HW:13 Applying Graff, Chapter 7 to "Blogs Will Change Your Business"

This is my response to “Blog will change your business”. I believe that the impact of blogging on business is more important than the impact of blogging on communication that is not business related. Blogs often talk about different companies, products, tv shows and movies and usually always critique them. If a lot of people see blogging for a certain company and it has high ratings or good comments about them then chances are the product or company will become more popular and sell more. The same thing goes for a business that is getting bad ratings or getting ridiculed on blogs, their popularity and business will decrease because of it. In the reading it says that “blogging is the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the internet itself”. By this they mean that people no longer turn to tv and newspapers they now read blogs instead and because of this many businesses such as newspapers and television news stations are not getting as much attention as blogs are. An example of a company being blogged on is General Motors. Even though they are slipping in the automobile business, they often are using blogs to try and promote their products. People also blog about the GM business and complain and make suggestions to them about how to improve their business. If blogs eventually take up all advertisements in the business world then what is going to happen to the companies who get their products ridiculed. I do believe that blogging does have a great affect on the business industry.

HW: 9 Applying Graff, Chapter 4 to Waldman or Huffington for A Blog of One's Own: Women and Authorship in the Digital Revolution

This is my response to Waldman’s interview pages 308-314. In This interview there are many questions asked to Waldman that are controversial. On Page 311 one of her statements is that “you blog about what outrages you or what moves you enough to write”. I agree with this statement because I can relate to it also. If I were forced to blog about things that didn’t interest me at all I would probably not do it at all. Many people today blog about things in the media and stuff about stars or something on the news that will draw other people’s attention and get other bloggers involved. Blogging about stuff that nobody wants to hear or respond to makes blogging dull and boring.
The statement that I do not agree with is on page 313 when she is asked why she wrote so much about her personal life. If I were a famous blogger or just a regular old everyday person who blogs I would never want other people to know all of my personal business. It says that she shared information about her sex life with her husband, her relationships with her children and eventually she wrote a suicide note. I believe that this information can be way too much for strangers to read on the internet. I would not want to write these things about myself and I would be shocked if I were just reading somebody’s random blog and it talked about all of their personal life.

HW: 7 Applying Graff, Chapter 3 to "My So-Called Blog"

This is my response to homework # 7: Applying Graff, Chapter 3 to “My So-Called Blog” After reading Emily Nussbaum’s “My So-Called Blog” I decided that the statement that Parents should not monitor everything that their middle-school children write online is not good. I believe that after reading her passage that parents definitely should see what their kids do on the computer. I personally would want to know exactly what my kids are writing on certain blogs and instant messengers to make sure that they are being safe and are not getting into the wrong things. In the passage Nussbaum mentions that there was a blogger by the name of anonymous and the reason that he wanted to be called that was because he had low self esteem because of his weight, looks, and personality. He stated that he was always depressed in his blogs and if my son or daughter was talking about being depressed all the time I would want to know so that way I could help them. If my son/or daughter was depressed I would want to protect them incase they were doing anything bad. Having control of seeing what children are doing on the internet could help people out. People live different lives on the internet and pretend to be different people. Sometimes the internet is not a safe place for children therefore I believe that it is a good idea to be able to monitor everything your child does on the computer.

HW: 6 Interest Statement for Semester-Long Project

This is my response to the Interest Statement for the Semester-Long Project. The three social computing technologies that I am most interested in are social networking services, email, and podcasting. I am interested in social networking services because I am used to going on websites like that already like facebook and myspace. I also love to email to keep in touch with my friends and family so I chose email also. I have never actually used podcasting and I am not too sure what it is but many of my friends do it and love it so I thought it would be something interesting to look up.
The three empowerment socialized groups that I would be interested in are overcoming homophobia, because I have many friends who are gay and I do not understand why people can be so scared of someone just because of their sexuality. Also, rights and empowerment of people with HIV/AIDS and overcoming sexism because I think that some things that people do and say about the differences between men and women bother me.
The two geographical areas that I am interested in looking at would be the United States because I know of many of the problems already occurring here. And other developing countries because since they are new and developing they should learn more of these technologies and such before they develop so that they are used to it and know about it to tell others in their country.

