The Language of Social Media

One of the final project presentations was really interesting to me. The one about the different social media websites, and when presenting the different sites, they talked about the specific language that website had. I really had never thought about it like that before, but it is so true that people act differently and speak differently on different social media accounts. I didn't really notice it as something I did, but it is definitely something I do. Something I think we all do. I personally act differently on snapchat than I do on Facebook than I do on Instagram. On Facebook I am more polite in a way and more serious. On snapchat I am pretty indiscriminate with what I post because it just goes away after 24 hours, and on Instagram I feel like I can kinda be more myself. Really the thing I found the most interesting about this presentation was the part where they put quotes on the screen and we all had to guess which social media sight the quotes came from. I got every single one of them right which is crazy to me! I dont even have a twitter. But being a person who is involved in the social media community, I guess you subconsciously pick up on the different languages in the different sites. Maybe that is why it is so hard for people who didnt grow up with social media to understand how to use it. They are still learning the different languages. I just thought it was really cool that we subconsciously can figure out what social media website something is from with no other information other than a quote.  

The Future of Books

The future of books is very exciting. There are so many different directions that books can go in. On the other hand it does make me a little sad that we are moving away from books in hard copy and more toward technological books. I love the feel of books, I love being able to write my own notes in them, I love how they look on a shelf. I even love the way they smell. I guess books are comforting to me in a way because when I was little, and I was scared or upset, I would always just read a book to make myself feel better. Because of this I know for sure that I will always have actual books, paper and hard back. I just like being around books. I think a lot of people feel the same way. Thats why coffee/book shops are so popular when combined. I also think that there are always going to be people like me. People who wont let go of physical books. I think that eventually though books will probably become a collectors item, or maybe things that are more for decoration, but people will always have books. I think books will go the way of the Vinyl record. People still use them and collect them because it is fun or they like the sound better, but music has mostly just been digitized at this point and it is extremely unlikely that we will ever go back to having physical copies of our music. And thats fine. As long as we still have music, its all good. I feel the same way about books. As long as we still have novels, it does not really matter how they are read. I think really I just mean that it doesn't matter how the words are read, just that they are read and people are still getting the messages and moral that stories give us all. Even though I will always like actual books, the possibilities that electronic books offer are really cool. Like the idea of Hypertext, allowing readers to choose their own stories, character and anything else they want. This also allows people to read their favorite stories over and over again, getting something new out of it every time. Maybe a more desirable ending, maybe a coupling the reader wished could have happened the first time. Really the whole point of this is that I am really excited to see where the future of print goes. I guess not even technically print, but novels.