It's the Wild Wild West. Without Will Smith!

The Internet is sort of like the Wild West. It's a symbol of how far we have come as people since the creation of the United States. I couldn't picture Ben Franklin predicting that we would all be talking to each on facebook or the founding fathers realizing then that the Internet has so much copyright infringement. Sure, there are music laws and piracy laws but there's not a whole lot companies can do to stop the individual from downloading music or other illegal content. I'm not saying that's a bad thing because we are talking about millionaires complaining that they are getting ripped off. You will be hard pressed to find someone who feels sorry for you.

What User Generated Content does is force people to think outside the box. I think it fosters creativity. The best kind of UGC is usually cutting edge and innovative. It's almost sad to see it get ripped, like ESPN's blatant steal of Ed Lover's "C'Mon Son". But like Lawrence Lessig's TED title says, Laws choke Creativity. So go ahead and say "C'mon Man" ESPN. I would much rather have that pathetic attempt to look creative and realize it to be what it is, than some law because laws kill creativity.

So when people post a bad review of a book before it hits the stands, for whatever reason, in an attempt to stop people from buying the book then that's okay. My advice would be to read the reviews and get a general feeling of them rather than reading one review and making an impulsive choice of whether to purchase the item or not. I mean, who can you really trust on the internet anyways? You don't even know those people. They could be from a rival company posting in an attempt to sabotage the product. Or some angry sales person. And we can't stop that. And that's fine. So while it may be the "Wild Wild West" on the internet, it's only because we have much bigger problems in the world to worry about.

Hello World

Hello, world. Welcome to "Manipulation and Social Media". In this blog, I'm going to be talking about...wait for it....Manipulation and Social Media. I've been on the internet for quite awhile, however, this is my first foray into the world of blogging. So please excuse my first few posts, they might less than the standard of quality that your use to. I apologize beforehand.

Some of you might be asking yourself, what is "Manipulation" and "Social Media"? Well, you know what social media is, obviously, and if you don't know what manipulation is, then check out an online dictionary. It's the internet, you can find out anything.

So, you ever notice how everyone and their mother has a facebook? I'm not just talking about people either. Type in 'Pizza Hut' and you get four different 'pages'. I'd bet my bottom dollar, that Pizza Hut isn't posting pictures of their crew either.

Seems to me like those pages are more of a nuisance. Just because I like 7-Eleven doesn't mean I need to go 'like' their facebook page. It's not like those free big-gulp deals ever actually pan out, anyways. So what's the point?

And for some reason noone has thought to say "Hey, let's get rid of the 7-Eleven facebook page. It really serves no purpose." This is essentially the theme for my blog. How are we being manipulated, if at all, via Social Networks.