HW: 5b Applying Graff Chapter 2 to "I Blog, Therefore I Am"

While reading David Kline’s “I Blog Therefore I Am” I came across many different paragraphs that I did not agree with. The one that really made me puzzled was at the bottom of page 239. In this section Kline talks about how the many people are resorting to using the internet and the internet only to find out news that is happening today. He says that it is mostly teens who use the internet daily and the internet tends to “take time away from other media”. By this Kline is trying to say that people no longer watch TV or read a newspaper or magazine. Instead they only go on the internet. He also stated that eventually in years to come Google and Yahoo will become major rivals with one of the major TV companies because people will not be as interested in TV as they will internet. I personally do not agree with this paragraph and what Kline is saying. I think that yes, a lot of people do use the internet very often but there are a lot of people who not only don’t have the luxury of having a computer to be able to see what’s going on the internet so they have to watch TV, listen to the radio, or read articles. I also think that even the people that do find out a lot of their news from the internet also like to see other versions of the news they heard. They would maybe want to read a different article to compare, or even watch a report of it live on the news so you can understand better coming from a person. In the end I just think that people still do rely on other types of technology and not just the internet.

HW: 4 Responding to "Th Voice of the Customer"

Greg Thomas has said that "great brands are always built on promise". I find this true in many ways. Withouth promise to its customers, a great company will never succeed. The promise makes people feel good and secure about what they are buying. The one brand that stands out to me is Tampax Pearl Plastic tampons. Their slogan is "our best protection ever with extraordinary details" and also "made to go unnoticed". I agree with both of these ideas that this company tells. I have used these types of tampons for a very long time and i believe that they are the best kind and they stick to their motto. They also make many promises to their customers like no leaks, giving the best protection, always smelling fresh, and also having a very comfortable fit. I also believe that tiese promises are true. I have never once had a problem with my tampons. No leaks and they always stayed fresh without hurting me. The promises may differ for each customer though because some tampons may be different fitted for different people.

HW:2 Response one of Burstein's 12 key ideas

This is my response to connecting one of Burstein's 12 key ideas to a commitment of my own.
I agree with number 3, that blogging, in addition to being a huge phenomenom in its own right, is the key meaphor for interactivity, community building, and genuine conversation.
This idea ties in with many interests that i have myself. The idea of blogging, although new to me all together has already had an influence on me. Not knowing what blogging is or what to do i have spoken to many people who say that they love it and they do it all off the time. When people like this tell me how awesome it is, it inspires me to want to do it also. Blogging to me is like Facebook.
Facebook, being one of my many hobbies seems to be sort of like a blog in that you can post things up and people can also respond to it. At first before i had a facebook i thought that it was going to be stupid and a waste of time but then once i started it i couldnt stop. The same goes for blogging with me. At first when i signed up for a blogging class i didnt know what i was getting into and i thought it would be the same as i thought facebook would be. But now that i have read and learned more about blogging from other people and from information i have researched i have realized that it is not that bad and is quite iteresting. It lets me communicate and be friendly and open with people that i probably would never talk to in person. It also lets me speak my mind and be free without having to be worried about what other people are thinking about me.

Respond to "Toward a More Participatory Democracy"

This is my response to chapter one "Toward a More Participatory Democracy"

In this chapter, two different people discuss their views on the influence and purpose of political blogging in America. One of them agrees and supports the idea of political blogging and one does not.

I agree with the person who supports the idea of political blogging. I think it is a good idea because it is a way for people to be able to express themselves and say what they are thinking without having to come face to face with someone.

It is like online debating to me. The idea of people forming groups to debate and make different political parties is really cool. It can also influence people to get involved in politics and work as effective ways to find out other peoples oppinions. Reading about all the statistics that are found about blogging also interests me. That there were 33 million people in one year who wrote or read blogs and atleast 11 million were all political blogs was very interesting to know. Not until now reading this i didnt know that there were so many types of blogs let alone blogs where you can run political debates.