Friesen, N. (2010). Education and the social Web: Connective learning and the commercial imperative. First Monday, 15(12). doi:10.5210/fm.v15i12.3149
Learning is now much different than it was when I was in school. There is much more available online and most look online to find what they needs to know about any topic. How much control does the learner have online, though? Friesen argues that social networking sites provide the online learner with a web of connections to people, information, and advertising, but do not provide the learner with control over their own learning. As a result, the learner is controlled by the ads and information that is organized in a very specific way by social sites.
The article demonstrated how the learner of today's age is surrounded by a variety of different sites that provide them with information that is tailored to their interests. In addition, these sites shape the way learner's become aware of different pieces of information. Also, there is much interaction between the learner and other people, which really changes the process of learning because it is influenced by the thoughts of many other individuals. Friesen explains that sites are full of different advertisements that limit the amount of learning that can occur, which is changing the learners of the web in a negative way.
The business model of the media focuses on one thing, making money. Friesen went into detail of how much money Facebook and Google made as a result of the ads on their site, and its quite something. I see how they get to make that much because I have experienced a great change in ads online. Now, many of the ads that appear in my pages are tailored to the sites and specific products I have looked at. It's almost as if they know my every step and just want to suck money out of my pocket. What I got out of this information is that there is a special relationship that content and ads have on social sites. The information given to the learner is shown and given for free in return for a possible/likely ad click that is specifically tailored to the learner's interests and recent searches.
The article explained how Facebook works in a particular way that allows it to be very successful. Users are constantly shown ways in which they can join/like certain pages. Now more than ever, I'm getting daily invitations to download apps that my friends have. I'm supposedly getting an invite to play with them, but really, these programs got a one time permission from my friends to constantly message their entire friends list. It's quite annoying for me, and I could see how many people will surrender to the requests. This just goes to show how much control social sites and programs have over their users and the very intricate relationship that they hold. It is all about making proper business decisions that will make all affiliates get wealthier. That is why there is not dislike button on Facebook. It just would not make sense for people to dislike certain companies that have a business relationship with Facebook. This option is taken away from users, and thus again, limiting the amount of control that the web learner has.
So how does all of this affect the learner? In my opinion, I think it limits the amount of personal decision the learner can make. The web also allows for much social interaction because of the ease of people connectivity, but then, how much of this affects and shapes the learner's way of thinking and learning. Personally, I think it has a strong impact. Social sites are organized in a way that can really limit the control of the user's learning.
1) How can the learner have more control in sites like Facebook? Although we are bombarded by ads on a daily basis, we can ultimately choose what we want to like/buy and what we don't. I know we cannot have full control over what appears on our Facebook account, but we have the ability to hide certain things from our view. We also have the ability to unfriend the people that always post things that really disinterest us. In addition, there are much less ads on the mobile version of Facebook.
2) What is Connectivism? According to Wikipedia, Connectivism is learning theory which based on the influence of the social and cultural context of the learner. It is all in the word, learning is a process of creating connections within our personal social and cultural context.
Interesting analysis of the business world view of social media and how the ads are used for marketing. Although the ads are annoying, interacting with others and sharing ideas is a great benefit in social media. Although facebook, twitter, and instagram are right now on the top tier of the social media world there are a lot of forums, blogs, and special interest groups that can really make the internet a place that is meaningful and accelerate learning more than a textbook could ever.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you! Reading the article that I got and the other article that I was not assigned made me think of the pros and cons of the sites on the web. There are always going to be negative aspects to a lot of sites that we are exposed to, but one needs to also focus on the positive aspects of these sites. Educational based sites, like you mention, serve a great purpose!
ReplyDeleteI have a question in response to your first question/answer. Do you know of a way in which we can get rid of the ads on Facebook? The ones that run along the side. I don't like that those ads are geared especially for me based on my search habits.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how to get rid of those, wish I did! I just use my smartphone to access my account now and don't have to deal with those, which is great! But there are other sites that have ads of my recent searches, which I dislike.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly Facebook came into play as a stripped down version of Myspace with less distraction of ads and other diversions. Facebook ended up having more ads but in more inconspicuous ways. Now Facebook is experiencing the same doom as Myspace as users are bombarded with ads!
DeleteI don't even notice the ads that show up on websites I visit or on my Facebook page. However, I also understand that the sites need to display advertising so that I do not have to pay to use the site. I just assumed everyone ignored the ads for the same reason. But apparently people actually click on the ads! My mind is blown! What if it was a link to a virus? Isn't that also a possibility?
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