After reading the articles and hearing some examples, it better helped me understand the idea of crowd sourcing. In a way it is a very smart and easy way to get content for your websites without having to follow any strict rules or copyrighting rules. For example, one show that i enjoy a lot, that runs off of user generated content is Tosh.o with Daniel Tosh.  He basically gets trending videos and shows them on his show while making jokes about them.

Crowd sourcing can affect business positively and negatively. It just depends which side your on. For example, some businesses thrive off crowd sourcing because they get content for there websites at little to no cost. Where as those companies who usually get payed to produce that content that people are using for there websites will get affected negatively because they won’t have any buyers. For example, from the article about crowd sourcing, istockphoto nearly put harmels photo business out by undercutting him by almost 99%.

Crowdsourcing can affect the creators negatively as well though because all though you are the creator of the content, that doesn’t mean it wont be used to make money for someone else, and that doesn’t mean you will be compensated for your content.

For the class activity, i will be splitting the class up and make them become a team of problem solvers. One half of the class will be able to work together and the other half of the class will have to work alone. There will be 3-5 questions, and we will see which team best answers them. One team will basically symbolize crowd sourcing where everyone can put input where as the other team will symbolize professionals all doing their own work and working on their own. We will see which is more effective. It will take me about 30-35 minuets total.

Crowdsourcing and User Generated Content

How is crowdsourcing changing the way that companies approach creating content?

Besides reading the selected readings to understand the term crowdsourcing I had to look up the definition. According to the Dictionary feature on Google search, “Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining information or input into a task or project by enlisting the services of a large number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically via the Internet.” At first I had the term mixed up with outsourcing but I quickly learned it is different. Crowdsourcing has been around for years now and the internet is inundated with thousands of people and their user-generated content. People can still make a living depending on the industry but sometimes there are some issues when crowdsourcing plays a very negative role in people’s personal businesses and within companies. There are so many companies that hire freelancers who will work for free. There are thousands of people every day who want experience and if the company is willing they will do it for free. Therefore, the change has come when crowdsourcing has helped companies save money by using people’s user-created content for free opposed to paying highly trained professionals.

In the article, The Rise of Crowdsourcing, the author states, “iStockphoto, which grew out of a free image-sharing exchange used by a group of graphic designers, had undercut Harmel by more than 99 percent. How? By creating a marketplace for the work of amateur photographers — homemakers, students, engineers, dancers. There are now about 22,000 contributors to the site, which charges between $1 and $5 per basic image.” (Howe, Pg 2) I remembered when these different stock photo sites emerged online and anyone in this field ran to these sites to buy stock photos. I didn’t know that there was anyway else to buy photos and probably most people thought the same way. The stock image freelancing professional knew that he couldn’t compete with a $1. But then how does his business of charging non-market rate photos of $100 stay afloat? It almost doesn’t.

Crowdsourcing can even affect writing opportunities. There are thousands of professional writers who are paid for their work but nowadays even an amateur can get the same type of recognition as a paid writer with their submitted work. There are dozens of media websites that allow writers to write for them for free. It may not be the best quality work but most times it makes the cut.  In the reading, The Blurring Line Between Amateur and Professional, (McArdle Pg 1) the author argues that a professional writer complained about his pay for writing an op-ed piece complaining but since crowdsourcing this is the type of pay that is given when magnates can get articles for free. It was stated, “there is no shortage of people-some of them quite knowledgeable and talented-who would gladly write for the Times op-ed page for free.”  Unfortunately, crowdsourcing will continue because you simply can’t beat it.

1. My class activity is that two students are both running for president. They will have to come up with a way to gain supporters for their campaign The topic will be gun control .The rest of the class will be the voters. One student will use social media for their campaign and the other student has to use the traditional method. In the end, the class will decide which method was more effective and why. This class activity will take about 30-45 minutes

2. Yes I thought my activity was successful because everyone in the class participated and the class seemed to have a lot of fun because my activity lasted a pretty long time.

3My goal was to have everyone debate and everyone participate in this “town hall meeting” and everyone seemed to do just that.

4 .I learned that being a professor is not as easy as it seems and I learned that everyone has different views and that people should respect that.

5. This activity made me want to research more on blogging and also politics because it was so fun.

In this generation most of the daily news is built on a social media platform. Also, there has been a convergence with social media and politics. For example, when Barack Obama was running for elections in 2008, he wanted to reach to the youth.  So he used the media such as television advertising for his campaigns. In The New York Times article “How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power”, David Carr explains how Obama was the first President to use the internet for campaigning. Unlike his former opponents who cared about how much money they can raise during their campaigns. Also in his article, Mr. Andreessen said “Other politicians I have met with are always impressed by the Web and surprised by what it could do, but their interest sort of ended in how much money you could raise. He was the first politician I dealt with who understood that the technology was a given and that it could be used in new ways.”

Politics and Social Media go well with each other. There can be benefits and also downsides for Politics and Social Media together.  News on Social Media can hurt a campaign because once a story is out, it spreads quickly and becomes viral. Such as the “Sex Tapes” of Donald Trump talking about women disrespectfully. Also, Hillary Clinton’s “Emails” that were deleted and contained important information. In my point of view Donald Trump isn’t using Social Media for political reasons wisely. He puts whatever is on his mind onto Twitter before rethinking the consequences.

