Shirky Chapters 8-10

Chapter eight from Shirky starts out pretty interesting but then half ways through the chapter I just seem to get lost in what he is trying to explain. As chapter eight starts by introducing you to a Prisoners’ Dilemma as they call it, this is thought to be a scientific experiment which helps analyze how and why people make some certain decisions. Robert Axelrod, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who was studying the iterated version extensively which is simply the dismal Nash equilibrium meaning that when we are in a situation you and I cannot communicate with each other which only gives us one best option and that is the Nash equilibrium. Robert staged tournaments for different types of software that well have the ability to emulate the prisoners. These strategies were called Tit-for-Tat, were the outcomes were measured by adding and deduction points depending on all the various outcomes throughout all the different tournaments that were ran. Calming that these programs are highly simplified or a pretty close version to how people come to a decision in real life. But of course Clay Shirky, is not actually clamming that social tools can help us solve dilemmas. Instead he offers a number of way where social tools can strengthen our abilities to address them and be more aware of how they work. Shirky continues with some same variation of explanations for different types of social dilemmas through the next two chapters nine and ten. In chapter nine Shirky explores the six Degrees of Separation. This helped clues on homophily (which is the grouping of like with like), developing heavy and sparse connections throughout the same time and how bonding capital tends to be more exclusive and bridging capital more inclusive.  This chapter it was very interesting being able to understand the core elements of the small networks and larger networks ability to be held together making this chapter much more enjoyable for me since it was an easier read compared to some of the other chapters.  Rather than reading chapters where he tries to define and explain new phenomenon’s which just gets me really confused. 

New Media and Politics Group

The New media and politics group had us use this very cool website to answer question they asked use about certain issues as we texted a number they provided us with our answers. This was used to prove how technology would be much more useful and effective. In 1920 when the radio started to be used more often and also emerge as a news media for politics it was one of the main mediums used. Then later on during 1965-1973 the television started to storm though out the world and started to be used as well for candidates’ campaigns to gain support. Now a couple of years later in the 20^th century this has completely changed. Politics and news use all sorts of medium’s to get information out to the people or if they are trying to reach out to a certain group.  For example, 50% of people do online/ emails to get news around or be able to reach a group of people at the same time and there is 10% who use apps and texting for the same purpose. One great example of these mediums being used are during campaigns if the politics when they are trying to raise money, by using the internet, apps, emails and television to reach out to people it is more likely more people will be willing to donate digitally rather than mailing this or going to a campaign held by the politics. This comes to show that media has a great effect to the people depending on how the information that is being shared could influence the views of each politician. The number of forging bureaus reduced by 50% by news corporations, because covering un-important news such as Justin Bieber got arrested last week is much cheaper than having bureaus anywhere in the world. In 2008 Barak Obama was the first president to use a great amount of social media to win the campaign and now currently Donald Trump is the top dog of social medias as he becomes talked about all over the news with all the ignorant remarks he has to say he is well all over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This  group had a great presentation but at the end i feel like lots of the information was repeated by the other group members just in different forms, but the overall presentation was great except some of the slide shows were kept up for a couple seconds making it hard to get all the information.   

Social Media Group

Today there was another expert group presenting during our class time on the topic about social media. This topic can sometimes be confusing as well as overwhelming for many people. Being one of the very first internets activates to trend worldwide. Out of 7.2 billion people: there are just over 3 billion active internet users (45%).  There are many reasons why people use social media and the abilities are still growing. Some very obvious examples of why social Medias are so popular are the fact that we are allowed to share information and communicate at faster rates than other available ways that we have had in the past. For example, some of earlier history methods of communication that would be used to communicate are writing letters to each other, using the telegraph which was created in 1792, the telephone, radio, and then comes along the computer which revolutionized social media itself. Some of the first recognizable social medias that were around first were six degrees as it moved to more of a blogging page then eventually turned into a social media. Some of the most popular social medias of today are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumbler, Instagram, Yik Yak, etc. all these different social medias are used to every ones advantages. For instance, it could be used as a psychology of humans because we as humans like talking about ourselves in social media such as twitter and Facebook allow us present ourselves as we wish. Humans also desire community as having so much different ty types of social Medias it allows us to also feel connected. But such social media could also be used in a variety of ways, 64% of employers and companies use two or more social networks to help job-seekers find work. Could also help law enforcement catch prosecuted criminal as they us images on social media to catch criminals, and like twitter and Facebook both have tracking unite on criminals who brag about their crimes they have committed, help businesses promote their news gadget or update their customers with information. Not only does social media have lots of advantages and helping us get communicated and get on the trend with the hottest or coolest things going on around you there is also some negatives that arise. Cyberbullying, predators, and also decreasing the productivity in the workplace, according to some of the studies that have been done it has been proven that employees get on Facebook at least two or more hours  which is and could be too much while being at work.