HW 16: Five Pillars

In the chapter "Blogs: Humanizing the Face of Corporate America", Robert Scoble talks about the benefits blogging has to offers to corporate companies. Mainly, that it sets up a more intimate relationship with the customers, and a better understanding of what they want. And knowing your customers' needs will help you design products that will sell better. And we're all about the bottom line...
To really take full advantage of blogs, Scoble instructs companies to "remember that five things made blogging hot" (Kline and Burstein). He refers to these things as "The Five Pillars of Conversational Software".

ONE: Ease of publishing.
The first appeal to blogging, as it hit mainstream, was that anyone could do it. You could set up an account and start putting in your two cents on almost any topic, and exchange dialog with anyone in the world. So essentially, blogging could possibly reach a wide variety of customers, in all sorts of demographics.
TWO: Discover ability.
When you check out one blog, you will ultimately be lead to about ten other ones, pertaining in a similar topic. As long as you word your tags right, more people will come across your site (product) that didn't even mean to. Companies should take full advantage of this: the networking paths are already set, it's just a matter of placing your ads on the right one to guarantee you the most customers.
THREE: Cross-site conversations.
Word of mouth was the original way for products to really become known. Now with the Internet, it's like having a world-sized coffee shop, or water cooler for people to stand around and just chat up their latest purchases. Like the second pillar, companies don't need to do much. Just put their information out there, and let it run its course.
FOURTH: Permalinking
If someone finds a post they find interesting, they can isolate it, and pull it up later on. This is really good for companies, because now the information can easily be re-accessed, granted someone has a computer. They can send that specific article or post to someone else who may be interested.
FIFTH: Syndication
This is the core of blogging. It's the exchange of ideas, posts, pictures, etc sent into the gigantic social network that blogging has become.

If companies fully utilized these five pillars, they can efficiently get their product out there, and make the most money using little to no sources.

HW 17: "CCC': The LiveJournal For Bored '30s Housewives"

I came across this post on the "Jezbel" blog. In the article they talk about the loneliness and guilt for feeling lonely that housewives experience. There are "intelligent women who found themselves married and confined to their homes, not exactly fulfilled by their roles as housewives and mothers". Women got together and formed Cooperative Correspondence Club, a group of about twenty four members who put out one copy of a magazine every two weeks. In the magazine, women talk about the monotony of their daily routine, and express their desires for something more stimulating than changing diapers and making dinners.
I'm glad I came across this. I believe that this is the Internet and blogging used in a positive way. It's connecting people on a personal level, and giving a group a creative outlet and support that they wouldn't be able to obtain any other way.

I have a pretty optimistic view on the project. Although I don’t think that this is necessarily the solution to the boredom of all housewives worldwide, it’s definitely a good step. However, the writer of the article seems to have a much different feeling about it:

“As cheesy as it sounds, what's fascinating is that this urge, desire -- to bond with other women through the written word, read their stories and secrets, without actually knowing or meeting them -- sounds a lot like what we do right here everyday. Just a moment of sincerity. We'll be back to jaded and superficial before you know it.”

I don’t know if that’s entirely fair. I think she needs to have a little bit more faith in these women, and believe that substance is what they really want, and what they will continue to strive for.

http://jezebel.com/gossip/ladymag-lookback/ccc-the-livejournal-for-bored-30s-housewives-306775.php

HW 14: Denton

In “Take the Obsession, Then Feed It!”, Denton recognizes the power and influence blogging can have on the business world. However, he says it is more of an evolution, than a revolution; that blogging did not “spring up suddenly in the last couple of years… in fact [there have been] some extremely successful independent media sites that have a lot of attributes of weblogs”. (Kline and Burstein 154)

Despite the fact that blogs have the potential to reach millions of people in an efficient, non-costly manner, the task of selecting out of the billions and billions of websites and blogs, both independent and main stream, that targets their particular customers, is an arduous task most large companies are not willing to take on. After all, there are other ways to advertise, that are tried and true.

Indeed blogging is taking communication to another level, but the idea of it completely taking out other forms of media is naïve: Denton has a passive look at the influence the Internet has on the Internet, and I completely agree with him. Although it is true that the main stream media tends to report events at an angle that best serves their investors, they are still the ones on the scene, and reporting first person accounts. So, blogging is just an interpretation of these accounts, and shouldn’t be depended on solely for getting information. To put bluntly, blogging is really an extension of main stream media, rather than a combative, opposing force.