I agree with the third article, “The Role Played By Social Media In Political Participation And Electoral Campaigns”, when they stated “Personal communication via social media brings politicians and parties closer to their potential voters. It allows politicians to communicate faster and reach citizens in a more targeted manner and vice versa, without the intermediate role of mass media.” Like I said before, people consume daily political news through social media and on their phones. A research was conducted by PEW RESEARCH CENTER on 10/2014, by studying how many people use their phones to keep up with election news by age. Also, they compared the same study that they have done in 2010. They found an increase from 2010 to 2014, especially among 30 to 49 year olds.

Social media is the future. Something such as the Internet once thought to be selective skill not needed for everyday life has become and essential part of our daily lives. It has spread amongst the likes of professionals and students and is accessible to almost anyone. And more specifically “Social Media”. Humans are social creatures. Yes we can use some alone time here and there but the reason a punishment for a  major crime is solitary confinement is because of the severity of the effects of not being linked to other people. And our youth crave attention the most. So social media was and is still the measuring stick of connecting with others. Nobody ever would’ve likened social media to grown working adults whos social media only really involved emailing. Yet now we find social media used in political campaigns that can help make or break an election. Like with Obama in his last reelection. You see social media is efficient and is gonna take over all spectrums of life. So like the old saying goes “if you cant beat em join em”.  And its very efficient indeed. According to http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/11/03/cell-phones-social-media-and-campaign-2014/  that voters are following political figures on social media sites which is more likely to get seen and more or less likely to be cheaper than political ad campaigns and commercials.

Social media has definitely had an impact on Donald Trump’s presidency. Throughout his career, he has been so involved and influenced in media of the American society.  He has made himself more popular as a public figure because of his presidency. Prior to election, he was well known for his popularity in the field of television (You’re Fired!), and also due to his funny memes on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.).  When he announced his run as President of the United States, it exploded in a social frenzy and was seen as a simple joke. Although people at first rooted for him jokingly and showed support, it was usually done prior to his speeches and debates.

As time passed by, more people began to recognize him and his behavior towards society. People were shocked when he took it upon himself to express Mexicans as “lazy rapists who come to America to rape and kill people,” when he wanted a ban on Muslims from entering the country, and when he spoke on women’s reproductive rights (“Grab ’em by the …”).  All these actions influenced more people to protest against his actions, but they also influenced more people to support him, which then started a huge controversy and worldwide debate. The level of his popularity is also influenced on today’s society and its influence through social media. People use these social sites as their platform to truly express themselves in way that they normally would not be able to do in real life.

Social media has definitely been a vital tool for political news and election campaigns. People are tuned in more than ever, especially because of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Studies have shown that people of all ages, especially between 18-29 and 30-49, use Twitter to track politics at very similar rates. According to “Cell Phones, Social Media, and Campaign”, Republicans and Democrats use Twitter at similar rates as well. However, Republicans were found to have a stronger desire to find out news first before everyone else. I found it interesting that they use media to find out unfiltered news more than anybody else, considering that many far-right and conservative people often use Twitter to spread fake news and propaganda.

Social media also gives regular citizens a sense of feeling more connected to politicians. They are very likely to find the content that politicians post interesting, relevant or even humorous. It humanizes them and makes them feel more relatable. For example, I follow Obama on Twitter because he became president when I was starting to get into social media and Twitter at age 13. He is relatable, insightful and empathetic in ways that Trump is not. Following politicians is also a way to get more reliable information than what is available from traditional news outlets because often times it comes straight from the politician.

Social media is more useful than ever when it comes to political campaigns and elections because it is apart of our generation NOW. It was not heavily used prior to the last 2 elections. With the ever changing evolution of media, it is a vital tool for spreading information, politicizing important movements and stimulating citizen engagement. You can watch a debate on the CNN app or use hashtags to find out information. Overall it allows us to have access to the people we are voting into office, and access to changes that we would like to see in our government.

Media and political campaigns now go hand in hand. A lot of politicians now are using social media and other sources of media  to promote themselves to be elected for a certain place in office or in the government. They even have social media accounts to basically keep in touch with society and make their status known or give people a chance to know them better. According to the article “Cell Phones, Social Media and  Campaign,” a lot of voters follow political campaigns through social media and get all their info from social media. This is the only way really that we may get our info nowadays because nobody watches the news that much anymore or listen to radios. In the article ” The role played by social media in political participation and electoral campaigns,” politicians mainly use social media as a faster way to communicate with its voters. It helps them see where their heads are really at and how they can win these voters over. Social media also lets the voters get to know the politicians better and see what their true motive is. The article ” Pithy, Mean and Powerful,” it talks about our infamous President Trump. It talks about how Trump basically has “twitter fingers.” He is always on Twitter and constantly talking bad about someone or something that he doesn’t like. He is the only President that stays on social media all the time. People have even called him a bully for the things that he says in his post. Media and political campaigns I believe will always be around. No matter what, social media will always be a way to keep up with all things dealing with politics