections they can make with people, being a part of something larger then themselves or their school or town.
            àAt this point I think I’ve included the viewpoint of the user, and think its important in addressing both sides of use, that from one who uses frequently, as well as those who don’t use it as frequently, but also those who don’t use social networking what so ever.
General Public- Does it share news quickly? Is the information they receive reliable? Is the information available in another resource such as television or newspaper?
            à I may have touched on the General public so far in my essay, however I think it is important that I bring up the point that information whether good or bad news, can be accessed and viewed immediately after being released on a social networking site, and information spreads extremely fast.
Government- Is it negatively affecting the government? Does there need to be controls on social networking? Does it need to be monitored in order to watch what is being said and shared?
            à I know I haven’t brought up this viewpoint yet, but I think would be very important, because the government should somewhat be in control of what is spread on social networking sites, especially when something important happens within the government, whether good or bad, its important that the right information is presented to the public.
Students/Children- is it distractive and disruptive? Does it aid in schoolwork? Is it just a social outlet? How does it affect their development? Are the things they see age appropriate?
            à I think I have began to touch on how it affects students, however I know I need to go into much further detail on how it can be a distraction to a student in a class (more specifically a college class).
Doctors/ Therapists- how does it affect the mental health? What about physical health?
            à Many of my articles have to deal with how the medical field views social networking, which I think is very important. I do think that its important to show the good things such as spreading information to a large mass amount of people in a small amount of time, but also the bad points such as cyber bullying and how students are hurt by it.
Parents- Are the children using it protected? Security on allowing children to use social networking, internet safety, cyber bullying.
            à I think this can easily be tied in with students/ children and the impact social networking has on them. By using stories and articles about what parents are doing to keep their children safe on the internet, as well as how they themselves are staying on top of technology and making sure they are ahead of the curve.

I think it’s important to include all of these stakeholders in my essay on social networking and how it’s became important in our everyday lives. However, I still do need to include how and why its important in our everyday lives. I think each one of these stakeholders has an important point and aspect when it comes to social networking, and their views are very important to my topic, and should every much be included in some way, shape or form. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Assignment 11


Part1:
            When reviewing the feedback I received from those who reviewed my research paper to this point, there were a number of things that were brought to my attention that I need to work on. However, all of these issues that others brought to my attention are things that I can fix, and things that are easily able to make the proper adjustments for a great research paper. One of the things that were mentioned more then once was the fact that I need to work on my analysis. Another thing that was brought to my attention was that I need to work on is critiquing. I also need to work on pulling all of my points back to my research question, and the topic of my paper in general. Another thing I want to make sure to work on is how I define my headings such as “positives”, “negatives”, and also how I define the word “importance”. All of these are fixable, however they will all need a little bit of revision and rethinking what I want the premise of this paper to be.

Part 2:
  • What is the main purpose/claim you want to make? Why is this important to say?
    • Why is social networking important in our daily lives, and how are its affects positive and how are they negative?
    • I think its important to bring up the positive parts of social networking such as connecting with people, business improvement, and for academic purposes because these are all things that can help a person or a business to improve. However, because I mention the positive aspects of social networking, I need to include how sites like these can be negative, such as cyber bullying, distractions during homework, and lack of privacy. Its important to bring both sides up for the reader that way they know that I’m in different to the use, and that I’m focused more so on why it has became important.
  • What sources did you use? Why?
    • The sources I used were a combination of articles from scholarly magazines as well as a number of articles that were either studies based off of social networking or psychological articles.
    • I used these articles because I thought they would show a great range of information, as well as a few different perspectives on how social networking is seen, which would then make it easier to exemplify the positives and negatives of social networking that I wanted to focus on.
  • What additional sources can you use in your next draft? What ideas will they lend to your paper? Why will they be important? (Be very specific here – what exactly will you include and why?)
    • For my next draft of my research paper I plan on including more articles from popular magazines and even news articles, which can help to exemplify how those sides are important to my topic.
    • By using a news articles and popular magazine articles in my research paper to bring a real life feel and a connection to how that side is important to what I’m trying to get across.
    • They will be important because I can include articles on how social networking has improved knowledge as well as spreading news to a large amount of people in a short amount of time (Kony 2012). But also by using these articles I can show how social networking can negatively affect something, such as cyber bullying, and how students are bullied which may result in suicide.
  • How have you set up your sources to offer their perspectives –along with your own – about the question? What do you need to do in order to better address these perspectives and what they tell us?
    • First I have categorized my paper as well as my sources into whether they look at social networking positive or negative, as well as how they differentiate genders and how they respond to social networking. With the current perspectives that I have included I think I need to go into greater detail as well as give examples of how social networking can be a positive or negative or how it is differentiated between the genders. I think with this it will be much more clear what my objective is, as well as connecting better with my main research question, and in the end it will help me to ultimately answer the question. 

