1. I Accidently An Internet Meme

    NOTE: This was written as a school project, so I apologize in advance for the corniness and/or school-like style of this post.

    The Internet has been a vast tool of information since it was created, whether it is for information, connecting, jobs, or sending messages to the world. However, the Internet is also filled with a lot of trash, whether it be idiots posting videos of their dogs running away from a squirrel, a man playing what he thinks sounds like saxophone with his mouth, or a celebrity violently ranting at a cameraman on the set of Terminator 4. However, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and people online pick up these things, thus turning into an Internet meme. Internet memes are jokes passed around on the Internet, to the point where they’ve gone viral, or spreading to the point of gaining much publicity and viewers very fast, like a virus.  To the average person, these memes usually seem stupid, idiotic, or just plain confusing. However, when the term “Internet meme” is broken down, it makes somewhat more sense to others.

    Internet memes are very easy to describe to others, but the message might be confusing. However, when the term is analyzed, it makes much more sense. According to Dictionary.com, the Internet is “a vast computer network linking smaller computer networks worldwide (usually prec. by the). The Internet includes commercial, educational, governmental, and other networks, all of which use the same set of communications protocols.”  Basically, the Internet is a world of knowledge, information, networking, and communication, accessible to anyone with a connection. Also according to Dictionary.com, a meme is “a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.” Again, implying that a meme in this case is involving the Internet, all that’s really necessary in that definition is a cultural item repeated and passed along to others. Now that the term is defined, most newcomers to this idea ask “Where? When? And most importantly, why?”

    The background of Internet memes is one of much confusion. The first ever Internet meme to go viral can be traced back to 1999, when a video entitled “Bad Day” was released to the masses.  The video featured a man in his cubical having troubles with his computer, to the point where he just shoves the monitor off his desk, destroying his computer. Whether the video was authentic or staged may never be known, but nonetheless it set in motion the influx of memes to be created later on. Hundreds of irrelevant items have been called by the title of “Internet memes” since “Bad Day” was released, whether they were needed or not.

    Some more popular memes are “lolcats”, which are cute and hilarious images of cats put to captions with misspelled grammar, “Yo Dawg”, which is based around Xzibit, the host of the MTV show ‘Pimp My Ride’, that pokes fun at him and his team of mechanics putting unnecessary but yet insanely cool items into the redesigned cars, by telling Xzibit to place unusual items within the unusual item discussed (such as a dog within a dog), and starting off the phrase with the greeting “yo dawg”, and “Over 9,000”, a term taken from the anime series Dragonball Z, where power levels of different characters are taken. One enemy of the hero within the series finds the hero’s power level has passed 9,000, in which he screams in disgust “His power level is over 9,000!” Since then, mashup videos, remakes, and more have been made surrounding the famous line, and now online, “over 9,000’ is a term to describe an innumerable amount. Though these memes created out of loneliness, randomness, and sometimes just pure stupidity, many have been successful in gaining the attention of a mainstream audience, famous and powerful minds, and even profiting from their creations.

    Though they have absolutely no point or target whatsoever, Internet memes usually gain much more publicity, profit, and viralness then something actually important. For example, the creators of “lolcats” recently published a book full of their captioned cats, entitled “I Can Haz Cheezburger?” The book has received much talk and even got itself a place on “The New York Times” Bestseller list. As well as that, many memes usually get publicity and featured within mainstream media. When the meme “Yo Dawg” gained hype, Xzibit responded by telling others to stop the meme. However, he later embraced his new promotion online, and even made his own “Yo Dawg” joke. (Shortly after Xzibit did so, the meme died off, proving that celebrities aren’t yet ready for memes, or that celebrities are just not funny.) An Internet community once got Oprah, via the forums on her website, to say “over 9,000” on her talk show, providing more laughs and exposure for the joke. Memes possess powers that no other part of the Internet may possess, but what those powers are remain to be seen.

    In the world of Internet memes, the surface has only just been examined. There appears to be an invasion of memes attempting to become discovered and popular daily, most failing. However, with the ability to publicize, and profit from memes, it would seem a whole new genre of comedy has been created, and will become more profound in the coming years. So, learn to embrace the ‘lolcats’ and the ‘RickRolls’ and all other memes, for it seems that they are part of the future of the Internet as well. And oh, what a future that will be.

