Its taking over!

I log onto facebook and view my homepage to see whose said what, who’s posted what on facebook. The latest post from a friend on my list reads “Facebook ruins lives”, is this sentence familiar to any of you? It is to me. How about “People I will be deactivating my facebook account tonight at midnight never to return”. It never happens because we are just too addicted to facebook. I’ve tried deactivating my account and have so for several months, only to find myself somehow sucked back in again. Despite the fact people acknowledging their opinions about facebook, it’s still popular.

Facebook has become one of the most popular sites and will continue to be for a long time. I don’t know what it is that makes it so popular but people just can’t seem to stay away from it. According to facebook statistics there is more than 400 million active users, 50 per cent of active users log on to their account in any given day; 35 million users update their status each day, 5 billion pieces of content shared each week with 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month. Wow 3 billion photos, that is a lot.

The popularity of the site continues to grow; the growth of users from 2005 December was 5.5 million now to over 400 million active users in 2010. Facebook is not only set out to dominate the internet in the future but it is dominating it right now. It will continue to grow with members especially as technological advances will develop on the site making it more popular. It is a useful site as it has many things you can do. You can meet new people, chat, message, play games, post videos and pictures, make your own video and post it for your friends to see, comment on others posted content or their status, invite people to events, take quizzes and in general just see what people are up to. But it doesn’t end there even large corporations are using facebook to grow their businesses so they can reach out to a large audience.

Now thanks to the mobile phone it makes it easier for you to access facebook on the move. Whether you’re working, at school or just out and about if you have access to a mobile with internet I know you just won’t be able to resist but logon to you facebook account.

To be aired or not to be aired?

Documentaries reveal the truth, exposing the lies through re-enactment of events so we can better understand events happening all over the world. Every year there are many documentaries made but only a few generate enormous public interest whether they are made by professionals or people just experimenting with documentaries. Luckily for people experimenting with documentaries, in this day and age, they have many opportunities through technological advances that they can make their film documentary successful. Internet websites such as YouTube make it very easy for anyone to publish a documentary online, but this does not mean that it will ever make it on to a television channel or be viewed in a cinema.

Nonetheless the internet is not just another medium to distribute documentaries. It is more flexible in terms of place, time and audience. It allows people to experiment and test run their documentaries without approval and most importantly it is free. Here is an example of a short documentary published on YouTube which was originally created for the purpose of a school project by a high school student.



Another documentary “9-11 the greatest lie ever sold” part 1:



As you can see from the example of the documentaries above the internet allows all voices to be heard, whether the information is biased or not. The internet is particularly useful when a documentary does not make it on to television and cinema not due to its quality and professionalism but because the government or certain authorities that the documentary is about is band because they do not want the truth or a particular side of the event to attract public attention it will attract. For example a documentary called ‘Loose Change’ was banned from being aired on television and cinema.

Documentaries are about revealing the truth finding out what is really going on and the internet which provides sites like YouTube allow the truth to come out easier.

The person you are calling is not available...............

Happily travelling home one sunny afternoon until the car battery dies on me! Oh no what will I do, the next destination with human life is over a kilometre away and there are no telephone booths to be seen anywhere! I know damdaradaaaa mobile phone to the rescue.

Having access to information and research about a certain topic makes you more informed about that topic and can influence your view on the topic. The information I have as well as my own experiences with the mobile phone and the observations I have made in everyday life has led me to view that mobile phones have become the dominant screen of the 21st century. As well as talking to our friends and texting it allows us to take pictures, record videos, play games, access the internet, view movies and television shows, send and receive email, listen to music, download music and even read a book. As you can see there is a very long list of things you can do with a mobile phone.



A decade ago mobile phones were exclusively for the rich and business people, now days everyone has a mobile phone even 10 year olds. Given how affordable mobile phones have become its hard for anyone not to buy one but the same cannot be said for the usage charges you will receive. The mobile phone has become an addictive device that we carry around everywhere with us all the time, constantly checking the screen to see if there are any missed calls or received texts. The mobile phone gives us the luxury to login to our facebook or twitter accounts and stay logged in. But do we really need to be able to access the internet, login to Facebook, download music while we are on the move? Have we become a generation of zombies dependent on mobile phones?



Or are we using the mobile phone only because it’s just convenient?

But is it convenient? Maybe it may be convenient for you to reach anyone, anywhere at any time but is it convenient for you to be reached by anyone, anywhere at any time? Whether it’s your employer, your parents, your teacher, your friends or your children, do you want to be accessible to them all the time? I know there have been many times I wish I didn’t own a mobile phone, but then again in cases of emergencies you would definitely want to be contacted.

There are the situations where the mobile phone can be hailed as a hero. Just like my experience where your car suddenly decides to stop working. But remember the mobile phone is only useful unless it has credit or it is post pay and unless the battery is charged, or else it’s really just extra useless weight you carry around and the only message it will give the person trying to reach you is the person you are calling is not available, in other words frustration.

Politicians lost in Cyberspace

What happens when a video of George Bush is uploaded onto the internet to for all to see?



We witness his sophisticated speech….

But really is it a smart move to try and reach out to a younger and larger audience, even at the risk of making a complete idiot out of yourself, like George. Well if a large audience is what you’re after George here demonstrates the perfect way to go about it! Personally I wouldn’t go to the internet and search for information about Kevin Rudd and what his new ideas and campaign promises are unless I was doing an assignment. Also if a politician was making a complete fool out of them self, which I would love to see. I would definitely want to see that! For some politicians like George it has proved to be a destructive weapon. Another example where YouTube has proved to work against a politician would be Sarah Palin. Comedian Tine Fey impersonated Sarah Palin which left her no chance of becoming Vice president. But for one politician in the US, the internet has been a successful marketing tool. That politician is Barrack Obama.

