BLOG POST #6 EOTO Reflection: Facebook & Instagram

         

    I was able to learn a lot about different technologies throughout our Each One Teach One presentations on Wednesday, November 6th. There were a lot of different inventions that each person put time into researching before they taught us about that specific invention. While I enjoyed learning about all of these differnet inventions and technologies, the one that stood out to me was the invention of Facebook and Instagram, by Tatum James. 

    Mark Zuckerberg and his partners invented Facebook while they were sophomores in college, which was shocking to me becuase they would have been my age when they produced this huge social media platform. It started as just a communication system for their Harvard, for students to post events and other thoughts and opinions. Later, Facebook expanded to other universities, and eventually grew into the largest social media platform. It is shocking to me that something this huge, started so small and by someone my age. I could not imagine building such a popular social media site right now, and eventually becoming wealthy because of it. 

    Instagram came from the term instant camera and telegram, hence the name "Insta-gram". It was originally invented for individuals to be able to edit their photos differently than they were allowed to on Facebook perviously. It opened up a total new way to share information and even created job opportuntities for influencers and other content creators. Instagram is now a bit more modern than Facebook, with a larger demographic of younger users compared to Facebook. 

    I really enjoyed hearing the background of Facebook and Instagram, because while I use Instagram each and every day, my parents use Facebook each and every day. Knowing that an app that I use religiously was made by a group of 19-20 year olds at Harvard University, is totally incomprehensible to me. 

    One thing that I liked about this presentation was the noting of how social media does not always portray the truth. While Instagram and Facebook are fun ways to connect with others and easy ways to get information updates, what your friends are posting is the good of their lives. Nobody is posting their overwhelming breakdowns, rather they are posting their fun Saturday nights. Along with this, people can post any information they want, and it is your responsibility to fact check these post and form your own opinion.