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Assignment 9


Patton, C. (2009). The social networking express. Professional Safety, 54(11), 5.
           
            Social networking, it’s all around us, it’s in the doctors office, it’s on the bus, it’s even in our classrooms. Today social networking can be accessed on any number of technological devises such as smartphones, tablets, book readers, computers, and even music devises. The reality of the situation is that social networking has come, conquered, and it’s here to stay. With social networking the idea of networking has been presented itself greater then ever before. At one time you had to physically meet a person before you found out all the mutual friends you may share, today it’s just a simple click away, it’s instantaneous.  From a source I found, which was located in an issue of Personal Safety talked about exactly this.
For you and for ASSE (American Society of Social Engineers), social media presents tremendous opportunities for networking, collaborating, sharing best practices, communicating and connecting to a nearly unlimited pool of people with similar needs and wants, as well as to information that may benefit you. The world truly is getting smaller. Instead of reaching out to single contacts, you can now create networks of hundreds or thousands of people located around the globe—and you can do so almost instantaneously.

         When first viewing this passage I simply viewed it for what it was. Talking about getting connected with people. However after further review I have found that there are so many things within this three-sentence paragraph in which I can pull out, and bring to attention within my research paper later on.
         The first part of this passage that stuck out to me ever so much was the sentence where author Chris Patton says, “The world truly is getting smaller.” Due to the large popularity of social networking sites, information travels much faster, whether good or bad. Also the chance of knowing other people in which someone knows is extremely popular. You may meet someone, and add him or her on a social networking site, such as “Facebook”, and before even doing so you can see the “friends” that the two of you have in common. Often times these are the people you would least suspect knowing each other, and somehow you have found yourself knowing both, in return closing in your world, and making it that much smaller then you ever thought of it before.
            The joy of social networking is within its instantaneousness. Having the ability to connect with people within a matter of seconds, being able to share something as soon as it happens, this is what the world of social networking has allowed us to do. This article only looks at the bright side of social networking and instantaneous contact and updating. By seeing these aspects as a way to connect, and a better way to get in contact with people as a good thing.
            When reading this article, and this passage I am able to see the positive aspects of social networking that Patton is talking about. The opportunities that people are able to receive with the use of social networking. As I talked about before, the opportunity to connect with people instantaneously as well as seeing mutual “friends” is a positive to social networking, however it isn’t the only way in which it is valuable. Social networking isn’t just for friends trying to connect with each other and pass along information. When on a social networking site like “Facebook” it is also a great way for people to advertise and grow a business, by simply getting their name out there. Whether it’s an advertisement on the side bar, or having a profile page in which people can then “like” to show that they have been and approve of that institution.
            One of the many, and personal joys of social networking is being able to see others that have similar interests that I do. This article has helped me to see the many things that I feel are good about my social networking addiction I have with “Facebook”. Having the ability to see what my “friends” are up too, sharing pictures, updating statuses or adding family to the “family” section on a profile (Facebook). As Patton talked about within his article, the information viewed on social networking sites typically benefits the user, whether it is a comment, a picture or another other feature that appears on one of these sites.
            No matter what you use a social networking site for, or whether you view them to be a positive or negative to today’s society, they are here to stay, and it has became harder and harder to resist connecting to those you know from such a site.