  2. How to Utilize The Power of Twitter

    What are you doing? Twitter on the surface appears to be a great procrastination tool for everyone. However, though it can be used for that, it has many other valuable abilities to it. Whether it be spreading the word about DTV, enjoying the failure of news stations, or communicating during time of clashing and battles, Twitter is truly a game changing tool.

    As said by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has said,

    “Twitter is the messaging system we didn’t know we needed until we had it.”

    Twitter has played it’s part in communication very well, and proved itself as a new way for news to spread. During the Hudson River plane landing, the first photo of the scene to get out was via Twitter. When Swine Flu broke out, Twtterers jumped all over the story, and spread links of symptoms and how to cure it out to the world. And even now in Iran, Twitter is playing a vital part in how people are communicating to each other, and receiving information. With a vast network of people on Twitter, the possible situations needed in the future will first be played out online, and not on television.

    On Saturday, when most riots began to break out in Iran, all major news stations didn’t cover it, but rather showed reruns of shows. Twitter and blogs became the only way to receive news, and from people on the ground at the site of the protests. For the first time, the Internet beat mainstream media to the punch of a news story as monumental as the Iran election. With communicating sites like Twitter and blogs, anyone with a computer can become as big and trusted as a news corporation like CNN or MSNBC.

    Of course, with power comes responsibility. If you wish to be trusted as a news source online, you need to have certain features that all news sources have.

    • RELIABILITY

    You have to be right on the money with news. If you’re not sure of anything, research and test until you’re sure of it. People won’t go to just any old person and believe them; unless you believe and know what your writing is the truth, you won’t get anywhere.

    • ADEPTNESS

    Unless you have the skills to be writing about your topic, you shouldn’t be writing about it. For example, TechCrunch writers have experience in the field of technology, to the point where they can recite HTML codes. You have to be experienced in your field of writing, or else you’ll won’t be trusted. If you’re an Iranian, you obviously have experience in your homeland, and that’s why we’re tuning into your side of the story.

    • QUICKNESS

    People are now going to online sites to get the news faster. As The Daily Show said earlier this week in a segment, newspapers are dying, whether it be said by a fake news show or not. You have the potential to reach new readers if you break a story first, and tell it with skill and knowledge.

    So, as we go further into Web 2.0, an average citizen’s job will change from taking part in the news to being the news, whether it be on Twitter, a weblog, or any other site. Twitter’s changing the way we find out about news, how we communicate with others, how we look at the world. When you read an Iranian tweet, you realize how hard this is, how hard they’re fighting, how badly they want a democracy. That’s the power of Web 2.0; not only to break the news, but to feel the news, live the news. So when CNN finally gives up, and new media wins the fight, you’ll be able to professionally use Twitter as a source of news, one hundred and forty characters at a time.

    Follow me on Twitter: @omgshane

    See also: Iranians on Twitter During the June Clashes, Elegant Writing and Twitter

  3. Why Technology Sucks

    I’m almost certain I couldn’t live today without technology. Without Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and Facebook, I would have absolutely no idea what’s going on in the world, whether it be in my personal life or world news. Without my iPod, cell phone, and laptop, I wouldn’t be able to communicate to others and enjoy the things I do. However, despite having so many positive things about it (connections, relationships, easily gainable information), the Internet and technology in general sucks.

    First off, privacy is dead. With Twitter, people can know what you’re up to at every minute of every day. With Facebook, you can take photos of what you’re tweeting about to show others. And with YouTube, you can turn those photos into video, and share the clip of your friend falling from a tree with the world. Face it; at every moment, someone can find out what you’re doing, and watch it later. And with services like brightkite and loopt, people can even join in on the fun themselves. Privacy, one of the crucial things everyone should have, is dead online, whether you want it dead or not.

    This new form of technology is also causing damage to children. Within the past years, there have been suicides, deaths, and fatal fights caused by cyber bullying. Unless children can take hate, and realize the person who’s taunting them online has as much of a life as a dead fish, the problem will spread, and worsen. No one wants to see death, especially during these times of worry and recession. Yet the Internet may be causing as much bad as it does good when it comes to cyber bullying (and let’s not even mention sexual predators online). No major preventions have been done yet to stop it, so it’ll keep happening.

