#isdaytwo

In the article, Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook, the main topic that was talked about was algorithms and how they have a big impact on what we see on Facebook. Algorithms determine was is put on the top stories or not. The most personal people get with other people on Facebook the more likely it will show up on your feed. 

My artifact demonstrates someone choosing whether they see the top stories or most recent, showing how you can personally change what you would like to see on your feed but most of the time, the algorithms have the setting put on top stories allowing you to see the major post that many or your friends have checked out. 

A filter bubble is a result from searching personally a certain topic which the website then algorithm selectively guesses certain information that you would personally like to see as your on the internet based on the information about the user. 

I thought that this picture described filter bubble perfectly, demonstrating that when you type something in search bar the algorithm gives you something that it thinks you would like to see based on information about the user. Trying to take things away that you didn't find as interesting, showing how these main topics were closer to what might interest that person and leaving all the excess out. 

The article Media refusal and conspicuous non-consumption: The performative and political dimensions of Facebook abstention by Laura Portwood-Stacer argues that people who make the conscious decision to not have a Facebook profile are perceived as elitists and irrational, despite their political and/or social motivations for staying off the site. Portwood-Stacer also touches on how young people are beginning to abstain from Facebook because their parents and older family members now have profiles, requiring them to censor posts. Those who stay off of the site often receive criticism from family members because it is more difficult to keep in touch with someone when they are not on the site. For those who are dependent on the site to stay connected to friends and family, Logout can be the hardest button to click. The ease of connectivity is something we take for granted nowadays and without it, many people would be lost.

Network Publics are online spaces that facilitate the interaction of people, technology, and practice. They function and serve the same purpose as other publics- to allow people who have similar interests to gather, socialize, and make connections. Such publics overlap constantly and most people are part of multiple publics at the same time.

One example of a network public is the YouTube community. No matter what your interests are, from gaming and animation to beauty and DIY, there’s a plethora of videos for you. Fans of creators create individual publics over their love for a specific person. Bethany Mota, a beauty guru, and has over ten million subscribers/followers on YouTube and twitter combined and calls the people in her network her “Mota-vators” and many bond over fan accounts. It is common for people follow multiple YouTube creators, therefore belong to multiple network publics.

“The Addictive Narrative”, on the surface, seems like an unhealthy relationship some people, teens in particular, can develop with their technology, such as laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, etc.  However, this does not reflect what is actually happening in our society.  Parents try to control their kids’ interactions with technology by prioritizing their life and filling it with other activities that will minimize their involvement with technology because they believe that their technology is running and ruining their lives.

This artifact, however, shows the positive side of the “addictive narrative.”  It is a myth that technology is disrupting kids’ social life because they are too enveloped to actually socialize with people, when in reality teens prefer meeting in person.  Because parents are constantly filling up their kids’ time doing different things, it gives them less time to relax and be a kid.  This is where technology steps in because it allows the kids to relax and unwind.  Social media also allows the brain to refocus so it does not constantly have to focus on studied information, rather fun information.

Social steganography is the process of hiding information in plain site. On social media, like facebook, oftentimes, users have more than just their friends on their "friend lists". They often are "friends" with family and coworkers, therefore social steganography has evolved to hide certain things from these unwanted viewers. For example, someone may feel depressed about a break-up, but may not want to explicitly talk about it to a wide array of "friends", so that person will post something like song lyrics, which can relate what the person is feeling to their friends, and will still be dismissed as irrelevant to his or her other "friends". 

My artifact relates to this by showing the affect of posting song lyrics, a form of social steganography, to the intended audience. The lyrics posted convey a message to the correct audience, while at the same time are ambiguous enough to escape scrutiny from family or coworkers.