Kastle: Facebook Gaming = Time Wasted

Top 10 Facebook Games
10 Mind Blowing Statistics about Facebook Games

I must say that i am a die-hard Facebook gamer. I play Sims Social, and the Hunger Games adventure daily on Facebook and i complete goals and earn money and points. And yes, i HAVE spent $1 to get ahead in my Sims Social gaming. On the site with the mind blowing statistics, the most interesting statistic to me was "56 MILLION PLAY DAILY!" That's a lot of people and another reason to be addicted to Facebook. And what's even funnier is that 69% of Facebook gamers are women. Who knew? To be completely honest, Facebook games are a waste of time and i have found myself playing Facebook games for hours when i could be doing something a LOT more productive. Plus, once your addicted, you will do anything to finish your goals on time. Even pay money to get ahead and get nicer things for your "Sim" or "pet" or whatever. These Facebook games are exactly like playing video-games. Just on a computer and a different augmented reality. You can eat, sleep, have fun, and do all the things you can do in the real world but you get to create your own farm, house, or even social life. Facebook games also scam you. In a website, it mentions that "In exchange for participating in the advertising offers, at the end the users receive virtual goods in the form of virtual currency or items....The problems is that some of these offers are of questionable integrity or downright scams." So you can easily get scammed or get harmful things on your computer just because you were trying to earn more cash for your game. How many of you play Facebook games?

Ally: New searching ways.

Searching with Facebook and Twitter.

This is an interesting link, Kastle I hope you don't mind me stealing it :). I had someone that I follow on twitter post this link about a new way of Bing searches. Personally, I really don't like using Bing, I am a die hard Google fan, but I am sure this is something that will come to Google, eventually, as well.

You will now be able to ask friends and followers about something you are searching for or about on Bing. Through this new Facebook and Twitter feature there will be a side bar to ask your friends. And of course it also has that wonderful (sarcasm) "friend suggestion" section where they will suggest people that are searching the same information for you to friend or follow. Greeeat.

Anyways, I found it kind of interesting. Enjoy :)

Being Someone Else or Just Wishing for Something Else

Ana Banana

So Pinterest like other sites that my compadres are doing are sites that basically let you have "another" life. An example is one of my boards on Pinterest is a board full of things that I really like and wish I will have one day when I get married. If you want to check it out here is the site Wedding Wish List. Another example of having another identity exists in online dating or even on FaceBook. The internet has allowed for anyone to be anyone. Pinterest or any site can also be a place of giving someone hope. Hope for wanting something better for themselves or wanting to go somewhere. Other boards that I have are desserts, yummy recipes, places that I want to go to, outfits i wish i had, etc. All things that I hope to try or have or do. What do you guys think of these sites that allow other identities?

Kastle: 

Bullied on Facebook, 13 year old gets a nose job
The Facebook Fight that Fractured my Face
Halifax teen speaks against Facebook bully, a man who pushed three girls to suicide
Teen Suicide Caused By Facebook Bullies

There are literally over 53 million hits when i typed "bullying on Facebook stories" into Google. These are just some of the websites i found about stories of young teens who were bullied through Facebook. Reading their stories brings me to tears. It's so sad to think how cruel and easy it is for people to be mean and hurtful over the internet. The phrase "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Yesterday, this came to my attention very clearly when my cousin (who is my age) wrote a status update about a girl named Lizzie. This is what she said: "When you see your ex talking to Lizzie ___ lol. A major downgrade." She got dozens of likes on it, and a lots of comments from other people regarding Lizzie as a major slut and how she's crazy and psycho and all these horrible things about her. It was like seeing bullying right in front of my eyes as more people kept commenting and it just got worse and worse. Later i saw that Lizzie had wrote on my cousin ex's wall saying she was unfriending him because she couldn't handle all the drama and all the mean things my cousin and her friends were saying about her. So i wrote a status saying, "Why do people tear each other down on Facebook? It isn't going to accomplish anything." I got a lot of positive feedback from my friends and support. "We need more love in this world" was what one of my guy friends said. I don't know if my cousin saw my status but when i checked this morning to see if it was still there, she had taken that status off. 

