Hi there!

This week’s topic revolves around the contemporary concepts of New media and Social Media. There were two main arguments that structured the discussion.

What’s so new about New Media?

Prior to this course and class, I have never given this any thought..making it all the more interesting to talk blog about. According to Siapera, what makes new media ‘new’ is the fact that it is on an endless evolvement loop. In other order, new media is new because it never stays the same long to be old! Hence, the fact that there is no unified explanation to this notion. Another aspect of new media is the emerge of social media..which brings us to the second argument.

What’s so social about social media?

That argument is something that has been discussed for many years in regards to the fact that social media is ironically shifting our society into being less social. I have never actually agreed with that, but it was something I was forced to think about every time I had to write an essay about ‘the effect of social media’  in school. According to Hinton and Hjorth, the social aspect of social media arises from the attitude people have towards social media sites – that is people use them in an engaging and participatory manner. Personally, I think that social media does make us more social. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to keep in touch with friends and family from different parts of the world. Some might argue that e-mail could have been sufficient in that context, yet it isn’t near as convenient or instant.

Overall, I found this week’s topic insightful and Elaine’s relay of the matter made it all the more educational!