Ethnography Update

So, without even finishing my full eHarmony profile, they have already set me up with over 48 new matches and I've started to learn some new things about this online dating site. Everday I'm getting at least 7 emails with someone who could be my perfect match. I don't even have a picture up yet, so Im assuming these matches are made by the information I gave. That seems to be what the point of the site is, but why match me with over 48 new people when they can't even see what I look like...I guess looks aren't anything these days?...YEA RIGHT! Once I upload a picture we'll see which matches actually email and which ones dont.

I do have the choice to "send a message" to one of my matches. This is when they show me the persons complete profile(minus their picture). You must sign up and pay the monthly or yearly membership to view the picture. I also have the option of sending him 5 questions out of a choice of 57, that I would want him to answer to get to know him better. Oh yea, and you can also send one "icebreaker" for free, which is things that range from "you profile brought a smile to my face today" to "it seems like we live close, lets chat"


This is all what eHarmony calls "guided communication", where they basically guide you through the steps on how to communicate with another human being. Seems odd to me so far?

Facebook Pedophile?

FACEBOOK ACCUSATIONS?

In one of my earlier classes today, our teacher showed us a recent case in Douglas, Georgia about a thirteen year old student who was suspended for writing on her facebook that one of her teachers was a pedophile. After her family got upset and accused the school of "invading her privacy" her suspension was revoked. Do students have the right to say whatever they want on their facebook about their teachers? Calling someone in power, like a teacher, a pedophile could RUIN them! The father of another student stated in the following video that it was all in "conversation...we all say things in conversation that we shouldnt". While that is true, we DO all say things in conversation that aren't always true or moral  HOWEVER it should be the parents job to teach their children the fine line between what you SAY in conversation and what you POST or WRITE for anyone to see. We are old enough to know that if you have something bad to say you SAY it, because if you WRITE it you face more sever consequences. Do you think the school was right for revoking the girls suspension? Read the case for yourself and watch the video. What do you think?

Article...http://newmagazineblog.com/2011/03/georgia-middle-school-students-disciplined-after-calling-teacher-%E2%80%98pedophile%E2%80%99-on-facebook/


Video...http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/douglas-co-students-disciplined-over-facebook-post-030111

eHarmony Ethnography

So, as part of my class I have to do an ethnography>>>for my ethnography I'm going to dive into the online dating world and see what I find. I want to find if people are honest, genuine and who the site matches me with. I'm curious as to see if I'm going to be matched with someone just like me, with the same interests and beliefs. Typically, this is what makes a good "match", but how many couples do you know that are almost exactly alike and all they do is fight and bicker as a result? I'm also not single, so I'm curious as to see if people on this site will be able to figure that out, and will I be able to tell if someone I'm matched with REALLY is single? You can check out my eHarmony profile if you want...(I did however change my name to Janelle, I figured while I'm living in this online dating world I might as well change something about myself...so why not my name? Just about everything else I tried to be completely honest with!)

http://www.eharmony.com/singles/servlet/user/aboutme/profilepreview

Online Dating For Kids and Teenagers?

DOES ONLINE DATING HAVE AN AGE LIMIT? YOU WOULD THINK SO....

I thought one of the main arguments as to why online dating is so useful is because it allows a way for MATURE ADULTS to find a compatible match because they no longer feel comfortable going out to bars or randomly searching for their soulmate? So, why is it that when i "google" search online dating I have the choice of searching "online dating for kids", "online dating for college students", and "online dating for teenagers". So I explored these sites to see for myself what in the world is an online dating site for a tennager like? Don't they have facebook to share their lives on...I think they are sharing a lot more on these sites than facebook. We don't see these commercials on tv saying "1 out of 5 teen pregnancies began on teenage dating sites". That sounds like a crazy statistic, but after you read you might not think its to far fetched.

This site even advertises that some teens that have met on their site ended up getting married! Is this SERIOUS?http://www.chatpit.com/teenchat/


Of course most of these teen dating sites are just chat rooms and innocent fun. Is it really innocent though? How many stories do we hear about teenagers having sex too young and now they send half naked and naked photos of themselves via text and internet? Aren't these sites feeding that fad?