I CANNOT stand to see bullying from my own cousin or from anyone else! It's not right and it can REALLY hurt other people! Just seeing so many stories online about Facebook bullying can really show you how this Facebook world is an alternate reality within itself, and a place for anything to happen. Facebook isn't the only place where bullying occurs, but it is a negative aspect of any social networking site.

Scary or Not Scary

Ana Banana

So I'm not sure if having technology advancing in such a short amount of time is scary to many people or not. Or even if people have stopped and actually thought, why is it that technology has advanced so fast? I don't know about anyone else but when i think about how technology has changed how this world thinks and acts, it scares the crap out of me. 

Well to tell you guys a little more about myself and how technology entered into my life. Well I'm a 1988 baby and the first computer that i first saw was in my elementary school in Seattle, WA. I had never touched one or played with one until 5th grade when I had to stay in an after-school program. In that after-school program they had us playing games on the computer like Math Blaster and other kid games. I remember that i would have such a hard time figuring out how to work that machine. Well to quickly flash forward through my life in middle school 6-8th grade, I still had a type-writer at home to write my 1-2 page essays for school. (Did anyone else use a type-writer for school?) Well I remember that in 8th grade is when a lot of my friends had computers at home and were IMing each other all the time. I hope people still remember what IMing was/is, but if you don't know what IMing was it was Instant Messaging on AOL which it is exactly like FaceBook Chatting or what is now TEXTING. So during that time that my friends were IMing each other and were able to surf the Internet on their dial-up, I was still living a life with just TV, radio and a home land-line (where you had to memorize all your friends and families phone numbers, which now I can only remember my mom's, brother's and boyfriend's cellphone number.) So finally High School came and my freshmen year I made sure that I signed up for a computer typing class because I did not want to be the only one that did not know how to type or use a computer. So basically that is how it started out and I finally got a cell phone when I was a Junior which it may be shocking to the many of you but that was in 2005-2006. And since then I have been hooked to being on a computer. Even though I am always late on what is "in and new" I have been hooked on the technology line and cant free myself from it.

So if anyone wants to share how they got hooked to technology leave a comment, I would love to hear your story! :)

Kastle:

7 Privacy Concerns For Facebook
If you click on the link, it will take you to a news article about 7 privacy concerns for the new Facebook timeline. Facebook is tracking your every move, everywhere your going, what your listening to every moment. According to Facebook’s privacy policy: “We receive data from the computer, mobile phone or other device you use to access Facebook. This may include your IP address, location, the type of browser you use, or the pages you visit.” This data is collected every time, even when a friend of yours has GPS turned on and tags you in a picture she’s uploading from her mobile phone.

This should be a concerning matter. Yet none of us even seem to care we're being tracked. What if someone who works for Facebook decided to use our personal information for their own benefit? What if they sent your phone number or email to different advertising websites? There are so many different scenarios! We all need to start paying more attention! :)

Kastle: 
This pretty much says it all :) This is everyone on their first day of discovering Facebook!

Megan

Tumblr's Impact

I've been making several posts on tumblr lately (a few original, but many interesting reblogs as well; you're welcome to check them out). My most recent original post discusses the negative effects of tumblr, and I'm going to make a post soon about how tumblr has such a huge impact both on our lives and on media. It's really intriguing to surf the web to see what other people are saying about social networks!

While you're at it, I would definitely suggest watching some of the videos I've posted. Interesting stuff!

Ally: That little blue bird.

Now, please tell me. Do you see any similarities between these two? Maybe the fluffy hair on top of the head? Anything else? Please, some one enlighten me.


Okay, the reason you are looking at these two is because, well, that little blue bird all of representing Twitter... yeah he is named after Larry Bird. A hall of fame basketball player.

