First Let Me Take a Selfie

We were assigned to watch this video and in it a young lady describes the different types of selfies people take. At first it seemed ridiculous but as she continued explaining it started to resonate with me. Personally I don't take many selfies but when I do I follow all of the guidelines that she explained in the video. It's almost natural to look for the best lightning but I truly started to question why I try to take a selfie with the camera high above. I realized that the reason I do it is because of follow the trend and culture around selfies. When I snapchat my friends I purposely try to make the ugliest face possible or I put on a silly filter for entertainment. The way we communicate through mediums such as Snapchat and Instagram have been dominated by the selfie phenomenon. 

The video truly made me self reflect on what a selfie could represent. Most selfies are suppose to show off your beauty. Uglies are meant to show those flaws. Groupies are meant to show how close knit you are with friends or family. While I participate in this culture I never view it as separate aspects meant to signify different parts of me. I simply see it as taking a picture that will go on social media.

The simple fact that the word "selfie" is in the dictionary shows how this concept is being domesticated. Our culture continues to change because technology is constantly being integrated. Before you comment on this blog, take a second and take a selfie. 

It's All About Who You Know

Today in class we assembled into our interest groups and discussed the different people we follow on Twitter. The purpose of this was to add people to our lists that would eventually go on Storify. The first thing I realized is that I only followed people in the class. Although following them made me feel apart of a community I needed to increase the number of people I follow to reap the full benefits of Twitter. I stopped my self from following many people at random. My goal was to learn from the people I follow and take away something meaningful. In this case quality is better than quantity. The first person I decided to follow was Michelle Obama. I followed her because she is an iconic figure in our country and she is constantly providing new content that is not always related to politics. Some posts involve health and community service. Another thing she focuses on is how we can help the children and also improve their health and their overall lifestyle. The next group of people I decided to follow were authors of articles we have read and discussed in class. Most of them are heavily engaged in the online community. Hopefully they will reply if I talk to them. The next group of people I followed reflected my own personal interest. It gave me a way to personalize my Twitter and it made it feel like less of an assignment. I know that I can learn from all of the people I follow and that gives me a sense of pride knowing I am using twitter in a meaningful way. Now I pray that some of them follow me back!

Tweet Till Your Thumbs Fall Off

As we continue to analyze communities in our class I notice myself becoming more engaged in the Twitter community. I started to be more aware of who I follow and I also follow profiles that contain lots of content. As someone who did not fully reap the benefits of Twitter it was easy to see what I was missing out on when we started to analyze it in class. After reading the article by Gruzd I agreed with the fact that Twitter has the potential to be a community. It became more personal when I compared my old Twitter habits to my new ones. In the past I would only favorite and retweet things funny videos or tweets I could relate to. Now I catch myself presenting new ideas and responding to tweets.  When you devote time into seeing these online forums as communities it will become clear why they can be effective and why they feel genuine for many users. Now when I tweet, favorite, retweet or reply I feel as if i am doing it with a purpose.