Whats so special about Facebook and YouTube?

I'm back to my favorite subject Facebook and YouTube. What I was thinking about today is why did these two sites become the giants of social networking and streaming videos? How did this happen? I remember when I was in middle school and high school, there was a very popular website within the Russian community called www.whimit.com, it was in essence a "Russian Facebook", of course you did not have to be Russian to register, but the site was created by a Russian couple from Brooklyn and was marketed towards Russians. The thing that I'm wondering is why didn't whimit, or any other social networking site become as big as Facebook has? They have been around longer than Facebook, it's not a very original or unique idea. In fact as we have all heard the creator of Facebook, was accused of stealing the idea from his friend and former partner. The only thing I can think of that could have set these sites apart from the rest is luck. Anyone have any other ideas?

Modern Family

I have been watching this new show on ABC with my girlfriend called Modern Family and it's surprisingly good for a brand new show. The show illustrates the lives of a family in present day, however unlike most family type shows, it doesn't just focus on one immediate family, it shows three families that are all part of the same family. The main family, husband, wife and three kids, the wifes father and his new wife and her son as another family, and the wife's brother, who is gay and lives with his boyfriend and newly adopted Vietnamese baby. It's a very interesting representation of what the modern family in America looks like, and a very funny show, especially for ABC. I recommend watching an episode and seeing if you like it, it's on at 9pm every Wednesday night.

Interest Channels

I thought of this topic to blog about after sitting in front of my TV and flipping through the guide. Audiences are split up not only on separate shows, but on cable television you have a menagerie of channels to choose from, many if not all of these channels have a specific theme and audience. There are sports networks (NESN, ESPN, CSN, Fox Soccer Channel, NHL Network, etc.), educational channels (Discovery, History, Nat Geo, Science, etc.), kids channels (cartoon network, nickelodeon, Disney, etc.), Movie channels, cooking, cars, basically every special interest you can think of. I just thought it was interesting that each of these channels is intended for a particular audience, and that I have never thought of this before.

Flip Cameras

I keep seeing these commercials where first they show you what looks like a YouTube video, and then they show you that it was filmed by this "Flip" camera. In a very nice and easy to use package a company has come out with a camera that can shot in HD and record up to 120 minutes of footage. When your done recording your masterpiece you pop out the USB stick and plug the camera into your computer, and upload your videos wherever you want. For the YouTube video bloggers this is a great idea. An easy to use alternative to create high quality videos without the hefty price tag. A great idea in general, but even more great is how they are marketing it in their commercials, particularly as a camera for your internet video needs, making everyone their own director.

Audiences

I have always thought audiences for different media is a very interesting subject. For instance reality TV shows, there are so many shows to choose from, The Apprentice, Survivor, Flavor of Love, Extreme House Makeover, The Kardashians, and the list goes on. Each show is intended for a different audience, yet all of these shows find their space in our society. There are groups of people who watch each one of these reality shows religiously. My girlfriend for example loves The Kardashians and I really don't understand why. When I ask her, "what's so entertaining about watching this rich family and what goes on with their daily lives?" she simply responds "it's interesting to me." There is no real reasoning behind it, the way I see it she just likes watching celebrities lives and seeing their conflicts, relationships, and problems. I don't get it, but to her it's entertaining. Anyone else watch reality shows religiously? Anyone have a good explanation for why they find it entertaining?

You Tube

Similar to my post about Facebook, I was thinking about youtube and all of these other streaming video websites in general. This is a very new phenomena if you think about it. Youtube was founded in 2005 which is only 4 years ago. Now everyone and there mom knows what youtube is and uses youtube. It is estimated that every minute about 20 hours of video is uploaded on to youtube. That is CRAZY! I really don't understand what kind of genius sites will be next. Where will this crazy thing called the internet take us. What will be the next website people will not know how to live without?

Will all websites be run through Facebook???

The more I think about this "facebook/twitter revolution" the more it's becoming a reality. What urged me to write this post for instance, was a honda commercial I saw a couple of minutes ago, where at the end of the commercial it says "visit us on facebook at facebook.com/honda". I was in shock! No longer is a regular website good enough, now everything is moving to facebook.

From seeing this and noticing the same thing in a couple of other commercials, I thought of this crazy idea... What if facebook just takes over everything, you could access any other website through facebook, including checking your emails, reading the news, etc. etc. all while keep in touch with your friends. That would just be ridiculous, and obviously so absurd that it would never happen... but where will it end? especially if companies are using facebook now instead of giving people their regular website?

