The Battle for Public Opinion

    The most obvious effect that social media has on public opinion is increased speed, both in the rate that people receive information to inform their opinions as well as in the rate that people share their opinions to the public. It has never been easier to share opinions to large audiences, so what is the result?

From Kendall Campbell

    First off, being online has provided people a sense of anonymity that they did not have before. Because of this, people are more likely to say things they would not otherwise. They will likely put less thought into their words before they say them as well. As a result, more and more extreme opinions surface on the internet. People will start to see people sharing opinions that they themselves share, but previously refrained from expressing openly. Now that they see this opinion publicly more often, they feel comfortable publicly expressing this opinion themselves. This leads to radicalization in opinions, and is especially noticeable in politics. 

    Due to the radicalization of opinions these days, it is rare to see a civil discussion about politics. Politics feels more like a war that one party will win over the other rather than a way for the people of a nation to decide the best form of government. Politicians are forced to follow suit in order to appease their supporters. Any political debate in the last decade clearly showcases this. Before social media, those interested in politics would need to spend more time informing their opinions before they could take a solid stance. Now, most people form their opinions based on whatever they see on their social media feed, whether it is fact or just people posting things simply because they can.

From Boston University

    Once an opinion is formed through social media, it can be incredibly difficult to change it. The algorithms that control our social media feeds are designed to feed us what we want to see based on things we have liked in the past. Therefore, your social media will continue to show you content that reinforces those opinions that you formed and filter out everything else. This further skews your perception in favor of your already established beliefs and opinions. It is almost impossible to see the perspective from both sides because you are only shown one side a majority of the time. When you do see the other side, our first instinct is to oppose it because it has become foreign to us. This can make communication difficult and potentially hostile.

From Outrage

    On the other hand, strong opinions formed online does have the benefit of connecting us to people who share our opinions, making it easier to form relationships online. Social media can also be used for activism. It allows people to use similar tactics to actual rallies and protests, such as catchy phrases and powerful messages, without leaving the comfort of your own home. Examples include the #BLM movement and the #Metoo movement. Through such movements online, people can advocate for their beliefs in a way that cannot be ignored without the threat of violence from rioters, police, or the government. In that sense, social media can be a great platform for peaceful protests. There will still be disagreements and hostile replies, of course, but without the threat of actual injury.

    As one final note, it is too easy to spread misinformation online. It is up to us to exercise caution when reading information before we use it to form our opinions. I also think that companies who run social media sites should put more effort into stopping the spread of misinformation.

Discussing a Company's Online Communication

Everyone is online today, as I am sure you know since you are currently reading this online. As a result, companies and businesses today must maintain a positive and thoughtful online presence using effective communication in order to reach the largest audience available: the internet. As someone who enjoys to play video games here and there in his spare time, I decided to look into a gaming company which I am quite familiar with: Blizzard Entertainment. I already follow some of their accounts on social media, so I had a decent idea of what to expect going into this.

Image from Wikipedia who extracted it from blizzard.com

First, I decided to start by looking at their official webpage, blizzard.com. At a glance, their page in nicely structured, simplistic, and user friendly. The main page mostly focuses on the games, which makes sense. The top of the page has a rotating featured section showcasing current events and sales happening in their various games. The middle of the page showcases all of their games as well as the platforms that they can be played on. Clicking on individual games brings you to webpages dedicated to those games if you want to find out more. There is also a plug for their launcher, Battle.net, which allows you to play the games. The bottom of the page is standard for company webpages, containing things like a career page, about page, contact information, copyright information, etc. This page is clearly laid out to market their products, with the focus being on their games. I think it is effective, as you can easily see what games are on sale as well as exclusive offers on those games. You can easily find an about page as well as a news page that contains many articles. There are numerous articles for each of their titles every day, so it is clear that they communicate often with the fans of their games. My only critique is that there are very few articles on the company itself, with the last one posted back in January of this year. 

Screenshot of their webpage

Next, I decided to visit Blizzard's LinkedIn page. It is professionally laid out and focuses on job openings, as you would expect. The part that stood out to me the most was the section titled "Life at Blizzard Entertainment" which had pictures showing the employees having fun at work. This section gives a positive impression of Blizzard's online presence, showing that they want to appear to be a fun place to work. Lastly, I visited their Twitter page. What I noticed is that the actual Blizzard account did not tweet much, but instead retweeted posts from the accounts representing their various games. These accounts posted several times a day, often to interact with their fans, update them on upcoming changes to the game, and even post silly videos related to their game. As a result, these accounts came across as friendly and lively, encouraging people to interact and take part in the fun, which I think is the perfect vibe for a video game account. 

