Guest Blog: Social Media: A Force for Good

I'm happy to present guest blog number four!

Guest Blogger: Sean Sporman

Social Media: A Force for Good

The Internet is truly a marvelous invention. The World Wide Web is perhaps one of the best, most life-changing inventions of the past half-century. It brings a seemingly infinite amount of information on a seemingly infinite amount of topics to one's fingertips with a few clicks. Worldwide communication with very little to no delay is possible in many forms. Fans of practically anything that can have fans can gather together online to share and express their interests.

Of course, one major part of the Internet, especially in the past few years, is social media. Almost all TV commercials and even some billboards now have “Find us on Facebook and Twitter.” Literally hundreds of millions of people are on both of those aforementioned social networks. And, despite criticism in some circles, I would argue that social media can truly be used for many good purposes and is much more than the waste of time that some on the outside perceive it to be.

I have been in a long-distance relationship for nearly four-and-a-half years. I met my lady through one of the more “retro” forms of Internet social media, the chat room. We became the best of friends and eventually, a couple. She lives thousands of miles away, and thus, we must fly out our respective states to visit each other. In the interim, we use the Internet to keep in touch.

Aside from the cell phone, the two of us use Facebook to communicate, especially during times such as when I am on my lunch break at work or when she has some spare time at her college. Facebook's chat engine may have gone through several changes over the past couple of years, but its a great (and free!) way for us to keep in touch when we can't call each other. We have also just recently begun to use the wonderful Skype for video chatting.

In addition, Facebook is a wonderful tool for keeping up with classmates. No longer does one need to wait for the high school reunion to know what your former fellow students are up to—you can reconnect with them easily through Facebook—from former best friends to those you only knew briefly. I can say that I have become even better friends with some people from my high school that I only had one class with one year thanks to Facebook. I am also happy to keep in touch with many college friends as well, no matter where they may have moved to.

I also use social media for something a little different than most on a daily basis—daily weather status updates. I've long dreamed of becoming a TV weatherman—and hope to become one soon. I follow the weather every day, and a couple of years ago, began the idea of weather updates for my friends and family through Facebook (and Twitter). I started off with special watches and warnings during severe and winter weather, but eventually began doing daily forecasts.


Amazingly, what I thought was a little thing that perhaps a few friends would read turned into much more! I've been told by many people that they check my status updates on weather instead of more conventional means! I have had parents of old high school friends add me for my weather updates. Even the creator of The Social Spaz herself has told me she reads my weather updates daily. While she was chatting with me about writing a guest column for this site, Tyler told me that her step-sister wanted her to go to my page to see if it was going to rain that evening! If I may say so, I think that's pretty awesome right there.

I even provide daily weather forecasts for a friend in Canada, and have had a friend from Wales ask me about the weather on occasion. I especially hope that my severe weather updates during events with possible tornadoes, hail, and strong winds help to keep people safe and provide them with important information.

Aside from providing friends and family with weather information, I really enjoy the chance to cheer friends up on Facebook when I can. I make an effort to tell a sick friend that I hope they feel better soon. And, I always enjoy wishing a friend a Happy Birthday on Facebook.

I've mentioned previously in this column that I've wanted to be a TV weatherman. I was thrilled to be a part of one of the best college TV stations, TrojanVision at Troy University, for nearly four years while a student there. At first, I would use Youtube and post through Facebook some of my broadcasts so I could share them with friends and family outside of the TV market area. I later began to upload broadcasts for other friends of mine so that their friends and family could see them. Even after graduating and having people I had never met do broadcasts, I continued to upload for others—adding them as friends on Facebook and then sharing the videos on their “walls.”

I received some wonderful comments of thanks for this, including ones from their parents and siblings. But, I was happy to do it, since I knew how cool it was to be able to share my TV broadcasts with those unable to watch them live. I recently uploaded parts of a university pageant for two friends of mine as well, including one friend I made through Facebook and later met in person to give her a bag of Halloween candy.

Of course, I am just one person in a huge social world. I haven't even used Google Plus yet, and am still growing a small following on Twitter. I have no doubt that there are others out there that have equally pleasant and positive experiences with social media, which allow people all across the world to connect in increasingly advanced and unique ways.

