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Twitter has easily become one of the most prevalent social media sites in recent memory thanks to its vast amount of uses whether that be for news regarding politics, sports, news, etc. Twitter was officially founded back in March of 2006 by, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Noah Glass, and Evan Williams in an effort to essentially combat Apple at that time. Originally Twitter was not the option they were going for, it was actually a now failed startup known as Odeo. Odeo unfortunately did not work out due to Dorsey, Stone, Glass, and Williams feeling that it was not strong enough to combat iTunes due to the new addition of podcasts to the service back in 2005.  Dorsey believed that the next best step would be to create a new type of platform or service in which people could share status updates with their friends and families. According to britannica, "Glass proposed the name Twttr. Dorsey sent the first tweet (“just setting up my twttr”) on March 21, 2006, and the completed version of Twitter debuted in July 2006. Seeing a future for the product, in October 2006 Williams, Stone, and Dorsey bought out Odeo and started Obvious Corp. to further develop it. Interest in the platform sharply increased after it was presented at the South by Southwest music and technology conference in Austin, Texas, in March 2007. The following month Twitter, Inc., was created as a corporate entity, thanks to an infusion of venture capital, and Dorsey became Twitter’s first chief executive officer (CEO). In 2008 Williams ousted Dorsey as CEO, and two years later Williams was replaced as CEO by chief operating officer Dick Costolo." 

Twitter has had to evolve over time as most social media platforms have due to the ever changing world we currently live in. Many different celebrities, socialites, even political figures have a strong presence/following on the platform. Twitter has changed the way a lot of everyday people consume news along with what is deemed important enough to make the news. Not only has it changed the way that everyday people view news, but it also changed the way that journalists along with people in media are breaking news. Account manager Corey Smock stated that, "the 24 hours news cycle may provide a unique value to journalists. Crowd-sourcing has become a technique many are using to compile details on a story. Twitter provides real time information, reactions, and public opinion during breaking stories. Some studies suggest that today, journalists use Twitter for up to 80% of their news-gathering techniques." This just goes to show how we have to continuously adapt in the world to stay in the loop and are able to compete with the competition. This also brings up the danger of anyone being able to "break news" due to how open the platform is which allows misinformation to spread like a wildfire. 

As time goes on and we evolve, the industry must as well and it was very interesting to monitor the situation between Twitter and Elon Musk. In accordance to The New York Times, on October 27, 2022, "Mr. Musk closed his $44 billion deal to buy the social media service, said three people with knowledge of the situation. He also began cleaning house, with at least four top Twitter executives — including the chief executive and chief financial officer — getting fired on Thursday. Mr. Musk had arrived at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday and met with engineers and ad executives." Twitter was already lacking in realm of revenue due to the company originally not including ads or membership services, but operated as a completely free platform. Elon Musk is already changing quite a bit such as essentially changing the societal viewpoints on verification due to one having to now pay a monthly fee to be verified. It will be interesting to continuously monitor Twitter now that it is in new hands to see if it will improve as a platform or ultimately fail and become in a worse spot.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twitter

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-twitter-has-changed-journalism-forever

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/technology/elon-musk-twitter-deal-complete.html

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/21/23472184/elon-musk-twitter-paid-verification-relaunch-delay-impersonations

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-twitter-facts-what-s-happening-in-2019-14995056

https://theconversation.com/six-ways-twitter-has-changed-the-world-56234

The Eight Values of Free Expression

The First Amendment opens with, "Congress shall make now law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This is one of the most important virtues to our country and we are fortunate to have this, along with the eight values that come along with it. The eight values include, Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation, and Protect Dissent. These values are essential to upholding our rights within the United States because it gives us the freedom to question our government and express our true thoughts in an honest and fair way. Without having these freedoms we would not be able to refer to ourselves as a democracy and although we are not in a great position now as a country, it could be even worse if these freedoms did not exist or were revoked. 

Out of all eight values, the one that resonates with me the most is number seven which is, Promote Innovation. This value is all about being in a community in which free speech is valued and protected which would potentially lead to more creative, energetic, and an overall better society as people are always working on themselves. That ideology is something I feel like I could get behind and I would suspect that I am not alone in that. Personally to me it seems very productive and beneficial.

