About the Project

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Social media is a ubiquitous and influential force that has completely revolutionized the way people interact with each other. 

Of late there has been much debate about the consequences of this digitized mode of communication. The key question seems to be, “does social media make people more or less social?”

In an attempt to answer this question, some have taken extreme and over-simplified positions, declaring social media “good” or “bad" without fairly acknowledging the mix of benefits and consequences of this technology.

In reality, nothing is black and white. As researchers, we have taken an open minded approach to this question. We have identified three areas of consideration: the benefits of social media, the consequences of social media, and the effects of social media that are neither positive or negative.

The basis of this blog is the research conducted by three students at the University of Texas at Austin in the Radio-Television Program. According to our research, we have found that some of the benefits of social media are as follows:

1. The ability to communicate is increased because of social media technology
2. Weak ties and connections with people who are otherwise difficult to come in contact with because of schedule or geographic

Furthermore, some of the consequences of social media are:

1. Disconnectedness in face to face scenarios
2. False sense of intimacy

Here are some other observations that we have neither qualified as positive or negative:

1. Intimacy between two people cannot be created on Facebook.
2. A person's offline social patterns are likely to translate to their online social behavior.

Contents of Blog
As a team of three, we have each prepared a short video and supplemental content pertaining to a sub-topic of social media and technology.

• Photos on Facebook
• Mobile Media
• Intimacy and Technology

Additionally, we've created two pages that provide context to this project:

• Extras
• About Us

How To Use This Blog

Social media technology like Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, and the others exists in a Web 2.0 world. The fundamental principal of Web 2.0 is interactivity. It is therefore our desire to create a space where we not only present our research to you, but allow you as our audience to interact with our work.  This project is both an analysis and experiment with social media technology.


Please feel free to comment, "like," or share what you see on our blog!

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