A summery of a presentation one of my peers created on Facebook

One piece of technology that I found very interesting when watching the presentations from the other day was the presentation of Facebook. I found it very interesting that Facebook was started by in college by a young Mark Zuckerberg while he was at Harvard. Mark has originally started Facebook as a smaller internet program called face smash. Face smash was used to compare pictures of girls that went to hard Harvard that mark got while using the Harvard student database. Face Smash was a hit  with many guys on Campus using it. Mark eventually expanded the program to other schools to gain popularity. 

With this success, Mark expanded the app to "The Facebook". This app eventually expanded further  to the App we know and love today. Even though Facebook is mostly used today by moms, it is expanding into new products such as the Metaverce which is slowly gaining steam today. Mark has expanded his company into a monopoly by buying Instagram and many other popular social media apps. I think I found this presentation so interesting because of the origin story. There is even a movie created about the creation of Facebook that was referenced in the presentation.  I think I have to watch this movie at this point because the creation of this global phenomenon intrigues me. 

TikTok Blog

(photo from https://techcrunch.com)

TikTok and its history

In today's digital world, TikTok has become a very popular app on social media.  This blog dives deep into the history of  Tik Tok, from its beginning stages as Musical.ly to becoming a sensation globally. This blog will also go into the Pros and Cons of the app. Before TikTok, there was Musical.ly. Musical.ly  started in 2014,  created by two friends,  Alex Zu and Luyu Yang. Musical.ly was a lot like today's TikTok, just a less updated version of the TikTok we know and love today. It was  used to make short videos lip syncing  with music in the background. However, in 2017, a  large  Chinese company called ByteDance bought Musical.ly for a large sum of $800 million. ByteDance transformed it into the TikTok we know now, mixing short videos and music, this grew Tik Tok to greater heights than Musical.ly had ever seen. TikTok is not just the future of social media, it's a global sensation with about 1.6 billion users worldwide. This makes it a great  place for influencers and businesses to gain fame and reach a larger audience than they would be able to on any other social media  app . The format of TikTok allows people to showcase their talents, products, and ideas in videos that can be as short as 15 seconds or as long as 3 minutes. It's an app where creativity and wittiness thrive more than any other social media app. 

Pros of TikTok

Business Opportunities: TikTok is a great place for influencers and businesses to gain light . Whether you're a makeup artist, comedian, or have a small business, TikTok lets you show off your skills and products and if you are lucky and your content hits the for you page,  it can be shown to a lot of people. 

Bringing communities together : TikTok's location services help connect people that are nearby . You can find  content created by others in your community which makes you feel like you belong to a bigger group and brings people who live close very much together. 

Advertising Opportunities : Businesses find it easy to advertise there products on TikTok. The social media platform's interactive and engaging style allows them to make ads that are attention grabbing . This means many  people see their content in video fashion , and hopefully, buy their products.

Cons of TikTok 

Privacy : Since  TikTok is owned by the Chinese company BiteDance, many people  are worried about their personal information and data . They are afraid  that their personal information might not be safe and  secure from the Chinese government.

Mental Health : TikTok can be super addictive. Its algorithm shows you stuff you like, which is cool, but it can make you spend too much time on the app. This can mess with your attention span and even make you feel down sometimes.

In conclusion,  TikTok is a very powerful force in the world of social media. Tiktok offers exciting opportunities for creators and businesses that cannot be found on any other app. If you use the app just be aware that your privacy might be at risk to the chinese government. Also be sure to not spend too much time on the app, you might just scroll your life away. As TikTok keeps growing and changing , it reflects the evolving world of social media and  today's younger generation

https://medium.com/makingithappened/the-dark-side-of-tiktok-why-its-bad-for-mental-health-society-and-teens-6fcbacab66bc

https://www.britannica.com/topic/TikTok#:~:text=In%202016%20ByteDance%20released%20the,content%20from%20their%20cell%20phones.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/12/09/why-businesses-benefit-from-being-on-tiktok/?sh=4fe049a46430

https://www.demandsage.com/tiktok-user-statistics/#:~:text=TikTok%20has%20over%201.677%20billion,active%20users%20as%20of%202023.

Supreme Court Questions

(photo by Joe Ravi )

What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

One thing that I learned about the Supreme Court that I did not know already is that they have a ton of power. They have the ability to overturn laws that are deemed unconstitutional. These members of the Supreme Court are hand picked by the president. Before doing this assignment my knowledge of the Supreme Court was next to nothing. I am glad this video was assigned because I can tell that we are going to be focusing on issues related to the Supreme Court in this class. 

What is the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court?

An important take away that I found about the  Supreme Court of the United States is that it is a very important  institution. The Supreme Court clarifies the nation's primary laws, aids in balancing the power of the government, and has a large impact on American society in general.The Supreme Court is a very large mediator of many disputes related to laws. 