The value that I deem most important would be the Check on Governmental Power and it all goes back to the First Amendment. The government needs to be kept in check, just look at the state of the country right now! Our government needs to know when they are abusing their power and when they have crossed the line, and it is our job as citizens of the United States to uphold that. The state of this country is in shambles and we need to make sure that we as citizens of this country are doing our civic duty and are making sure that others are as well.

America has changed and evolved a lot throughout the years, and we are at a very different spot now than we were. There is a chance we could be going down a dark road to war, but there is always the chance that country could turn around better itself. That means we are going to have to work as a team but also advocate for ourselves and one another so we are holding ourselves accountable along with keeping the government accountable. We still have the chance to better this world for those that come after us and as long as we don't give up and tend to our civic duties, we can see the change that we want to see and truly have a better and beneficial society.

Supreme Court History Reflection

Supreme Court History Reflection

Before reading the overview of the Supreme Court from the History Channel, I honestly did not really know much about their history or how they truly operate. When I read, "The Supreme Court of the United States (or SCOTUS) is the highest federal court in the country and the head of the judicial branch of government." it really caught me off guard, not because I did not already know that prior to reading but because the actual thought of having that responsibility and being in that position is a tough pill to swallow. I will say that I took interest in the early days of the Supreme Court compared to now. I for one am glad that I read this article because I have a better understanding of how this branch of government works and what it really does. 

• New things I learned about the Supreme Court  

The early days section of the article from the History Channel is what stood out most to me because I had no idea when they firstly came together for their first meeting which was February 2, 1790, and they weren't even focused on any kind of legal cases but rather focusing on figuring out their organizational procedures. I also learned that "For more than 100 years after the foundation of the Supreme Court, the justices were required to hold circuit court twice a year in each judicial circuit." I actually think that is a very interesting idea and wonder what that would look like in today's time, but it was abolished by Congress back in 1891. I also learned about who the actual members were of the first Supreme Court which were Chief Justice John Jay, Associate Justices John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson, but Wilson did not want to serve and declined so he was replaced by James Iredell.

• Most important take-away point about Supreme Court

In my opinion, the biggest take-away point after reading about the Supreme Court was actually getting a basic understanding of what it is they actually strive to do and reading up on all the cases listed on the History Channel website peaked my interest even more. The Obergefell v. Hodges case of 2015 centered around the legalization of same-sex marriage across all 50 states stood out to me the most because it is near and dear to my heart due to certain family members. This case also resonated with me since we just talked about the 14th Amendment in detail last week in class. The 14th Amendment states, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." It's sad that I myself hadn't even thought about how people not having the option to marry the people that they love legally was a direct violation of that and seeing my uncle upset that he felt like he was trapped in a box before the legalization of gay marriage was something truly heartbreaking for me to witness. The Supreme Court only agrees to hear maybe hear about 100 - 150 cases a year I believe when there are thousands presented to them so when this finally became a topic of interest and importance, it was nice to see how my uncle finally felt represented and looked forward to the future for once.

• The most surprising thing I learned

I would say the most surprising thing I learned after reading this article was the section centered around the 1962 Engel v. Vitale case because it was centered around religion and prayer. The Supreme Court made a decision and decided that if prayer was initiated by public schools or showcased within public schools, it violated the First Amendment. Following that, the Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe back in 2000 made the decision that students are not allowed to lead prayer using the school's intercom system. i found this surprising not because the actual act of it is surprising, but because of how it impacted me and how I thought about prayer/religion. I feel it is important that certain people's ideologies and views should not be pushed onto children before they get the chance to  make the choice themselves without prior influence. I was heavily pushed into religion at an early age and I have since strayed from that to a degree, but I respect everyone that believes something different from me because that is within their right, but I do feel that those views and thoughts should be kept to themselves and their close ones unless prompted otherwise.

• How the article changed the way I think of the Supreme Court

In all honesty this article ddi not really change/alter my view of the Supreme Court really at all, and I'm not sure if that is due to me not having a lot of information prior to this or what it is. I think some of the cases I slightly read about brought up interesting questions and made it seem all the more clear that it is important to have a group of people on a team in a sense working together to come up with a solution rather than leaving it up to one person. I have respect for some of the conclusions they come to because I don't know that I myself would be able to make such rash decisions that have a huge impact on so many other people. 

