SOCIAL MEDIA 2012

Have you ever been in a room full of friends and there has been dead silence? I'm talking so quiet, you can hear a pin drop? Well I have. Not that we weren't all speaking to one another because we were...THROUGH OUR PHONES! That's right people, I'm talking about social media! Twitter, Facebook, instagram, and a host of other social outlets. The days of knocking on the door to see if someone is home are over. With a simple tweet, you can contact a friend, a business, a celebrity, you name it. Social media has grown rapidly over the last few years, and its only getting bigger. I remember being on this party line called "The loop" back in the day. Everybody was on it. It was a way to talk to friends and people you didn't know from a can of paint all at once. No pictures, just voices. One big chatroom on the phone. It was great, until mom's phone bill  came every month. At the time, I couldn't forsee beyond that. AOL and MSN chatrooms had existed for some time and they were great as well. But growing up in Philly at the time, not everyone had the internet. You had to go to a friends house or the library to be able to get online. Cell Phones were basic, and the best game on them was "Snake". My point is, it was pretty difficult to get in touch with people so easy the way we do nowadays. The first major social media outlet for my generation was none other than Black Planet. Black Planet let you be great. It was the first time you could customize your profile, upload pictures, communicate with friends, flirt with girls, and basically network with others all from the comfort of your home. It was like one big online club, specifically for african americans. I remember me and my homeboy Ant used to be on black planet all the time waiting for "New Notes". In my opinion, this was the beginning of social media. You were able to contact friends without having to pick up the phone. Little did I know that in a few years, black planet would be obsolete due to another social media giant. Something much bigger and better. Something with unlimited networking possibilities. That something would turn out to be Myspace. Myspace! The name speaks volumes. It was YOUR space to post whatever you wanted. From music, to pictures, to videos. Myspace was Big! It was the first social site that I can recall, that you were able to interact with not only people from all over of all different backrounds, but celebrities as well. People like Sean Kingston, Lily allen, and everybodys favorite rapper, Soulja boy were discovered off myspace. From 2005 to 2008, myspace was the most visited site online. Myspace had a net worth of 12 billion dollars. That's crazy right? So at the time of course, my close minded ass thought that there's no way anything can dethrone myspace. There's no way myspace will ever crumble. Then comes facebook. Facebook was originally made specifically for college students. I know this because at the time it was being introduced, I was a student at Camden county college. If you didn't have a school id, no Facebook. Facebook grew so popular among college students that eventually everyone had access to it. It was like myspace but better. More picture uploads, easier interface. Still, myspace continued to dominate... that is until smartphones began rolling out. The amount of people who were currently on facebook tripled when facebook mobile rolled out. Plus, with facebook allowing everyone to join now, myspace eventually curled up in a ball and died. There was no competition. From 2008 to now, facebook is the largest social media site to date. Facebook has a total of 100 billion pictures uploaded to it. If you ever need to find anyone, chances are there on facebook. Social media is huge worldwide. Personally,  I think they owe a huge part of their sucess to smart phones. With applications like twitter and the growing application that is instagram, getting in touch with anybody is simple, but how is social media affecting us? Well for starters, many jobs are banning facebook and twitter because they believe that people spend so much time on them that work production slows down. In some instances, people have been turned down for jobs due to facebook statuses. People have been murdered over facebook. A tweet can cost you a job. You can even be fined, case in point JR smith was fined by the NBA when he tweeted a picture of Tahiry's amazingly big ass. Sure there are a lot of negatives that come with social media, but in the end that's just a risk you have to take. In closing, I would like to say embrace social media. It is one of the greatest ideas known to man. Use it to your advantage! Network, meet new people. The days of being limited to socializing to people only when your in person are over! Let's all be great together! Tweet away people!

