Objective Summary #2: Behind Every Great Fortune There is a Great Crime

  In the second section of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founders of Facebook, the author, Ben Mezrich explains the story of how Mark Zuckerberg potentially used Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss's idea of a social network to create Facebook . Zuckerberg was originally assigned the job of programming Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss's website known as the "Harvard Connection". The Harvard Connection had the basic idea of putting Harvard's social life online to allow boys and girls to meet without leaving their dorms. Mezrich points out that this website could only be successful if Mark Zuckerberg programmed it. The brothers believe that Zuckerberg is on their team until he stops returning calls and showing up to meetings. Mezrich then goes on to explain how the twins and Divya, the marketer, decide to search for a new programmer in the replacement of Zuckerberg. While they are searching, Zuckerberg and Eduardo are secretly creating their own version of a social network, now known as Facebook. Mezrich then focuses on how Zuckerberg and Eduardo spent a lot of time on the layout of Facebook including color scheme and profile pages. The section concludes with the Zuckerberg and Eduardo launching their final project to the internet.

Mezrich, Ben. The accidental billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a tale of sex, money, genius and betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Print.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo 

Essential Question on Social Media

Essential question: Do the postive aspects of social media outweigh the negatives?

Claim:The negative aspects of social media outweigh the positives

Reason: Teenagers these days are putting too much personal information online potentially harming their future and safety.

Evidence: Colleges these days will search an applicant online and pull up their profiles on Facebook or Instagram. They can then view all the photos online. Whether the photo takes place at a party or a family event, the college administrators are able to see every thing the kid has either posted or was tagged in. Based on this private information colleges reject applicants if they do not like what they see. Social media is harmful because the kids are posting innappropiate photos and information of themselves and their friends. This information can seriously affect their career and future. Teenagers can also be posting a lot of private information that strangers can see and use for their own good. Some people meet strangers online and give them lots of personal information such as addresses, credit card numbers, and family issues.

Various social media websites

Objective Summary: Social Media

Harvard University

Emma Davitz
Harper
English 10
28th April 2014
           
                                                                                                 

In the opening chapters of Ben Mezrich's Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, the audience learns and sees how Mark Zuckerberg's knowledge of computer science and programming developed into one of the greatest forms of social media known today as Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg was a dedicated freshman attending Harvard University. Mezrich called Zuckerberg a computer genius and further backed this statement up by explaining how Zuckerberg hacked into the secured Harvard website to obtain information on the students attending the University. Zuckerberg then created a webpage called Facemash. Facemash was a website where students from Harvard rate other students on their appearances. Mezrich tells the audience that because Zuckerbeg is so intelligent he is able to analyze and help assist in making the Harvard computer website better. At first Zuckerberg gets in trouble for hacking into the website, but then the Harvard staff realizes his knowledge on computer science is valuable and they decide to use his tricks to help promote and secure their program. After these events, Zuckerberg comes up with the idea of a social media website that could be seen and used by the entire world instead of only within the University. Mezrich's final point to this section is that building a social media website not only takes extreme knowledge on computer science and marketing, it also takes curiosity and determination and not only that, it is also extremely difficult due to the outside competition.

Mezrich, Ben. The accidental billionaires: the founding of Facebook, a tale of sex, money, genius and betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Print.

Mark Zuckerberg

Tech Friday #3

 We wanted to gather information on how social media affects teens in our English class. The first thing we asked was what forms of social media does a person use most? The three most common we believe are Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We also included an other button to see if there were other forms of social media used. We discovered that Instagram is the most popular form of social media. Twitter comes in a close second and nobody chose Facebook. I believe that Instagram is the most common because it is easy to use and it is simple. I believe that Facebook is not used because it has become too crowded. Another thing that I found really interesting in our results was the fact that 70% of the kids in our class log into social media once or twice a day. That means they are taking time away from their day to check photos and posts from other teens almost constantly. This would be an interesting research project because we could study how social media affects time. Most of the other answers were not surprising; however, one thing that stood out to me was the question about cyber bullying. 60% of people said they see cyber bullying online. I used to think that SRVHS rarely had cyber bullying, but now I think differently.

Take this Survey!

Social Media Survey

Discussion #3

Analyze a theme that has emerged in this section and explain how this theme has affected Blair.

