Assignment #2

As of right now I could not think of any more ways that the internet could provide more people with a voice. Some examples that come to mind are Facebook, Myspace and YouTube. The internet allows a variety of people to show who they are and what they believe. When I first made an account on Facebook they didn’t allow people that were still in high school to sign up, but now after having an account for only a year and a half, my little brother has one and he’s only fourteen years old and still in middle school. Also, when I first got a Facebook, they didn’t have all of the special applications and extra things they have now. The internet is changing at such a fast pace that who knows how people will be able to express themselves online within the next year. Myspace also advanced at a quick pace. These sites are a good way for people to network. I know that on Myspace there are a lot of bands that have an account so that they can keep up with their fans and post pictures and songs so that the fan can interact. Another example of a way that people can express what they have to say is blog sites. Quite a few of my friends write for sports blog sites and I couldn’t really think of any other way to truly express yourself than by writing it and posting it on a website. My friends write on important issues in the world of sports and people that read them comment about how they agree or disagree. For someone who would like to pursue a career in writing, blogging is a cheap and easy way to start. You don’t have to pay to post a blog and you don’t have to worry about hiring anybody to help you. Even by commenting on a blog I believe you have a voice on the internet, because you are expressing your reaction to what the author of the blog said and you are letting your ideas be known to the whole world.
I do not think that corporate domination will take over and limit public dialog, because if they were going to do it, they wouldn’t have allowed for these sites to grow so much in the first place. We live in America, where people speak their opinions and aren’t afraid to do so. Whether the outcome is positive or negative, no corporation will limit what people have to say. If a corporation tries to control what people do, the people just find another way to do it. For example file sharing sites like LimeWire. I don’t know how many times I heard that people were going to go to jail if they illegally downloaded music off of the internet, but I know that I have been doing it and nothing has happened to me. If one site gets in trouble for doing it, another site will emerge and it will continue, because people do not want to pay iTunes $1.00 for every song they want to download when they can download it for free. Corporations will not take over unless they feel an extreme threat, and I do not see that happening in the near future.