There you go followers. A random piece of information about Twitter that I can almost guarantee you didn't know. You're welcome.

Ally: What came first-- Twitter or Facebook?

To answer Kastle's question on what came first.... the chicken or the egg scratch that.... Twitter or Facebook... :)

The answer......

Facebook. Launched in 2004.

The beginning of twitter was....
created in March of 2006. But wasn't launched until July 2006. It took about a year for this social networking site to hit it's tipping point. Here is a great graph of the content of tweets. Pretty great representation if you ask me! What is it about that damn pointless babble that we love so much?

Alison: Skype- What is it?

Skype is an online application that is free to download on any computer.  If you don’t have it, then you’re missing out! The most popular feature that Skype offers is free calls to any other Skype user. Not only do you have the privilege to make calls to your friends and/or family for no cost at all, but you get to actually see the person you’re speaking with via webcam. So, in order to hear, speak, see, and be seen, you and the recipient will need the following tools: Microphone and a webcam.  However, even if you don’t personally have a webcam or a microphone, you can still Skype with others that have these tools, but know that you will not be seen or heard without these two specific requirements. If you are one of these people that lack a webcam or microphone, you can still utilize the benefits of Skype by using the chat feature, which is ultimately instant messaging. 

Stay tuned to learn more about the benefits and awesomeness that Skype has to offer.

Pinterest Newbie? Here's some info for you!

So my name is Ana and as my other compadres (buddies) have said that we are doing this project on different sites/media that have been huge and for many people it's a huge part of their lives. People as myself, spend hours on the Internet entertaining themselves. Depending on their likes and interests they tend to spend it on certain websites. So my part in this project is to tell you guys about this site called Pinterest. In my own opinion, it's such an addicting site! Some people don't know of this site because like I said before it depends on the interest of the person they will know of certain sites. For instance, tumblr, I have little knowledge on this site but from what i have heard from my compadres is that its similar to pinterest. So because the rest of my compadres have found YouTube videos on the sites they are working on, I have also found a pretty funny YouTube video about pinterest :)

Pinterest Parody Video

The guy who did this video, did a pretty good job explaining what Pinterest is all about. So if you are new to Pinterest, go ahead and watch the video to get a quick overview on what it is. But just in case you don't want to watch the video, I will give a quick overview.

Pinterest is a site where you can share photos/ideas in a pin board style. When you go to the site and you want to have your own boards you can either login with your facebook account or make your login with an email address. So the point of having being on Pinterest is to basically post "things" that interest you and show it to the world and just maybe someone else has the same interests as you do or vise-versa and you guys can follow each other. Also when you pin something on your boards you can share that picture/idea/thing on twitter and facebook if you would like to show your other circle of friends that don't have a Pinterest account. If you guys want to get an even better idea what and how Pinterest works you can check out my Pinterest boards and see what I'm into.  

http://pinterest.com/banana2131/

Kastle:
Facebook has more than 900 million users as of April 2012. Crazy huh? I've decided i'm going to spend these next two weeks focusing on the negative aspects of Facebook, and the last 2 weeks about positive things about Facebook and how it's a wonderful example of an alternate universe. But first we're going negative here. Dark. Scary. EVIL! hahahaha! We are talking about....FACEBOOK ADDICTION! Now, don't freak out. It's totally normal to be addicted to Facebook and here are some ways you can know if you are according to thurs on Hub pages:

Symptoms of Facebook Addiction
Some symptoms of Facebook addiction are given below to help users in realizing whether they are really addicted to Facebook.

• Users and their siblings communicate through Facebook wall and messages, even if they stay in same house.
• Users check Facebook for updates and comments after every hour at their workstation or on their cell phone.
• Users wake up in the morning, and log onto their Facebook account first.
• Users’ Facebook wall is full of status updates, comments, and applications that they just used.
• Users give priority to Facebook over their commitments in professional and personal life.
• Users spend over an hour on Facebook at a stretch or in short episodes over regular intervals.
• Users can not stop thinking about Facebook updates and comments when they are offline.
• Users look forward to get home in the evening so that they can see what is happening in cyberspace. (on Facebook to be precise)
• Users can not go for a day without using Facebook, and even this thought makes them go into sort of depression.
• Users’ day ends with checking Facebook for that one last time bidding people 'good night' through their Facebook status update.

