New technology makes it really easy to edit photos online. I used a site called FotoFlexer to play around with a photo of myself. I used it to do things such as change the color of the photo to sepia and add some text onto it. There are many other things the site could have helped with such as adjusting for red eyes or adding other images to the photo. It was an interesting experience.

Creativity

New media makes it easy for people to freely express their creativity. There are plenty of software created to help people edit their photos and videos and upload them quickly so that they can be shared with others. For example, there are many  photo editing software or websites such as Flikr that helps people edit their own photos online and then upload their photos onto the site so that they can share it with their friends and family. In the article "1+1+1=1," Jeremy Brown used software to make a mashup of "Debra" and "Frontin'," which then shared on his website (Frere-Jones, 2005). As long as you have an idea, new media allows you to share it with people around the world.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds tends to mimic reality. Depending on the way they are used, they can be good or bad. Virtual reality can be used as an escape from the real world or it can help students learn better. Also, they can help people communicate with each other more easily online. In the article "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction," virtual worlds are used to help those with autism  practice social interactions online (Saidi, 2008). Virtual reality has tremendous potential to help so many people.

On the other hand, it can be dangerous as you do not know who the people you talk to are. They can be criminals and you would not know until it is too late. Also, as virtual reality mimics real life, it can get really increasingly hard to tell one world from another. People may stop talking to people in real life as virtual reality makes it easier and quicker to talk with others.

Virtual worlds can be really good for creativity. For example, in the article "In Room 100, It’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again," Michael created a replica of the Hotel Chelsea on Second Life as it was before the former manager was replaced (Knafo, 2009). It creates a nostalgic place for people to hang out in. Virtual worlds such as Second Life can allow people to create a unique spot of their own to hang out in.

In the future, virtual world would probably be hard to distinguish from reality. You would be able to feel like you are right there in the virtual world and interact directly with people. People will increasingly begin to live in the virtual world instead of reality.

Blog About Twitter

Both Blackboard and Twitter can be used to discuss topics of interest. Of the two, Blackboard is much better. Twitter's 140 word limit can make it difficult to post a long reply and it is more suited for short, quick conversations. It is much easier to post a long and detailed response on Blackboard. Compared to an in-class discussion, it is much easier for shy people to participate online as they have the time to think out their replies before posting and they do not have to interact with people face to face. With in-class discussion, however, everyone is at the same place at the same time so they are all on the same page and are able to respond quickly. They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Social Networking Sites

Many social networking sites exist in today's world but some of the most well-known ones are Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Tumblr.

Myspace caters more to the younger crowd. While it used to be extremely popular, it started to lose its popularity in 2008 and never really gained it back. It focuses a lot on music and other entertainment related topics. Many musicians use it to promote their music and gain a fan following.

Facebook has more of an older following. People can posts on others' walls and carry on conversations with each other. It is easy to share photos with friends just by tagging them. It can be useful for keeping up with friends and family.

Twitter is different from the others as it has a rather short limit of 140 words per post. That does really leave much room for a lengthy post. It is mainly use for short, quick updates about whatever is going on in your life.

Tumblr is a pretty great website for sharing art, stories, photos or just about anything you find interesting. It is easy to keep track of people you follow with the dashboard. You have much more freedom in customizing your blog.

All four of them can be used to communicate with others though some are more easier to use than others.

Social Networking

Social networking has become a very important part of our society today. As shown in "What's Next? Your Future in Social Networking," it benefits companies by allowing them to communicate and work together with other companies around the world (Maclean, 2008). Companies save money by testing out new products and ideas online and changing them based on customers' suggestions.

Regular people can also use social networking to get ahead. Some people upload videos they made themselves onto Youtube and end up profiting off of it through ads. Many people can also find jobs for themselves through social networking sites such as LinkedIn.

As with all good things, social networking has its own dark side. For example, your private information may be leaked to others if the site is not secure enough. People can also get fired from their jobs for posting insults on their Facebook. As the article "They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites" shows, social networking sites may lead to cyberbullying (Young, 2009).

In the future, I think everyone will be using social networking sites. Businesses will probably interview and hire people through video chats.  Everyone will use social networking to promote themselves.