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Should we blog our every thought?

By Matt Fricker

14th January 2011 | 0 comments | 2 people like this

As a child of the digital age I blog, I’ve had a livejournal, myspace, bebo, and so on. I have a personal website (http://www.mattfricker.co.uk) a twitter, a facebook, many facets of my life in fact, it could be argued, have a presence on social media sites, but is this a good thing?

I personally share a number of things via social media, including blogging (which is what I’m doing here) some I will promote for all to see, other blogs that I write, I keep for me alone, (It’s a diary, just not written in longhand you see).

Twitter is one of the many social networks I have a small presence on, and with Twitter, I can discover what people really think, or at least claim to really be thinking.

Recently, we’ve seen a great example of the effect that Twitter can have on social media and mass media as a whole, as former Big Brother contestant Kenneth Tong decided to launch a campaign promoting “managed anorexia”

The move, which Tong has since claimed was all a hoax, highlighted the full power of social media outrage, as everyone from teenagers in remote parts of the world, to worldwide celebrities including Rihanna let Kenneth Tong know how deplorable they felt his actions were.

At the time of writing, Journalist Johann Hari has recently released an in depth interview he conducted with Tong, which suggests that, sadly, Kenneth Tong wasn’t actually carrying out a hoax at all, but was very, very misguided. (The Johann Hari article can be found at the following link http://johannhari.com/2011/01/12/kenneth-tong-the-interview)

So the question I’m asking is, should we blog our every thought?

I asked this very question on twitter, so far, I’ve only had two response, one read, “I think that exposing your entire life on social networking sites is asking for trouble. People WILL use it against you”

The other said, “Everyone shares everything online now, the internet gave everyone a chance to be heard, which is both a good and bad thing”

While I’m happy to share some things, (such as my thoughts on Rooney Mara as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander) there are other things I won’t share openly on social media (basically, anything I deem to be a deeply personal thought).

Others will share every aspect of their life though, from how they’re feeling, to where they are, to what they’ve just done.

In the end, only you yourself can judge how much you choose to share (if anything) on social media, but are you doing more damage than good by sharing information with anyone out there who chooses to look in on your life, even in a digital sense?
For each a road…

By Jonathan Campbell

5th May 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

The symptoms are unmistakable.

Sensationalised headlines accompanied by the faintest whiff of hysteria, an overwhelming sense of paranoia and increasingly desperate opinion pieces. Read more »
Lady Gaga – Telephone – Music Video Review

By Bridget Barrett

1st April 2010 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Just when you think that Lady Gaga can’t top any of her last videos Telephone comes along and wipes the floor clean. A legend was born on 28th March 1986, full of passion, interest and bags of intelligence.

At ten minutes long this video has truly surpassed anything before it - are we all consumers of the technological age, which we cannot control in anyway? Are the bourgeoisie being controlled by the elite in the age of internet and mobile technology overload? Read more »
Know your enemy…

By Jonathan Campbell

22nd December 2009 | 3 comments | 1 person likes this

It’s that time of year again. The weather outside is most certainly frightful, advertisements sugary enough to induce diabetic coma’s plague our airwaves and Oxford Street is once again overrun with the damned, desperately on the prowl for precious trinkets to bestow upon their loved ones.

Can I hear an Hallelujah for Christmas? Read more »
Music Box

By Yvonne Lamunu

3rd December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

The birth of the music TV. Show can be dated as far back as Ready Steady Go, which famously featured an edition consisting entirely of Motown artists perhaps the first time black artists were welcomed to perform to enormous numbers during prime time slots. Changing and adapting to culture tastes as well as social progress it has seen various forms over the decades. Staying within the realms of British television it would be impossible to ignore the relevance of Top of the Pops. The first show aired on 1st January 1964 and featured Dusty Springfield, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. It set the benchmark for music on television and as well as other programmes in the U.S ultimately contributed for the need for what we now know as MTV. At it’s height an appearance on Top of the Pops cemented recognition by the national mass music media. Although often slated for its audience sensibilities this meant that artists who were fortunate enough to be given the chance to prove their three minutes worth were catapulted out of previous small boxes such as Manchester House, Midlands Industrial punk or perhaps South London Grime. However viewing figures began to plummet rapidly and by 11 July 2005 the iconic Led Zeppelin sound tracked opening credits ran for the last time episode 2,166. Read more »
Team Sting: Music Police

By Jonathan Campbell

13th November 2009 | 5 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Finally, a pop star worthy of the name has come out and said what every sane person in this country has been thinking for years: X Factor sucks.

Ok, I may be horribly misquoting Sting there. So here’s a direct quote I’ve taken from Wednesday’s edition of London’s most respected evening newspaper. “The X Factor is a preposterous show and you have judges who have no recognisable talent apart from self-promotion, advising them [contestants] what to wear and how to look. It is appalling. In fact, it has put music back decades”.

I understand the wordsmith behind such lyrical classics as “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” may not be an absolute authority when it comes to judging what is or isn’t good music. Still, it’s hard to argue with his reasoning here. Read more »
I’ll be anything you want

By Jonathan Campbell

3rd November 2009 | 1 comments | 1 person likes this

The fear is rampant. As I wait on the platform I assess my options, trying to deduce which public transport combination might shave a couple of minutes off my journey time.

How much quicker would it be if we didn’t stop for my fellow Londoners and their non essential travel plans? Clutching at straws, it feels like I’ve grasped insanity. Read more »
Why the BNP should be given a second chance

By Matt Fricker

26th October 2009 | 2 comments | 7 people like this

Personally I can’t think of many things worse than a BNP government and would love to do everything possible to stop them… hence this article.

So, I hear you ask. Why such a controversial headline?

Well, in my opinion the answer is simple, by having Nick Griffin on Question Time last night, the British media, achieved one goal, to expose this being for what he really is, a bigoted idiot. Thankfully every newspaper and most websites have joined forces in displaying their disgust to Mr Griffin’s opinions. Read more »
Stick thin to fit in!

By Jennifer Ebert

14th October 2009 | 3 comments | 3 people like this

Looking through the fashion glossies I feel bombarded by glamorous yet perpetually skinny young women. Now i know all too well the size zero debate has been buzzing in our ears for way to long and I am sure the majority of us have become rather nauseas.

Having worked for numerous fashion publications and been a student of journalism for the past few years I couldn’t help feel that the media is getting blamed for giving the public simply what they want. Do we need to cut them some slack? Read more »
Sex doesn’t sell?

By Matt Fricker

12th October 2009 | 3 comments | 2 people like this

In the current media world it’s taken for granted that one thing will always sell, sex. This view is so widely appreciated even musicals such as Avenue Q reference it, with the character Trekkie Monster saying, “In a volatile market, the only stable investment… is PORN!” A current example of sex in the movie world is Jennifer’s body. Released on November 6th and written by Diablo Cody, the Oscar nominated scribe of Juno. The media so far, have shown no interest in Diablo Cody’s involvement with Jennifer’s Body and all of the coverage so far seems to only care about lead actress Megan Fox, who plays a lesbian vampire of some sort and gets slightly naked during the film.

I could go on, stating countless examples in Film, Music, TV and Celebrity culture, where sex has formed the key advertising point to try and drive sales. But I’d like to concentrate on the most recent development which shone a different light on this old subject.

I’m talking about Kandy Rain – the girl group of four former erotic dancers, who became the first act to be voted off of this season’s X Factor on Sunday night. Read more »