Blog Post #10

When learning about my other classmates' presentations, one that stood out to me the most was Mainstream Media, which is a social channel where people get their news and information. It can change society by showcasing global news for multiple states at once. The positive impact of mainstream media is being able to get your news from one source, but the negative is that the news can be altered to reflect personal and biased opinions.

I also found it interesting when another presentation talked about an echo chamber, which is all about only seeing what you want to see. It can be good to be surrounded by positive news, but it could be negative when it distorts the truth of reality.

There was also a presentation about whistleblowing. I learned that whistleblowing is a job that involves reporting someone who is taking part in bad actions. The whistleblower can also be kept anonymous. Due to the power they hold in being able to report issues anonymously, it could impact people negatively if they aren’t honest about the truth. This could affect a person's job, position, reputation, and much more.

Another topic I found very interesting was online influencers, who are people with a big following that promote products. This could affect the economy and market growth, public trust in information, and younger generations, especially with influencers who promote skincare. Some influencers promote products that aren't safe to use, like Bloom, which is a diet powder. The career of an online influencer is a very risky job. Even though influencers leave a large positive impact on sales when promoting products for companies, they also hold a large responsibility in influencing customers to buy bad products.

After hearing all my classmates' presentations, I have learned a lot of new information that has given me more knowledge on multiple topics within the media.

Final Blog Post #11

Overall, my relationship with technology began ever since I was born. Growing up and going to school, everything I did was surrounded by technology. When it comes to computer time or the smart board, technology was a regular part of my life and the life of people around me. Every kid had an iPad, iPod, or even an iPhone in the 4th grade, which was something my older sister never experienced. Now, instead of having the issue of children having too much playtime with toys, it’s about children having too much screen time. I got my first iPhone in 4th grade because I was doing so many after-school activities like gymnastics and acting lessons and for safety reasons, my parents wanted a way to contact me.

Being a social media and digital communications major, technology will follow me throughout my whole life and career. The impact of the social media side of technology has been something I have focused on since my high school COVID years. I would get sent PR packages that I would have to post to promote various products on several platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. When entering college, my PR and social media work started to get more serious. I was getting multiple PR packages a day while also getting paid to promote the products. Due to the impact of my following growing and working with bigger brands, my relationship with technology became even stronger. I depend on social media and technology as a job and a passion.

With social media posting being so active, so is my digital footprint. If someone looks up my name, they can see my public TikTok page, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media accounts I have been featured on or managed. Especially with being the co-founder of Style on Point, a student social media and digital fashion magazine, my digital footprint has expanded even more. All in all, I am very exposed online. On my personal Instagram, I have mostly brand deal posts promoting either clothing or other products like skincare. A user could also find my media kit and contact information for work opportunities and a link to my digital magazine called Style on Point, which definitely reinforces the fact of not feeling the thought of having much privacy online. Overall, AI usage has impacted online privacy. AI can collect your personal data to help promote certain posts being seen on your feed. “I feel like my phone is listening to me” is a quote that a lot of people have said recently over the years because Instagram advertisements reflect conversations they had earlier with friends. AI can also track location and know your face by just the data in the phones. 

While technology and social media have given me so many positive experiences, they can also have a very negative impact on many individuals. A major lesson that people need to understand is that social media portrays a biased version of people’s actual lives. In other words, social media is “fake”. People on social media only post positive photos, videos, etc., of things that they want people to see. Growing up and seeing friends post about hanging out without you could affect many individuals and make them feel lonely. However, I think social media is very important and can be seen positively if we learn that social media is not an accurate representation of people’s lives. 

Overall, growing up around technology and needing it for work, my relationship with it has grown and will hopefully keep growing as my career starts in the digital communications industry after college.

Agenda Setting #9

Agenda setting is all about having influence over the public eye. The power that comes with agenda setting could lead to many positives but also many negatives. Agenda setting could make a big, impactful influence on events like the election. If a certain news channel is only pushing out articles related more toward one party over the other, it could lead to persuasive thoughts influencing public views. It could also focus on unrealistic beauty standards that affect all genders and ages, especially the younger generation, which could also affect people’s mental health.

On the other hand, it could make a positive impact. If there is an issue like climate change and the public doesn't seem to be worried about it, that is when the public agenda could take place. Another positive impact agenda setting could have is influencing people to focus on positive topics like education or shared interests. It could also bring families together to have conversations and discussions, which could improve the communication skills of a family.

Public agenda is when the same topic keeps getting pushed to the public so much that it might spark interest or concern about the topic or issue. The media gets to choose what is shown to the public—negative news or positive news. The media can also influence what is considered the norm for the topic being shown.

Agenda setting could affect society as a whole by shaping people’s thoughts on certain issues and topics. It could also affect different segments differently—lower, middle, and upper-class incomes, gender, etc. If a type of media gets pushed to the public about an issue that isn’t right or is very negative, it could leave the impact of persuading people that it is good and positive when it really is not at all.

When it comes to me personally, it could affect my safety or rights if something negative is being pushed to the public. It could also affect my family and friends as well. When the media pushes out topics that become the focus of discussion within families, it could lead to ignoring issues that are personal and actually affect everyday life. It could also cause arguments within families about topics that are being pushed in the media that not everyone agrees with.

