Peer Response #3: Sheri’s Blog, Friendship or Acquaintanceship

This post is in response to Sheri’s blog, “Friendship or Acquaintanceship.”

I totally connected to this article, I take the label “friend” very seriously as well, but have never thought about the label from a social media point of view.

For years my friends have been asking me who my “best-friend” was and I would have to go through the lengthy explanation about why I don’t label people as “best-friend.” To me if I call someone a “friend” they are like family too me. If one is hurting – I am too, if one is mad – so am I, If one fights – I’m fighting too..lol So with feelings as strong as that for people I call friends there really isn’t a need to label anyone as a “best-friend.”

However, as strongly as I feel about labeling people as “friends” in “real life” so to speak. I have never really thought about all of the people I have “friended” on Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, etc…

I have even went as far to argue with my real life friends who have over 1,000 friends on social networking sites. I have been famous for saying “you don’t even know that many damn people, take them off your list” – and now I’m guilty of the same crime…lol

I propose that social networking sites change the title from “friends” to “affiliates,”. Okay-okay I know that takes it down like a million notches but I like it better. For marketing purposes I’m sure the site managers/operators wouldn’t like that idea too much because “friend” just sounds warm and welcoming while “affiliates” sound cold and distant. But I think it fits social networking sites much better, because lets be real – the people online aren’t really your friends, just people to cure boredom.

Peer Response #2: Inklings, All Things Beautiful

This post is a response to Mollie’s blog post, “All Things Beautiful.”

The sad thing is I agree with everything you are saying however, that also is the reason why I feel like a hypocrite because I’m not a female but I have fallen victim to the obsession with beauty.

I often get mad at myself at how much value I put on people’s beauty and even my own. When my hair is not freshly cut or I am going some where nice but don’t have a brand new outfit to wear I feel subpar and simply unattractive.

It has even gotten so bad that I have become a true metrosexual, I try to visit the barber shop once a week and at least buy a shirt or some piece of clothing once or twice a month. I love face creams – even though I don’t think they do much to keep my skin healthy, I guess it’s just a mental thing.

I have even went as far as telling the really attractive people that I know that they should use their looks to get things that they want. There have been moments that even when I feel like I am groomed and well put together but when a guy enters the room that’s more attractive I feel inadequate.

Yes I do see this as a problem and it bothers me too, because there have been times when my insecurities about my appearance have ruined my night and my friend’s nights.

I wish it wasn’t such a big issue to me but when all of the attractive individuals around you are getting anything they want and being praised for having great genetics, it kind of makes you a little self conscientious. Often the feeling of being inferior to others will call you to go the extreme and spend hundreds of thousands or products and clothing that is supposed to make you more attractive.

We might never learn but one thing’s for sure, America will continue to feed or our insecurities.

Okay, I’m done with my Dr. Phil moment…lol

Peer Response #1: Prissy Perceptions, The new “new” Facebook

This post is response to “Prissy Perceptions” aka Amber’s post The new “new” Facebook.

First, let me start by saying that I totally agree with you, I hate when these sites keep changing because then I have to learn everything over again. One thing I will say is that it keeps everyone on their social media “P&Q’s” LOL But at any rate it’s still a mess!!

I believe it was the first wave of transformations that had me the most discombobulated.

This is no lie, you know it took me TWO MONTHS to figure out why my existing photo albums weren’t allowing me to add any more photos. I was LOST…on the original Facebook you could add an unlimited amount of photos, but all of sudden the web designer wanted to put a cap on photos – doesn’t he know pictures are worth a thousand words??? So now everytime I exceed the photo cap it’s onto a new photo album for me…that’s a damn shame.