I want to thank Tyler for allowing me to share this column with all of you, and I want to thank all of you for reading!

Guest Blog: Darfur? I Hardly Know Her!

A wonderful blog written by a fellow blogger here.

Guest Blogger: Will Francis

(A Social Commentary on
Peer Pressure, Apathy, and Mustaches
in the 21st Century)

Every couple of months I find it necessary to clean my Facebook. This process is a sometimes enjoyable one that includes: getting rid of outdated applications, picking a new profile picture, updating my basic info page, and leaving groups that just don’t matter to me anymore. Completing this list is essential if I want to feel like a productive member of this website, and really society as well. This being said I always run into the same obstacle. Darfur. Yes, the small African nation, which so happens to be plagued by genocide and other naughty things, is ruining my online experience. “Why?” you ask. It’s because I’m a coward.

I don’t exactly remember why I joined “For Every 1,000 that join this group I will donate $1 for Darfur”, but I have a theory that it was during a time when my membership was in its infancy and I was floating in a sea of “unparticipation” in virtual activist organizations. Every so often I would read in the news feed that friends of mine had joined this same group and not only that, but had left it too. During these first instances I passed temporary judgments on these heathens which would last for the greater part of a second. This was always followed by instant forgiveness. Then I came to realize that they too had a ritual of tidying up their online domain, and had found it necessary to distance themselves from Darfur for the sake of having less obligations. That, or because it was no longer in style. 

I want to interject that, as I was once a Political Science major, you would think I might know a thing or two about global incidents. Seeing as the Olympics aren’t happening this year, I feel like that just shouldn’t be a concern of mine. I do however have a thing or two to say about genocide. Surprisingly, I kind of respect it. I’m not one for confrontation so when I see that some mustached leader in a far off land has gotten rid of a ton of people, I have to applaud human effort. I find there is no better way to burn bridges between two groups of people than to burn one of groups alive. On the flip side Americans subject themselves to genocide every day. We are successfully phasing out the “Valley Girl” due to tanning bed radiation. From what I understand this has been in the works for years. Not only that, but fast food restaurants are bringing up new victims every day to replace the ones who are dead. Taco Bell has changed our dining agenda forever by adding a “Fourth Meal”, and Wendy’s Baconater is projected to cause more heart attacks than the Publisher’s Clearing House check deliverers. Unlike Darfur we have developed a killing method that is not only socially acceptable but looks good in a swimsuit and/or tastes delicious. 

Recently I was given the opportunity to be intellectually mortified by an aforementioned mustached leader. Dr. Jeremy Lewis, head of the Political Science department at my college and it’s only teacher, teachs the World Politics I am currently taking. It dawned on me during one of the lectures that not only did I not know what he was talking about half the time without the use of Wikipedia, but I never even wanted to come near to having an educated opinion on the matter. It would just take too much time, heart, and money to get to where I might be a guest of Real Time with Bill Maher, and I don't usually persue something unless I know I will be the best at it. All of Lewis’s lecturing on people thousands of miles away or half a century ago in gas chambers I will never tour, being fire squaded against walls I will never touch, or burned alive in their own huts that I will never smell made me void of all caring. It was as if he were talking about every puppy in ever pound in this world and how bad they needed a home. I wanted to help, but I just couldn’t. The task before me was too large, so large that it became useless to even care anymore. This is the kinda crap I think about when I clean my profile.
Marek Grodzicki, the creator of Save Darfur, promises this to be a real cause and that he has in fact followed through with his pledge. This group is different in many ways from other charity websites: It doesn’t ask you to donate. It’s in the title. The only thing you have to do is join and Grodzicki will have one more notch in his belt. If you read the reasons given for this group’s creation Marek makes a point to tell you that it is not for his “self gratification”. Oh. How very nice of him. Not only does he give to charity, but he doesn’t feel better about himself for doing so. Forgive me for being a sociopath, but I find it hard to believe that. Most things I do in my spare time are wholly for self gratification, and if they aren’t I find a way to incorporate that into my activity. Yes, by all means I’m selfish, but don’t ever tell me I didn’t warn you. Why do I put change into the Salvation Army bucket during Christmas time? It’s so that damned lady will stop ringing the bell for a few seconds to say “Thank you, sugar.” Plus, sometimes I’ve done something real naughty, but not as naughty as genocide, and think the sound of a few nickels clanging together will counter that. Fat chance, but it’s a thought, and it’s the thought that counts.

