I recently was checking out Facebook’s blog and noticed a new addition! Similarly to Technorati or Google Trends that allow people to track what people are doing online and with their blogs: Facebook’s new addition will allow people to track trends and see what the buzz is on wall posts! Basically the tool views all the wall posts made and categorizes them by words and phrases.
To read the blog post, click here!
Thanks Roddy!
My first thought while reading Dale’s blog post was “What a brilliant idea!”. I can’t count the number of times when I’ve watched the news and heard the same story with the same details over and over again. Especially with big stories that are slow to develop, a way of receiving news updates and tracking the development of a news story easier would be greatly beneficial. I sometimes wonder if journalists and news reporters are actually reporting new details or regurgitating the same information with small tweaks because they don’t have anything new to broadcast. It would be nice to see more of a “timeline”, like Dale said.
I wonder how a new system of updated, instant reporting online would affect the pace of traditional journalism that is already dying. I would think that because so many Americans are getting their dose of daily news online, that a convenient system like this would only make the end of newspapers come sooner. Essentially, a new system like this would make life far more efficient for everyone – why would anyone continue to read newspapers?
An idea like this could also be really useful to broadcast journalism. If this were linked with a program like Tivo, people who wanted to view their news on the television could get what they wanted to see whenever they wanted. Specific news stories could be downloaded onto their Tivos and special “updates” could be identified, so viewers wouldn’t have to waste their time viewing bits about stories they already knew about. News stories could be categorized and then a “timeline” type program could appear, giving the beginning, middle and current status of a news story. Viewers could then watch the updates as they happen. I think this would really work well and be really popular.
1.) What do you forsee as the pros and cons of this new style of online journalism? How do you think the invention of this would affect other forms of media?
2.) How do you think new systems of reporting like the ones discussed in the article and in my post would be beneficial to people? Are they just enabling Americans to become more lazy and rely on technology to do all the work?
Many of us that attend the University of Washington, or live in America have heard of Amanda Knox. If you haven’t you probably don’t pay attention to the news or picked up a Daily in over a year. It seemed the press’ coverage of this news story had cooled down, until recently when a special news program aired on channel 7, Saturday night.
Watching the show sparked connections between class material and Amanda Knox. In the “We are Media” online reading, an interesting point was brought up about privacy on the web. The author noted that with the increasing levels of technology and the capabilities of digital cameras and mobile-camera cell phones, there is severe decrease in the amount of privacy we have. “Keeping secrets, moreover will be difficult for businesses and governments.” (14).
However, I believe this idea extends to other areas as well, specifically pertaining to individual people. Sometimes bloggers forget that their online posts have the capability to be viewed by millions. Anything you post online is public, which makes keeping secrets really hard.
I tied this idea to the Amanda Knox story because of the high levels of attention the media has placed on Amanda’s facebook, myspace and blog sites. For those of you who do not know, Amanda’s social network sites and blogs exposed some interesting facts about her. These include pictures of her engaging in acts involving alcohol and drugs. In addition, she had also posted essays and other commentary about her life about topics such as rape and casual sex. The Italian police and news reporters have had a hay day with this information, because they believe that what she has posted online is an accurate portrayal of who she really is – and it could very well be.
This is important because the life she leads on the internet is now endangering her chances of getting out of jail. Now what is interesting here is the fact that online blog posts and social networks enable you to be anyone you want to be. No one knows for sure if what is online is an accurate portrayal of who someone really is, many times people make up things that they post, enabling them to have multiple identities or alternative personas.
I have a suspicion that these online posts and profiles will continue to be used by police and the federal government in their investigations. While part of me thinks this is a great idea, I also see many flaws in it.
1.) Do you think the police should use personal blogs and social network profiles to assist with investigations? If so, how accurate do you think they are?
2.) Think about your own personal blog and or facebook-like profiles. Do you have information or images posted that people could twist and make you appear to be someone you’re not? What do you think the implications of this are? What kinds of precautions do bloggers and online gurus need to take?
