Facebook vs. Twitter

How can we possibly keep track of all the social networking that is building in the world? Who’s using which network, how to work each network, which ones we like or dislike, which one serves the purpose we want in a social network. Facebook seems to be the most popular today and I believe started within Universities for college students. However, the network began to move down the age ladder a little while ago as it became popular among those in high school and even middle school students are making their own profiles now. It was very weird to me when I first saw a middle school student on Facebook. I thought they were way too young to begin social networking, but I guess there is no starting age, or ending for that matter as more and more parents are creating profiles as well. Another, more recent, social networking site is Twitter. Twitter seems to be just as popular, if not surpassing Facebook. They serve very different purposes, which is probably why most people have both a Facebook and Twitter account they keep simultaneously. Unlike the switch people made leaving Mysace and joining Facebook. Facebook allows for pictures, status updates, directly addressing someone by writing or commenting on their profile, videos, liking posts, personal messages, instant messages, etc. Twitter is just the status update aspect as well as comments. Addressing someone is also possible, but by adding them to your status rather than directly writing on their profile.

            

A couple weeks  in English 103 we created Twitter accounts to become part of the tweeting community as well as having the responsibility to answer specific questions our teacher posts relating to class. I was not enthralled by the idea of joining this social network. Even after the process of tweeting began, even to this day, my views have no changed and I still am not interested in what gets tweeted. I do not find reading people’s statuses too amusing. If I want to see what someone is doing, it is most likely on Facebook and if anything worth discussing happens on twitter it most likely comes from an athlete and will therefore be all over ESPN at some point. There is just more to do, look at, and be apart of on Facebook. I also find Twitter to be more confusing, maybe I just haven’t used it enough, but it seems harder to navigate from the start. Clearly many people disagree with me since SO many people do have twitter accounts, but hey not everyone can have the same opinion.

By: Heather Britt

Communication while on Spring Break

Spring break is a time for college students to leave campus and relax with friends.  Some students choose to go home, others go to a beach destination like Florida.  Other students may even choose to do a service trip and help a community in need.  During this time friends may be separated but will still be in communication with one another.  Twitter and facebook are forms of social networking that can keep friends in contact while in different parts of the country, or even the world.  During this break I went home to Massachusetts but was still able to talk to my friends who were in Aruba.  I was able to do this through facebook chat.  This forms of networking is quick and easy and allows for private conversation. 

One of the issues that parents have with this form of networking is that it is so private and in some ways public, when it comes to the information that is on a profile, that it is hard to monitor.  If your child is on spring break they can be telling their other friends anything they want, such as, where to meet, what to bring, and what can be expected.  Twitter on the other hand is a little safer. 

With twitter, all you have is a status update.  There is no instant messaging or private messaging that can be done.  In addition, anyone can see your statuses and therefore students would me less likely to put private information on their Twitter that they don’t want others know.  I did not have a Twitter until this class and I still only use my Twitter for the English assignments.  However, I do look at the tweets of other friends on occasion.  The tweets lately have been all about spring break and how they miss the beach and the sun.  I would always prefer to talk to my friends in person and find out how their spring breaks were in person, but if I don’t have the time, checking up on twitter or facebook is a good way to find out if they had a good time or not.  In addition, it allows for a good conversation starter.  By commenting on a picture or status you start a new sort of conversation than you maybe could have had if it was just in person.

Typography Around You

Social networks and text-based communications are becoming increasing popular, so how can you make something your own or give meaning to what you say with these boring computerized letters? By making a new font choice, changing the font size, and color choice of course! These choices you make is know as Typography. Typography is all around us whether you’ve taken notice to it or not. (Just because you don’t notice it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!) Think about what catches your eye on a sign when you pass by or some company’s logos. Yup! All different ideas of typography. This is an efficient way of catching the reader’s eye and getting them interested in the reading.

            It wasn’t until a week to two weeks ago that I became aware of this and started taking notice once we learned about the topic in English class. I always noticed the different fonts and sizes, but I never put any meaning to it or related it to the message being conveyed. One advertisement that really plays off color is skittles. “Taste the Rainbow” being their slogan, they use the colors to stand out and support their message. A skittles advertisement can be seen with this link, http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/skittles3.jpg I’m sure you can think of other popular ads and companies that have very distinctive ads or logos to you because of the font, colors, etc that they use.

            One font we paid particular attention to was Helvetica and how widely used it is on numerous signs and ads. I live just 45 minutes outside New York City, so this font is very familiar to me. It is on every corner to identify street names, where the subways are, and store names. It is a very readable font that does stand out, so it is indeed very appropriate in the busy city where it may be easy to miss things. However, I do not agree with the companies that are changing their image to include Helvetica. Maybe I’m just sick of seeing it and would rather gaze upon another font, but I also think companies should have their own identity and not all conform to the style of Helvetica. There are plenty other fonts that can accomplish the same thing especially when paired with the right colors. One company that falls culprit to this is the clothing store Gap. This link shows their old design on the left and the new one on the right, http://www.unconventionalbranding.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/gap-logo-re-branding.png Which one do you like better?

            Typography is a great way to make what is being said more interesting meaning people will probably pay attention more, or actually listen to the message. It is a really neat topic with endless possibilities. 
By: Heather Britt