I have never thought about the relationship between the social media technology and me until the day that I moved to my new apartment which is without internet. And I would never forget that I was really in a bad mood and felt uneasy and even insecurity merely because of the lack of internet, which made me keep wondering since when I cannot even live well without internet.
Every time I turn on my computer, the first thing I do is to log on the MSN and QQ which are the C/S chatting software, and then open the Firefox, iGoogle would automatically tell me the Calendar, email, the news and blogs I subscribed in the Google Reader, and the most popular clips on the YouTube. After going through the Google Reader, I would have a feeling of connecting to the world and having my information system update. And there is also a thing that I would never miss is to log on the Xiaonei.com where I can get touch with my Chinese classmates and friends and learn something new, valuable or just funny from the sharing items. It is very similar to the Facebook except the sharing characteristic. I also use the Facebook to contact my foreign friends but not as frequently as I do with Xiaonei.
Blog is a main media I use to express myself, and what I am using now is MySpace and Blogger. I like the Twitter as well, because it’s simple and real-time, which kind of fill the gap between the chat software and traditional blog. Actually, I also intend to build another blog with WordPress technology as long as I come up with any good ideas about the theme and content.
Being a major assistant of my study, some professional blogs, forums and of course, Wiki and Google, are the main source of my inspirations and references besides of the library. And the social bookmarks like Delicious and Digg are really good means for accumulating knowledge and information. And the B/S office software like GoogleDocs makes the teamwork easier and more efficient. So it becomes really difficult to finish any single assignment without the internet.
In my leisure time, I would like to spend time on Douban.com where I can catch the recent trends of book, music and movie. And I also enjoy reading the most popular comments on those, some of which are really fruity rather than mere culture fast-food. I also use numbers of other niche market communities, which are not famous but really helpful for me.
Suddenly I found that I was kind of depending on these social media technologies. They really began to be an indispensable part of my social life. The benefits used to be gained by interacting, such as communicating with others, learning and sharing knowledge can be simply got with the help of social media technologies. Sometimes, it is seems to be much more cheerful to social online instead of in the reality, since we could concern less and just be ourselves. We could choose the friends or topics that we really like and block those we dislike, and make comments based on more objective perspective and say the words we really mean. Moreover, social media technology has made it possible to be more efficient with information. Nearly every time that I got familiar with a certain type of social media technology, it is a sort of ‘eye-opening experience’ to me. Nowdays, the mobile phone also makes the social media more complicated but vigorous. The RSS and plenty of aggregators help us out of sea of information and be more focus and efficient. In sum, the social media technology provides a platform for us to social in a more genuine and effective way.
Although I do thank the social media technology, being explored in front of such numerous options, I still feel a little confused instead of lucky.
Am I missing anything? Do I need to apply all of them?
Nobody can exhaust them all, so people are more likely to end up with some certain ones and really stick to them, which create a new sort of niche market. The more opportunities I see here is for the marketers, since the customers’ behavior and marketing media has changed a lot. It is more about the niche market, which is most easily accessed by these new media. And social media technology here would definitely play an important role and bring the hope to the marketers in the future.
Every time I turn on my computer, the first thing I do is to log on the MSN and QQ which are the C/S chatting software, and then open the Firefox, iGoogle would automatically tell me the Calendar, email, the news and blogs I subscribed in the Google Reader, and the most popular clips on the YouTube. After going through the Google Reader, I would have a feeling of connecting to the world and having my information system update. And there is also a thing that I would never miss is to log on the Xiaonei.com where I can get touch with my Chinese classmates and friends and learn something new, valuable or just funny from the sharing items. It is very similar to the Facebook except the sharing characteristic. I also use the Facebook to contact my foreign friends but not as frequently as I do with Xiaonei.
Blog is a main media I use to express myself, and what I am using now is MySpace and Blogger. I like the Twitter as well, because it’s simple and real-time, which kind of fill the gap between the chat software and traditional blog. Actually, I also intend to build another blog with WordPress technology as long as I come up with any good ideas about the theme and content.
Being a major assistant of my study, some professional blogs, forums and of course, Wiki and Google, are the main source of my inspirations and references besides of the library. And the social bookmarks like Delicious and Digg are really good means for accumulating knowledge and information. And the B/S office software like GoogleDocs makes the teamwork easier and more efficient. So it becomes really difficult to finish any single assignment without the internet.
In my leisure time, I would like to spend time on Douban.com where I can catch the recent trends of book, music and movie. And I also enjoy reading the most popular comments on those, some of which are really fruity rather than mere culture fast-food. I also use numbers of other niche market communities, which are not famous but really helpful for me.
Suddenly I found that I was kind of depending on these social media technologies. They really began to be an indispensable part of my social life. The benefits used to be gained by interacting, such as communicating with others, learning and sharing knowledge can be simply got with the help of social media technologies. Sometimes, it is seems to be much more cheerful to social online instead of in the reality, since we could concern less and just be ourselves. We could choose the friends or topics that we really like and block those we dislike, and make comments based on more objective perspective and say the words we really mean. Moreover, social media technology has made it possible to be more efficient with information. Nearly every time that I got familiar with a certain type of social media technology, it is a sort of ‘eye-opening experience’ to me. Nowdays, the mobile phone also makes the social media more complicated but vigorous. The RSS and plenty of aggregators help us out of sea of information and be more focus and efficient. In sum, the social media technology provides a platform for us to social in a more genuine and effective way.
Although I do thank the social media technology, being explored in front of such numerous options, I still feel a little confused instead of lucky.
Am I missing anything? Do I need to apply all of them?
Nobody can exhaust them all, so people are more likely to end up with some certain ones and really stick to them, which create a new sort of niche market. The more opportunities I see here is for the marketers, since the customers’ behavior and marketing media has changed a lot. It is more about the niche market, which is most easily accessed by these new media. And social media technology here would definitely play an important role and bring the hope to the marketers in the future.
its amazing how many different applications we use to socialize and express ourself, to get by everyday...the social media technology gets more advanced and user friendly for everyday that goes.we are dependent of these technologies and we wouldnt survive without them
ReplyDeleteTala
When I read your essay, I feel you talked exactly about what I want to talk, same experience and same feelings, of course same confusing. I do not know since when I can not live well without internet too. I still remember the period I started using a computer, I could not sit there with computer for more than one hour, otherwise I will get headache. But one day, my computer suddenly got broken, I sent it to be repaired, and my life became chaotic. Then I realized what the internet means to me. Even I feel boring that I sit in front of computer, loop doing the same thing every day. But without internet even for a few hours, I will start being worried, although I know I can do something else instead of surfing on the internet. Sometimes, I hate this kind of life; it seems I am already addicted to the internet. At the same time, I have to thank for the internet or social Medias, which make it possible for the people like me who are far away from their families, old friends to make a close connection with their communities.
ReplyDeleteQiong Jia
Wow, I must say that I am a bit amazed by how much you use social media. Where do you find the time to do so? It is not hard for me to understand that it might leave one feeling a bit confused using them all. I only use about three of the ones you mention and not at all to a great extent and I must say that I feel very content with that. That is to say, I don’t think I need to use more. Wouldn’t it have been far more convenient for you if all of these functions could be gathered into one? I think someone needs to invent such a function.
ReplyDeleteI can however sympathize with the way you utilize the social media to get in touch and keep up with your friends and family back home in China. When I was a foreign exchange student in Madrid I spent a lot of time in internet cafés writing emails and reading Swedish newspapers. I think that is the most important impact social media has had, that it narrows the distances between people and ease interaction with different parts of the world. Well, well, that was back in 2001. Time flies it seems…
Johan Östberg