Is Social Media Controlling Our Lives?

Facebook has subliminal control of your thoughts and interests, how so you ask? Well, believe it or not, if you have yet to realize, Facebook decides which of your friends updates you can see, the number of updates and also how often. Google sends you news based on your searches and surfs of the web. Eli Pariser shares his prime example of his "Conservative" and "Liberal" friends, where he'd click on more of his liberal friends posts and updates and in doing so on Facebook, he was ridden of his conservative friends posts as if they were non-existent on his Facebook. Facebook and Google has their hands up our backs, but if we take action and stop it at the source, Pariser says we can nip it in the bud. Clive Thompson on the other hand, a fellow internet writer states, that we are becoming boring human beings, with no sense of creativity or imagination. Why? Because of the bubble we live in, or should i say filter bubble. He feels we are missing out on a variety of vital info largely due to the fact that what we surf on the web is filtered to our "liking" , but to the extent where we only see hat and not anything else. So is the internet really expanding our minds? Or is it constricting it and limiting the expansion of what we learn and analyze on the web.

Methods and Implications of the Obama Campaign's use of Social Networking tools

A fundamental understanding of communication has always been at the center of a politician's arsenal, but a firm grasp on the future of communication can be the secret weapon that wins the war. For Barack Obama it was Social Networking which made him boost up his popularity in terms of votes. President Obama had voters following him on twitter, adding him on Facebook and also MySpace.He had the whole USA in the palm of his hands just by being a regular on social networking.Was it fair that a lot of Obama's election came down to "Who's most popular"? Or was it clever usage of social mainstream sites, where his popularity was more of a bridge to his strong connection with the people. Clearly Obama was able to reach out to his potential voters in a very modern manner, which of course only boosted his stock. So in all fairness, Obama just maximized his utilization of social networking and in doing so, gained more then an upper hand in his political regime.

Issues Raised on the PBS Presenation

 Facebook? Twitter?, and for those who really want to take it back a bit old school, MySpace? If any of these either sound familiar or are apart of your daily vocabulary, you're not alone. Almost more then a majority of the population, mainly the teenage population are on these social sites. The web , with social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. have taken the lives of teenagers today and transformed their reality into a virtual reality.These sites have not only become a pastime, but it has become, life, literally. Children today are making the worldwide web their virtual playground and hangout, all their thoughts, actions and opinions are being flooded across the internet. The problem? while teenagers are living their "virtual lives" out, parents are unsuspecting to their kids "other" world, ultimately unaware of who, what, when, where and why their children are posting crucial information and facets of their personal lives.The question is, will the children of today make great use of the advancements of the internet to its full capacity OR will it continue to be an unsafe haven , bringing potential danger to our kids? To what degree do parents draw the line of monitoring their kids on the web? Should parents even allow their kids to be on such sites without appropriate use? You be the judge!