Blair

In the book, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, a theme that has emerged is dreams. Dreams have made Blair become very selfish and stressed. Blair has a made up life in her head about a utopia. This utopia is instantly crushed when Serena returns to New York. Blair's dream life includes money, perfect grades, the best clothes, and New York's hottest guy, Nate Archibald. She also wants to be at the top of the social ladder. She suddenly feels like a part of her life is taken away from her when Serena comes back to school. Serena is unusual when compared with the typical teenage girl living in the Upper East side. Serena has a flawless face with unique features such as long and thick blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She is also always wearing eccentric outfits and is a role model for younger girls. Blair's insecurity immediately comes out in Serena's presence. The big event that crushes Blair's dreams isn't Serena's social life and perfection, but how Serena steals Nate, Blair's favorite possesion. Nate is secretly in love with Serena while he is dating Blair. Nate decides to tell Blair his past with Serena and feelings. After this, Blair is devestated, but "her head was still full of the movie she was working on...Everyone would call her Saint Blair, and she would win awards for her golden heart" (139). Blair was living her dream life until this very moment when she feels hopeless. She has lost Nate and reality is suddenly hitting her that her life is not perfect. This reality is what crushes her dreams. Blair is stressed, yet she still hopeful that her life will eventually be perfect. Her dream ends up being what hurts her the most in this section. Her dream has one major obstacle and that obstacle is Serena. Dreams have caused Blair to be hopeful, but also constantly stressed about achieving them. This theme has come up many times in this novel. It relates to not only Blair, but the rest of the Upper East Side. These kids have dreams and aspirations to be something and are working hard to achieve them. Dreams have good effects on these characters such as work ethic, hope, and motivation. Dreams; however, can make a person learn the ultimate lesson of failure. 

Serena van der Woodsen

Nate Archibald

     

The Upper East Side is sometimes known for changing or making people behave a certain way. Analyze and carefully discuss how this environment has affected Vanessa Abrams.

                                                                                                                    Constance High School

In the book, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, Vanessa is affected by the Upper East Side because she is basing her decisions and actions on her own selfish desires. She is also beginning to manipulate situations in order to get her way. Vanessa is a Brooklyn girl living in a luxurious world. She symbolizes an outsider. She dresses, talks, looks, and acts differently than the other girls, such as Blair and Serena. She is very involved in her video class at Constance High School and she is working on a new project. While she is working on her project, she chooses Dan, a boy from the all boys school, St. Judes, to be the leading man in her play. Vanessa begins to have very strong feelings for Dan, which comes into play later. She sets up auditions to find a girl who can play the the role of Dan's lover. One of the girls who comes to audition is Serena van der Woodsen. It becomes obvious that Serena is the perfect fit for this role; however, Vanessa lets her feelings get in the way of picking Serena. She decides to choose another girl for the part even though both Dan and she believe that Serena deserved it the most. Dan, confused about this final decision, questions Vanessa about it. Vanessa then begins to make up excuses about her decisions by talking about Serena in a very negative way. She starts to tell Dan every single bad story she has heard about Serena, whether she knows them to be true or not. Dan starts to analyze the situation and begins to wonder why Vanessa didn't choose Serena and wonders why "Vanessa, queen of the alterna-rebel scene, had actually stooped to spreading rumors about a girl she barely knew. Maybe Constance was finally rubbing off on her" (111).  Vanessa has gone from ignoring the Upper East Side drama to allowing it to control her decision-making process. She wants Dan all to herself and when Serena comes around she gets concerned and extremely jealous. She is worried that Dan will fall for Serena and not her. Her way to stop this from happening is by giving the main lead in the play to another girl who does not deserve it. Vanessa has always been known as a hard working girl who puts her education and work before anything else and these actions are very unlike her.  This makes Dan suspicious of what is truly going on. Vanessa is normally the girl who does not pay attention to any stupid rumors and now she is using them as excuses! The Upper East side can be a very dangerous place for young teens. The majority of the teens put themselves before any one else and they are vindictive towards each other. It is a difficult environment to grow up because kids are constantly feeling judged and pressured to be perfect. Vanessa, surprisingly, is just another kid letting the worst of the Upper East Side get to her. Letting the worst aspects of being in the Upper East side take over the best qualities of who she truly is.

Vanessa Abrams

Tech Friday #2

Critique the personalities of Blair and Serena. Then based on this information compare and contrast them, while explaning the effects of the Upper East Side environment.

Gossip Girl Cast

In the book, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, Blair is selfish, insecure, anal and a perfectionist; while Serena is careless, wild, self-centered, and intruding. The Upper East side contributes to the selfishness personalities of these rich kids because every one who grew up here is affected by the wealthy and perfect neighborhood. These personalities result in common themes of betrayal and appearence. Blair and Serena need to grow out of their immature behaviour in order to be friends again. They are both selfish, except Serena is care free and Blair is uptight and careful. Serena and Blair see each other the first time in a year at a party and their personalities immediately are shown. Serena has just returned from a crazy year at boarding school and comes home to her old best friend's house, Blair, expecting everything to be the same as when she left. Serena does not recognize Blair's unhappiness and continues to talk about her life and how she has done so much in the past year. Blair immediately feels annoyed and tries to avoid Serena and her stories. When they are alone and talking,"The corners of Blair's mouth curled up. Serena obviously wanted her to ask her why, why was she tired of boys? But Blair wasn't going to give her that satisfaction. She tugged her sweater down and glanced at her reflection one more time" (36).

