Blog 4: Technology and Advertisements

    Throughout my childhood and teenage years, my family always had cable and a television. I had become so accustomed to watching television shows and commercials on a daily basis that I never really thought about what I was receiving from these media forms. From June-December 2010, I lacked any access to cable television due to summers in the Cape and a semester in Rome. When I returned, I found myself shocked by what had happened in a mere 6 months. Facebook had taken over the television world.
    I have always been interested in the advertisement industry as an Art History and Photography major/lover, and find odd enjoyment in watching, evaluating and critiquing commercials. I find the way companies work to address and interest the viewer to be of great interest. This past month, however, I noticed something shocking and new to me in commercial advertisements. Recently, without regard to the brand, product or age group, many commercials include a Facebook reference. Whether it be “Friend us on Facebook!”, or a Facebook URL address to find the company, more and more businesses are turning to Facebook for propaganda and advertisements. While I was well aware of the huge Facebook fad sweeping our nation and world, I did not realize this was quickly entering the television commercial world.
    Advertisements tend to address a certain population depending on the product, with the goal of intriguing, grabbing attention or educating the viewer on the product. Commercials are a very interesting form of such advertisements as they allow actors, colors, music and placement to create a effective commercial. I find it fascinating not only that the Facebook has become so popular in our society, but, that businesses are now directly referencing Facebook as a legitimate post for information. It took only 6 months for Facebook to take over the media commercial industry, who can even predict its future influences on our society and daily lives.

     Another interesting point of interest to me was the facebook terminology which has evolved within the last year or so. If a year or two ago I spoke about “poking”, “friending”, “accepting/rejecting a friend request”, I predict a large amount of the adult population would have little or no knowledge as to what these terms meant or what facebook even was. I remember being a sophomore in High School and my sister who was heading off to college, spoke of the facebook for the first time and it was a completely foreign concept. 5 years later, Facebook and all of its terminology and concepts are sweeping across a huge genre of age groups, regions, and social groups, truly becoming a phenomenon of our era.
    While I was well aware that social networking sensation was encompassing more parts of our lives than ever before, I don’t think I was aware of how fast and intense of a process it is. It leads me to question, however, if this phenomenon is simply a result of the way our culture was heading or if it is a new idea which had extraordinary unforeseen results.  As our society is progressing and evolving, we should think to where we are headed, using all of these new technological innovations for the betterment of our society. I feel like prior to this course, I thought of social blogging in a trivial manner, irrelevant and illegitimate. I am beginning to look at it with more of a positive, progressive outlook, thinking of how such inventions can facilitate education and provide a well rounded genre of information for the public. Technology is a part of our lives we cannot ignore, therefore, I feel we should use its vast capabilities, as many already are, for the betterment of our society.