Where did Myspace go?

This week in the FlorAla I read an interesting article that had to deal with MySpace and the fall of this social networking site. It posed a good question, what in the world ever happened to MySpace? It is a question I had never really thought about. Yes, I used to have a MySpace but once I got to college it just seemed as if Facebook was more accessible and easier to use. So over 2 years ago I decided to delete my MySpace. It does not seem like it was that long ago though when it seemed as if MySpace was where it was at. You could write on other peoples pages, design page layouts, and even bands had their own pages. But somewhere along the way MySpace started to dwindle. In my opinion I think it definately has to be because of Facebook. I remember when I arrived at college I did not even have a Facebook but decided to get one because alot of my friends at school used the site. The rest was history, I realized how much better Facebook was and how much more complex and simple it was. MySpace still does exist, but most of the social network users have either gone to Facebook or Twitter now.

My point of this post is to try and explain what happened here. In today's society we are always looking to upgrade, no matter what the instance may be. It does not matter what the case is whether it is a clothing brand or even a social networking site. Facebook saw what Myspace was doing and knew that if they wanted to keep up with Myspace that they would have to go above and beyond what Myspace was doing. People are always looking for their best possible scenario in the world today and are looking to improve current mediums that we use now. I can remember 10 years ago when my mother got her first cell phone. It was basically the size of a brick and had a 6 inch antenna on it. I thought it was amazing at that time. Imagine if you saw someone today with a cell phone like that, you would probably pass judgement on them. This is just proof that people are always looking to better what is currently out there.

One question that I would like to pose for readers of this blog is: Do you eventually think that Twitter is going to take over Facebook?

Here is a link to an article dealing with Myspace and where it went: Facebook>Myspace

Social Media in Egypt

In class today we heard a 5-minute feature piece on the social unrest going on in Egypt right now. I was aware of the issues that were currently going on but I was not aware to the extent of how serious things were. This again is an instance of just how easily accessible media can be for people. Riots are being started via Twitter. Citizens are "tweeting" where to meet up for the next riot. I personally have a Twitter and only think of it as being used as just a way to keep up with friends or maybe some athletes. I have never even fathomed that it could possibly be used in an instance like this. Twitter was created to be used for good and with the issues in Egypt this social networking site is causing havoc and chaos.

Here is a link to this story:Social Media in Egypt

Homeless Man Wins Fantasy League

Every year millions of football fanatics all across the United States take part in what we like to call "fantasy football." It is a specific league in which you create your own team and through a series of points you compete with other members each week. This year there were over 3.1 million competitiors in the ESPN league. Of all those people, the person who beat out the other millions of people actually was a homeless man.

Nathan Harrington was in a bad car accident that caused nerve and back problems and forced him to leave his marketing job. Months later he was forced to move out of his apartment due to the rat infestation and was left homeless and had to live out of cheap motels. He had no access to a computer and was having to either sneak into a public library every week to set up his team or he would walk to his mothers house to use her internet access. The grand prize he got for winning this league was a $3,500 gift card to Best Buy. He ended selling the gift card to his own mother for $2500.

I decided to post this in my blog because I just find this story amazing in so many different ways. It is amazing his will power and how one single fantasy sport gave a man hope and a chance to start over again. My main reason for posting this though is because this story just proves how accessible media is to anyone. I mean think about it, a man who had nothing, no car, no computer, no job, was able to beat out over 3 million other competitors and win ESPN's fantasy football league. It proves that if you want access to media, you can get it just about anyway that you want to.