The Journey

Figure 1: Social Media Sites. Adapted from "Social Media & E-Marketing Certificate," by Dennis Flynn, February 20, 2012, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Retrieved April 13, 2012, from http://www.busi.mun.ca/gardinercentre/02programs/13_emarketing_certificate/index.html.
. Copyright 2008 by Gardiner Centre

Time truly does fly. I remember not too long ago, I was still confused about what ALES 204 was all about and was hesitant about the class. I didn't quite understand how this course was relevant to my program and why I should be taking it. On this last day of class, I realized how much this course has done to me in the past semester. I feel that this course was only a teaser and that there is still so much more to learn about communication and the various social media networks out there. I recommend this class not just to ALES students but to students in all faculties as the information taught in this class can be applied in all fields.

We’ve covered social media networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, and Audioboo. We also looked at the various communication methods such as academic posters, emails, interviews, resumes, CV’s, Wikipedia, Pecha Kucha, etc. This class wasn't just about joining all these social media networks and putting information out there. Whether we like it or not, these tools are already out there, and it is important for us to be informed about it and to use these tools to our advantage.
I could relate to this. I remember being hesitant when I was told that I needed to make a Twitter account to tweet during class for participation marks. I didn't want to jump on the Twitter band wagon because I didn't think anyone would be interested in what I was doing every second of my life, but because I wanted to do well in this class I made a Twitter account, like asked to. I remember a couple weeks after I made my account, I was at a club social event and the District Governor started talking about the importance of communication between clubs and how he wanted to make use of social media in the upcoming year. At that point, I was proud to say, I had a Twitter account. After that incident, I began to accept Twitter and have gotten into the habit of sharing my learning experiences on Twitter.

This class not only taught me how to use Twitter and other social media networking sites, it has also taught me how to become a more effective communicator. It has taught me to think before I speak or post, taught me how to get my messages across in a clear and concise way and to be critical with the information that I take in. As Danielle points out in her blog, communication is important regardless of what field we work in. This class has prepared us with the skills we need in real life situations.

In this journey, I've found 5 other students that have blogged their experiences in ALES 204. Below are the links to my comments on the posts that caught my attention:

Deanna's Introduction post
Loana's post on Facebook pages
Clara's post on Wikipedia
Susan's post on Mother-Daughter Relationships.
Danielle's Reflection post

The Emoticon

Screen capture of my favourite emoticon:

Shelley Du, Capture 1. Created April 11, 2012.

I recently came across a news article about a woman that committed suicide while on Facebook. The article inspired me to write about emotions in social media and how it has changed communication.

Text itself is ambiguous. A word or a sentence can have multiple meanings depending on how it's said. Altered volume, tone, or pitch can completely change the way a message is conveyed. For example, let's look at the sentence "You're funny." If we look at the sentence alone, this sentence can literally mean that the person is funny. It could also mean that the person really isn't funny and should stop, depending on how it's read. To deal with the ambiguity, emoticons were introduced.

Emoticons, made from the words emotions + icon, are facial expressions made with text symbols. It is usually used to show the mood and tone of the speaker and is widely used in instant messaging (iM), short messaging service (SMS), emails, Facebook, Twitter or any situation where it is appropriate to use letters and symbols. We use emoticons to soften messages, lighten conversations or just to end on a positive note. I can relate to this. When a friend sends me a message asking me to do something without an emoticon, I feel like they’re demanding for me to do something, but when the messages comes with an emoticon, I read it as they’re asking for a favour.

Using the same example as before, let’s look at the sentence “You’re funny” but this time spiced up with an emoticon:

“You’re funny :)“ – That made my day

“You’re funny ;)“ – Nice joke there!
“You’re funny XD“ – I’m rolling on the floor laughing.
“You’re funny 8-)” – You’re funny, in a nerdy way
“You’re funny @_@” – I’m confused with your humor
“You’re funny >_<” – Irritated by your humor
“You’re funny >_>” – That was funny?
“You’re funny -_- “ – Not impressed by your humor
“You’re funny 0_0” – Disturbed by your humor

It could be said that the use of emoticons have allowed us to show our mood/tone in our messages. But the overuse of emoticons have made it difficult to explain our emotions in words. The convenience of typing a couple extra symbols after a message, have allowed people to hide their emotions through the use of the emoticons. Some people use it so often that it’s plainly just a habit. Others may use it to deceive others of their emotions, while a couple people out there actually use emoticons to express how they truly feel.

Human beings are complex and so are our emotions. Emoticons are simple to use but does it really truly describe what we feel inside? Emoticons could also be ambiguous. Different faces may have different meanings to different people. What one may read as a friendly expression, another can read as rude. For this reason, emoticons should be used with discretion, especially in a professional setting. Whether a sender or a receiver of emoticons, don't read too deeply into it because really, it is JUST a symbol. Drawing back to the article that I read, if her friends were able to detect her mood and the severity of the situation, would they have called the police instead of trying to message her to stop? I guess that is an answer we’ll never figure out. On the bright side, check out Susan's blog as she explores mother-daughter relationships.