Turn On, Login, Opt Out

There are a lot of aspects wrong with the functionality of our American society, and if Timothy Leary was still walking among us, I’m sure the Opt-out feature that we have been slowly forced into would be on the list of societal qualms. The Opt out function is frustrating, and ethically irresponsible. I find myself scouring my monthly transactions to see what ‘auto-transactions” are being charged to my account, and usually finding something I didn’t know was going to auto renew, or something I thought was just a trial. Like the time my NBAtv membership auto renewed for $249.00, over drafting my account and causing a painstaking fight with the company to get my money back.

It is at times like these where I find my faith in humanity wavering. So what do I see today circulating the web, but a sign of hope from the most trustworthy and noble institutions in this country. A lifeline sent from a company that has had my back since day one. The credit card company known as Mastercard. 

Mastercard recently announced that they are “banning automatic billing after a free trial.” This seems like a rather stunning Opt-in sort of move, in an Opt-out kind of world. Now, they will require a confirmation via text or email that you want to continue the service, as opposed to just automatically charging you. A major corporation making things easier on the consumer? Maybe the world really is coming to an end. Now if only Mastercard will forgive the copious amounts of debt I have acquired, things will feel right in the world.

Do you guys think this will set a precedent for other credit card companies to follow suit? Do you like this move by Mastercard, or no? I know that I will no longer have to set alarms and calendar reminders whenever I want to sign up for a free trial from now on. What other Opt-in type moves could be made, or would you like to see made that could help out the common consumer like this one?

Article: https://www.pcmag.com/news/366051/mastercard-bans-automatic-billing-after-free-trials

Why Does it Feel Like Facebook is Less Popular Than it Used to be?

               With all of the social media platforms available to us today it is hard to keep track of which ones are the most popular, and which ones best suit you. Growing up Myspace was basically the one and only social networking site to be on. Everybody had a Myspace page that was fully customizable with your choice of music, a decorative background, and those top 8 friends that must have ruined many friendships. But then sometime in middle school along came Facebook. Facebook had a different, more proper and organized style to it. White backgrounds, profile pictures up in the corner and posts below. At some point they added the banner feature, which allowed users to post a large banner like photo above their profile. Other than that the setup was rather bland compared to that of Myspace’s. Nevertheless it worked out, and Facebook grew rapidly and suddenly everyone had a Facebook profile. Not just kids or young adults either. Their parents and other older relatives infiltrated the main source of online media being consumed by teens and young adults.

                It’s not that we don’t love and enjoy our beloved relatives, but Facebook was used an escape from the real world for many of us. It was a place to share ideas with your friends, tell people what you did that day, post pictures of parties, share jokes and memes, and not have to worry about responsibilities. But an older more mature audience doesn’t fully understand the content that we share or why we share it. These newer generations grew up online and established a kind of community that older generations simply have a hard time comprehending (a majority of the time). It is rude however, to seemingly imply that the older generations shouldn’t be allowed on social media. That is not what I am saying at all. The younger generations simply fled to other social networking sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat. That does not mean that they have up and left Facebook behind though.

                Facebook has simply turned into a more appropriate, seemingly family oriented social networking site. It is a great place to post pictures of weddings, send invitations to events, announce pregnancies, baby pictures, give support to those in need, inspirational stories and quotes, and it is a place where many people obtain their news. I am not claiming Facebook is a completely innocent site, there is a fair share of more “adult” oriented content, but its main idea is much more innocent. Newer sites like Reddit, Instagram, and Snapchat are more laid back and the content seems to be aimed at a younger audience such as young adults. Though these other social media sites are popular, and with Instagram being the fastest growing platform out there, Facebook is still the leading social networking site by popularity. Even though these new sites catch our attention and we do spend time on them, many of us haven’t deleted our old Facebook accounts, nor have the forgotten about them.

https://influencermarketinghub.com/50-social-media-sites-you-need-to-know/

Social medias' management in foreign countries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7URDpLeYgOI

Warning: the video linked above contains graphic images. Watch at your own discretion.

First, some backstory: there’s obviously no market for dog meat in Vietnam, but there are demands. Thus, dog thieves who steal dogs from local residents and sell them illegally to butchers in another province can make a lot of money.

