My Most Favorite Site

It wasn't till a couple of months ago that I finally decided to sign up and jump on the Twitter band wagon. I got annoyed when everyone would ask me "Follow me on Twitter!" or "What's your twitter name?!" My responses would come out "You have me on Facebook already!" But when one of my Public Relations professors assigned us to create a Twitter account as our homework assignment I couldn't say no to Twitter anymore.
Being a Pro at Facebook, made it a little bit difficult for me to get the hang of twitter. I still am trying to figure out how to work it. But unlike Facebook I feel like it is hard for me to figure out what I want to say since we are limited in our characters. But I do like twitters features. All the features of twitter I think are well put together. I like how the alignment when you view your twitter account of a computer is centered, and the fact that you can change your background and customize. I also like the proximity of the layout in twitter. You are always going to have your picture in the top left corner and all your news feed in the left column. I also like the repetition of the font and font color is black. Twitter is simple, clean, and not overcrowded with text. I especially enjoy how it doesn't drown in advertisements. These are my thoughts over twitter.

How I made my blog look better

I fixed my blog by changing the background to the theme of my blogs. Since the topics are mainly about communication and school topics I chose the books and shelf back ground. I used all 4 design aspects when making changes to my blog. For Contrast I used a bold topic title. I also used a different color for the topic title. I kept repetition with my black font and Georgia font style. The Alignment of my blog is simple for the reader to follow. I have the title, date, then my blog, in that order. For the proximity of my blog I added a picture and positioned it in the same way as my last blog post, which is on the far right corner of the text.

Why I want a degree from UTSA?

After completing my Associates degree in New Media Communication from Northwest Vista I decided to transfer to UTSA. The reason why I chose to complete my degree at UTSA was for 3 simple reasons. UTSA's culture, assessibility and class sizes. I love how UTSA takes pride in being the only public University in San Antonio. UTSA expresses San Antonio's hispanic culture as well, along with many other cultures. Being a hispanic myself it makes me proud, and makes me feel at home. Being from San Antonio and a graduate from UTSA's sister school Northwest Vista made it easy for me to transfer with no problems. It also made it easy for me to commute. I really enjoyed how small the communications classes are at UTSA. That benefit allows the professors to get to know you and vice-versa. When UTSA becomes a Tier 1 University our degrees will be of greater value. This is why I want my degree from UTSA. 

Blog #2: Social Networking: Are we overly networking ourselves?

Social Networking Sites (SNS) can be used for many reasons. Most people use it to keep in contact with family and friends.  Others use SNS to promote businesses, nightclubs, even baby showers, and weddings! According to our class notes, “social networking must allow users to construct a public profile within a bounced system and articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, those made by others within the system.”  These are the 3 requirements that make up a social network system.

SNS’s have come a long way from Sixdegree.com to Facebook.com. It didn’t take long for society to get hooked. The first social network I became hooked with was MySpace. A couple of years after MySpace I was dragged into joining Facebook. It may sound funny to say, but sometimes I still feel “old school” trying to catch up with the many other new SNS that are out there. Now a day, not only do people have Facebook, but also twitter accounts, Linked In, and the list goes on. I found myself creating these different accounts just to see what the fuss is all about. None of these accounts hurt to have, but how much out there does a person have to market him or herself?

According to the article “the theory of planned behavior applied to young people’s use of social networking web sites”, self identity, belongingness, and addictive tendencies are 3 psychosocial variables that might explain a persons’ level of use of social networks. After creating a Facebook, I became addicted fast, and I felt like I had a sense of belonging with a tight circle of good friends and family in my network. After creating all the different networks for myself I can relate to these variables. Take the social networking site Linked In, which is a business profession-networking site that allows you to connect and get noticed by possible employers. I recently joined this social network because I felt like I needed to put myself out there professionally and needed to self identify myself in the world as a professional. As for the addictive tendencies, I think this variable plays in when we develop a sense of habit and comfort ability with the network itself.

 Pelling, E. M. (2009). The Theory of Planned Behavior Applied to Young People's Use of Social Networking Web Sites. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 12(6), 755-759.

Cell phones: Can’t live with out them!

The communication technology that most interests me is the cell phone.  We all love them, and we all cant live with out them! I on the hand have been phone less for one week already and it has opened my eyes on how much more required this technology is. If you have been phone- less for more than 24 hours then you understand the frustration and inconvenience you go through with out having access to phone calls, email, Internet, and text messaging at the tip of your fingers. I applaud all the hard work it took to invent this technology that 82% of Americans own today.  According to the class lectures, Dr. Martin Cooper invented the first cell phone in 1973. I find it hard to believe why this type of technology didn’t reach popularity right away. I understand that they were big and bulky looking cell phones, and nobody wants to be caring a phone the size of a hair dryer. But what might have been inconvenient and expensive back than is now affordable and modern for us today.  Every year I see my little cousins and other children asking for cell phones. Majority of these children are in elementary and middle school. I was a freshmen in high school when I was given my first cell phone, and I always ask myself, “ How did I communicate with out it?” When I was in elementary and middle school, my form of text messages was spending class periods writing letters to all my friends, and passing it to them during passing periods or on the school bus. Its funny and interesting on how much time has changed and how this technology is a necessity to all. Although, I know everyone is interested in this technology like I am, it’s always good to know what’s next in the world of cell phone technology. I can’t wait to see what the future of cell phones will come too.