The video, “Is Social Media a Fad” was interesting, especially about advertising and word of mouth regarding products. I recently had an experience, where I purchased a cake at a bakery for my daughters’ birthday. The cake was awful and when I called the business to complain, I was ignored. The next step I took was to write to the company, in a formal letter, but this action was also ignored. My last attempt to let them know I wasted $35 on a cake was via, “Yelp.” Within the hour I received a response noting they were sorry and offered to refund my money as well as give me a gift certificate for another cake. They also requested I remove or revise my Yelp post signifying they took their peer reviews very seriously. Social media is here to say and has a larger impact than any other form of communication out there. It is changing the way we communicate and the way we receive information. After the newspapers fail, I believe Network Television is next. It is more convenient to watch TV on the web at your own time preference.
Clay Shirky’s, “How Social Media Can Make History” made an excellent point regarding citizen journalism. The fact that everyone has access to everyone else and can “talk” about the media they are receiving is changing the landscape of media and the way in which messages are delivered. One of these changes is that information is exchanged in real time. This means that issues do not have time to be filtered through professionals to frame the issue the way they see fit. Information is communicated at the exact moment it is happening. Regarding the 2012 election this means candidates cannot make remarks they do not mean or say something that shows them in a negative light, because the public can capture these moments on their cell phones and send it immediately. Another way social media will help shape public opinion is that there are many more amateurs than professionals who can reach the general public. The media is no longer delivered from only professionals, and so social media from peers can sway the public’s opinions. A final change social media will make on swaying public opinion is accountability. Since the information is delivered immediately, the candidates must be on-point and make sure nothing they have said in the past can harm them in the future…once it is delivered to the internet it is almost impossible to remove and people can “google” archives and past histories of candidates. The changes of social media are exciting and I feel empowered about the changes it will make in the future…look at what happened in Egypt!
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