Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional production values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY??


Professional production values aren't necessarily dropping all around. I think what this new "homegrown" advertising view has done is just create a new style for advertisers to use. Understanding that the viewer likes things such as Youtube and the amateurish videos, advertisers and TV shows have taken this to their advantage and made this a style of production. This way the viewer thinks it was easily created or maybe spur of the moment like many Youtube videos are, while there was actually till a lot of production value going into the work. And so I don't think the production value is dropping at all, I think that it is getting smarter and adapting to what the consumer wants to see, which for right now is something that seems to be of lesser production value. Amateur user-generated content probably won't get any better just because even though technology will continue to try to make it easier for the everyday person to create professional media they still won't take the time out to actually create a professional product.


What social media sites do you find yourself using the most, and why? In your opinion why is Facebook so much more successful than MySpace, and do you think Facebook is "here to stay" for the long term.


I really only use Facebook. I have never joined any other social media sites because at the time I didn't think it was necessary. But as I entered college I joined Facebook as a way to keep connected with my friends at home. And I have to say it works amazingly well. When I go home I still feel very connected to all of my friends because Facebook can keep me updated on their everyday life or struggles. I honestly think there are only two reasons Facebook has been more successful than MySpace. One would be the timing, it came out or at least got well known after MySpace had already paved the way of what a social media site could offer you. Second they appealed to the college kid therefore making Facebook seem like the cool "older sibling" kind of site that quickly became the desire of many different age groups. These two things fell into place and then Facebook just took off running. I am unsure if Facebook is here to stay. While part of me thinks it is because it has already seemingly stood its ground against other sites trying to take its consumers away such as Twitter, another part of me feels it will eventually grow out of pop culture. But then again people want to keep those connections to their friends and Facebook is the best way to do that, so I guess I am unsure if it will be here for a long term stay. 


Why is transparency such an important concept in the Social Media world? Is it MORE or LESS important in the offline world? Why?


Transparency is such an important concept in the Social Media world because persons opinions of one another and their activity is a vital part of how we trust them or not. When a person associates themselves with a brand that is untrustworthy then you immediately begin to look through that persons personality and begin to question if you can trust them since they associate with such an untrustworthy brand. I feel that many people have trust issues with the people around them, some worse than others, either way transparency in the social media world is a game changer in their relationships with others because it plays with their trust issues. You can be someone you are not on a blog or a facebook account, promote things that you shouldn't online and then this is the only representation you have of yourself on the web that people are going to judge you by. Transparency was more important in years past in the offline world because there simply was no online world. Therefore a person was judged on your interactions with them in person. But with the online world it is becoming more and more important as our society is growing to be very dependent of the online world itself.