Philly Murder Rate

Argueably the most talent filled city in the entire world, Philadelphia! The city of Brotherly Love. Home of the cheesteak! Philadelphia is such a diverse city with people from every walk of life residing here. Bill Cosby, Will Smith, Kevin Bacon, Kenny Gamble, Meek Mill and a host of other great names come out this city. Talent? Yes! This city has it, but lately it seems as though all of the great accolades and accomplishments of the city in general are being overshadowed by something bigger. Something that every city is plagued with, but it has gotten out of control in Philly. I'm talking about the amount of homocides and senseless crimes that are spiking at an alarming rate in this city. 2012 has been a blood bath thus far, with 83 murders and counting, to date. Today is Sunday March 25, and currently there have been more people killed than days in this year. AND ITS ONLY MARCH! Families are losing loved ones left and right. Too many tears are being shed in a city that is supposed to be the city of "Brotherly Love". Currently, the city is on pace to shatter last years murder rate of 324 which was up 14 murders compared to 2010. In 2007, Philadelphia had 391 murders, under then police chief Sylvester Johnson. The city was in a tate of turmoil. In January 2008, Mayor Michael Nutter appointed our current police chief, Charles Ramsey, a man with over 40 years of experience in law enforcement. A man who was also Police commisioner in Chicago and Washington DC, which are also plagued with crime. Expectations for this guy were pretty high coming in. The homicides in Philly actually decreased in his first couple years, but as of last year to now, the murders are starting to pile up again. But why? Could it be the amount of police on the street? Are there enough of them? Maybe the question could be are there enough of them who actually care to help "protect and serve" rather than earn a paycheck? Or could the issue be with the youth in our city? Majority of crimes commited in Philadelphia are by people 21 and under. Yes, at that age many of us are young and dumb, but lately its as if nobody has morals, or standards anymore. Everyone settles for being followers rather than leaders. Swag overshadows intelligence. Lack of common sense is causing heart ache to families all over. Whatever the reason, this has got to STOP! I'm sure I speak for many of you when I say I'm tired of turning on the news seeing stories of good people being killed over stupidity. For instance, back in january, a pizza delivery man was set up and killed over a pizza. A PIZZA! Vanessa Banks, a great, loving, powerful young lady, and a woman I personally knew was murdered by her boyfriend because she wanted to end the relationship. A North Philly woman named Rosemary "Reyna" Fernandez-Rivera, was killed on January 23 because, police say, she witnessed a murder at the same spot the day after Thanksgiving. All of these murders were senseless acts of crime commited by people who didn't have enough intelligence to think beyond using a gun. Its sad. We as people need to take a stance on this and do something about it. Together we can rid our city of the dark cloud of negativy that hovers above Philly. How? That's a question I don't have an answer to, but I have great ideas. For starters, rid yourself of the word "hate" and everything that comes with it. This is 1 of the main reasons why people can't see the good in things. Second, educate yourself. More time in books or whaetver you do to educate yourself amounts to less time in the streets, which ultimately results in better decisions. This city is too talented to have such a bad rep as we do. And finally, teach! Teach others the importance of life. Teach values! The best gift you can give someone is knowledge. 1 voice can affect someone in ways you can't imagine. So in closing, I hope that what I'm speaking about is informative and makes someone want to take action to help turn this city around...

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Trayvon Martin. Not only was I saddened by the murder of Trayvon, but the events and lack of justice following his murder are beyond me. While the family of Mr.Martin continues to grieve, the killer, a man by the name of George Zimmerman still walks the streets as a free man. Not only has he not even been held in jail under suspicion of a wrongful killing, but somehow he has avoided being charged with a single crime. Why you ask? Well here it is: Mr Zimmerman is protected by a law that was signed by former florida governor Jeb Bush that allows a person to use deadly force to protect themselves if they feel threatened. This law is known as the "Stand your ground" law. Now if your like me, I'm pretty sure your wondering why this law was passed, let alone even thought of. Basically this law was put in place to give would be victims of crimes the right to defend themselves with deadly force if you feel as though your life is in jeapordy. George Zimmerman is currently being defended by this law. The fact that this law is currently being up held in this case is unbelievable. the night of Trayvons murder, mr. Zimmerman was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. He explained what "supposedly" was happening, and was specifically told my the dispatcher to stay put and to NOT take any action. She also stated that law enforcement was on the way. For whatever reason, Mr. Zimmerman decided to take it Upon himself and handle the situation. Wrong move George! In my opinion, Zimmerman gave up his chance to even be considered to be defended by this law s soon as he took matters in his own hands. He defied the orders of the 911 dispatcher, so if you ask me, he basically gave up his rights at that very moment he decided he was going to kill Trayvon. His only defense so far is he was attacked. Clearly that is bullshit because there is also a 911 recording with a woman who tells the operator there is someone yelling for help outside her home. You can also hear Trayvon desperately pleading for his life until his screams were silenced by a bullet from George Zimmerman. If a bag of skittles, ice tea and a hoody makes you look suspicious, then I'm pretty sure I should have been killed a while ago. Sadly, racism still exists in america. Geraldo riviera recently made comments suggesting that Trayvons hoody might have been 1 of the reasons he was viewed the way he was by Mr. Zimmerman and ultimately was killed. For him to make a comment like that speaks to the fact that people are racially stereotyped everyday! The reality of it is, is that racism still exists in the world. No matter what we wear, who we hang with, we will always be judged by many by the color of our skin rather than the content of our character. In closing, I would like to say I hope people all over the world will one day see each other as equals no matter race, social economic status, hobbies, etc. Its 2012 peole, so lets act like it!!!