From Blizzard's LinkedIn

An example of Blizzard interacting with their fans through one of the game accounts on Twitter

All in all, Blizzard did a wonderful job communicating to and with their consumers about their products. However, I feel they put all of their focus into their games and almost none into the company itself. Between the infrequent articles on the company and posts on their main social media account, I think they could better communicate what is actually going on in the company itself, especially considering some of the scandals Blizzard has faced in the past, such as cases of sexual harassment. Perhaps more frequent communications from the company itself, like on how they might be working to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace, would create more confidence and goodwill towards the company.

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

    In his 2001 article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants", Marc Prensky defines digital natives as the generation(s) born into a time where the digital world had already been established, making the "digital language" their native language (1). In contrast, digital immigrants were already alive to see the rise of the digital world and are having to learn the digital language as if they were learning a foreign language (1-2). As a young adult who has always known technology, I would consider myself a digital native. 

From the article "Do Digital Natives Exist?"

    Prensky argues that digital natives are essentially entirely different people from those who came before them, and therefore require a different way of teaching (2). While I personally feel that my affinity for technology has helped me easily adapt to online education (which was established long after this article was written), I do not feel that it affected my education preceding my online schooling. If it were not for a global pandemic changing the way the entire world functions (which was enabled my the prevalence of technology), then it is likely that being a "digital native" would have never had a significant impact on the way I learned. 

    Prensky predicts that education would shift its focus towards games to appeal to the digital generation (5). Over two decades later after this bold prediction, we can safely say this is not the case. Video games are used predominantly as a form of leisure, which has not changed since their conception. Prensky's prediction never made sense in the first place due to its level of generalization. Not everyone of the younger generations enjoys playing video games, so it would not work as an effective form of education for everyone. He speaks as if every "digital native" emerges from the womb with vast technological knowledge, which is simply not the case. This knowledge must be learned by both younger and older generations. It is only easier for younger generations to pick up technology because they are exposed to it from a young age; they learn it early when they are still impressionable. Older generations got used to a world that was not dominated by digital media and struggle with it because they are set in their ways. 

From the article "Digital Immigrant vs. Digital Native"

    Change can be frightening when you are used to a certain way of doing things, but those who do not resist it will have an easier time adapting to it. An elderly person who is willing to learn the digital ways can have a higher proficiency in technology than a teenager who had very little technological exposure growing up. Age is not the important factor, but experience. Paul Kirschner describes this idea as being digitally literate. This concepts refutes the idea that technological proficiency is tied with our age, but rather it is a skill that can be learned by anyone at any age. Digital literacy is a better way to describe the "digital language" that Prensky mentioned earlier. For example, those who grew up speaking English will have an easier time learning English concepts, while someone who learns English as a second language will have a more difficult time because it is different than what they are used to. Regardless, both individuals can achieve the same level of proficiency at English. Perhaps the one who learns it as a second language could even surpass the abilities of the native English speaker. Digital literacy works the exact same which is why the generation you are born in and being a "digital native" does not equate to having digital literacy.

    Here is an educational YouTube video which contains a more modern definition for the term "digital native": Digital Natives VS Digital Immigrants. It contains many silly comics that help illustrate the idea and inspired the images I used for this blog.

Knapp's Relational Model

    In 1978, Mark Knapp developed a model that could be used to explain how relationships are formed, how they become stronger, how they can deteriorate, and how they could eventually end (Golchha). This model is known as Knapp's Relational Model. Knapp breaks down relationships into different stages to describe the growth and decline of a relationship between two people. This article by Karishma Golchha goes more into detail about Knapp's Relational Model and all of its various stages.

This rendition of Knapp's Relational Model, along with many others, depicts the model as a staircase, where each stage of a relationship can be thought of as a step, either towards a stronger or a weaker relationship. Just like real stairs, it goes both ways. This image is from Maya Greene on YouTube. She claims it comes from a communication text she used to use.

    For this post, I am going to focus on one of the stages that falls into the "coming apart" category of a relationship, and how it relates to a lifelong friendship I have had with one of my cousins. My cousin and I had always been close as children. We lived very close to each other, so we would spend time with each other often. Eventually, in high school, he was forced to move to a different state. We were no longer able to see each other, and, for a while, we did not communicate at all. After a year or so, he and I reconnected online through Discord. After this, we became close again and would play video games together quite often. We were in the relational maintenance phase, but now that we have matured, I feel that we have fallen to the differentiating stage. In other words, we do not share many of the same interests anymore, and our relationship has diminished as a result. We do not like to play the same games, nor do I have time to play games much due to school and work. As a result, we went from hanging out online once a week to once a month. With online communication as our only option, I feel this form of spending time together has weakened our friendship. 

