6-2 Blog: Social Media Tools

Communication in the 21st century ties us together in numerous ways. It helps us to identify people that we share common interests with and keeps you in contact with family and friends no matter the distance. The niche of the various social media forms makes different things possible for all kinds of people. The practices not only affects the sender but also to the receiver (the person reading, watching and/or interpreting the message). My three social media attempts consists of

• Blogging
• Text Messaging 
• Social Networking

Blogging

Blogging in short, allows you to be creative with content that you post. You can add graphics/images to help with the story you are telling. I have a personal blog (outside of this one/ www.byronfields.com) based on daily affirmations and motivational quotes. I, personally strive to reach a conscience audience of individuals that search for inspiration on the go. I also have had experience blogging for a college radio station Real 92.7WASU. I enjoy the idea of potentially reaching a mass audience based on the market I am intending to reach.

Search Engine Optimization helps visitors be able to identify you site and content. the more tags you add to posts on your site, the more likely you are able to be located. There are also paid services that allow you to be on the front page of popular search engine sites such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Darren Rowse offers insight on how to effectively start a blog for beginners here:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/

This is important because, SEO's help on to reach a larger audience and an increase of page visits by clicking hyperlinks from third party social media networks such as Facebook. (Rowse, 2006).

Text Messaging

Text messaging keeps you in touch with individuals with the convenience of not having to pick up the phone to call them. It offers a way of quick communication anywhere you are, including discreet locations or circumstances in which you may not be able to readily answer your phone. Texting has become such a popular form of interaction that it is used for socially responsible causes. Politicians, and major companies, businesses, and even entertainment advertisements have used texting to attract more customers, raise more awareness, or for personal enjoyment. 

For example the HIV/Aids campaign has brought people closer to awareness by allowing people to text "Sexinfo" 61827 to get more information about sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's) their causes, and ways of prevention. This can be found on this article published by SexInfo, http://www.sextextsf.org/

Social Networking

Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are the leaders in social networking. This is because they have become so effective in bringing many people together. Individuals that live in states or even countries away from each other have the convenience of communication through these massive yet user friendly sites. They each allow instant/direct messaging and on some sites video chat. It is because of these benefits of reaching the world from your computer that social networking has become lucrative and is a new way of promoting businesses, companies, and services. Social networking provides free Public relations which is another reason how it brings people together. 

These three social media tools will reach the largest audiences most effectively. In each one of these you can embed or post hyperlink that links to each other. For example, you can use Facebook to post a status that hyperlinks to a blog article. Blogs have feature that allow individuals to subscribe to new posts via text messaging. Text messaging allows individuals to share content from articles, blogs, and content viewed on social networking sites. Some bloggers also reach a larger audience by appealing to readers on the go by creative native apps for their blogs so these readers could access their content more quickly. Here is a link to my native app to my blog: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wDailyWhizdom

Sources: 

1.) Fields, Byron, 2013. A Living Testament of Life's Experiences. www.byronfields.com

2.) Rowse, Darren, 2006. Blogging For Beginners.  http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/

3.) SexInfo, 2013. A New Text Message Service For Youth. http://www.sextextsf.org/

Entry - Module 3

After reading an article from TIME magazine about how NASA unlocked the mystery behind Intergalactic Radio Bursts I discovered that the source came directly from the website. TIME is where the article received it's photos and paid attribution to the descriptions as to how they discovered the mystery. TIME magazine is one of the most trusted online sites for news stories. The reporters come from an array of different and professional areas such as the Associated Press. This article specifically is a representation of NASA itself, the leader of space exploration and discovery. Therefore, the accuracy of each news story publish and source attributed must be legitimate in order to sustain the professional reputation that a business such as NASA strives to withhold. Sources such as NASA and TIME when dealing with information regarding knowledge things outside our world could be a safety concern as the public needs to stay a brisk of any potential threats from space.

Source: http://science.time.com/2013/07/05/the-mystery-of-the-intergalactic-radio-bursts/?iid=sci-main-lead

Another article was about the 214 passenger plane crash that left 183 passengers hospitalized. This article was published by the Huffington Post and from there sources such as HLN, CNN, gets their own insight of the story and investigate the scene of the disaster to further elaborate the details to the citizens in the surrounding areas and the world so we would be informed about any relatives a=or friends that might have been aboard that flight. The sources used were reporters from the Associated Press, reporters from Beijing, and New York that also contributed as well.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/07/asiana-airlines-flight-214-abort-landing_n_3558625.html