I consider myself a rather proficient Facebooker compared to other college students. I have successfully utilized the privacy settings so that no Sunday School teacher, professor, or future employer may see anything that would otherwise mar my reputation as an All-American-Church-Goin’-Tax-Payin’- Law-Regarding-Boy-Scout. It also helps that I blocked my own mother. It has crossed my mind several times that I could just quit the group and hide it from the newsfeed. As ingenious as that is, it’s also sneaky. And the only thing I hate more than Darfur is conniving and sneaky sons of bitches. I wouldn’t necessarily lose sleep over doing it the easy way. That sort of privilege is given to people who commit genocide. But I do feel that I would be looked at as an insensitive person if I left the group, because as we all know, Facebook is the apart of the real world now and the things we do on it matter in the grand scheme of things. So, I had to choose what I valued more to me: either try to offend the least amount of people possible, or march down the streets with my own pants on. I chose the latter.

Today I have closed a chapter in my life, because when I made the final click I became my own man. I have severed all ties in my relationship to a dying country. Did I feel any different when I went through with it? No, I didn’t feel anything at all. These first couple of months I am going to take it slow. Maybe one day in a lonely Comparative Government lecture I will think about all the good times we had. I might see Darfur on the newsfeed and I will cordially stop and maybe see what has been going on. I will say, “Remember when we broke our first 1,000 members?” There was excitement, sure. But there always is at first. I am going to keep that in mind when I see other charity organizations pop up. As much as I want to “Save the Manatees”, am I really ready to commit? It takes a lot out of me when I teeter on the fence and only care enough to show my concern and nothing deeper than that. It’s going to take some time for me to get over Darfur. For now I am just going to donate to bell ringers, because it is fast, cheap, I feel good afterwards, and right now it’s the only thing I can handle.

Guest Blog: Everyone's a Reality Star

Second guest blog! Going strong!

Guest Blogger: Katy Williams

As I’m watching The Maury Show on this chilly winter morning, I’m asking myself,

“Who are these people that deem it appropriate to air their exceptionally dirty laundry on public television like this?”

Well, it might not be as uncommon as I thought.

Facebook statuses have evolved into an outlet for enraged, depressed and attention-seeking people. Out of my 900 friends, I’m sure my newsfeed has at least four statuses about someone’s personal problems as I’m writing this. Most of the time, it’s passive aggressive and to an ambiguous person, but every so often it’s very specific and juicy.

Jackpot!!

Breaking up with significant others, feuds between friends, and family issues galore! It blows my mind when people do this. What planet do these people live on where they think that it’s not only acceptable to do this, but that people genuinely care?

The few times I have paid any attention to it was because my friends and I were discussing it in a private message like it was a VH1 Reality Show. It’s like we’re the audience on Maury who scream and antagonize unsympathetically the entire time. (To all of you who write statuses like this, just know, we screenshot the most hilarious ones; therefore, your dirty laundry will live in infamy until the long awaited day each of our computers crash and we forgot to back-up our files.)

At first, I was embarrassed for people like this, but it seems like whenever I say anything, I’m the one who gets attacked. I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to try to intervene with this circus of emotions on a public forum. I’m just going to pop some popcorn and let myself be entertained. The best things in life really are free!

(except the popcorn)

Guest Blog: Facing Facebook at 50

I am happy to announce the first guest blog! It is a wonderfully written article!

Guest Blogger: BA Spears

I’m 50. For my generation, social media started with the junior high “Slam Book,” where we wrote supposedly anonymous but always identifiable comments about our peers, ranging from genuine compliments to cruel attacks. We then graduated to phone conversations in which a group of giggling girls on extensions throughout the home of some accommodating parent chatted with a group of pimpled pubescent boys gathered around one phone in some young man’s basement for the five minutes that the boys feigned interest in the conversation. Eventually, media became the excuse for social: a gathering in someone’s den to watch a Movie of the Week on Saturday night, where the evening’s theme was chatting, flirting and sneaking kisses between the host mom’s infrequent trips to the room to refill sodas or popcorn bowls.