However, something blogging has to offer that main stream media cannot is an opportunity for talented writers to get their word out, since it seems that “mediocre people end up getting jobs” due to “who [they] know and how well [they] can schmooze at parties”. (Kline and Burstein 152) So, blogging offers people a chance to exercise their creative energy and put it out there, and others to benefit; something they couldn’t do before.

To summarize, Denton expressed a lot of the same feelings have towards blogging and the Internet in general: It is simply a tool, not the end-all to human interaction and communication.

"Free Hugs" > Business Blogs

"Sure, most blogs are painfully primitive. That's not the point. They represent power. Look at it this way: In the age of mass media, publications like ours print the news. Sources try to get quoted, but the decision is ours... they reach a huge audience".

(Kline and Burstein 224)

In May of 2005, Stephan Baker and Heather Green wrote an article discussing the impact that blogging is having on big business, and how these companies are now trying to utilize the Internet's power to their advantage. They understand how large this online community is now, and want to try to get their products out there through it. It makes sense: Think about how many hours a day you're on the Internet, and are endlessly being bombarded by advertising, slowly being brainwashed to CONSUME, CONSUME, CONSUME! This interpretation challenges the critics that have long assumed that blogging would be a passing trend, and have no affect on our society.

Although the Internet can be used as a great tool to keep people informed and gives them an opportunity to participate in their government, or society in general, most people don't. There are about nine million blogs out there (Kline and Burstein), however, only about twenty-seven percent of Internet users bother to visit political blogs (Kline and Burstein). Information is out there, people are just drawn to trash. If you were to check the History on an average Americans computer, you'd be more likely to find links to blogs discussing The Apprentice, than you are one on the presidential election.

Think about your day-to-day conversations. If people were honest, the majority of their chats consists of the latest video they watched on You Tube. And there's nothing wrong with that. We all want to believe that we are "above" that sort of thing. But human beings to their core tend to be cold-hearted, nosy, bored souls. So the Internet is like a giant, world-wide water cooler: People from across the oceans can discuss and poke fun at the latest moment of shame by Lindsey Lohan.

It's sad, but fascinating. Blogging is solidifying the fact that despite differences in background, location, language, people are all the same. I think that's the most important contribution the Internet has made. It literally connects people. Even though the planet is not dominated by towering intellects, the human population is evolving. You may not know, or even care, about the political state of the Philippines, but that "Thiller" video from a prison over there was fantastic! The Internet opens doors, and you're able to get to know people as PEOPLE, rather than a list of statistics and blanket statements about their culture.

Yes, whenever you open a page to a website, a billion ads come flying at you. Yes, big business can use blogs for customer feedback, or check which sites you visit the most to see what kind of products they put out there will be sold. But that's with any form of media. It's been done through newspapers, magazines, television, etc. So, I wouldn't say that the impact of blogging has on business is the most important aspect of blogging. If it wasn't through the Internet, it would have been through something else.

However, the worldwide networking is what sets the Internet and blogging apart from any other sort of media. Never before have individuals been able to reach other individuals on such a large scale, so conveniently. It's making people aware that the world is a lot bigger than what they themselves experience day-to-day, and cultivating a sense of Oneness through communicating with people from all parts of the world. We are all One, and this new form of social networking is making that clear.

PS-- I highly recommend watching "Free Hugs" on You Tube, and you'll get what I mean.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

HW 11: Blogs Go Global

`The blog I looked up from the reading “Making Global Voices Heard” was Issaac Mao’s. The set-up was pretty simplistic, as was the language. It’s very much journal-style writing. The main topic is censorship in China, and he’s been documenting the process of “The Great Chinese Firewall”. I’m going to be honest, I know close to nothing about computers and the internet. That’s why I like Mao’s blog: It is pretty easy to understand.

In the chapter, MacKinnon does not really go into great detail describing Mao’s blog, but what she did say was exactly what I saw. She first mentions that he posts not only in Chinese but English too, and that is why he became so popular. Then MacKinnon goes on to “objectionable content”, which are trigger words that if set off by what the system considers inappropriate language, the post will not be published. This is probably why while reading Mao’s writing, there’s a lack of passion or pure opinion. His posts are mostly factual, and are filled with links to other articles, so his credibility isn’t questioned. He draws a few conclusions, but they are very general, and are left up to interpretation.

