SOCIAL MEDIA (n.)
forms of electronic communication (such as websites/mobile apps for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content as a way of connecting with each other.
Project Social Media is about people. It's about the way we use and obsess over social media. It's about the way we look at each other, not just through eyes and ears, but through Tweets and statuses and filtered photo collages. It's about the way we feel empty at the dinner table without our smartphones. It's about how we truly connect with people.
The inspiration for this project hit after observing my 51-year-old mom, Lorna, who is--I mean, literally--obsessed with Facebook. She's on it practically every hour on the hour, especially since getting her iPhone last December. It's amusing seeing the amount of concentration she puts in every status, photo collage, and comment. How it took her 25 minutes to change her profile pic. How her biggest concern is the amount of likes on a post. How her every colorful collage and "sitting with my Starbucks" pic is documented neatly in a timeline. My mom, with her weekly posts and determination, is the Facebook queen.
And she won't let us forget it. Over the past few weeks I've been casually observing her social media activity and how it's affected her relationship with others; namely, my own family. In this project, I look at some of her notable Facebook posts, interview her & my dad (and the progress of their relationship as a married couple); discuss how social media has changed some of the communication dynamics; and record some of my own reactions to her online activity. Not to worry, my mom is aware that I've been doing all of this, and is completely okay with it. She's just being herself and I totally love her for it.
A huge chunk of this project is based off of my mom, dad, and their three-way relationship with her cellphone/social media. On the other side of this report, I do a bit of online research, looking at articles and interviews that study the side-effects social media has on my own generation, the younger "digital natives," and try to compare what makes us different... or even the same.
Enjoy the posts, photos, videos, and interviews with my family and our journey through social media land. #ProjectSocialMedia
The inspiration for this project hit after observing my 51-year-old mom, Lorna, who is--I mean, literally--obsessed with Facebook. She's on it practically every hour on the hour, especially since getting her iPhone last December. It's amusing seeing the amount of concentration she puts in every status, photo collage, and comment. How it took her 25 minutes to change her profile pic. How her biggest concern is the amount of likes on a post. How her every colorful collage and "sitting with my Starbucks" pic is documented neatly in a timeline. My mom, with her weekly posts and determination, is the Facebook queen.
And she won't let us forget it. Over the past few weeks I've been casually observing her social media activity and how it's affected her relationship with others; namely, my own family. In this project, I look at some of her notable Facebook posts, interview her & my dad (and the progress of their relationship as a married couple); discuss how social media has changed some of the communication dynamics; and record some of my own reactions to her online activity. Not to worry, my mom is aware that I've been doing all of this, and is completely okay with it. She's just being herself and I totally love her for it.
A huge chunk of this project is based off of my mom, dad, and their three-way relationship with her cellphone/social media. On the other side of this report, I do a bit of online research, looking at articles and interviews that study the side-effects social media has on my own generation, the younger "digital natives," and try to compare what makes us different... or even the same.
Enjoy the posts, photos, videos, and interviews with my family and our journey through social media land. #ProjectSocialMedia