Up To The Letter J.

The Downside of Social Media

What? You mean to tell me that there is a downside to social media? After tweeting social media articles about Twitter/Facebook/Google+, blogging on Tumblr & Bloguin, & then challenging yourself to make the internet more crowded with content and unwanted opinions.. you’re telling me there are downsides?

Um, Yeah. Today was a great example of one big downside of social media.

For those who don’t know - a horrible scandal has completely hit Penn State University. I’m not going to go into the details of the scandal or my own opinion on it (you can find all the details elsewhere). Roughly speaking - this scandal has slowly been developing for the past 1 to 2 days. Every time that new details break into the news, people are quick to talk about it. Pretty standard, right?

The problem lies with people like me who constantly watch and keep track of social media feeds. As soon as a piece of the story breaks, I immediately see my feeds like up like a Christmas tree. Within minutes I am sitting at my desk with 25 to 30 opinions and tons of sharing of additional news/opinions. Take this scenario and hit the repeat button ten different times during the day. Think it’ll get on your nerves? It might.

It goes to show you that if you strike up a conversation with someone that has social media, they might look at you funny if you haven’t heard of a certain breaking news story. I will do my best to make sure that I will never become one of those people mainly because even I find that behavior annoying.

So yes - there are downsides of social media - more than you might think. This is an example of just one of them.

On the Verge of Something

Ever since I started the 30 day challenge a few days ago, I’ve given this blog a lot more serious thought. It is my goal to come up with 30 different pieces of content. I need to find the appropriate balance of sharing what I find while voicing my own opinions. The last thing I want is to turn the challenge into fluff site. I know that the readers out there want some quality posts that could add value to their lives (all 1.5 of you out there). All too often I see other news & blogs out there that just continually mail things in and call it a day. Or in many cases, people focus on the trivial aspects of their industry.

It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about national headlines, gossip websites, or the various sports circles out there. It happens everywhere. And I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I don’t know why it happens - of course I do. Everything boils down to ratings. If a certain type of story gets great results, you’re going to see a lot more things just like it. But do you really plan to get better ratings if you roll out stories like these?

• Actress Acb Zyxw Admits Addition to McDonald’s Value Menu.
• What will hackers target in your house? One expert believes it will be your toaster.
• All-Star football player, Gef Qrstuv, practices with one shoe on, one shoe off.
• Tests show Coffee does not mix well with tomatoes. News at 11.

Let me be clear - I do not have a problem with the reporters, the people behind the scenes, or the cheesy advertisements that pay the bills. I have a problem with the quality of content they create. The types of stories that many broadcast are simply not worth watching - especially when you consider things on a local scale. When will your local news be relevant again? Maybe that is why I can’t take some news outlets seriously.

This is the reason why we have such things as the Onion News Network. A quick glance at their homepage will tell you that the ONN a complete goldmine of witty, over the top stories that could appear on a news network near you.

Traditional news media - where keeping it real isn’t actually keeping it real.