Blogs

Blogging is an increasingly important function of the internet. There are millions of blogs that range from topics related to celebrity gossip to political activism. People use blogs for multiple purposes and therefore blogging on the internet is becoming part of our public sphere. Blogs are a great way for people to connect with eah other over certain topics of interest. This video can be used to explain how news has evolved in the twenty-first centruy with the use of blogging:



I think that blogs have expanded the realm of news in a positive direction. Previously there were only a limited topics in news politics, sports, economy, etc. because there was a limited amount of space. Newspapers, radio and television news shows only had so much time to devote to each story. However, the internet opened an unlimited amount of space to share news, and with this increase, new topics emerged. Now people can blog about mulitple issues, particularly issues that are interesting or valuable to them. If people are focusing on topics that are of interest to them they will be more likely to engage n news. Some say that the 21st centruy lacks activism , however blogs are a geat way for people to come together and discuss issues, even if it is virtually. Blogs allow people from all around the world to discuss issues and share their opinions. I believe that this is one of the greatest features of blogging.
However, some people who can't afford the internet are left out of this public sphere. Because they don't have the means to blog they are excluded from these discussion or ideas. Therefore I believe that the "community internet" that is mentioned in the "Future of the Internet" Free Press article is an exceptional idea. This way the internet is free to all citizens within these communities and will give more people accesss to the public sphere. It is true that public internet may be slower and less reliable, but it is still a good source of information for those people who can't afford any internet at all.

Facebook

Facebook is a social network that has become an integrated into many peoples daily lives. Most people using Facebook check it more than once a day, and each Facebook visit may last from 5 minutes to 2 hours. Facebook creates a vitural world of connections, one of its greatest featues is the ability to keep in contact with people no matter where there are in the world. You can find childhood friends, talk with distance relatives, and stay in touch friends in college. The latter is the reason I personally created my Facebook. I had a lot of friends in high school who were a year older than me, so when they left for college, I wanted an easy way to talk to them while they were away. I have had my Facebook for two years now and it has become a regular part of my social life. The Facebook terminalogy like writing on "walls," "tagging photos," "poking peope," etc have become common in everyday conversation inside and outside of the network. People have become accustomed to Facebook and features it provides as away of maintaining an identity and sharing it with those around you. To those who haven't experienced Facebook many of the features may seem odd, and even to current users, some features seem unnecessary:



One of the most interesting capabilities of Facebook is how people can "lurk" on other peoples lives. Basically this means you have insight to a lot of persons information and personal life through Facebook. You can see their school, age, relationship status, who they are friends, etc. But other parts of peoples lives are broadcasted through social networks you can learn about what they did last night from wall posts, posted pictures, and statuses. From an outside perspective this may seem odd, that you can learn all about someones real life from a webpage, but without Facebook I think our generation would be at a great loss of communication.
According to Peter Schwartz's article, he believes kids will "burn out" on Facebook. I disagree. I think that Facebook is such a valuable social networking system that I can't imagine people getting bored and deactivating their Facebooks. It is possible that a new social networking system will arise on the internet, something that may replace Facebook, just as it replaced MySpace. However, I think that social networking sites are a vital part of our lives today and will remain necessary for our future.