Especially when it comes to our generation, being at the college age, the knowledge we follow is often based on what we see or what our parents believe. If positive or negative topics are being pushed to the public, we could easily follow along, thinking it is okay, which could cause stress and weariness.

A great example could be something like the election. There are a lot of first-time voters, and if the same type of content is being pushed by the media to the public, favoring one party over another, it could easily persuade the first-time voter generation.

All in all, the power of agenda-setting media could lead to many positive aspects but also negative ones.

https://www.communicationtheory.org/agenda-setting-theory/

AI #8

 I learned so much new and interesting information from watching the Frontline on PBS documentary. When it comes to the topic of privacy with the use of AI, it becomes a big concern.

With AI involving security, it needs to become more advanced as well to be able to be smarter than AI. On top of that, AI is also becoming more advanced in human behavior. It’s interesting to see technology be able to show emotions and have behaviors.

It is an advantage when AI is able to help with social media and public relations work. When it comes to being able to understand how customers respond to advertisements, AI is able to take private information and store it as data to understand individuals, which can cause worry about AI being able to see private information and the privacy of national security. With ChatGPT being AI’s most popular and recent breakthrough, this is just the start of the future with AI.

Diffusion Theory #7

 

Through the lens of Diffusion theory, Netflix and online streaming as an invention are very interesting. Many people became a part of the Netflix journey because Netflix is the start of the online streaming world. Online streaming made watching movies and TV shows so much more accessible to everyone.

Due to online streaming being a new technology, at first, it took a lot of people to catch on and be able to switch from satellite TV to Roku and Apple TVs. Now, some individuals don’t even have their own satellite TV in their house at all. Online streaming had a huge positive impact on technology, except for movie theaters.

 Now that people can watch movies from their homes, a lot of theaters have gone out of business because of the effect of online streaming. Online streaming gives people the benefit of being able to watch what they are interested in and not only being able to watch what is being televised on TV.

Technology #6

 

A technology that stood out to me that I found very interesting was the social media platform Twitter. Some interesting facts that I learned throughout the presentation was that Twitter was founded in 2006. This was only one year after I was born. It was surprising to me that Twitter has not been around for as long as I thought it was. Another surprising fact that I learned was that in 2012, there were about  500 million tweets a day being sent out on the social media platform. Another new technology that I learned about during the presentation was about the first compact CDs. In 2007, there were over 200 billion CDs bought in the world. It is hard to imagine today that people had to store physical copies of CDs if they wanted to watch movies or listen to music because today everything is digital and we do not have to store any physical copies of things such as movies and music. Overall, the presentations have taught me a lot of new information on technology that I wasn't informed about before.

Netflix Post #5

“Netflix and Chill” (La Shanda Rene Foster) The start of Netflix is far different from the Netflix we know and experience today.  The service was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph and was innovative for its time. The original Netflix’s first task was to create an online movie DVD renting service using the internet, which back then was a new form of technology. Officially, in the year 1998, Netflix.com was created. The whole website consisted of a large number of DVDs that could be rented using the website.  The first ever DVD that was rented through Netflix was the movie Beetlejuice. The movie was delivered in a white colored envelope to consumers. Only a year later, in 1999, Netflix introduced a subscription service that allows subscribers to rent an unlimited number of movies. The subscription was charged monthly.

Finally, in the year 2000, the Netflix we use on an everyday basis was launched, allowing customers to send recommendations and feedback. In 2002, Netflix, as a DVD rental company, went public in the stock market. However, unfortunately, its stock was only $2 per share, which was not worth much at all to investors. In 2007, the idea of being able to stream movies and TV shows online became a reality. With people now able to watch at home, Netflix became the main go-to streaming source, which increased the stock price by $8 per share in 2009.

In 2009, Netflix also began partnering with TV companies to get its streaming service on more platforms. By 2010, customers could stream their favorite shows on their iPhones and other devices anywhere. In 2012, Netflix was introduced to the European Union. Even with Netflix being a significant influence on mobile and at-home streaming, they weren’t done yet. In 2013, they started creating their own Netflix original shows. Some well-known favorites include House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black.

Fast-forwarding to the present, Netflix now faces many competitors, such as Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO, and more. This competition has negatively impacted Netflix, making it more challenging to acquire other shows and movies for its platform. Netflix now has to pay significantly more to secure these titles. Due to this financial strain, Netflix was forced to increase its subscription prices in the summer of 2023.

Despite these challenges, Netflix remains the largest and most used online streaming service in the world, with about 230 million subscribers. In 2024, Netflix introduced more affordable subscription options by adding ads to the platform. Netflix also ensures that its content is available in 4K streaming, maintaining high-quality visuals. The company emphasizes that its content quality matches the quantity of movies and shows it offers.

Netflix continues to succeed with its new original shows like Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Squid Game, which keep users engaged and prevent them from canceling their subscriptions. Netflix remains innovative, constantly introducing new shows and features to ensure its streaming service is here to stay. Overall, Netflix is here to stay and has been the foundation of online media streaming as we know of it today. 

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-netflix-15091518
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/netflix-trivia-25th-anniversary