Upper East Side in Manhattan

 Every detail of this simple conversation perfectly shows and enhances the personalities of the girls. Serena has so many stories about her crazy life away that she does not recognize Blair's feelings of hurt and betrayal. Serena is so wrapped up in her own world, she is not accepting the reality of her friendship. She needs to be more aware and considerate of others before she starts talking about herself. She is very careless and is not easily worried, unlike Blair who is constantly stressed with her appearence. Blair is insecure and probably the character who is most obsessed with keeping up her "perfect" life. She is always judging her looks in the mirror. She cares more about her outside appearance than her inside feelings. These actions are making her stressed and extremely insecure. She needs to focus in on her emotions, which should matter more. She; however, is also very hardworking and will never show weakness, which is very impressive. Even though it seems as if Serena is always careless, she can also be very loving. She truly does miss Blair, but she has trouble expressing her feelings.

Blair and Serena

The Upper East Side creates an environment where the teens feel the need to be perfect and better than everyone around them. This leads to harmful consequences and feelings the people share with each other. Blair and Serena are perfect examples of how a simple environment can be so effective. Blair is troubled because she feels the need to be the best all the time. Serena has always been handed everything which leads her to be selfish. The two girls need to accept reality and grow up in order to finally find peace between them.

Connecting Experiences To The World

Instagram

Tuesday Write #11: Response to Article

Social Media Icons

      The Glendale School District article describes a program known as Geo Listening. This program controls activities on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Analysts are alerted to terms that suggest suicidal thoughts, bullying, vandalism, or foul language. The article clearly states, "When they find posts they think should spur an intervention or anything that violates schools' student codes of conduct, the company alerts the campus"(Ceaser). When they are notified, the person committing the inappropriate behavior will be confronted and possibly punished. Some people believe that this program is a good way to prevent cyberbullying, while others believe that this is an invasion to privacy. The people against the article believe that the program is violating Freedom of Speech. Human beings have the right to say what they want and should not be punished for what they have to say. The intentions of the program; however, are to help prevent suicides and bullying. Recently, in the Glendale School District, there have been two suicides that were caused by cyberbullying. In order to stop the bullying, the schools are doing everything they can to monitor not only the student's behaviors at school, but at home and on the internet. The company is looking into public accounts of students from around 3,000 different schools. The founder of the program, Chris Frydrych, states, " 'Daily reports to school administrators include a screen capture of the flagged posts, along with details of whether they were made on or off campus, the time and date, the user's name, if available, and a description of why the post caught the attention of analysts'" (Ceaser). Social media is a public place. Having inappropriate behavior online is the same as having inappropriate behavior in real life.

Glendale School District Symbol

      The school was justified in using the program because they were doing this program for a legitimate reason. The school was only participating in this program to help ensure a safe environment at school and at home. The article talked about two recent suicides that were caused by cyberbullying which is a reason that promotes Geo Listening. The school; however, did not tell the students about the program. This resulted in an invasion of privacy. The students had no idea that their profiles were being monitored by their school. I strongly believe that this is actually a good thing for the students. If people want to have privacy then they should not be posting personal thoughts online. If they want to control their privacy then they should not even have a social media account in the first place. In order for students to avoid cyberbullying, they should avoid the internet in the first place.
    

SRVHS Danville, CA

     If the social media was monitored at SRVHS, I believe that the kids would protest against the program. The kids at SRV are very stubborn and would come up with a way to get rid of the program. I personally have not seen any kids from my school cyberbullying each other, so I believe we would not benefit from this program. The program would just cause anger throughout the school. In a rare case of harmful behavior online, I believe the program would automatically stop it. Geo Listening does have its pros and cons. It could help SRV by preventing that one rare case of bullying. It could also harm SRV by creating an tense environment full of kids who believe that their privacy and freedom of speech is harmed.  People do; however, post party pictures that include drugs and alcohol. The school can easily access these photos and somehow punish the student. For example, if a student posted a photo of a beer, Geo Listening would alert the SRV staff. The SRV staff would then track down the student and contact his or her parents. The SRV kids would probably end up creating a petition of some sort to get rid of the program angered by their invasion of privacy. The cycle would then repeat itself.