My Tinder Journey

I remember when I first heard about tinder. It was my freshman year of college and I was pretty new to Boston. Meeting guys (especially when you attend an all women's college) can be trickier than one would imagine. Although I was living in a city full of college students, finding ways to meet people organically without seeming like a creep. 

I was 19, so not old enough to go out to bar, but old enough to go to frat parties. I discovered very early on that this was really not my scene. The brother only let you in if you were a hot girl or a friend so I got over that kind of exclusivity pretty quick. 

I started playing around on Tinder, never actually going out with any of the guys I was matched with, but talking to a few here and there. I soon got sick of it and deleted the app. I was still pretty stuck on trying to meet someone naturally.

It wasn't until my junior year, that I seriously started to use Tinder. I went a couple Tinder dates, all duds. Meeting up for a Tinder date is probably the most awkward experience...ever. 

Just when I was going to give up on the app and try to meet someone the old fashion way, I "Binge Tindered" - meaning I sat in my apartment on a Friday night with my roommate and just kept swipping right. I talked to nearly all my matches that night. Only one of them really stuck though. His name was Andrew and was quite the sweetheart. We met up the next day and we've been dating ever since.

Don't worry ladies, it is possible to meet a good guy on the internet. They're not all complete duds. You just have to be persistent sometimes. 

My Yik Yak Experience

I decided to download Yik Yak about two weeks ago. We had our discussion in class about anonymity on the internet using this app as an example. I heard about Yik Yak through a friend of mine that goes to the University of New Hampshire (a Yaking hotspot) and figured it was about time I tried it out. 

At first I was shocked just how honest people were. There were those crude bathroom and sex yaks, but there were also a number of just plain friendly yaks and genuine confessions. While scrolling through the feed, all I could think was "There is noooo way anyone would ever tweet that..." No one would ever talk about how their life is in the bedroom or in the bathroom if their name is attached. 

I must say it was pretty addicting the first day I tried out the app. I even yakked a few times to see just how much "yakkarma" I could get (I currently have 1034 after two weeks of yakking.) It is truly a refreshing form of social media.

Happy yaking! 

Fandom

When thinking about fandom, one big one comes to mind for me - the Twilight fandom. This is one that I was personally a part of. I read all the books when I was 14 and my group of friends at the time were all fans of the series as well. We would hang out at school and talk about the books. At that time, Twilight was somewhat of a cult phenomenon so there really were not that many fans. 

My friends and I considered ourselves an "alternative" crowd. At that time the fandom of Twilight - their members called "Twihards" - was mainly female ranges between the ages of 12-25. 

Being one of the first fans of series, I watched the fandom take off. First with fan fiction website and fanart and then with chat rooms and forums about the series. To me, it was always funny to see just how involved some people could get with fictional characters. Many of these fan-made works involved an extended story for the books. Many involved the relationship between Jacob and Renesme, Edward and Bella's daughter. 

Twilight fandom seriously blew up as soon as the making of the movie was announced. Fans of the seriously began to expand. Everyone and their mother was reading the Twilight books (literally, my Mom AND my Dad read the entire series as well.) 

Today, even after the last movie in the series has been released, Twilight fandom still exists. There are still those die-hard fans that continue to write their fan fiction expanding upon the story that touched so many individuals world-wide.

The Disconnect

A few weeks ago, I packed my bags and got on a plane to the Virgin Islands. I stayed in a tent on the beach, with very limited internet access. Accessing the Internet required paying $9 per day. I held off for a couple days, reminding myself "You're on vacation, who cares what they're doing back home?" But it was less about caring what everyone else was doing and more about my wanting to share what I was doing.

I wanted to share all of the photos I had been taking and all the experiences I was having. A couple days into my trip, I caved and paid to use the wifi. I don't think I have ever zoomed through content so quickly. I scrolled through my Instagram feed and answered my emails like there was no tomorrow. 

I felt slightly ashamed of myself for giving in, but extremely satisfied. I built up so much to share on the Internet that once I was finally given the opportunity to post it, I was able to lay back on my beach towel and soak up those rays. I felt like I could relax.

I honestly could have lived without access to social media for a week, but it was just nice to be able to share what I was doing when I was doing it.

Strictly Visual

Over the past few years I've noticed something about myself. I found that I would initially start reading a blog that looked interesting, I would follow it for a while and then I would stop. They were all fantastic - full of interesting content and photos. But many of them were text-heavy. I found that they only blogs I seemed to be interested in were the ones that were visually interesting. I needed visual stimulation - photos, videos, etc. - to keep me interested. 

This has helped to shape my own blog as well. My personal blog is very photo-heavy. So much that I even go so far as calling it my online "photo diary." I do make it a point to write a short blurb about what I'm posting about so there is a bit of context. But for the most part, my blog relies mainly on visuals.

The same goes for social media. When it comes to my use of social media, I find myself more drawn to platforms like Instagram because their whole reason for being is visuals. I respond better to a photo of something posted on Facebook rather than a status update about it. This is probably the root of the reason why Twitter and YikYak have never really intrigued me. These platforms focus more on writing rather than visuals. 

Feedback

Leaving and receiving feedback has become easier than ever with Web 2.0. People can rate and leave feedback on everything from service they received at a certain restaurant to their experience with a particular professor. And in a similar way, these ratings and reviews can be viewed by anyone including the restaurants and professors in question. This information can make a real impact. In can decide whether or not a patron decides to get dinner at that restaurant or whether a students decides to enroll in that professor's class. 

This feedback can be used by those being evaluated to reexamine themselves and see what they can do to change in order to better serve the community. For instance, say several customers leave a comments about a particular server at a restaurant and how rude they were. That restaurant may have to consider approaching that server about their attitude in order to keep their positive image. 

Feedback is powerful whether it is left anonymously or not. It is out there for the whole Internet to see.

Leaving feedback can even trickle down into personal use of social media. Receiving a large amount of likes on a post on Facebook or Instagram can lead to Internet fame and such, which can be extremely beneficial for users looking for sponsorships. But leaving destructive, hateful feedback could be deemed cyberbullying.