Brown 1

Jonathan Brown Prof. Padgett ENGL 1102 1/28/2014

Context
Throughout my life, I have been influenced in some way through social media. I was first introduced to social media by Myspace when I was in seventh grade. I did not get on Myspace very often, but I used to love Myspace and I thought it was fun to create my profile and talk to my friends on Myspace. In the 8th grade, I got my first phone, an LG Rumor. The Rumor was one of the first slide phones that had a keyboard on it and I absolutely loved having a phone. I believe my phone is what really pulled me into the social world. Myspace, around the beginning of 9th grade was slowly dying out. When I realized I had no friends left on Myspace I gave in and converted to the thriving social media service, Facebook, which I currently use. I am on Facebook probably three to five times a day, probably once or twice on my phone and once or twice at home on my computer. I usually get on Facebook so I can talk to someone I need to talk to, post a quirky status, or snoop around on my friends pages and see what they are up to. I also have an Instagram and a Twitter, which I rarely ever use. One thing that really bugs me about social media is people who post explicit pictures. I see people flipping off the camera all the time in a picture, and I do not understand why someone would ever do that. People post pictures of themselves at parties and doing bad things that can really get you in trouble when you are looking for a job or applying for college. Another thing I do not particularly like about social media is the use of memes which are basically pictures with large text captions above and/or
Comment [AP1]: Do you see this as inappropriate? If so why? Comment [AP2]: Can you be more specific (without getting into gory details)?

Brown 2

bellow them referring to something in the picture in a sarcastic tone. Often people read these and are actually influenced by their blasphemy. Such as memes about the government shutdown, blaming either side for it, projects a negative appeal towards the government in general. Also there are many insulting memes referring to political parties and their platforms. After reading these people may have skewed ideas of what it really means to be a Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative. I personally lean towards Republican/Conservative viewpoints and often I see insulting memes towards my platform. I also see insulting memes towards the democrat platform. Another large problem I see is cyberbullying. Many times people do not even know
they are cyberbullying when doing it which makes it a large problem. The littlest things can mean the most to some people, even if those things were not meant to hurt someone. In social media, I have realized that if you post your opinion, you are basically starting a war. Even though we have a freedom to believe what we want to and hold our values and opinions if we want to, it seems like some people think their opinion is the only opinion. This can start major arguments on Facebook. I have seen arguments that are up to two-hundred comments long and they can occasionally be the end of friendships. Although the internet and social media can provide tons of useful information, it often reveals false information. I do not know how many times I have seen news of a celebrity dying and many people believe it. I saw that Morgan Freeman and Jackie Chan were dead once and it was made out to be very believable, it turns out they are still alive and going.
Comment [AP6]: Okay, you seem to be shifting topics from politics to cyber bullying to arguing (which is similar to your political convo). Make use of paragraphs. They are great tools! Comment [AP4]: Are you just saying this to be fair? Comment [AP5]: You might either need a new paragraph here or a more graceful transition to this topic (or both). Seems abrupt. Comment [AP3]: Isnt this freedom of speech? Isnt this a great way for people to express their opinions to large amounts of people? I wonder if social media has helped or hindered political discourse.

Inquiry
One question I would like to investigate is; How does the effect of false information shown on social media effect the public opinion? I think this question could go further to other questions, such as How many people actually know their political platform and does social
Comment [AP7]: This is a really great question. How pervasive is misinformation?

Brown 3

media have an effect on what people think about their political platform? or Is your personality determined at birth, or is it determined by influence through your life through society? Another question I would like to research is; How does social media effect people of less popularity versus people of high popularity? This could lead into questions on cyberbullying, self-esteem, and suicide influence. I have heard of many stories of people committing suicide over what someone said on social media directed towards them and I personally know someone who attempted suicide over things on social media. The effects of social media on suicidal people could also be a very interesting question to research. Another good question to research is Why do people feel the need to even create a social media account and post on it? I think it would be interesting to study the psychological reasoning for people to create a social media account and consistently use it.

Comment [AP8]: This is interesting. But I think people understand their respective political platforms. But I think sometimes their dogmatic adherence to a political platform makes them more susceptible to misinformation. Comment [AP9]: This seems random and unrelated to the discussion youve had thus far.

Hypothesis pre-research
I think that my first question How does the effect of false information shown on social media effect the public opinion? will lead to show that it is a major influence in the opinions, values, and knowledge of the people who use social media. I think my second question How does social media effect people of less popularity versus people of high popularity? In terms of popular and not popular, it will show that no matter what your status in society is you will feel pressured to be better than another person, or pressured in general and it will contribute to a lower self-esteem. My third question Why do people feel the need to even create a social media account and post on it? I believe will lead to show that people feel compelled to join social media to keep up with society, in other words, conforming to society.

Brown 4

Jon, I think youve written a fine and engaging proposal here. it seems to me that the inquiry you are most interested in is on political discourse. Which I think is a really terrific topic, one I havent seen anyone go after yet, and I think you will find plenty to write on. Especially if you investigate political campaigns and their successfulness (or lack of) as it pertains to wins and losses. I know theres been plenty written on Pres. Obamas two presidential campaigns and his use of social media. I think youre off to a really great start and I look forward to seeing how these ideas develop.