Before starting this course I really had no idea that sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google and many more were put in to a collective group called Web 2.0. Therefore after reading up on what Web 2.0 existed of I found myself thinking about how much I actually rely on this form of communication.
I had to reread the 'reader 1' several times to grasp the idea of Web 2.0, but I was still struggling to get the idea into my head so I you tubed 'what is web 2.0' and found this very helpful video, it looks at web 2.0 from a buisness perspective.
http://youtu.be/iStkxcK6_vY
After watching this video I thought about all the things that I used Web 2.0 for.
1. tripadvisor: people post their views on hotels, restaurants, tourist sites and many other things. I use tripadvisor on a weekly basis, usually to help me find a decent restaurant in my area.
2. Facebook: I am obsessed! And I honestly do not know what I would do without it.
Since graduating from College I moved back to my home town in Bournemouth, everyone says in the performing arts industry you need to be in London, however I never feel like I have missed out on auditions or job oppurtunities thanks to Facebook. There is a group called 'The Hustle' which has thousands of performers, agents, casting directors, photographers and videographers who all comment about upcoming auditions or agencies to avoid working with. People post about great physios they have been to see or about the best person to go and get your headshots from. Any non-performers could learn masses about the industry just by joining this group.
3.Google: Again a huge favourite of mine, any time I need anything I type it into google and within seconds I am flooded with amazing amounts of information.
I have also found that Web 2.0 has got to be the best marketing tool for performers and also for teachers. A friend of mine has just set up a class called hot heels, he videos every class and posts it in the hustle, on his facebook page and also on twitter. Since marketing his class this way he has drawn in loads of students and has been running these classes successfully for the past 3months.
However, as much as I love the way web 2.0 can enhance my career and can aid in keeping contact with friends half way across the world there are down sides which I feel need to be discussed. Mostly the downsides of Web 2.0 are down to the way us as humans like to be percieved, nowadays we have our online self (who can be as wild and as vivacious as we'd like) and we have the way we are in every day life. Due to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook we also find it very easy to compare our lives with other peoples and also our relationships with other people. Web 2.0 has also aided in cyber bullying, only a few weeks back there was a video that came up on my newfeed that showed a group of girls physically abusing another, underneath the video were hundreds of comments initially about how this particular girl was 'scum' and 'deserved it'. Fortunately the video was removed from facebook.
I cant help but think that although the perks of Web 2.0 are amazing and significantly aid in the growth of buisnesses and careers, it has also enabled us as humans to desensitize and now it seems many people hide behind a computer, our human relationships are not what they used to be. Do we really need social networking sites to build relationships with other people? Are relationships that are built over the internet real?
I hope to look into web 2.0 further, as I know it is an exceedingly important tool within todays society and within the performance industry.
Feel free to critique and comment :D
Hey Lizzie, I enjoyed reading your blog. I also had no clue what Web 2.0 was until I read Reader 1 and I have been logging into facebook every single day since 2009! Thank you for sharing that video, it is really beneficial to watch. Somehow I find that when I see and hear someone explaining I focus more and the information sinks in better than when I read off a book.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to what you said about relationships online, I think with Web 2.0 there needs to be an element of trust which unfortunately can be abused of by some users.
Best wishes
Hey Lizzie :)
ReplyDeleteHope you are well, really enjoyed reading your blog. I have found this task really interesting (hence why i still haven't posted it as I'm still writing!) but I totally agree with you in regards to how some people abuse these networking sites and the right authorities are still trying to monitor who's writing what!
Its funny how much i rely on Web 2.0 than I realised!
Speak soon
Steph xxx
Lizzie - really liked your examples and the way you are investigating Web 2.0 - it is embedded in what we do in our personal and professional lives - but understanding the process of our involvement is not so straightforward - usually in academic/professional writing you 'cit' or name the people who invented ideas - here you referred to the Reader but did not say who you meant? so Tim O'Reilly who 'invented' the web would be (O'Reilly, 2014) if you used his most rent website for information http://oreilly.com/tim/ - actually citing websites you also add when you visited because sometimes materials can be dated - but this one says 2014 copyrighted. - so in the reader who ere the people who gave you some ideas for your thinking about FB?
ReplyDeleteHi Lizzie, really like some of the thoughts you have mentioned here. Firstly the part about not having to live in London and I totally agree with you on that one! After I graduated I moved back up to live in the Midlands and never feel like I have missed out on any audition that I may have wanted to go to, it just takes a bit more travel planning that's all!
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the negative issues surrounding Web 2.0, I believe that on the whole, the positives outweigh the negatives. People can keep in touch with friends, family, loved ones from across the world, which has become even more important to me since discovering that a few people on this course are keeping in touch from other countries (hi Mariele!) and especially seeing as one of my best friends has just started a 9 month contract singing in Egypt. I believe people need to more clued up in general about how to behave online and how others may choose to behave, i.e hiding their true identity. It is naive to believe that everyone is who they say they are. Have you seen Catfish??
Pip :)