This week you will:

• Read with a purpose about social media concepts.
• Create a blog post on social media messages.
• Create a blog post on the elements of thought.
• Complete your week 3 self assessment.

This week you will create 2 blog posts. First, you will read with a purpose on the concept of social media messages. Second, you will create a blog post on social media messages. Third, you will create a blog post on the elements of reasoning. This is the analysis of reasoning.

Finally, this week you will complete and submit your self-assessment of your week 3 learning.

Please remember, before you begin your activities, read and watch this week's topic summary content.

Whenever you learn, let go and have some fun, don't take yourself too seriously.

Read/watch the following...

Social Media- Social media can be roughly referred to as a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content, creating connections on networks. Whenever people connect to one another networks are formed. The purpose of social media is to create interaction and connection between people by using electronic networks to create, share, learn, interact, entertain, and market. Using social media is a careful balance between sharing identities and protecting privacy.

What is social media?

"Social media" is a way for people to communicate and interact online. While it has been around since the dawn of the World Wide Web, in the last 10 years or so we've seen a surge in both the number and popularity of social media sites. It's called social media because users engage with (and around) it in a social context, which can include conversations, commentary, and other user-generated annotations and engagement interactions.

Publishing content has become exponentially simpler over the last several years, which has helped skyrocket the use of social media. Non-technical web users are now able to easily create content on a rapidly growing number of platforms, including those that are owned (hosted communities, blogs, etc.), rented (social networks or third-party communities), and occupied (commenting, contributing, etc.). Today's web has shifted from a "one-to-many" to a "many-to-many" method of engagement, and we're loving it.

Example of how to do your assignment this week- How to read with a purpose

How the World Changed Social Media Chapter 1 Summary What is social media?

Social media should not be seen primarily as the platforms upon which people post, but rather as the contents that are posted on these platforms. These contents vary considerably from region to region, which is why a comparative study is necessary. The way in which we describe social media in one place should not be understood as a general description of social media: it is rather a regional case.

Social media is today a place within which we socialise, not just a means of communication. Prior to social media there were mainly either private conversational media or public broadcasting media.

We propose a theory of scalable sociality to show how social media has colonised the space of group sociality between the private and the public. In so doing it has created scales, including the size of the group and the degree of privacy.

We employ a theory of polymedia that recognises our inability to understand any one platform or media in isolation. They must be seen as relative to each other, since today people use the range of available possibilities to select specific platforms or media for particular genres of interaction.

We reject a notion of the virtual that separates online spaces as a different world. We view social media as integral to everyday life in the same way that we now understand the place of the telephone conversation as part of offline life and not as a separate sphere.

We propose a theory of attainment to oppose the idea that with new digital technologies we have either lost some essential element of being human or become post-human. We have simply attained a new set of capacities that, like the skills involved in driving a car, are quickly accepted as ordinarily human.

First level of reading- translation of the above paragraphs wording into my own alternative wording.

Social media is not about the media tool you use it’s about the content you post. Content is different depending on the areas of the world it comes from. The definition of social media depends on the region of the world you live in. There is a need for a study comparing different areas of the world.

We use social media media to socialize. This is new. Previously you could only use media for private conversations, like a phone, or to to receive information that was available to everyone, like a tv show that was broadcasted over public airwaves.

Social media has created a new area of social group communication that is between private conversations and public communication. A social media groups growth depends on the size of the group and its privacy. This is a theory called social scalability.

Since there are many different reasons people use different social media tools for different types of socializing, we are unable to understand one social media media tool by itself. This is the theory of polymedia.

Virtual Social media places are an essential part of our everyday life. By using digital technology we learn new skills that are quickly being accepted as a normal part of how we live. Just like driving a car. This is the theory of attainment.

Second level of reading- state, elaborate, exemplify, and illustrate the thesis of the paragraph above.

The main point of the paragraph is to summarize the main points of what social media is.

In other words the definition of social media is about the content you post online and this content varies differently depending upon where you live. Therefore the definition of social media depends on where you live. A comparative study is need to determine the definition of social media based on where you live. For example we can compare social media messages in Russia and the United States.

Using social media as a way to socialize with others is new just as using the phone for private conversations and watching TV for national and local news were once new. Socializing online with groups of people has created a new area of communication that depends on the size of the group and it’s level of privacy. This how a group will grow. For example there are large groups on Facebook anyone can join. There are also small private groups you have to join. This is similar to real life where anyone can join a fan club group but only invited people can a certain VIP club.

We use more than one social media tool for different purposes. This is polymedia. For example you may use Facebook to see what your friends are doing and you use Instagram to improve your picture taking. Using social media tools for socializing has become a normal way of living for many people. Just like driving your car to work.

Essential Idea: There are eight structures that define thinking. Learning to analyze thinking requires practice in identifying these structures in use.

Extra resources you may be interested in...

Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web