Sources:

https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts

Top Five Sources of News and Information

 My Top Five Sources of News and Information

There are a range of sources at our disposal which enable us to receive a multitude of information quickly and efficiently. I myself use different news sources for different topics such as worldly news, movie news, etc. My views and opinions have shifted and evolved just as I have grown and evolved as a person. In the past I myself teetered back and forth between news services and what media to allow myself to consume because there were so man over arching opinions that would persuade me and/or confuse me. I am now at a point in which I am sound enough in my own opinions/views and am not as easily teetered by certain outlets.

1. Apple News+

I myself have been a prominent user of Apple products ranging from iPhones, iPads, iPods, MacBooks, etc. for as long as I can remember. Apple News is an add on to your products once you purchase them which makes it extremely convenient for someone like me to easily access. Apple officially launched this service on, September 16, 2015 and is available for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS replacing their previous platform known as Newsstand. According to data conducted from statista.com, as of 2021 there are up to 19 million paid subscribers for Apple News+. My parents actually introduced me to this program due to them liking the variety of sources ranging from publications such as, The Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Wall Street Journal. For me the platform works extremely well because it runs like a formal of social media that I am used to which makes the interface quite easy for me to use. Having the choice to pick different categories and subjects also helps with not geeing confused and overwhelmed with content. I would recommend this source to someone who is looking for a quick and accessible way to get up to speed on news they want to discover.

2. Variety

Variety is my personal favorite choice for news that pertains to the Hollywood industry on all fronts regarding film, television, music, box office reports, and just general news within the industry. American Journalist Sime Silverman founded Variety in NYC back in 1905 which mainly focused on theater news, but in 1933, Daily Variety was added which was based out of LA and covered the film industry as a whole. When I am typically excited or interested in a movie or tv/streaming show I tend to check Variety because they have a section dedicated to film reviews along with streaming reviews. I also tend to get news about film studios from this site regarding new films that are announced, new directors attached to projects, screenwriters attached to projects, drama in the industry, etc. Just last week I learned that James Gunn and Peter Safran will be taking over as the heads of DC studios at Warner Brothers for the next 4 years in an effort to get the studio back on track and to work as competition for Marvel. This is a source I would recommend to anyone interested in this industry and wants to learn basic information about studios and how they operate.

3. Twitter

I am actually late to the party when it comes to Twitter because I refused to join Twitter until last year due to the constant controversial stories I would hear and I just had no interest in being a part of that. The only reason I joined was all thanks to this film critic I follow on YouTube because she uses Twitter as her main platform to connect with her audience/fans and I wanted to be immersive. The second I joined I was immediately sucked into the platform and wanted to keep digging and digging down the trending page. It was truly amazing to me to see how unfiltered Twitter truly allows people to be regarding what they allow users to post at their leisure. Now that Elon Musk is in charge it'll be interesting to see how the app changes whether it be for the good or the bad. I like how you have a trending page centered around many subjects such as the for you trending page, the global trending page, elections page, news page, sports page, and an entertainment page. I think the thing i enjoy most about this app is just how many different opinions you can read and hear from. I would recommend this app to someone that is interested in a more social media based app, but to take thing at face value of course unless a verified source confirmed the information.

4.  The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is something I did not really check up on until last year when my father actually introduced me into stocks and tried to get me to understand them better. Martin Scorsese's film "The Wolf of Wall Street" showed me some more insight into the world of stockbroking and how those people really operate. I feel that this source gives a pretty neutral take on information presented surrounding not only U.S. news, but also global news regarding politics, stock market, real estate, etc. The Wall Street Journal printed its first issue on July 8, 1989, and is based mostly out of New York City, but also has separate editions available in in China and Japan. I don't use this outlet as often as others, but it is a nice way to keep up to date with what is going on in the world. This is a source that I would recommend to someone that is business oriented and looks a lot into politics and stocks.

5. Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News for me operates in the same way that The Wall Street Journal does for me and only gets used when I want tot check on stocks or something business related like that. I'm actually not a big fan of the way the website is laid out, but I do like the separate categories that are available to check out. I have also listened to a couple of the podcasts that are uploaded to the website centered around the pandemic now and comparing it to situations in the past. This is an outlet I would recommend to someone that would check out The Wall Street Journal and are business oriented.

Sources:

https://www.apple.com/apple-news/

https://variety.com/2022/biz/news/james-gunn-peter-safran-dc-studios-warner-bros-discovery-1235414228/

https://twitter.com/?lang=en

https://www.wsj.com/

https://www.bloomberg.com/