Info and Networks.

With the click of a button, at the tip of our finger, is the ability to communicate. To pass along. To share. Now more than ever, the sphere of influence each person with Internet access has can be wider than ever, exponentially so. I identify with Reed's Law, a summation of Web 2.0, which states that a network that has "n" members increases its utilities by 2 raised to the power of "n". This is essentially exemplified in anything that goes viral today: a piece of media that is shared so many times that countless people know about it insanely quickly. It might even become part of popular culture.

One such example is “Bad Luck Brian.” An unknown boy named Brian had an awkward school yearbook picture, which was shared so many times that it came to have an identity of its own. It was dubbed “Bad Luck Brian” and became a meme used in various situations as a humorous response to unfortunate, awkward, or disappointing news. If you show the picture to any given person, they are likely to at least recognize it, even if they do not know its full origins. Bad Luck Brian’s fabrication into our culture is an example of Reed’s Law.

It is always difficult to predict the future of technology because it moves forward with such rapid speed. Five years ago, social media was an aspect of our lives but it was not an essential aspect of it like many people view it today. It was not a juggernaut force that it has since become. As new apps are introduced, existing ones see a shift in purpose. For example, many people still use Facebook today, but their reasons for using it are decidedly different from when it was first introduced. Personally, I use Facebook now as a means of networking for various groups or organizations that I am part of. Its purpose (for me, at least) as an outlet for sharing what I am doing at any given moment is now slanted more toward Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat, depending on the type of medium I wish to use (text, photography, or video). Likewise, it is interesting to think about how some of those current apps might be either obsolete or hold different purpose to us over the course of the next five years. As we see trends occur in communication (like, for example, the current rise of multimedia-based communication more than just words on a screen), we will see each new app introduced as an attempt to improve upon the current atmosphere, the current pulse of communication.

To conclude today's post, please enjoy this video of an authentic Hawaiian tiki luau bird.