This video depicts a graphic aftermath of a dog heist gone wrong in Phu Tho, a Vietnamese province, in which two dog thieves are seen either severely injured, or possibly dead, and stuffed into a dirty cart along with their bloodhound (this is a dog that the thieves use to sniff out other dogs within the area). It was an ugly sight. Even more horrifying is the fact that with just the right Vietnamese keywords, many more videos of this kind, even more gory and upsetting, will easily pop up in one's search.

Now imagine your younger siblings or nieces, in an unfortunate turn of events, stumbling upon this video completely by chance. Imagine the sheer terror they’ll be faced with, and the mental trauma that can possibly result from said experience. This hypothetical but completely viable threat raises an important question: how do international media platforms govern their content in a market outside of their HQ’s country?

Every once in a while, you’ll also encounter grotesque videos on Facebook in non-English accounts in which a motorist’s leg is completely severed by a traffic accident, or in which a woman lactates streams after streams of mucus in front of the camera (no, there will be no link this time. I do have them but you guys definitely don’t need to see them.) Judging by how this particular Youtube video has more than 8000 views and has been up for over 4 years, I’d say Youtube’s foreign management, especially in Vietnam, has failed the hardest among all.

This failure raises many particularly interesting questions about Youtube’s management system: Is its HQ in California responsible for greenlighting or blocking every video submitted to the system? Is the process completely automatic and computer-run? Or are there branches of management in each country’s market it has expanded to? If so, how effective is the communication between said branches and the HQ? If it is indeed a fault with management, can it potentially be exploited by ill-willed individuals?

Let me know what you guys think. Have you ever encountered a grotesque video on any media platform you browse? Was it a video in a foreign language? What steps do you think can be taken to solve this issue?

Riiise and shiiine

I'm sure that we all saw the video of Kylie Jenner walking into her daughter, Stormi's, playroom and singing "rise and shine" as she flicks on the lights, effectively waking up her daughter. It was hard to avoid the video as it was all over twitter and other social media. If you didn't see it, here it is.

Since this viral video started circulating last month, Kylie has made rise and shine merchandise, added music and made a music video, she's even trademarking the saying "rise and shine" for her clothing and cosmetic lines. Some Twitter users have declared that the meme was funny when the video first happened, but after Kylie began trying to make more money off of it, it suddenly became not funny anymore. 

Those “Rise and Shine” videos of Kylie Jenner were funny until she started doing too much by making sweatshirts and now trying to trademark it. Like why can’t she just let it be funny and leave it alone?

— Ace 🥀🌻 (@_Nikiig) October 23, 2019

At the beginning of November, there was talk of Kylie suing a small Australian business for using the phrase "rise and shine" in their own apparel. Even though the cease and desist letter turned out to be a rumor, the thought of someone who is as rich, making her powerful, as Kylie Jenner over something like this, is scary. What would the average person be able to do if they were served with a cease and desist letter from Kylie Jenner? They would have to stop selling the product because they wouldn't be able to afford to go against Kylie Jenner in a court over something like this. 

People who are apart of a lower socioeconomic status have no power if they ever needed to go head to head against one of these super celebrities who own so much of the country's wealth. They wouldn't stand a chance if they ever found themselves in court with a celebrity. The amount of money some of these celebrities have is hard to even fathom, and I'm sure that a lawsuit and court hearings wouldn't but that big of a dent in their bank accounts as it would compared to small business owners or the average working-class person in America. 

Even beyond the possibility of a lawsuit, people who are in the working-class or those living in poverty may not have access (or have less access) to culture such as this instance. Not that I would call Kylie Jenner singing "rise and shine" way off-key to her sleeping 1-year-old daughter the height of American culture, but for those in poverty or in the working class, they may not be able to be in on the video inspired memes that are a direct result of the video. 

What do you think about the trademarking and profiting off of a saying that has been used for years in everyday conversations?

