Social Networking

I don't know if we were supposed to post this yet, but oh well here it is. 

People have become so wired to social media sites that it gets to be a tad ridiculous. You can’t even go anywhere without seeing this phrase on sign or hearing it on a commercial, “Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.” Everywhere we look we’ll see someone using their phones to updates statuses and “tweet” about something that just happened that doesn’t even matter. I’ll admit, I myself do it way too much, but I’ve been starting to look at my Facebook and ask myself, “Why do I stay on here so much?” Social media sites haven’t even been around for ten years and yet we’re all addicted to them like they’re some holy item that we have to keep an eye on. I know my IT 180 class has a bit of a Facebook problem, even if it is hilarious, but to be on there so much just shouts addiction to me.

It started with Myspace back in 2003. Myspace was just a simple networking site where you could make your own profile and find your friends so you could talk without needing a phone and see what they’re up too. Its main competition, Facebook, also started in 2003 but did not take off completely until 2006. Twitter also came out that same year, not doing as well as Facebook but it stayed in the rankings. Google decided it wanted to be in the social network game and started its beta of Google+ this past June, it became open to everyone eighteen and older in Spetember.

With all these social sites, it doesn’t surprise me that people are a bit addicted, but that is really no excuse for updating your status about every little thing you do. “This girl just cut me in line. So not cool.” Yes....I have actually read a status update like that. No one cares. Facebook/Twitter/Google+ is not the place to post about how craptastic your life is or how bad you’re hurting because Jim let Sam on whatever show your watching. No one cares. Or at least I don’t. When these sites go down for maintenance I bet it is like the end of the world for some people when they find out they cannot log into their Facebook.

I think these two links explain Facebook far better than I ever could.http://www.bitrebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/What-Kind-Facebook-Are-You.jpg

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/facebook_suck

This one also explains Twitter so much better than I ever could.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/twitter_stop

I’m going to take a break from social media for a week staring Monday and just see how much I miss it. I only go on there half the time because I’m bored anyway. The world needs to take a break from social media. The world is not going to end if you don’t update your status every five minutes. If  do not accept your game request that is not an invitation to send me more. Maybe if everyone took a break for even a day, people would realise that they do not need it, but that will never happen because pre-teen girls have to update about their drama that won’t even matter in like ten minutes. I hate my gender sometimes, but that’s unrelated.

The world has become addicted to something so simple in such a short amount of time. This is like saying people get addicted to video games. I’d rather be addicted to video games, which I am, instead of Facebook. And no, Facebook games do not count. Those are not games, they’re money blowers. Seriously.

I think my rant is over now. I have nothing else to say on the manner. Except this.

-Jess

Savings, Saving EVERYWHERE

So we had to check out a bunch of coupon sites, and I have to say I found some great deals. Here's what I thought about them.

Groupon seems to be a site dedicated to giving people good deals on things in their area. Which is great and all except Charleston, WV has no offers. At all. The site would be very useful if I could use it, but other than that small downfall the site looks like it is very useful.

Woot gives one great deal a day on a very random item. If you really want it though, then you’re good to go. They have different categories and each category has its one random sale. Its pretty neat when you look through everything they have.

Fat Wallet gives you coupon codes for online shopping. Beautiful. Looking through the lists I found a lot of codes for stuff I actually wanted. Every code has a “success rate” so you can know whether it works well or not. I think I’ll be coming back to this one for my online shopping needs.

Dealsdigger gives you coupon codes for online shopping. They bundle all their deals by what day it comes to the site. Its very simple and easy to use, not as professional as Fallwallet or Groupon but its still very good.

Dealcatcher gives a good bunch coupon codes on good stuff. They automatically sync your location so trying to find a store near you with these deals isn’t too hard. Although, since its giving the codes you might as well just order the stuff online.

Dealdump takes offers from other sites and links it into their own categories. Its not that great of a site after that. Clicking on an offer just takes you to the site where the offer came from, so its purpose is mainly linking you to other sites like FatWallet and Dealcatcher.

Coupons is a site that allows you to print out the coupons they offer. This site is dedicated to the thrifty shopper. You can clip one of each coupon per visit I believe, which is nice. The site is very user friendly and have coupons for every type of item.

Currentcodes gives you awesome codes for so many different items. They even show you deals from websites that can’t be combined with coupons. The site is very simple looking, but it is extremely easy to use. They also give you the expiration date of all coupons so you don’t have to worry about waiting too long and missing out.

So, Jess, out of these sites, which do you think you would use the most? What about the least?
Out of all these sites I would probably use Fallwallet the most. I found awesome deals really quickly and it made me think to actually go back and use it later. 
Groupons would be the one I’d least likely use. mainly just because there are no offers around me.

Black Friday. The terror day of retail. We've all gone at least once. I usually go to watch people make fools of each other, but when I do go to get stuff I'm sneaky. I make alliances with random people I don't even know. Its fun. You should try it. Anway, Black Friday websites are what people go to a lot this time of year. They need to make sure they know where to go in order to get little Johnny that game system. All the sites are basically the same, scans of major retail Black Friday books. The only difference between the sites are the layouts. Here's a couple of them if you want to look.

BlackFriday.info

TheBlackFriday.com

bfads.net

-Jess

Virtual Dub! - Free Video Editing Software

So we need to do a blog post about a free piece of software. I decided to do mine on the software VirtualDub!

If you're like me, when it comes to editing videos you want to use something other than Windows Movie Maker. So when I went looking for free software I thought why not fix my problem and kill two birds with one stone. Virtual Dub is a little difficult to use, but once you get the hang of it, its not so terrible. The software has a very simple design and interface is a breeze. I like it, but I did find it harder to use after using Windows Movie Maker for so long. Maybe that's just me.

As for being useful to the rest of the class, I only see it as useful if you want to put a lot of effort into making a video. If you don't have the time or patience, I wouldn't worry about it at all. For free software its nice. You can't expect something perfect when you're not paying for it.

That's all I have to write. Tatty-bye! :)

-Jess