This site even has a rating on who is the best looking!...(a lot like what Mark Zuckerberg did with the college females) Teens can do anything on this site from chat to look at pictures of fellow young obviously under 18 year old friends and rate if they are "hot or not" or they can just simply share music and blog on the site. It's a site totally dedicated to teens! Which is an okay thing to have, since most teens use the internet...but an online dating site for teens where they can post pictures of themselves and rate them "hot or not"? It seems like a risky facebook almost.
http://www.mylol.net/ Some kids on these sites look 12 years old and some look like they are in their twenties! It sickened me to read the blog postings on the site...they are vulgar and talk about things that I didnt even know the meaning of until I was in college!


Are online dating and teen chat sites like mylol.net and chatpit.com making it easier for socially awkward kids to make friends? I don't think so, if you really look at these sites and explore you will most likely find what I have found and that is, that these sites are allowing younger and younger kids to post inappropriate photos, engage in conversation that shouldnt even be thought of and to misuse their freedom of the internet. Do parents know their kids are putting pictures on ONLINE DATING WEBSITES that potential sexual predators can easily look at???

Dating Websites...Will they last?

Are online dating websites something that will continue to grow OR will they fade out?

We hear all types of statistics about how useful online dating is in finding the perfect match. I can go almost anywhere and bring up online dating and hear a sweet fairytale but true personal story about how a couple met online. As it turn out, it is hard to argue why you don't agree with online dating; however, I've found a new angle on the whole online dating thing. I'm not for or against it although I would never expect myself to choose those methods, neither can a lot of college students like myself. Anyway, when I thought about it I started to wonder if online dating is something that will continue to grow or if it is simple a dating fad of our time-like arranged marriages in our culture or marriage at the age of 13 where back in the day! I also wonder, with such a high divorce rate now- will future generations even bother trying to find love or try to completely avoid marriage? My generation (18-25) has seen divorce, whether it be in our own family, the kid we grew up to next door or the kids in our Science class, we've seen it. Our generation is used to seeing marriages and relationships fall apart, so will we even reach out for online dating like the older generations do? I don't think our generation is rushing to get married. No doubt, babies will still be born from our generation, but marriage will be something of negativity and RED FLAGS. So, why would online dating continue? Most online daters are of the "older" generation. Will we continue their path or find new ways to meet the love of our life?

This chart shows you WHY people in our generation might continue the trend of online dating... How can you deny the results?

No matter how amazing and guarnteed the statistics might be, I still think my generation is not ready to find the "love of our life" online. All I'm saying is, everyone is online, mix it up and find your true love walking down Main Street or enaging in love-at-first-SIGHT chemistry.

Facebook in 10 years...WE ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS!

Have you ever thought about the fact that Facebook is only 4 years old! Its just a toddler...imagine what it will be like in 10 years...will it even be around? In January 2009 a study by Compete.com ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users. At one time MySpace was ranked the most social network used, and what happened to that? What do you think Facebook will look like in 10 years and who will be the next Mark  Zuckerburg and create a new explosive social media?

Check out this video Sean Parker and  talking about The Next Social Movement...

He talks about an interesting idea...that while Skype and some others are playing in this field, he thinks long-term there will be something along the lines the Internet hasn’t seen yet. What will that be? I sure hope I come up with the next big idea!                                                                      Watch me.

Richard Jewell's case being argued in Georgia Court of Appeals....here is a video of the argument...VERY INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!

http://multimedia.dailyreportonline.com/2011/02/bryant-v-cox-enterprises/

Web 2.0 in "normal" terms...

When hearing the term "web 2.0" my brain immediately strays. It sounds like a type of computer software to me and I tend to stay as far away as possible from making the mistake of trying to learn about such things. HOWEVER, my friends, web. 2.0 is easy to understand and actually something we all should know about! Here is a diagram of a more simple explanation (than if you where to google "what is web 2.0"?)...

In short, web 2.0 is more user-centric than web 1.0. It is more colorful and interactive. It brought about things like SOCIAL NETWORKING, WIKIS and BLOGS! Web 2.0 is the name given to websites built for today's generation and not for 15 years ago!

This link shows a graphic that might help you understand web 2.0 a little better!
http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/08/18/web-10-vs-web-20-the-visual-difference/

and this video may help!

Why am I talking about Web 2.0? Well all you online dating addicts...without the invention of Web 2.0 you would still be looking for the love of your life out in the streets instead of online! Understand that "web 2.0" is just a general name. It means that people can much more easily communicate with each other over the internet. They can contribute to the content of a website as opposed to just consuming it.

