Blog Post 2

I agree with Metcalfe's Law the most out of the laws we studied in class on Tuesday. Metcalfe's Law states that the value of a telecommunication's network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of a system. This means that with every new member of a network, the connections are multiplied dramatically. While this was originally formulated for devices rather than people and the formula does not take into account differences between people and levels of contact, I think it is a good law. Even if the connections made between people are as simple as being introduced, these networks are useful when applied to social networks such as LinkedIn, and are better than never having made the contact at all. I have also found that initial connections tend to grow and become more meaningful, and this law is a black and white foreshadowing of that process.

In five years, I think communication will continue to integrate. In the final season of Parks & Rec, the producers poked fun at this idea with holographic touch-screen phones, tablets, and watches. While I think this might be a little extreme for five years down the road, I definitely think that technology and its roles will continue to merge and be all connected, making communication even faster and even more of a constant. I think this will happen with social media platforms as well so that instead of having so many separate ones we will just rely on a few all-purpose methods.

Reading 1

Reading this article gave me a significant case of deja vu. I made my first blog when I was in middle school, a technology-savvy version of a journal. But the creation of the blog wasn’t just for me, it was to keep up and create a network with my friends who had a similar idea. While Myspace existed at this time, a blog was a more personal way for us to keep in contact and share our thoughts rather than just viewing each other’s profiles.Now, I’ve had ten different blogs - some personal, some for school.

I agree with everything the reading is saying about the benefit of blogs. They allow an outlet to share thoughts, recipes, experiences, whatever. The beauty is that you can get your thoughts out there for others to relate to, or just yourself. Either way, the gratification of publishing is there, and you can view it anywhere at anytime. And so can everyone else, bringing people from all over the world together over a common interest.  

The article does an excellent job of highlighting the everyday nature of blogs and their contents. Most blogs are relatable because they aren’t written by the rich and famous, they’re written by the “Average Joe”. And the Average Joe writes because he loves it or has a thought, and that thought influences someone else, and then the cycle continues, inspiring people to write about their lives or specific subjects. Blogging also gives people like Jack, Evan, Alan, and Vivian (examples from the reading) a place to practice their writing skills, giving them an interest and possible future writing for magazines. However, blogs don’t often function as interactive social media, because even if someone does comment on a blog, it tends to be one-sided. Rather, they have created their own niche in the internet world, filling the need to communicate and just express thoughts without expectations or need for anyone to respond. 

Regardless of why the blog is created or what the topic is, blogs are excellent ways of communicating and sharing thoughts and have many personal and social benefits.

First Post

This is a test for my Internet Communication blog!