TikTok on the clock but the party don't stop no

A couples weeks ago, I finally joined the bandwagon and got a TikTok account. I never wanted to get one because TikToks are typically geared to a younger generation. My 14 year old sister has a TikTok and actually makes them and tries to become famous. I thought that was so cringe, so I told myself I would never get one but then things changed. I have seen some dumb things on their but what I think is cool about TikTok is that if I make a reference to meme or video that I saw on their, people always comment "Hey I saw that on Tik Tok!". I just think its funny how different songs or memes, people reference relate back to this app. A main reason I got TikTok is because I saw so many of them on other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram and I got curious and had to check it out. My experience with TikTok is all positive, I go on this app to make myself laugh and I end up being sucked into watching these short videos for hours. I think this social media app is definitely geared to high schoolers like my sister but I find some of the videos entertaining yet vulgar. What makes me question this social media site is it is supposed to be designed for kids in high school and middle school but some of the stuff is NOT age appropriate on there for them. I don't know maybe its just the content that I have seen but some of those videos are not okay for at least middle schoolers to watch. I almost think its weird seeing people making TikToks who are 25+ because this app really is directed for young kids. During my time in high school Vine was the major short video media platform. I absolutely loved Vine, and I used to make them all the time. Vine walked so TikTok could run and full on believe that. The fact that Vine was shut down makes me upset, especially all of the vines I've ever made I can't access anymore. I wanna look back on my young self doing stupid things from high school but no the app had to be deleted off the internet which makes me upset.

I saw an article in the New York times that talked about how TikTok is changing our social media platforms and I 110% agree with that statement. TikTok does away with many of the assumptions other social platforms have been built upon. It questions the primacy of individual connections and friend networks. It embraces central control rather than pretending it doesn’t have it. TikTok’s real influence going forward may be that the other social media platforms decide that our friends were simply holding us back from not getting the app. This article is stating that people were to quick to judge this app because it has become extremely popular with 1 billion users on this app. Users who are on TikTok are from the ages of 15-24, as I said no one over 25 should be making TikToks.  The app has spawned numerous viral trends and internet celebrities around the world, propelled songs to fame, and is known to be popular among celebrities due to its popularity and social influence. All of this talk about TikTok makes me wonder what is going to be the next big phenomenon?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/style/what-is-tik-tok.html

What Music Platform Do You Prefer?

Throughout the years of Ipods and CDs, people started changing the way that they listen to music. Once smartphones became popular, Apple Music and Spotify were invented. These are only a few of the great music streaming apps you can listen to for free or pay a low-cost monthly subscription to.

Now for me, Spotify is my go-to and always has been my go-to once I stopped paying $1.29 for each song on iTunes or mysteriously copying songs from YouTube and uploading them to my dropbox (oops). 

The reasons why I absolutely love Spotify: 

• Incredibly easy to use 
• Sleek black display, easy on the eyes
• Quick to search your favorite songs 
• Cheap and insane $4.99 month deal (includes Hulu and Showtime), students only
• Soo many cool public playlists to choose from 
• See what your friends are listening to 

Since owning a premium Spotify account for over 5 years, I listened to different genres of music I never thought I would like, got special promo codes for early access concert tickets, and it is super easy to listen on different technology. I can quickly switch from listening on my phone to my laptop in under 30 seconds. 

What music streaming platforms do you listen to your tunes on? YouTube is still awesome, by the way 😊

Social Media as a News Source

According to the Pew Research Center, about 68% of their Americans look to social media platforms to receive their daily news.  57% agree that they are suspicious these sources are inaccurate.  At the click of a button, with most of us having our phone in our hands at all times, we can visit a social media platform that we can look to find our local and international news.  What's questionable about these sources is their credibility and accuracy.  We have become a generation of everything being fast-paced.  If we don't get something we want within a reasonable amount of time, it is not good enough for us.  Looking to social media for news sources is as easy as it comes these days to get your news anywhere, anytime.  Because it is so easy, we must question the credibility of these sources because they may not be as accurate as they appear to be.

Reading a well-crafted article can lead us to believe that our sources can be credible.  However, this is not always the case.  Inaccurate news sources are spread all over the internet every day.  We need to become more aware of what is reliable and what is not. The Pew Research Center also states that nine in ten Americans believe that social media companies have at least some control over the news that is being delivered to the public.  Social media companies tend to have established policies, meaning that they are sometimes obligated to prioritize certain news sources.  This can lead to bias and misleading information. 

The Pew Research center recognizes that Facebook is the dominant source of news for most Americans.  52% of U.S. adults use Facebook as a reliable news source.  This caught my eye because we had also mentioned this in class, and seemed to be a surprise to everyone.  I feel this is because a majority of young people have left Facebook to turn to Snapchat, Instagram, twitter, etc.  Facebook for me is something I never use, if you were to send me a message on Facebook messenger, it is likely that I will not see it for at least a week.  I usually use Facebook to connect with family members, but I do not use it very frequently.  I do, however, use Facebook primarily to seek articles that are being shared by my friends and family.  The most eye-opening thing to me when researching this topic was that Facebook was the most dominant form of social media for news sources.