Kiara Ellul

Blog For my Social Media class I am using the website blogspot, I have listed a link above. This is one of the blogs that I have written for my class. A blog is a great way to practice your social media skills and connect with others. Not only is it a way to express your opinions but it also gives you the opportunity to comment on others and challenge, agree, or learn about their opinions. In my opinion social media is in fact the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution. Social media has proven to advance and evolve in a very short period of time and has changed our lives in many ways. Some would consider social media to be a fad, however, I do not. Social media is never going to disappear, popular current networks used today such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc may not be around forever, but instead will be replaced with “the next best thing”. Social media is utilized by all kinds of people and for many different purposes. It has changed the way we connect with people, gain knowledge, and even voice our opinions. Although their are negative impacts of social media, the benefits are endless. As we grow older, our childhood friends no longer live next door. Peoples lives get busier, jobs may take them elsewhere, and we separate in hopes to stay in touch; we can thank social media for making this possible. Networks such as Skype make communicating from miles away almost seem like you’re sitting next to the person. Facebook allows you to see and hear about every trip, birthday party, and even test they had before they have a chance to tell you about it. How many of you experience a friend telling you a story that you have already heard about, because you saw it on Facebook? Another benefit is that businesses are now utilizing social media networks in order to further their business and reach out to the consumer. Many companies are entering the social media world, recognizing that there are more people logging into Facebook, than reading a newspaper. Social media is more accessible, and used to gain knowledge easier. This has resulted in teenagers being more involved and aware of current events happening all around the world. It is also being used to “spread the word” and raise awareness for social issues. Often people will use Youtube to tell their story or to inform people about different world issues, for example bullying. Social media is informative, easy to use, accessible, and most importantly fun. For these reasons and benefits stated, social media will therefore continue to evolve and change the way we communicate in our everyday lives. WikipediaFor my social media class, as a group we made a Wikipedia page about Blogs. We wrote about what blogs are, types of blogs, how to use them, and examples of blogs. Making this page showcases my social media skills because it was working as a team online to collaborate information regarding a topic and make edits where necessary. The link to this page is listed above.

Animato

Animato is a video slideshare maker. It is a great tool to use to make short videos on topics and add a brief summary of the topic listed. The link posted above is an example of an animato I made for my social media class. This showcases my social media skills because it shows I am able to use various websites and use animation. Twitter

A link not posted above that i frequently use is Twitter. Twitter is a popular instant messaging system that individuals use to write messages in 140 characters or less to connect with people. I use twitter to connect with friends, read messages from celebrities, and post random pictures I take with my Iphone. This website showcases my social media skills because you will see me connecting with friends, posting pictures, and sharing opinions. The link to my twitter account is https://twitter.com/#!/kiaraelise