If users are facing any of these activities, then they are suffering from Facebook addiction disorder. Facebook addiction disorder contains the tendency to affect some serious problem of their mental health and social life. Therefore they need to throw away this habit as soon as possible.


It's amazing how just one site can affect your entire life. Your life literally becomes all about Facebook, facebook stalking, facebook games, facebook chatting, etc. How does this alternate reality affect YOUR life? 

Ally

After I posted a random video about twitter, I figured I should probably explain my part in all of this. Considering there is a good chance that random people stumbled across this site and have nothing to do so they are wondering what the hell is going on with this blog.

My name is Allyson usually go by Ally and in internet land I prefer allyjomac. Here we are 5 college students doing a final project about the wonderful realm of social networking. Each tackling a specific site, I decided on twitter. Why? Because, I have a twitter account. Duh. But more realistically I decided on this one because I am so interested in why it is so successful. Why did a simple site, where you tell potential stalkers where you are, what your doing, post pictures of everything going on around you, take of like a wildfire? I am going to dive in, as they say, and try my best to figure this out. To answer my own questions as well as others. So, if you have a question about this specific world, ask me, and I will get my sources to answer it for you (basically I will do the research that you, obviously, don't have the time to do on your own, and then get credit for it in a class. Awesome.)

 So, let's do this. Time to browse the internet with a purpose instead of aimlessly poking around on Facebook.... and Twitter..... and Tumblr..... and Pinterest..... and Skype.... damn, what did we do before all these sites?

Ally

Well since there was a Facebook I figured I would have to search for a Twitter song. Ladies and Gents, I was successful. This young man sings a wonderfully deep song about the beginning of the internet and how all you had to do was simply check your email once or twice a week. As we all know, that is not the case any more. We have to post about every single things happening to us. We have to be constantly connected, and twitter provides an outlet of our happenings. So my dear followers who may be reading this, enjoy yet another video of how we have been affected.

Kastle Huffaker:

This is called the Facebook Song. Not only do i think this song is really funny, but it brings up a good point! This brings up a negative impact of Facebook and how consumed so many different people get by Facebook. Adding and removing friends, commenting and poking people, and noticing how annoying other people's statuses can get and how a lot of it is irrelevant information that a lot of us don't really care or need to know about. We may not think about all the silly things we do or say on Facebook, but it just shows how wrapped up people can get (myself included) in this virtual world of stalking people's profiles, and "chatting" (which isn't even actually chatting) with five people at once for hours at a time. Why does this online world get so attaching? When did people even start caring what you said on Facebook? 

Posted by: Kastle Huffaker

 Facebook open graph API is now available. This means that Facebook and other websites can use our social information to customize each visitor's experience. If we "like" the movie Fired Up on IMDB it will show up automatically on Facebook for your friends to see and for other partnering websites to use our data to customize what we see based on our "likes" and preferences. Everything is becoming personalized for us. By using one site aka Facebook, people become the center of the web, and it intertwines us more into this apparatus. Is this a bad or good thing? Is it unsafe for Facebook and partnering websites to know so much?

Kastle: You would only get it if you watch Harry Potter and you know what poking means on Facebook. How many quirky phrases have we picked up from Facebook alone?

Megan:

As it is, posts from other sites can't be embedded or anything, so if I need to share anything on tumblr with you guys, I'll just link to it by logging in and making a new post here.

The tumblr is up! Right here. If you want to check out what tumblr is all about, feel free to log in and look around. The email is augmentedreality335@gmail.com and the password is augmentedreality335. I thought I'd get really fancy and original.