Another feature that I have had mixed feelings about is the chat component of the site. I like it because there are times when I see a good friend online and I want to talk to him/her and catch up. But there are other times when there are people online who I’m avoiding but they have access too me as well. I know at this point you are probably saying, “well Marcus you can always turn that feature off so people won’t know when you are online.” Yes, I know this but, what if I miss out on talking to a good friend or family member when I’m online all because they don’t see me? So that’s why I’m tour on the issue. They should have just stuck with the standard message system that was in place and not even teased me with this new chat thingy.

But like Amber, despite of all of the negative, I just can’t seem to get enough of Facebook.

Response #13: 2012 prediction

When the 2012 elections come around one thing is for sure – President Obama will certainly have an edge over any other candidates. He will have an edge simply because during the 2008 Election he utilized every form of social media to win over American voters.

In my opinion I believe one of the main reasons that President Obama won over so many of the youth vote is because of his social media strategy. What better way to connect with the youth than to go where they are? Joining someone’s “realm” so-to-speak is the most effective way to make them feel comfortable.

Now that President Obama has jumped into the social media pond with both feet he has really set the bar really high for everyone that proceeds him.

I think the best strategy for the 2012 campaign is OVERKILL! I hate to say it because I am the one who really doesn’t like seeing the same advertisement a million times while I’m on the net. However, I think that will be best marketing strategy.

Okay now let me explain what I mean – I don’t think candidates should venture into pop-up ads or rudely blocking other sites to insert their own propaganda. But rather purchase banner space on the sites of stakeholders, including interests groups, unions and even blogs.

Purchasing ad space on sites that interest your stakeholders is great because one would assume that if a stakeholder is visiting a site that interest them and see that they “support” you, them seeing that will slightly increase your chances of winning, thanks to shear common interest.

It would also be usefully to set up profiles or all social media and social networking platforms.

Implementing a social media strategy has a host of overall benefits. It should be the goal of candidates of 2012 election to provide stakeholders with as much information as possible and increase transparency and the most effective way of doing that is with – social media.

Response #12: Transparency of the War

Is seeing and reading about the war a good thing…YES!!!!!

I think one of the main difficulties with addressing this question for some people is where they reside. While studying Journalism at Penn State University I learned that CNN or should I just say American media outlets, depict a very censored view of the Iraq War compared to overseas media outlets like, Al Jazeera.

I think American outlets should be much more transparent as it relates to the war. Instead of telling the American population the truth, the media seems to think it is a better strategy to throw advertisements enticing young minority men to join the arm forces.

It’s ironic how the minority population, all inclusive, represents roughly 20 percent of the American population, yet 90 percent of arm forces advertisements feature minorities or White Americans from lower social-economic classes. If America is going to overwhelm airwaves with advertisements to entice underprivileged youths, they should also be willing to inform the country about the negative components of joining the arm services.

Adverse effects should not be glossed over like American outlets are famous for doing, but rather full-on stories of decapitations, months of torture before being murdered, and most importantly the psychological effects of those who do make it out of the war “safely.”

While matriculating at Penn State I saw footage from Al Jazeera that showed a room full of body parts from America soldiers. One pile were heads, the next torsos and the others, legs and arms. Did America report this NO!!! A copy story or a mini feature…… yes, but American outlets have not given nearly as much attention to the war as other countries have.

I think we should have total access to the front lines, expecially when we are fooling disadvantaged youths about thinking the war is not that bad. It’s dishonest and unfair to omit information from American citizens – it’s down right deceitful!

Other #3: Facebook attracting the old school

CNN’s article, All in the Facebook family: older generations join social networks, really caught my attention. I thought it was very interesting and creative how the writer, John D. Sutter, began talking about how an “international” family is using Facebook to keep in touch. You have to admit that logging online and chatting is much more feasible than a long distance bill! However, this  part of the article wasn’t much of a shock to me, because I recently found out that prisoners can log onto social networking sites to talk to their families from jail – that explains some of the decline in mail value.

