Blocking Youtube!

Pakistan has just been added to the list of countries that have blocked Youtube access. Some of these countries are Brazil, China, Iran, Morocco, Myanmar, Syria and Thailand. In Pakistan, there are people who are opposed to the banning of Youtube, and in the other hand "There are others who say that YouTube is full of videos... that are damaging to the character of children." I mean sure not all the videos on Youtube are great, but as we have learned these types of websites have become a form of social media in which people communicate. People's videos have created firecrakers and even new ideas for huge companies such as Apple.

All of the countries mentioned before have concluded that Youtube is immoral, embarrasing to well known figure, and in the case of Pakistan some videos offend Islam.

As a New Influencer and a fan of Youtube, I think that the internet and these websites are a form of self expression. Governmental policies against internet sites can't take over in this manner, this sites are a source of communication for the public, if somebody feels offended because of a particular video, than they should deal witht he specific person posting this kind of information. Nonetheless, the problem here is that the Pakistani government is depriving its people of free speech. I just know that if they would start banning internet sites in my country because of religious reasons...I would be very mad!

The New Influencers - Ch. 6

The section on Girl Power and AskPatty.com was the most interesting to me in this chapter. I had no idea that women buy more than half the new cars in the U.S. and influence 85 percent of the new auto and truck purchases. I started thinking and it kinda makes sense because when your a married man and your looking for a car you ultimately listen to your wifes and opinion and the kids sefety. Anyways, I think that this website was very innovating and smart, specially because its a site for women consumers. AskPatty.com is a place where women can log on and ask, comment, and give their liberated opinions on products they want to purchase or have purchase in the past. Additionally I think this changes the concept that many men have of women as bad drivers. The textbook says "AskPatty's blog celebrates women. Its articles not only offer advice but showcase the accomplishments of female drivers..."
Blogs like AskPatty not only establishes women as a powerful consumer, but it gives us a voice as well.

JuicyCampus.com...Back to Sixth Grade!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/18/juicy.website.ap/index.html

Oh my God!!! After reading this article I could only think REVENGE OF THE NERDS! I mean seriuosly are the people who came up with this website in sixth grade? I can't imagine who would take the time of day to create a website and start gossiping on other peoples business. I think we have enough scoop with celebrities such as Britney and ohhh Britney.
The article states that a student at Cornell University found on the juicycampus website a filthy passage about his sexual exploits. A transfer student had been humilated on the site with barely a week after arriving to the university. Supported by advertising and free to use by virtually anybody, JuicyCampus is a website destined and for the soul purpose of posting gossip. Some of the major threads include "campus hook-ups", "who's popular", "who's overweight","top ten freshman sluts" and even "the Jews ruin this school".
This shows you how technology and social networking can make you or break you. You can become popular by posting a funny video on youtube, and have your 5 minutes of fame. Or you can be talked about in a gossip website and have your reputation go down the drain. I still can't understand how people that you would expect to be intelligent and trying to learn something good in school would use their abilities in social networking to destroy other people. Freedom of Speech is a right in America, but everything has a limit and specially when you are using that right in order to harm other people.

The Internet & Our Society

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/etc/synopsis.html


After reading Frontlines article Growing Up Online, I started to think on how the internet had influenced my childhood. When I was in like six grade I began to log in to chatrooms like ICQ and MIrc to talk with my friends, later on I opened my msn account which I currently use. I think the internet has influenced our childhood not only in social networking but as a tool for gathering information for personal use or school. However, today's generation can be considered an "Internet Generation." For example my younger cousin's, they go to first and second grade and when they have their lunch break they go to the computer lab to log in and chat online or they prefer to play with their gameboys. Even my smallest cousin (11) she has a facebook account and uploads pictures of the activities they do in school. This is kind of incredible for me because I got my first digital camera when I was a junior in highschool. Technology and the internet is something revolving not only adults, but kids as well.
Additionally, there is a section in the article that talks about cyberbulling and how this is affecting young kids who are picked on not only in school but on the web as well.
Parents have to become aware of what their kids are watching and doing online, they have to become involve in all this new trends and social networks in order to know what their kids are up to.

NIU and Facebook

The shootings in NIU have left us all with a feeling of sadness and shock. I was watching the news yesterday and I heard how this girl was crying and saying how she was in the classroom where the shootings took place and had to crawl to the floor and she was just thinking that she was going to die. This really got to me, I felt fear and this is something that can happen in any university, at any time, and nobody can do something about it.
Students at NIU and around the country created a support group on Facebook where people can give the victims and their families their condolences. The group already has over 31,000 members from all over the world who are uniting to pray and support all of the victims of this sad tragedy. Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace have proven to be not only a place to upload pictures from your fun weekends, but also a way in which people come together for a cause. This is a source of communication that not only connects a country, but the whole world and keeps people updated and inform of current events.
Additionally, I want to comment that Virginia Tech was a tragedy, but on a more positive note this tragedy was like a wakeup call for police enforcements and how media handles this types of problems. I think the NIU faculty and staff responded very well to this sad incident, police arrived rapidly, and the conferences given where organized and with detail information to the public.

Facebook Rocks the Vote

Facebook did it again folks. Rock the Vote created a facebook group in which people can join and be encourage to actually give their vote for this years presidential elections. Rock the vote always uses popular culture icons and music to get in touch with young teens, but using facebook as a social network in order to reach their target audience is genius. More than 25,000 people have joined the group already. Kat Barr, the director of Rock the Vote stated "It has huge potential for young people to get their friends to register. It's about us giving them the tools to organize it." The expectations of Rock the Vote is that this message gets across all teen facebook users. I think facebook is a great way to inform your public, and people can associate with other and even make comments on their political learders. This is a good example of how teens today are drifting more from their tv's to their laptops. It was just 4 years ago when we saw P Diddy and all those ads showing on MTV about Rock the Vote. Our lives revolve around social networking ,we can make friends, find common interests, and even debate on politics.