Final Paper and Research Question

I decided to choose my topic on Pinterest.  I was planning on writing how Pinterest sparked creativity throughout society.   I know that it’s part of social media and is becoming a lot more popular throughout American culture.  Right now, I would say that it’s part of social media as we are so involved with social media.  I am going to write some statistics and look up more scholarly articles.  I’m planning on providing an in-depth reflection of how it affects popular culture, the demographics of the social media, and how it’s different than some specific social media such as Instagram and Tumblr.

Skype (response essay #4)

New media is introduced in today’s society as part of a world in the evolution of technology.  In general, social media has hit us so hard that it’s everywhere and in everyone’s life.  Specifically, one that isn’t mentioned a lot in social media is Skype.  Skype is part social media because it is expanding throughout the world.   It doesn’t have any limitation of who can use the medium, but it’s generally used by all ages except the elderly.  This might be because the elderly either doesn’t understand or doesn’t necessarily like technology.  Skype is becoming more popular as people are able to have “face-to-face” interactions and it has the ability to bring people closer on a different level.  Regarding Marshall MuLuhan’s quote: “The medium is the message,” this medium has the ability to get your point across in face-to-face interaction with another person.  The overall significance of this medium is because it’s part of social media; it allows people to connect through the Internet.  Skype is the “message” because as it allows interactions with different people around the world but yet let’s people communicate that is many miles away.

Skype has a wide range of operating systems that has abled people to talk for free.  The applications are on phones, the X-box One, and laptops (both Mac and Windows products).  It started in 2003 and in eight years was bought out by Microsoft.  According to their website Macs users who download Skype is able to get free calls, low cost call and texts to mobiles and landlines, video calls on Skype and Facebook, free instant messages to friends, family, and colleagues, and able to send a message you can see, hear, and feel with video messaging.   Skype lets their costumers get the most out of their use, (some have to pay for additional services), but it makes it worth while if a person is able to see the face of a friend, loved one, or family member.

First of all, Skype’s “message” is able to get a crossed by the ability to have face-to-face interaction.   This allows a person to speak to love ones, family, and friends who are hundreds to thousands miles away.  I actually have a family friend who lives here in Tucson but her husband is in the Air Force and is stationed in Turkey.  They stay connected and use Skype as a source of social media to be able to speak with each other.  Also, Skype lets a person to express a feeling or emotion.  This is definitely better than texting, instant messaging, and even calling especially when being away from someone in long distances can take a toll.  Speaking on the phone is still better than texting or instant messaging but a person can only hear their voice, which hinders a their sense of sight.  With Skype, people can speak with one another as if they’re in the same room and able to communicate better without having a problem with expressing themselves as they would in person.

Secondly, Skype allows a person to connect on a different and deeper level of communication with someone else either it being a friend or a loved one.  This makes it more personal than other social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram.  Skype enables to person to share opinions of a TV show, discuss music, life situations, daily activities, local news happening where the person is, and much more, whatever a person wants.  Of course friends on Facebook can discuss things mentioned above but on Skype it’s on a more intimate level being able to speak face-to-face. 

NOTE:   I need one more analytical point of how Skype is impacting popular culture