Evolution of Politics

The way of politics has been changing over the years.  This election in particular has had a great influence through social media.  Social media has changed politics drastically.  Campaigns are going viral on all forms of media.  Donal Trump used twitter in particular.  He said, "I like it because I can get also my point of view out there, and my point of view is very important to a lot of people that are looking at me."  The candidates have direct access to voters.  While this may seem like a good thing, it also has its down sides.  Candidates are now hiring PR to manage what they say.  When candidates are able to send out unfiltered messages online it can land them in some sticky situations. (Cough cough, Trump.)  The best benefit that social media has had on politics is reaching the youth.  "Older" Americans are who typically make up the largest majority of who goes out and votes.  This is something that is changing due to the influence of social media.  Twitter and Facebook have intrigued the young people to go out and register to vote.  Barack Obama is the most known the have started with social media and be successful with it during two different occasions.  Social media has allowed to be to come together and learn, engage, and share their opinion about politics.  For good or worse social media has changed politics.

-Josie Clark

Snap Streaks

Snapchat is arguably the most used social media of today's day and age. Yes, Twitter and Instagram are extremely popular as well, but neither have the immediate gratification that makes Snapchat so alluring. Ever since the update that added snap streaks went live it seems as though people cannot stop snapping. We discussed the reason behind this phenomena last year in Comm 202. The underlying psychology behind snap streaks is pretty easy to understand, when someone sees an increasing number with the threat of dropping down to zero if you break the streak they are naturally going to want to continue the snapping. This urge to keep the number going leads to meaningless snaps being sent back and forth in order to check the box and not drop the streak. I have seen people who have multiple snap streaks over 500 days long, which is well over a year. I also have a friend who has been trying to start a snap streak with me, but instead of starting a conversation with substance she'll send me a picture of her ceiling in the hopes that I'll send one back and the streak will continue. Every 4 days or so I will purposefully not snap her back, just to mess with her. Snapchat even has a feature where if your streak is about to end an hour glass will appear next to the number just to let you know "HEY, you better snap this person or your large number will disappear!" There is nothing wrong with wanting to snap the same person repeatedly, but you have to acknowledge the fact that the masterminds behind snap streaks are preying on your innate desire to "keep the streak going."

-Joey Arzeno

Keeping Up with Who Cares?

As I go through my social media, most of what I see are articles pertaining to Kanye West, one of the Kardashian sisters, or some other well-known celebrity and what they are wearing or what they are doing or where they were and who they were with. It gets to the point where I will browse through four or fives of these "news" articles in the row, and I reach this peak where I'd rather see my friends having better lives than me :l. How these things are news is way beyond me, and the fact that we see these figures as nearly gods is unnerving and scary.