    Finally, technology and the Internet are taking jobs from people who work for television stations, newspapers, publishing companies, and other people who work in mainstream media. In the new economy, they’ll be less print, and more digital. This might be fine for writers, who only have to make the transition to a weblog, but to those who work in the publishing companies and broadcasting corporations, they may need to find a new job. Even music companies are losing money from pirated albums and websites like BitTorrent and The Pirate Bay.

    This could be argued, I see; the Internet is just simply making information easier. No more libraries, no more television; all you need in one easy spot. However, my math teacher once got into a discussion with her friend on the future of writing and books. He said books would be purchased online more often, and would beat bookstores in selling. She agreed. He said that within ten years, all libraries would also have their information in digital format, in order to allow people to use the library from their own homes. She agreed on that point as well. But then he said books will never be printed, but rather, you’ll read them on a computer or as an audiobook. She disagreed, and she told him why:

    “There’s a feeling, you know. Hold a book, turning the page, reading the story. It’s a feeling you can’t get from reading a book on a computer, or listening to a book. It’s that you know, when you turn that page, you hold that character’s future. If you turn the page, the adventure continues. If you don’t, it stops. You can’t control that online, or when you’re listening. That’s why books will never die. Because the pen is mightier then the sword, and much mightier then a computer.”

    So, pick up a book. Turn on the TV.  Buy music from your favorite artist. Don’t let the Internet control you. Because at the end of the day, it’s just a machine. It’s just software. It’s just the Internet.

  4. Stop Talking and Take Action

    This is strictly taken from a Facebook chat that I’m currently in. It started with my friend saying she’s a nobody for the umpteenth time.

    I told her to shut the hell up.

    I’m tired of seeing people whining about their problems. We all have problems; I’m disappointed I don’t have plans tomorrow, my mom has four kids to feed, my family’s cutting back on things because of our income. And I’ll be honest; we’re putting ourselves down. We’re whining.

    But I want to stop. Right now. I want people to stop doing that. Sure, your girlfriend broke up with you; sure, you don’t have a nice car. But don’t just whine; take action. Tell people your problems, but don’t just stop there. Do something about your problem.

    No girlfriend? Start gaining self confidence. Read articles on dating and getting a man/woman. No car? Get better at your skill; if you write, write till your pen’s out of ink, until your hand has blisters. If you film, make a movie, try everything, every angle and every scene. Keep getting better, and you’ll get noticed, and make money for that car.

    And if you’re a nobody like my friend thinks she is? Be somebody. Join in on things, be apart of people’s lives. And most importantly, be happy with yourself. If you’re not happy with yourself, you’re nothing; you can’t do anything, you’ll never be satisfied with yourself, and you’ll never enjoy life.

    Happiness starts with you. In order to be happy, you have to be happy with yourself. In order to be happy with your job, you have to be doing what you want to do. Love yourself, love what you do, and you’ll love life.

  5. The Analytics Behind Tumblarity

    I’ve finally cracked the code. And it was pretty simple to figure out.

    Basics of Tumblarity:

    • Reblogging other’s posts makes Tumblr think you’re not posting any original content to the system, so in order to see an increase in Tumblarity, you have to work on posting your own content as well as reblogs.
    • Followers mean nothing as far as I can see. Really Tumblr?
    • Every time your posts are liked, that post is reviewed by David Karp. If it’s NSFW, motivational, or contains a kitten, you get three points added to your Tumblarity. Anything else, nothing happens.
    • If your post gets over 100 notes, or featured on the Popular Stuff page, you get a couple hundred Tumblarity points added. If you get over 1,000 notes, you win the Internet.
    • Making a joke about topherchris results in a lost of 50 points. (FFFFFFUUUUU-)
    • Any other increase/decrease of points is caused by the Tumblr fairy. (It does exist Mom!)

    So, on behalf of all of Tumblr, I’d suggest putting followers back where it was. You listening Tumblr Staff?

  6. You are a person.

    You are a person.

    You walk, talk, breathe, love, feel, and live.

    You are reading this right now.

    You’re probably reading this via a link, whether it be from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Tumblr, or any other website.

    You are online. This is Web 2.0.

    I’m just a person too. I don’t know who’s going to read this, who’s going to reblog or comment, who’s going to enjoy this post, who’s going to hate it.