Online Dating is a NEW NEW MEDIA that ALL journalists should research!

Online Dating Newspaper

So, I was thinking...what does online dating and this whole online relationship world have to do with me? I then realized that online dating is a type of new new media. Like I have said in previous posts, online dating isn't something that has been around for a long time; therefore, it's not something that has not been over-researched and it's not something we hear about everyday. Because it is something of a new media, it is something that highly attracts me. It's a subject every journalist should research and write about to let all generations know about. The following website is a wonderful online dating newsletter! It's anything someone could wonder about online dating and all the latest news about what's going on in the online dating world...


http://onlinedatingpost.com/media/

On this site, someone can decide if online dating is the right thing for them and what site would be the best for them to find their soulmate. I'm trying to be open minded about the whole online dating thing but I'm finding it hard. There are articles and online newletters and numerous blogs about how great online dating is...but does nobody think it's out of the ordinary like I do?

This post is not all that relevant to my subject, but being a mass media junkie I thought it was interesting and something we should all read. My good friend is going to college now in Cairo and she asked to spread this news...http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=130566857009092

Online Dating in my eyes...

Online dating is a $4 billion industry worldwide. I said $4 BILLION! What is this obsession about? While I am not personally interested in online dating, it fascinates me to read and learn about this online lifestyle that many perfectly normal people participate in. I haven’t yet decided if I'm a supporter or hater of online dating, but I do hope to find out. I hope some of the links I post and questions I ask interest you too and have you wondering more about a 4 BILLION DOLLAR industry in our world right now.
Obviously 4 Billion dollars is a lot of money! 4 billion dollars could be used for something else and people could rely on fate for meeting their life partner. But is that even possible for some people anymore (to just rely on fate in meeting the man or woman of their dreams)? Were able to learn so much about a person now through technology, that we don’t even have to meet someone in person first before we decide if we like them or not. I'm sure none of our grandparents met on match.com and they couldn’t have even imagined it back then.
Since the internet can provide so much information about a person, I can't help but wonder...What will our grandchildren and future generations be doing to meet the love of their life?

Check out these statistics of online dating...
http://www.datingsitesreviews.com/staticpages/index.php?page=online-dating-industry-facts-statistics

How do we construct our identities to market ourselves

There are countless numbers of tips and helpful studies on the internet about how our facebook pages can effect our jobs. There is no way to hide it, once you have put something about yourself on the internet for the world to see, anyone has the right to read it and make a judgement on who you are and what kind of person you might be. So, do we market ourselves differently on sites such as Facebook and Myspace in hopes that someone will read it and think we are something different than that of who we truly are in reality? It doesnt matter anymore how professional you are at work, you can lose respect by how you handle yourself on Facebook. It is also wise to friend your boss and intentionally post things on your Facebook that can make them think highly of you.

How do people present themselves on online dating sites? Many sites such at match.com and eharmony allow individuals to make profiles about themselves. Is it possible that many people on these sites are marketing themeselves to be something they really arent? There are even websites that provide tips on how to market yourself on online dating sites!!! What happened to just being honest and putting your true self out there. Yes, maybe marketing oneself on sites such as Linked In is a good strategy for future boss's could be looking at your information...but marketing yourself for an online dating site seems kind of bogus! If the point is to meet someone to share your life with, wouldnt you want to start off on the right foot and put your true self out there from the get go? On a site called HubPages.com they say "Marketing yourself for online dating is similar to selecting or choosing the best product that is available based on price and benefits.". Price and benefits, really??? Is it online dating or online buying and selling???

Anyway world, I say whether your using Facebook, Myspace or any online dating site, the best way to go is honesty of course! Why put something on these sites about yourself that is not always true? Just seems stupid to me!

Introduction

Hello online world! My name is Kimberly West. I am a communcation arts major at Reinhardt University, a small school nestled in beautiful North Georgia. I am currently a senior and am looking forward to graduating in the fall and entering a new and exciting world. I am the third of three children and possess all stereotypical traits of the youngest child. I am proud to be from Louisiana and enjoy sharing my heritage and culture with those I come into contact with. I have started this blog as part of a class I am currently taking. I hope you enjoy my postings and look forward to sharing my future adventures with you!