LARRYTRAINOR - Comm 211

How has the online landscape transformed the dynamics of public opinion formation and communication strategies? The online landscape has actually transformed the dynamics of the public opinion formation and communication drastically over the years. For example, we have changed a lot of how we express our opinions from many decades ago to now. We have social media apps such as Twitter, TikTok, or YouTube. These social media apps allow the public to formulate their opinions with each other. There have also been sites that news channels such as CNN utilize to spread awareness about an issue that happened recently. It allows others to be informed and have a large audience.  Despite the benefits of the online landscape and its affects on public opinion formation, it does have its cons. When you allow users online to engage with each other, it can lead to the spread of misinformation and negativity. We explored a bit about this in my previous blog post about communication fallacies ....

It can be difficult to determine a communication fallacy and easy to fall for it when you are not paying attention. It can also be possible when you may not know what kind of fallacies are there and what you should look for. This can be seen in many articles and social media posts.  For example, @RealAlexJones on Twitter wrote a post stating that "If the statistical trend continues with this tragic event, there is a 98% chance the shooting is trans or gang related . If it is another trans wack job or a gang shooting , it will be out of the news in less than 24 hours.." There was not a single source listed about the statistics of trans or gang-related shooting. He also used the term "trans wack job" which seems like the post is transphobic. The video has not stated anything about the school shooter's identity (or mention of LGBTQ+ identity) due to the fact that they had no information. This would be an example of an appeal to ignorance fallacy.

When it comes to the idea of what an argument is, people tend to think negatively of it. They see it as a thing that provides negativity and that can be true in some cases, however it is simply a thing where one disagrees and the other tries to prove their opposing point, an explanation or a justification. I have seen many arguments, especially online. It has proven itself to be a place where it invites people to justify their opposing views of whatever is being said/seen. I have seen it on social media apps such as TikTok, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube comments sections, and so many more. I have chosen a Reddit post that I saw the other day and thought would be a good idea to analyze here.  Post's Full URL :  https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1hkbazs/cmv_tiktok_is_terrible_for_gen_z/  Why did I choose this online argument for your assignment?  This was a post I saw recently and I thought the posts as well as replies consisted of what is relevant in our soci...

Nintendo has been a pretty popular and influential company for many decades now. It has been the home for many beloved childhood consoles, games, and beloved brands such as Pokémon. It was founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi in Japan . It started out with producing and selling playing cards.  Does the company do a good job communicating on its website and social media platforms?  Nintendo's official page, Donkey Kong is the main focus here. I would say that the company does provide a good job on communicating on its official website. There are all of the typical buttons you would see on many other official sites, especially ones that sell games and consoles. You are also greeted with one of their games at the top of the page. On their social media pages they also do provide a good job communicating as well. Once you click on one of their social media pages such as Instagram, you are immediately greeted with content that they have.  Nintendo's American Instagram page (Ign...

I personally have never been into podcasts. There are a number of reasons as to why I never liked them and one of the main reasons is that I am Deaf. I require more visual information than others (lips for me to read and captions). I also have ADHD and podcasts have never been able to hold my attention for more than a minute, however there is this one podcast called Clooless Podcast  that managed to do this. I am going to warn you though that this is not a family friendly podcast and is more of a "we're doing fun shenanigans" podcast. It is a podcast with four men (who are both YouTubers and Twitch streamers) called Puffer, Grizzy, Pezzy, and Droid.  Clooless Podcast's Logo Reflect on your overall listening experience. What did you learn about the importance of delivery in audio podcasts, and how will this influence your approach to creating your own podcast?  I think what I took away from this listening experience is the fact that they are comfortable in sharing expe...

We live in a society that continuously evolves and one of those things that has evolved is our technology, including our amount of usage of technology. We can see it everywhere nowadays, especially at our fingertips or hands. Most of us live in the digital world. There also have been a number of research done on the digital world and a number of opinions. Paul A. Kirschner and Marc Prensky are examples of people who have provided their input.  Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash According to Prensky, what is the immigrant/native divide, and how has it affected how students learn?  There are two divides that Prensky mentioned and one of them is called the digital immigrants or the immigrant divide . The digital immigrants are usually the people who have been born into a world without the digital aspect. At some point, digital immigrants have adapted to some areas of the digital world such as using computers, but will retain some habits of their pre-digital world. On...