dmariel, 4/9

I just recently started working downtown for a wedding photographer. I was hired for social networking purposes. I basically get paid to sit on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and blogs all day long. I thought that this would be so simple for my boss’s three companies, but I now have about eight different accounts for each of these social networking sites...and it is DEFINITELY hard to keep up with. I have seen numerous people that have successfully run an entire business through social networking. It is amazing to me how far the internet has grown in the past few years. My parents wouldn’t even have a clue with Twitter or Myspace is, yet people are building their lives on these sites. I think that this relates to Bourdieu’s theories in that the internet is the number one medium that can give us a sense of mediacy. TV has fallen behind and can barely get it’s information as fast as typical bloggers. I find that blogging has provided me with a more realistic news feed...unlike TV, which is constantly spitting out ‘infotainment’ over and over again. People are voicing out their opinions on what is going on in the world because they aren’t getting it through national news. They no longer care about the “man who used cocaine to build a leg cast”. People are coming together and spreading news from tweet to tweet.
In today’s generation, it is imperative to be technologically savvy. Bourdieu states that “Any journalist who wants power or influence has to have a TV program if it is even possible for TV journalists to get important positions in the printed press”. We talked in class about how in our world today this is true for every successful person having a website, a logo, a blog, etc..A man, about my fathers age, runs a business and has hired me to do his social networking as well. He has told me numerous times that he is amazed by the power of the internet but has no idea how to use it. All he knows is that he has seen the success of other people and companies getting the word out on the web and would like for me to do the same for him. I feel lucky that I am getting paid to be connected with all sorts of people all around the world. We have migrated to a medium that has given us a sense of mediacy in every way possible.