But what grabbed my attention the most was how the writer spun off into interesting facts about how the “pre-internet” generations are jumping onto the social networking band wagon at amazing rates. The article quotes that seven percent of people older than 65 have profiles on Facebook. Now, I’m still trying to get used to the fact that my mother, who is 52 years-old, knows how to text me, so learning that people over 65 are friending each other on Facebook just seems like an oxymoron.

The second statistic to alert me was that 1.5 million female users older than 55 are on the site. Now, to all of my readers over 55, I apologize in advance, however, to me that’s the age when single women really start to panic about growing old and ultimate ending their life alone. With that being said I would attribute that statistic to older women finally realizing that they have another vehicle to getting a date. We all know that right now Facebook is about 50 percent personal interactions and 50 percent professional, if you are a female over 55 your motivations are probably the first of the two choices.

However,  at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite I will say that I some what agree with parent, Linda Fogg-Phillip, that a portion of the sharp increase probably are parents who are checking in on their curious teenagers.

But, I must say the grandmother of 13, Joanne Woeppel, who said if it wasn’t for Facebook she wouldn’t get more than a “hi” and “bye” from her grandkids, really made me feel guilty.

We all can plead guilty to doing that once or twice in our lives. I think it’s caused by the thoughts of having them ask a million questions and pointing out every flaw in over lives and decisions we have made. Nonetheless, I would like to take this moment to tell my grandparents, MARCUS LOVES YOU!!!

Response #11: Global Blogging

My name is Marcus, with an “M,” so instead of searching through a bunch of unfamiliar countries that begin with the letter “M” I chose to look at what’s happening in the Middle East. I know that’s a region and not a country, but hey at least it begins with the same alphabet as my name. LOL

Anyway, once I picked my “region” I wanted to get more specific and see what the Middle East was blogging about on my favorite topic and my part time career, ENTERTAINMENT! But, I was very disappointed you guys. The Middle East’s idea of entertainment is a heated debate over what run of the mill political campaign is too racy for their families or overall mental and even physical well being. With that being said I won’t knock anyone’s swag however I will ask….ARE YOU FREAKIN’ SERIOUS?!?!?!

No Rhianna and Chris Brown, no Amy Winehouse ….. and worse of all…no Brandy, if ya’ll don’t know how I feel about her, Amo Brandy, aka I love Brandy! Anyway, I  digress, the “entertainment” blogging happening in the Middle East was centered around politics, poverty and riots. But once you put some thought into this you would really not be too surprised about this, considering they third world economy, government and over all life style of the Middle Elast.

What has been the most shocking to me while exploring the entertainment niche in the Middle East is that the UAE is trying to block, YOUTUBE!!! Okay again, I’m going to have a moment…..WHO THE HELL BLOCKS YOUTUBE?!?!?!?!? The video search engine is ranked among the top 10 most popular sites in the UAE and news about its possible censorship has sparked an uproar and I wouldn’t be surprised if the buzz of just blocking it all together had people passing out in the middle of the street. LOL

Racy, okay yes, You Tube can be somewhat racy with the videos that are posted and the provocative comments really doesn’t help. However, it can also very educational with exclusive news feeds and even looking at news reports from other countries. And to add insult to injury what about people who utilize YouTube for their careers, what are they supposed to do??

You know what I can’t take this anymore I need a cup of water, I will see you guys on the next blog.

Other #2: Kelly Rowland drops manager and then gets dropped by Columbia

Former Destiny Child’s sidekick Kelly Rowland has let go of her career long manager and pseudo father, Matthew Knowles – all I can say is IT’S ABOUT FREAKIN’ TIME!! But it might be a little too late.

In 2003 it was rumored that former friend and ’90’s teen superstar, Brandy warned Ms. Rowland about her management team. It was said that the “I Wanna Be Down” songstress told the former Destiny Child’s road kill singer that “Mathew only cares about Beyonce, you should get a new manager.” Neither Brandy or Rowland confirmed nor denied that alleged comment however, the budding BFF’s discontinued their routine weekend outings that the tabloids seem to conveniently pop up at. Also, Brandy so generously included Rowland in her list of “Thank Yous” for her 2004 release of Afrodisiac. Rowland also released that year but made no mention of Brandy.

