I didn't see the point in using Twitter when it first got popular. It seemed to me more like talking to yourself in a room full of people, unless you had a large enough following to be noticed, and I had no real desire to try for that. If I had something to say, I would say it on Facebook, and that was that. Then I discovered that the Chicago Blackhawks had an official account! I signed up and followed the team to keep up with the game scores when I couldn't watch live. Through my time reading tweets about and from the Hawks, I found what I believe is one of the best people on Twitter to follow, but first a little background. The coach of the Hawks for the past eight seasons, including their most recent three Stanley Cup Championships, has been Joel Quenville, affectionately called "Coach Q" by the masses. He is known, physically, by one major defining characteristic. His mustache!
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| Just look at that handsome fella! |
Ever since my high school days, I have loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. During one of the later seasons, a character was introduced who immediately became one of my favorites. It was an evil priest played by the one and only Rick Castle. No wait, that isn't his real name, that's the character he plays now. Captain Mal Reynolds! No, no that's not it either. That was his name on Firefly - easily the best sci-fi show of it's time. Captain Hammer? Nah. In all seriousness, his name is @NathanFillion and he is so funny on Twitter! He regularly responds to fan questions in as hilarious a manner as possible. He really seems to love engaging with the public and using his fame for fun, rather than power.One of the few other people I follow, who is not a hockey player, is @jimmyfallon. I don't really make a point to read all of his tweets, but I do love how he uses hashtags to get people involved with The Tonight Show. Every week, he tweets out a hashtag and asks people to use it to respond. The next night, he shares some of his favorite responses. It always ends up as a trending topic withing a half hour! I will throw out my own short story when I feel so inclined, but I know everyone else's stories are always so much better than my own.
My favorite tweet that I've seen recently was this once right here. It was the last in a countdown series by @NHLBlackhawks showing captain Jonathan Toews (pronounced kinda like Tay-v's - call him Toes and we're gonna have problems) holding up a single finger indicating just one day left until the season's home opener at the United Center in Chicago. The Hawks hoisted their championship banner, and then played host to the New York Rangers. Even though they lost tonight, I am so excited for this season to start and can't wait to see how they do without the players they lost to retirement and trades, and their new recruits as well.
There is no question in my mind that social media empowers the people! Whether they use that power for good or evil is entirely up for debate. It is heartening to see people come together to support a cause (or individual) to make a change for the better. My brother introduced me to theChive a few years ago, and if you don't know what that is, you should really go check it out. They post collections of photos that are funny, serious, painful, and informative. They also have what they call Chive Charities, as well, where the Chive community comes together to make donations to worthy causes. Last year they raised enough money to build an entire sports center specifically designed for children with disabilities in Texas! The story was absolutely incredible and the community response was immediate and amazing. It all starts when theChive asks for donations from the community and sets a goal. It has become a regular occurrence for the donations to surpass the goal (sometimes by two, three or even four times the amount!) Talk about power!As far as strengthening democracy, that's where I get a little fuzzy. I know that the internet allows for people to access information and points of view they wouldn't necessarily agree with. By taking that into account, they can make an informed opinion about candidates or policies. They can then take to social media and broadcast their thoughts to the world and possibly influence other people to vote a certain way on an issue. However, I feel as though lately, I've been seeing more posts and articles about how our government is failing the people. I'm not sure if having so many opinions just a click away has strengthened democracy or just made people argue more with each other. I am often dumbfounded by the comments on politically charged articles on Facebook. It seems that they all start out as a good conversation, but by the time you get about twenty to thirty comments in, every thread has been reduced to name calling, bad grammar and swear words. Hmm.
So, was 'What Would Google Do?' written by Tony Stark's butler?
No, but Jeff Jarvis does seem to know his stuff! He talks about businesses needing to become a platform, where your service enables your customers to do more than they would be able to on their own. I never really thought about this concept as I used the internet. It makes sense once it is written out in front of me, that each website I use becomes a means to an end for me. Although I don't have many posts yet, I do use Blogger to connect with the world. I am able to use their platform to post crochet patterns that I have created, and anyone can access them at any given moment. I used to just think of Blogger as a stationary location that plays host to my blog, but now I can see it as its own entity, molded by what its users (myself included) are looking for. It allows me to personalize my blog so that it is a direct reflection of what I want, instead of only offering a one size fits all, cookie cutter approach to the blogging world. It is amazing what a little perspective can do.
In the video, Jeff Jarvis addresses the argument that people being rude on the internet make it a bad thing, saying that while that may be true, people can be rude anywhere, not just the internet. I fully agree! Anywhere you go, people are able to say anything they want, and the things they say are not always pleasant. When someone can get behind a screen name or avatar, they feel that they are anonymous and might be more apt to say meaner things than they would if they knew a name or face was associated with the words. Rude people don't make the internet a bad thing, though. You can choose to be offended and start arguing or just ignore the comments and move on. In World of Warcraft, you can form a group with random people to beat a dungeon (small group) or raid (large group). When you're in a group, you get a text chat channel devoted to your group and can type back and forth to each other. After running a few dungeons, you're very likely to run into a troll, or someone who says rude/mean things just to get a reaction out of the rest of the group. In these cases, it is best to remember "DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!" The best way to deal with someone who is being mean is to ignore them, just as in real life or on the internet. Once they realize their goal will not be met, they end up being quieter for the rest of the dungeon and you can happily get through it. Even if they don't stop, and continue being rude, you can try to kick them out of the group or ignore your chat channel. While they can be irritating and frustrating, they don't make the game (or the internet in general) a bad place to be. It's just something you have to deal with when humans are involved. Some are nice and some are not. It's just the way things are; the location, whether real or virtual, is irrelevant.
Just remember:
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