Different interests can cause separation among individuals.

    Despite this, I am hopeful that we can build our friendship back up. He recently moved back and is living near me again. He does not have a job or any money right now, but once he gets back on his feet, he and I will be able to spend time together in person. This should allow us to circumvent our different interests that were limiting us when we could only communicate online.

Oversharing Online

    Hello everyone! This week, I will be discussing the impact social media and social networking has on us and our daily lives. I personally do not interact with social media very much. I use Twitter (I prefer to call it Twitter rather than X) daily for the sake of keeping up to date on my interests, such as the games I play, as well as what is generally going on in the world (which is not great right now). I do not actually interact with others on Twitter. I never post, my account is private, and none of my friends are on there, so I purely use it to stay informed. I instead use Discord to stay in touch with my friends, which I would consider more of a social networking site rather than a traditional social media site. Since my personal interaction with social media is minimal, much of what I discuss will be based on what I observe of others that use social media more frequently. 

    Every uniquely different social media platform will have its pros and cons depending on what you hope to accomplish on the platform, as they are all designed with specific features that distinguish them from other sites. For example, Instagram is one of the most popular sites for sharing images and videos. While it might a be great place to see your friend's vacation pictures, it is not the greatest site for having in depth discussions. For that, you might go to a site like Reddit instead, where you can find discussion posts sorted into different communities that have active community members who will reply to the discussion. If you are planning a vacation, Instagram would have the best photos of the vacation spot, while Reddit would have people discussing their experiences there, while Twitter often has a mix of both, not leaning too far in either direction. Twitter provides a platform where you can quickly keep up to date with people and topics you care about, but it may not always provide the most reliable information.

    Next, I want to compare social media sites that enable creativity as their primary function versus sites that are more focused on presenting information. For example, TikTok, a site made for posting videos that pretty much everyone is familiar with by now, has exploded in popularity over the last half a decade or so. Most people associate TikTok as a was to express themselves creatively, as well as a way to watch silly videos as a form of leisure. In contrast, most of what I see on Twitter these days is political discourse and tragedies taking place around the world. Based on the content of each platform, it would be fair to assume that sites like TikTok are becoming more popular because they have a more positive effect on our mental health, while sites like Twitter have a more negative impact. 

This graphic by David Carr from https://www.similarweb.com/blog/insights/social-media-news/twitter-threads/ shows creative social media sites like TikTok and Pinterest surging in popularity, while more informative social media sites are dropping in popularity.

    Lastly, I would like to discuss Facebook. While I have never personally used Facebook, almost everyone in my family has experience with the platform, so I have a decent idea of how it affects them. I recall a while back that my grandma deleted her Facebook because seeing everyone posting themselves having fun without her made her feel left out. Eventually, she redownloaded Facebook because she missed interacting with those she loved on there. Facebook impacted her positively by connecting her with her family, but it also made her depressed because she would compare her own life to others, which would not have happened if everyone's lives were not public on Facebook. I also briefly interviewed my mother on how Facebook has affected her. She said it made her happier when she could see her friends and family meeting their goals and having positive experiences, but also that it irritated her when she was forced to see political opinions that she disagrees with. In short, Facebook allows us to see content we would not otherwise be exposed to, which can be good or bad depending on the nature of the content. Without anyway to filter the content, there will always be things we are exposed to that can be positive or negative.

About Me

Hello everyone! My name is Troy Wilson. All my life, I have lived in Vacaville, California. It is directly in between San Francisco and Sacramento, so I like to call it the nowhere in the middle of somewhere. I visit Oregon often since I have family that live there. I hope to live there myself one day, as I love the natural beauty of the state. I would like to live near the coast, as I enjoy cooler weather (which is why I want to leave California).

I am currently working on my BS in environmental science (hence the name of the blog). I have always enjoyed nature and its serenity, so I decided to make it my career! I especially enjoy forests and love to explore them any chance I get. My favorite trees are redwoods and sequoias, as I find their massive size mesmerizing. I also enjoy beaches.

A picture I took of Yosemite Valley

My hobbies include hiking, playing video games, and messing with technology in general. I just built a desktop computer last month which I am now using to make this blog. I originally considered majoring in computer science, but I decided that I would rather work in the beauty of nature instead of at a desk. I have enjoyed hiking since I took a field trip to a forest near Santa Cruz in the sixth grade. I have also been playing video games since the original PlayStation.

A picture I took of the Horsetail Falls in northern Oregon