    People cannot predict the future. But now, we can create the future.

    The Web is like a textbook, growing, containing new facts, new knowledge, a whole new world that was discovered, invented, and controlled by people.

    We make the future. We document the future. We control the future.

    Web 2.0 is a gigantic step forward. We all now have the capability to be news reporters. We all now can share our story, with millions of people, throughout the world.

    We can turn unknown people into celebrities overnight. We can turn the nicest people in the world into hated individuals. We all have power.

    This is Web 2.0. And it’s only just the beginning.

    And it’s all because of people, just like you.

    Now go create the future.

  7. Why Twitter Will Jump The Fail Whale

    Let’s be honest. Out of all social networks in use today, Twitter is most likely to be the upcoming underdog. The site itself can be describe in under 140 characters:

    A website for posting short status updates, meaningless narcissism, and celebrities with ghostwriters. It doesn’t get any better then this.

    However, with such an overload of television coverage, new users, and celebrity invasion, you think it’s only a matter of time until this mainstream product jumps the shark, or in Twitter’s case, the Fail Whale. Luckily, from the eyes of a longtime Twitter user, this is only the beginning. There’s no jumping the Fail Whale yet, but it’s bound to happen sooner then later. Here’s why.

    Advertising

    Since Twitter’s API had been released, widgets and other interesting things have been created by third-party creators. Of course, these third party creators wanted to release their products to the public, while making money, so they attached ads on their creations, leaving the third-party creators rich, while Twitter makes absolutely nothing.

    Twitter recently started advertising by putting ads in the sidebar of your account. Don’t worry; to most people, it shouldn’t be a problem. They’re small, almost unnoticeable ads, with links to interesting Twitter API uses, such as Tweetie, Gravity, and TipJoy. But don’t expect this to be the only means of advertising to be done on Twitter, for the majority of their users use Twitter via texting or other means of tweeting, these ads most likely result in much profit for Twitter. There are speculations all around, but the one that makes the most sense to me is Twitter putting ads in Twitter streams, which will reach all users, no matter what they use to tweet, sort of like a bot that you have to auto-follow. Though this sounds like a bad idea, this is the only way that the company can make money. These new ads, though useful for Twitter users, won’t reach the base of users, and an idea of a pro account won’t sell enough for Twitter. This will be one of the main ingredients in the downfall of Twitter.

    Celebrities

    Ashton Kutcher reaches one million followers. Oprah joins Twitter, attracting her fans. Biz Stone comes on The Colbert Report. Stephen Fry introduces Twitter to England’s largest television audience. The signs are obvious; Twitter has become mainstream.

    This sounds great, attracting new users, and bringing in more moolah to Twitter. But remember MySpace? MySpace use to be like Twitter; young, new, and full of real people, with real thoughts. Then the celebrities used it for marketing, attracting not only pompous ghostwriters, but annoying tweenage girls. And I’ll be honest; I only use MySpace to listen to exclusive songs from artists. This is most likely what will happen to Twitter. Most celebrities use ghost writers, but those who use Twitter their own way, like Jimmy Fallon, Ashton Kutcher, and Shaq, are the ones that earn respect. The others will also help Twitter collapse by disgusting original users, and taking the fun out of the social website.

    Spam

    Twitter has been use to the average amounts of spam within their three years of existence, but ever since the site’s gone mainstream, users have been receiving more amounts of spam whether it be by spam followers or actual hacking. Mikeyy is a perfect example of this; Twitter users received a link saying they’d been chosen for an experiment, they clicked the link and gave their Twitter information, and the worm began to spam their followers. If our president can become get hacked on Twitter, anyone can. This new exposure to spam will have newcomers angry and annoyed, and have them leave fast.

    All together, these things will be the downfall of Twitter. Now of course, I have hope in Twitter myself, and even after the site ‘jumps the shark’ I’ll be on there. Just because the MySpace era is over doesn’t mean people don’t use it. After Fonzie literally jumped the shark the show still have viewers. And of course you don’t need to worry about this at all; I strongly believe Twitter will be around for years to come, so much that our children may be using it, but not in the format we know today. Yes, the site will fall, but it’ll get back up. So go ahead, keep tweeting. Nothing’s going to change for now.

    Follow me on Twitter: @omgshane