The release date for Ms. Rowland’s follow-up album was also pushed back twice while Beyonce, Matthew Knowles daughter and client, had her project, B-Day, rushed for release and a world tour planned at the same time. All of this while Rowland’s project was some how leaked to to the internet, which goes without saying dramatically impacted her album sells.

The bigger picture that Rowland should have paid attention too is that managers are paid based on how much work they generate for their clients. If Rowland is a client of Matthew Knowles and he is getting her little or no work at all than he is not getting paid. Why would a manager not want to get get paid and help his client and thus his career grown? It would have been just as obvious to Rowland has it was to the rest of the world that the acts of her manger were intentional.

When the album was released in 2007 Rowland was in DC shopping for the weekend and to no avail, I personally called Matthew Knowles’ office to set up an interview with Rowland while she was in the city. Now, what is the point of re-releasing the album if her managing/promotions team is not going to attempt to generate a buzz. Out of three e-mails and two voicemails, none of them were returned by Matthew Knowles’ office.

Too add insult to injury Rowland was dropped from Columbia Record records the week after she let go of Knowles. Who didn’t know that was coming? Knowles is the head of the urban division at the label.

With the lack of management and record label I know Rowland is wishing she had listened to Brandy’s advice back in 2003 – let’s keep a sharp eye out to see where her career is headed.

Response #10: Wikipedia Report

My Wikipedia report was done on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia Subcommittee. I added two sections; “Recent Activity” and “Short Subcommittee History” because the site offered very little information other than listing the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction areas, which it is nothing useful because if someone is researching the Subcommittee I’m sure they would hope for more than the jurisdiction areas being names – especially when that information could be ascertained from the title of the Subcommittee.

I chose to focus on this Subcommittee because it is where I work within the House of Representatives. I wanted my report to be meaningful to me and my career and it has also given me the idea to pitch to my boss that as Press Secretary I would like to be responsible for Wikipedia updates as well as other contemporary social media sites.

When I started to edit the Wikipedia post I got nervous because it seemed too easy to be true. The part that appeared to be tricky was the formatting style, I’m accustom to using HTML format, which is what I use here on WordPress. I was also challenged by the procedure to hyperlink things to websites or documents. Everytime I attempted to hyperlink a title or phrase I kept getting an error message saying I would have to be an authorized user to do that….needless to say that confused the hell out of me!

Response #9: Twitter Breaking Up a Happy Home

Now the jury may still be out on whether or not flirting and conversing via social networking sites is cheating. However, if you are hit with the ever so cliche “I’m busy” (which is the ultimate BS excuse by the way) only too discover that twitter has been keeping your girlfriend/boyfriend busy – than you have the right to be not so happy.

Yes, realistically it is the person that should be to blame for lying and misleading someone who they are supposed to love. However social networking sites like twitter, facebook, myspace, mocospace, etc… makes it a lot easier for the unfaithful to stray.

Why are social networking sites do addictive? There have been times where I have set back and tried to analyze why people are so fascinated by the online world. Who in their right mind would brush someone off to play with a computer? Especially a significant other, to me that’s just asking for trouble!

Now, granted when John Mayer recently told Jennifer Aniston that he was “too busy to talk” he wasn’t cheating but more or less showing that he would rather updated random followers about insignificant things he did throughout the afternoon, as a substitute to talking to his girlfriend. I think we all would have rather been cheated on than ignored and disrespected via the internet only to have it magnified by the media. LOL

Was Jennifer over reacting, mmmm in my opinion no she wasn’t. It’s one thing to use the “I’m busy” card as a way to get some free time to rest or just be alone but to use it as an excuse to play around on twitter is a little pathetic and a whole lot of disrespectful.