Checking Out Some Social Networking Sites

I already have accounts on Facebook and MySpace, so I checked out Friendster. My impression of Friendster is that it's pretty much the same as MySpace. Facebook and Myspace have a lot of similarities: leaving a comment on myspace is the equivalent of writing on someone's board on Facebook. You can comment pictures and tag pictures on both sites. I like Facebook because you can connect with people you haven't seen or heard from in years much more easily but I prefer MySpace because Facebook is way too public.The only thing you can do on Facebook that won't be broadcasted is to send a message. You can also be more creative with your page on MySpace and show more of who you are through music and layouts.

What is New Media?

New media, to me, are technologies that make peoples' lives easier in some way. I don't have an exact definition of new media but blogs, social networks and viral marketing are examples of it. I also feel like new media is consumer based; it connects large companies to the people and even people to other people. New media makes people feel more accessible. In an article from Flow magazine, Tim Anderson defines new media as media convergence. I think of all the definitions that I have read, I agree with Mr. Anderson's the most. New media is usually an improvement on older technologies such as VCRs to DVD players, and now Blu-Ray. New media also arises from new needs an example of this is the Blue Tooth earpieces because there were so many careless car accidents and/or people getting tickets from talking on their cellular phones while driving. New media is also referred to as communication technology, which goes back to my earlier definition, which said that new media facilitates communication between people.



[1]http://flowtv.org/?p=157
[2]en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media
[3]http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9uFT080FcRkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP12&dq=definition+of+new+media&ots=AI1eblP5Iw&sig=dt9eYEStKdfRf_-_hJ11Jt6NaQo#PPA2,M1

Online Consumers in the Age of New Media

For our term project, myself and my partner, Vinita Singh, have chosen the topic of the online consumer experience a.k.a. online shopping. We believe online shopping is a part of new media because it's part of the new pop culture. Although online shopping has been around for a while, it's a lot more mainstream in that people now have access to shopping and purchasing items from various markets without leaving the comfort of their homes. As technology improves, the access to shopping without physically going to a store is increased. We will be providing a comparison between online shopping when it first began and what it is like today as well as what retailers are doing to adhere to this trend. We will also be talking about the pros (which would include great online selection of products, good deals through price comparison, and no need to travel) and the cons (such as having to wait for merchandise to arrive, paying shipping fees, and the inability to try things on).