There is word that the reason why his campaigns were successful on the web is because the internet is not new to him; he was using the internet long before he was campaigning.
One thing politicians need to remember is that once it’s on the internet its stays on the internet! People can watch it over and over and over again for years to come. How about someone close to home? Our own Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Kevin Rudd used the internet to promote his campaign. He now has a twitter account he regularly tweets on.

Kevin Rudd has taken advantage of all the internet sites he could use for his campaign, but joining twitter I think that would be over the limit. Politicians need to be careful especially if they are new to a site such as twitter, caution should be taken when posting what you are doing at certain times of the day if you want to be taken seriously or if you don’t want to put yourself in danger. I have no clue what representative Peter Hoekstra was thinking when he posted this statement: “moved into green zone by helicopter Iraqi flag now over palace...” on twitter. You know that old saying think before you speak, well in this case think before you tweet. I guess it’s not as simple as looking at the advantages and disadvantages of the internet. Politicians should learn how to use the internet effectively and safely before they decide to use it.

Produser or Produsage?

Anyone familiar with the terms produser or produsage? I know I wasn’t until recently. I’ll take that as a no. Well then let me ask you this, how many of you have viewed content that has been reproduced on YouTube or Facebook? Have you ever posted any reproduced content or even reproduced or edited any content yourself on Facebook, YouTube or sites similar to these? Well I have viewed and shared such content but I haven’t reproduced any....yet that is.

What about participation in sites such as Wikipedia and similar sites, are you part of social media site that allows everyone to contribute by editing information and content? In sites like Wikipedia the contributions can be sometimes made-up, misleading or actually quite good depending on the person who has contributed. I personally do not trust sites similar to Wikipedia as I used to have a friend that would add false information to the website. This led me to believe that because anyone can access and contribute to these sites, there is a big chance their contributions will be misleading but also hilarious at the same time.

Now days it is very easy to edit a video and post it online, anyone with the internet can do it. Which brings me back to my first question, do you think you are a produser or a produsage, or do you see yourself as neither?

When you think about it we are all a producer or produsage in one way or another. For example how many of you have a facebook account? Those of you who do how many of you have edited your photos so they look better? I know I have, this is just one of the many examples of being a produser or produsage in our lives.

Then how about something a bit more different. How about something like recreating someone else’s video. Do you consider this as being original or just clever? Or do you think they are making it better? What about those who just get a few slides from movies and lyrics from songs put it all together and there you have a video. There are thousands of videos like these up on YouTube. You don’t need to be famous for your content to be a hit nor do you need to have actual people in your video.

The next time you are watching, posting, making or editing content have a think about which category you fall in. Are you a produser or produsage? I’m sure you will be able to answer this question now without a second thought.

caught in the sex web.....

The internet has become a tool where you can do anything, almost anything that is. Thanks to the internet you now do not have to go out and shop yet alone not needing to make a phone call to order food. You don’t even need to have anyone physically there to engage in sexual behaviour.

Cybersex, sounds like something weird out of a fantasy novel, but surprisingly it has become a common choice of pleasure for many people. One reason for cybersex to have become more attractive to people may be because of it having no risk to your health physically. There is no risk of catching any sexually transmitted diseases or becoming pregnant. Another reason is that the internet allows anonymity where you can describe yourself the way you want the other person to see you, show them someone else’s picture or even pretend to be the opposite sex. Faking it makes you feel better done through describing themselves as what they wish they were. So is it safe to assume that people who engage in sexual activities on the internet are all unhappy or as some people may say “they can’t get some”? Not necessarily. As well as singles, people in relationships and even married people are engaging in this activity. As well as men women are also using the internet for sexual activities. Ferree has researched and found that 30 percent of women spend 31 to 40 hours a week on the internet.

However there are other reasons why people are choosing to use the internet for sexual desires, reasons that are illegal and dangerous. Paedophiles’’ use the internet to access and upload child pornography. But surprisingly there is another major reason and that is once people enter the world of online sex people are becoming addicted to cybersex. These activities have sparked a censorship debate in many countries around the world.

Should sites that contain pornography and others that allow you to per sue sexual activities be censored? If yes, that would mean nearly all chat rooms to be censored as pornography sites are not the only place for sexual activities, all you may need is a webcam and a willing participant. I doubt censoring pornography sites alone will change anything, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem there clearly is.

*Marnie Ferree 2003 “Women and the web: cybersex activity and implications”.

Reality Check.....

Just because someone is doing something or making something in the virtual world does not necessarily mean it is real. It might be happening and other people might see it happening, but is it real?



It may feel real to the person who is engaging in the activity but it only feels real because they have a personal connection. Yes others may acknowledge its presence; they may interact with it and even form a bond with it but is it real? No it is happening but it is not real, it is hyper real.

In the virtual world for example eBay, you buy an item, you pay for it, and then you receive the item. In this virtual world yes there is something real happening. But in a virtual world like second life where you are able to date people, get married, plan a wedding, buy a dress, buy a car, it is happening but it’s not real. You may develop a personal bond with your cyber baby, cyber marriage and cyber items but in the end you’re not physically interacting with them, you cannot actually use them, it’s just like a game, except you control every step of what happens and you can change what happens, that is the only difference. Apart from the fact that you spend real money for things that you will not physically be able to own. Which brings me to ask the question, why?

Why is it that people take part in second life? Is it because it is so easy to control everything in your virtual life, are people just looking for a place to escape their hectic lives or simple looking for happiness? There are many reasons as to why. I see it as an outlet to let loose and be able to take risks without any consequences. However there maybe emotional and financial consequences, your feelings may get hurt and you may become bankrupt but nonetheless you’re not taking any physical risks, this is what makes virtual worlds attractive.