Of course, some will probably disagree with this assertion that his censorship was an act of protecting himself. You could argue since he is from China, and may be fluent in English; some things could be lost in translation. And perhaps this site was not designed to enrage people, but to educate them, objectively.

Regardless of his intended or not intended language, Mao accomplishes his mission of arming his fellow bloggers with knowledge.

http://isaacmao.com/meta/

Get out the kitchens, ladies!

In the chapter, “A Weblog Saved My Life Last Night”, Ayelet Waldman talks about the night she posted that she was considering suicide, and was immediately “rescued” by her husband and bloggers that read it. She goes on to describe the pain that plagued her, and how the consoling of her readers helped”

“You feel as if you should be incredibly happy yet you’re not. There’s this incredible alienation, incredible low-grade depression, and isolation… There are women with whom to bond for an hour a day when your kid is napping, to talk to about the sense of despair and loneliness”

(Kline and Burstein 314)

Waldman’s confession about her struggles is useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of gender roles that still plague our society. Women are programmed almost from birth that their ultimate goal and only real purpose on this planet is to reproduce. And that they should welcome this constraining role with complete joy, and go into a state of mindless bliss, for they were not “meant” to feel fulfillment in any other way.

Well, that’s garbage.

I’m not saying that raising a child will only lead to misery however, limiting someone’s options is damaging to the mind and body. Humans are social creatures, and seek out knowledge and experience, through interactions. As joyous as having a child could be, mothers are still cut-off from any kind of stimulation, and are trapped in their heads. And from my experience and observations, “in your own head” is a pretty bad place to be.

I’m excited that blogs like these are out there. Blogs themselves cannot “make or break” this society. It’s merely a tool, and like all tools, it all depends on how you utilize it. Blogs pertaining to topics such as infertility are an example of using this new tool in a positive manner. It’s not just about pouring your heart, but making honesty, human connections, with people who are going through a similar heart-ache. It’s one thing to receive love and support from people in your immediate vicinity, but the value of kind words from someone who is in almost identical emotional turmoil is ten-fold.

In my own experience, I’ve known many couples who came close to, or did, separate due to difficulties in having a child. The most powerful statement someone made to me was: “You’re in so much pain. You can’t even imagine that [your partner] could possibly be hurting as much as you”.

Blogs now make it possible for people to reach each other, and let them know that someone is hurting as much as you. They bond through pain, and isn’t pain the only real universal thing among people?

TV Dinners Don't Equal Quality Time

As much as I think that blogging is hyped up a little too much, I also believe that it cannot harm the youth any more than any other element of pop culture. Television and music can be just as damaging and a “bad influence” as blogging. The argument that a form of media could be the soul factor in leading the youth down a horrific path is a total cop-out by parents that are too self-absorbed to raise their kids… people who probably shouldn’t have reproduced. (That, friends would have helped strengthen the population, not eliminating blogging).
In the chapter, “My So-Called Blog”, Nussbaum interviews teenagers who write in online journals, and received nothing but positive responses. Teenagers really feel that this medium of communication is “better than therapy”. They’re able to get their thoughts and feelings out there, without the repercussions and criticisms they would receive outside the cyber world.
Nussbaum states that online journals are not completely alternating the functioning of teenagers, but giving them another outlet to productively work through the stresses of adolescence:
At heart, an online journal is like a hyper flexible adolescent body… [it] offers a creative outlet with a hundred moving parts. And unlike a real journal, with a blog, your friends are all around, invisible voyeurs. (Kline and Burstein (356)
During adolescence, peers take up the majority of a young person’s support network. They can commiserate with one another, something that a fifteen year old can’t even fathom taking place with their parents. Blogging is just another means. If it never came into existence, there would still be meetings in school hallways, phones, etc. During the critical time in one’s development of adolescence, blogging is a God-send. It provides another mode of idea and energy exchange that kids need in order to become successful adults.
Some inappropriate topics do get posted. But, again, it has nothing to do with blogging. Teenagers are disgusting, crude little demons sometimes. (Most of the time). Kids are always going to do things that their parents don’t necessarily approve of, but that goes with the deal. If these parents really just wanted something to mindlessly do everything they wanted, they probably should have opted for a puppy.
If the real concern is that parents feel like their “losing their babies”, here’s an idea: make time for your kids. You put them on this planet, didn’t you?