Lessons:

While I took Professor Rheingold’s social media course last quarter, most of my experience with social media has come from my own social media use, not from the classroom. I use Facebook, Yik Yak, and Snapchat daily. I use Instagram and Linked in somewhat frequently, and I have a Twitter account that I use mostly for news curation. I would like to branch out and join more niche communities on the web.

I’m particularly interested in the way that social media has changed/will change the relationships in my own life and the notion of social relationships for my generation as a whole. I remember agonizing over how to rank my friends when Myspace first launched “Top Friends” feature on personal profiles and cheering for many of my sorority sisters when they change their Facebook relationship status. I think that the notion of needing to rank friends/publicly define our relationships has profoundly influenced my social relationships offline. I wonder if these types of features have contributed to a sense of internal loneliness, rejection, false happiness, and false security for my generation.

Expectations:

This quarter, I expect to be exposed to new social media and new ideas about social media. I’m very excited to learn from my co-learners’ experiences and work collaboratively for this course.

Social Media Roles:

Social media has the potential to simplify our lives, and the potential to complicate them. I want to learn more about how to navigate these waters and how to successfully use social media to simplify, organize, and maximize our social productivity.