What was the most surprising thing you learned?

The most surprising thing I learned about the Supreme Court is that most people on the court have been working on it for more than 60 years. In the video it was said that it really takes three years to get into the flow of the job. This shows how difficult and time consuming this job of being on the Supreme Court really is. This also connects the dots to realizing why everybody on the Supreme Court is so old. 

How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

I did not realize being part of the Supreme Court is such an important honor to have. People on the Supreme Court are part of a long legacy of people that are on similar status to the president. Before watching this video I was not aware of the gravity of the position of being on the Supreme Court or much about the Supreme Court at all. 

Blog Post 4

The Eight Values of Free expression 

As referenced above in the eight values of free expression, "Our system is not supposed to be one of mob rule." I believe recently we have strayed away from this value. I feel as if our society is slowly turning into a dictatorship. Many peoples lives have been effected negatively at the hands of the government. From taking a vaccine that you don't need or want to take, to getting taken off the internet from saying the truth about something, our society is slowly changing for the worse.

On social media, it should be considered free speech to say what you want. But recently, people have been getting their accounts and posts taken down for saying true statements about the government. The government basically takes down everything that they think could get them in trouble or that shows them in a bad light. I believe that this is very wrong. As one of the eight values of free expression states, "Our system is not supposed to be one of mob rule. The First Amendment protects minority views, no matter how unpopular. You have a strongly protected right to disagree with the government — and everyone else. In fact, it is your patriotic duty to criticize the government". I believe that this means that anybody should be able to have the ability to say, write, post or think what they believe without the government censoring it. No matter how mean or false your accusation may be it is still your right as an American to express that thought about the government. 

    Typically I am a very easy going guy, but this is a topic that angers me. As somebody that is not vaccinated I believe that the government has been putting peoples lives at risk just to make money off this unhealthy vaccine. Anybody that has spoken up about this issue to the government or has tried to spread truth or share their opinion about it has been silenced. My parents are also big into this pro free speech issues and because of this they have resulted to getting their media on a secure website where the government can't access it. 

An example of somebody who has left the press because of free speech is Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson was a very well known Fox News anchor who was recently fired from Fox for speaking his mind about the January 6th Incident and saying that Trump was not responsible for the break in at the Capital. Now Tucker Carlson has to broadcast his own views on Twitter another private site that the government cannot reach.As time goes on I hope we as a society can band together to get our rights to free speech back. We must return to our original values of America being a free country where you have the right to say, think, and write what you want. I believe that all eight values of free expression are very powerful but today, I decided to key into the eighth.

My Top 5 Favorite Sources Of News And Information

 1. Fox News

Fox News, One of the most popular news sources leaning towards the conservative side. This is definitely my top favorite news source. However I am a little bias because me myself lean a little right with my political views. I would recommend  Fox News, because it gives the straight up truth about what is going on in the world. However the stock of Fox News with me went down after one of their top anchors, Tucker Carlson was fired for broadcasting something that the media did not want people to see. Other than this example, Fox is a solid trustworthy news source however I always look at many sources to make sure I am getting the straight up facts. 

https://www.foxnews.com

2. TicTock 

Even though it is not the most trust worthy source, this is where I somehow end up getting most of my news. Because Ticktock customizes its "For You Page" to what you are interested in I usually get news that I find engaging. When looking at news on TicTock you must be carful to make sure the sources that you get your news from are credible because anybody has the ability to post on the app. I recommend this news source to anybody in my generation with a short attention span. No matter your political views Ticktock will customize itself to fit to your liking. I however believe this app is dividing the country by showing people what they want to see. 

https://www.tiktok.com/en

3. The Wall Street Journal 

The Wall Street Journal is a great news source if you are looking for a broad range of news on everything. There is a tab for World News, Business, Sports, and many more. On top of these tabs the Wall Street Journal has stock tickers on the top of the page. I recommend this source to anybody who likes a broad range of neutral news. This source is  trustworthy and has been around since 1889. 

https://www.wsj.com

4. Youtube 

YouTube, believe it or not is where I get a lot of my news. Because of my short attention span like most people today, I would much rather watch a video of something than read about it. I also intake information better by seeing and hearing at the same time rather than just reading.Youtube news also has many videos from many different news sources in one place. I highly recommend this source to anybody who is a visual learner.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYfdidRxbB8Qhf0Nx7ioOYw

5. Instagram 

Instagram, an app that I spend a lot of time on. On instagram, I follow all of my friends as well as many news sources. This is a quick way to get news from sources that I can follow once and see content from that source everyday, which is pretty much like being subscribed to that news source for free. I recommend this news source for anybody who spends a lot of time on social media. 

https://www.instagram.com