Facebook is taking over the world...

What a great idea Facebook originally started out as... what has it come to now?

I was watching TV the other day and was surprised to see that Facebook has now found it's way into TV commercials. The newest (as far as I know) Bud Light commercial shows a couple driving down the highway and two situations one where the guy just get's rejected. The second scenario is when she simply just throws him out of the moving car. After he get's up he screams "I'll friend you!" And then the Bud Light tagline "It's all about drinkability!"

What killed me was the facebook reference, the "I'll friend you!" This means that Bud Light is assuming enough people know what that means that they are using it as a marketing scheme in their commercial. It's just crazy how in only 5 or 6 years facebook has gotten to the point where it is like a formal accepted well known means of communication similar to email or instant messenger.

Video Games

Reading through the chapter about industries, I thought it was very interesting to see video games as a medium of production. I never have thought of video games as a source of media, but thinking about it now, I don't really see how they aren't media. Getting even more into it I thought about how media exchanges between different mediums of productions. What I mean by this is that if there is a bestseller military novel, or a super monster blowout movie, there will probably be a video game made based on it. Also the music in the video game is another way to spread media. Books turn into movies, movies into video games, and music is either selected or made for the games. I just thought this was very interesting and never thought of it this way.

Movie Ratings...

Growing up, I always thought movie ratings were a big deal. My mom would never let me watch anything rated R until I was about 15 or 16, until that age pretty much everything I saw was PG-13 or below. The only thing I can think about now is that I missed watching a lot of really good movies because of my age. Although I understand that I may have been too young to understand these more serious or dirtier movies, but watching them now just seems different. Watching This Film is Not Yet Rated opened my eyes to the world of how movies are labeled with a certain rating. I think it's interesting that we have this in America, because I don't think any other country has such strict ratings regulations as we do. In Europe their is nudity in practically every movie, and it's no big deal, but here if there is a boob on the screen the movie is automatically rated R. A bit harsh if you ask me...

Why do we fight?

After watching Why We Fight I was simply angry. I could not believe that a tragedy that hit hard not only in New York, not only in the USA, but around the whole world, was used as an excuse to start a completely separate and unrelated conflict. Using the attacks of 9/11 as a reason to invade Iraq was just wrong, and fooling the public into believing this and supporting a completely unnecessary war, was even worse. What really got to me is the story about the New York Police officer who wanted some kind of revenge for his sons death, and had the Marines put a dedication to his son on a bomb that was dropped on Iraq. I cannot believe that a man in such a situation was led to believe this crap. I have always thought that America is the least corrupt country in the world, that here everything is checked and rechecked so that there can be no fraud, no illegal payoffs, no bribery, none of that. However our own government, our own president lying to us, and putting the country at war against another country for false reasons is much worse than any fraud or bribery!

Blogging

Intersted in finding out more about this crazy thing we have to do for class "blogging", I looked up "why do people blog?" and stubled upon this interesting post in a guy named Dave Taylor's blog. He explains that his understanding of blogging is simply for people to share their stories, and to get their voice heard. Blogs, according to Taylor, can also be used as a very good marketing tool. I think that a cool thing about blogs is that anybody can make one and that it's almost like your own free website. I don't really know how I feel about getting my voice heard, but that may simply be because I feel as though nobody care what I have to say. To this Taylor would say that that is the beauty of blogs, it doesn't matter if nobody wants to read what your writing because nobody has to read it. However, if they do and they respond, it could get you thinking about something you wrote from a different perspective, or provide insight that you simply have never thought of before.

heres the link: http://www.intuitive.com/blog/why_do_people_blog_how_many_bloggers_are_there.html

News

Reading the case study on news got me thinking. News is in essence a documentation of reality in such a form that it is supposed to show the public the general updates on various subjects throughout our society. The problem is that bias, be it political, or just the stations particular biases effect the news and taint it to the point where it no longer really reprents the truth. What I immediately thought of is reality TV shows and who real those shows actually are... I believe that the way reality TV shows on channels such as MTV and VH1 are not reality at all. They are filmed in a way to make it appear as though it is, however the producers will keep the characters that provide "good television" and cut the ones that are not as interesting. I feel as though many news stations are the same, they will show you the most flashy and extraordinary stories just to keep you entertained. I think it's pretty sad that news media has become entertainment instead of a journalistic account of what's going on in the world...