In the ’70s and ‘80s, the life of parents and the lives of their children were almost completely separate, even when they lived under the same roof: parents were not part of their children’s social circle until long after the children grew up, married, and began attending some of the same social events as parents. Family life and social lives were strangely divided, and I would not have dreamed of sharing even mundane details of my life and my friends’ lives with my parents.

My generation, rejecting the decision of our parents to remain distant, and perhaps feeling a wistful desire for greater generational interaction within the family, changed that formula when becoming parents. We attended our children’s events, we stayed in the room during their parties, we eagerly volunteered to chaperone events so that we could be on site, in the midst, part of the fun. We did not want to miss our children’s lives! And in doing so, we earned the name “helicopter parents,” because we hover around our children, watching them, protecting them, and perhaps not giving them the space required to grow up.

Because we are so deeply engaged in our children’s lives, their departure from home to attend college, enter the military, or take a job in another area, brings a grief so deep it is akin to death. Our relationship to our children has become defined by our presence in their day-to-day affairs. Enter Facebook! Texting! Twitter! YouTube! Social media now fills the gap created by their physical absence and gives us a new type of relationship with our children that we never dreamed existed.

My daughter left for college and soon afterward said to me (apparently feeling no guilt or concern about this comment at all!): “Mom, I don’t always have time to answer your calls. Just text me, and when I have time, I’ll text you back.” After learning to text – a challenge for middle-aged eyes and fingers – I began to text, and soon, we had developed a pattern of communication that at least assured me she was alive and well. When I began to lament that the texts were nice but that I’d really like to see her face, she responded (again, with no trace of guilt or concern!), “You need to get on Facebook. I post pics and comments there almost every day, and you’ll know what I’m doing, where I am, who I’m with, and you’ll be able to see me in my pictures.” Really? That’s how she wanted to communicate with her mother? But in desperation, I struggled through what is, I’m sure, a simple process to set up a Facebook page.

True to her word, my daughter was my first Facebook friend. And that’s when it truly happened: we became friends in a way we’d never been friends before. We still retained our warm mother-daughter bond; we still had occasional late-night phone chats; we still wrote old-fashioned snail mail letters (she knows her mom is old school, after all!). I remained a helicopter parent, but Facebook was my helicopter, allowing me to hover on the fringe of her life at most times but make an appearance when needed, satisfying her need for space to grow while satisfying my need to be informed. I began to meet her friends, experience aspects of her social life, see her friends’ comments and jokes, watch YouTube videos of my daughter and her friends. I felt engaged in her life again but she felt free to live that life as the young adult she had become.

Eventually, as I grew more comfortable with forming relationships through social media and having access to her friends’ comments, thoughts and pictures, I became brave enough to actually respond to their comments, thinking to myself that I might be making a huge mistake. These cool young college coeds might be offended by a gray-haired mom’s intrusion on their lives.

Their response? They sent me Facebook friend requests, too! And as they embraced me, I embraced them, getting to know a whole new group of bright young minds who are excited about politics, the economy, the environment! Of course, I remain cautious. I comment only when I believe I can add humor, insight, or an encouraging word. When I see things of which I disapprove (and that does happen!), I remain largely silent or I send a private message of encouragement. I am not the Facebook police, and I am not there to judge their lives. But I am so grateful to be a part of this tremendous social media phenomenon that has enriched my life so much!

Facing Facebook and other forms of social media as a means of maintaining a relationship with my child seemed strange, foreign, and scary to a little old lady who still found email to be somewhat challenging. I have parked my hovering helicopter and walked right through the door, becoming fully engaged in my adult daughter’s social media life. I begin and end each day logging in. Her posts appear on my page, and I see quickly that she is happy. Then I can go on about my business of Facebooking with my own middle-aged friends, some of whom wrote in my Slam Books, giggled on the phone with me at slumber parties, and gathered at my house to not watch movies. Facebook has reconnected me with those friends, introduced me to new friends, and reinvented my family relationships. And my life would be much bleaker without it.

Guest Bloggers Wanted!

I would love to have some guest bloggers write for Social Spaz!