Snapchat

By Amy Clerkin and Michelle Boca

Snapchat was launched in September 2011 by three Stanford University students, Evan Spiegal, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. Their goal was to create an app that allowed you to send pictures, videos, and messages that deleted themselves after being sent and opened. After about a year of Snapchat being launched the app reached 10 million users.

 The rapid growth of Snapchat is due to the teenage audience that most social media targets to. Snapchat’s frequent updates and the addition of new features keep users coming back and influence more and more people to join the Snapchat community. Some of these features include stories, filters, geo-tags, news articles, etc. In October 2013, Snapchat made a significant update to the platform: Stories. Users could now also add Snaps to a feature called their “Story”, which acted like a longer narrative of snaps strung together. The stories last twenty-four hours after being posted and are public to all their followers. This update in 2013 made Snapchat unlike any other social media at the time which made it increasingly popular.

With the growing popularity of Snapchat, people will inevitably spend more time using the app. The average “Snapchatter” spends 25-30 minutes on Snapchat everyday and 60% of those users are creating new content, such as sharing a photo or simply chatting friends.  Snapchat holds a major influence over the younger audience. In the United States, Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18-34 year olds. With the increasing popularity of Snapchat, it has began to dominate in certain areas over other popular social medias. Snapchat now has more users than Twitter and Snapchat videos receive more views than those on Facebook. Snapchat also reaches 11% of all Americans and 7 to 10 of all Snapchat users are millennials. Also, 60% of smartphone users are on Snapchat.

Snapchat reshaped social life because we get to see other people’s stories within 24hours. There are also snaps from different countries. We can follow celebrities’ snapchats and get an inside look of their lives that we don’t normally see on other social media. It is a lot more instant and “live.” News stories are more updated and provide us about what is going on around the world and other controversial events/topics. Snapchat changes older media, and more visual than Twitter and Facebook.

“Snapchat has taken a unique position on news content, adopting the role of curator early on by carefully selecting its publication partners — ranging from The Economist and The Wall Street Journal to Comedy Central and MTV.”How Snapchat differs from Twitter and Instagram

Ever since its debut in 2011, Snapchat has grown throughout the years and it is one of the main apps that people usually have on their phones and has been popular among teens and young adults. Snapchat is being used not only daily, but every second; Snapchat has taken over social media. It has also been used as one of the main forms of communication. Even though people text, snapping someone is a lot more trendy and useful because it provides visual content rather than just a text on a phone. Snapchat allows an individual to visually communicate with another person. It also allows captions on videos and pictures.  There are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to using snapchat. Snapchat allows you to send a picture or a chat and can only be saved if one were to screenshot the picture or choose to save the chat. This allows people the privacy they want and the secure feeling of having their content deleted.  Snapchat selfies: disappearing data

“Jealousy among romantic partners increases with Snapchat use, which may be its greatest disadvantage (Utz et al., 2015).  The “Best Friends” feature, the list of the top three people one snaps the most, added tension to romantic relationships when a partner found out that they were not included on this list.” The disappearance of pictures and chats can effect relationships because it leaves little to no evidence of “extra-relational communication.”  Snapchat’s effects on relationships

Medium bias states that something lasts for a long time or travel in great distances. This does not apply to snapchat because people can send pictures in a duration of 1 to 10seconds and after that the picture that was sent gets deleted forever. It extends the social space because snapchat allows you to send one snapchat to multiple people without them knowing. With the new update, snapchat allows group snaps which allows multiple individuals to send a snap to a group and everyone in that group can open it.

Visually, snapchat provides an excess amount of videos and pictures. In comparison to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, snapchat is definitely a lot more updated because of its duration of 24 hour stories and news. It also provides live snaps people around the globe which provides us to be aware of what is going on around the world and get an inside look straight from people that are present and not just news coverage. This type of coverage provides us a behind-the-scenes view of events. I believe that snapchat will continue to grow throughout the years because of it’s live and accurate reports.

Snapchat

Samantha Schultz, Kate Mills

Snapchat has changed the way people get news at the fingertips. It gives you a few paragraphs about what has happened. It gives you a quick recap of the day before, and then usually goes away the next day. It gives the user a variety of new outlets, such as CNN, People, ESPN, The Food network, Daily Mail, and Vogue.

The creators of Snapchat also add different articles that might interest people such as finding out what your horoscope is every Monday on Cosmopolitan, they also give you the gossip on MTV.

It is also a way to communicate with your friends with a simple picture, you do not even have to have a conversation with someone, you can simply just send selfies back and forth. It is a very different way of communicating in our society today.

You can be private or public, the world can see your post at the click of an add button. This relates to the medium theory because it shows how far technology has changed today. Technology is going to continue to thrive and come up with new innovations, and soon Snapchat could die out. 

Snapchat has impacted our society in beneficial and non-beneficial ways. It is advantageous in the sense that it allows us to communicate in a fast and carefree way with our peers, even if they are across the country. One is able to show off what they got or where they currently are with a click of a button. It is an outlet for the latest news. Snapchat is also a boom for small business industries, in the sense that they can get the latest fashions and sales out to the customers quick and easy. However, this is not always the most useful app. Many people have become “obsessed” with snap chat and have to do it on a daily and even every hour. A good example of this would be Kylie Jenner, where it seems to be like she is always snap chatting whether in public or at her home. She is always showing off to her fans what she is doing every second of the day. This is not the healthiest thing because since she is in the public eye people tend to follow her lead. Which leads the world to send around eight thousand snaps per second.  Snapchat is also a way to destroy relationships. Let’s say you are caught taking a picture with another girl, and your girlfriend at home sees that. It could lead to a fight. Whether you want to believe it or not snap chat has ruined many relationships. Our world is continuously being taken over by technology which creates more social problems than it ever has before. In the future snap, chat is going to continue to prosper, according to Oscar Lance snap chat now will be able to add people and gifs into the picture that you are about to send. Our society is being taken over by technology right before our eyes.

Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown when they were students at Stanford University. At first, snap chat wasn’t called snap chat it was called Picaboo. After working a little more on this idea Evan design an app where photos and messages could disappear after you send and open them. Something interesting is that Snapchats daily video views have increased 400% year to year. Snapchat is videos are watched more and Facebook’s videos. Up to 60% of all smartphone users are now on Snapchat. Reports have found that 18 to 24 years old markup 45% of all snap chat users in the US. If you were to watch everyone’s story in the world, it would take you 158 years to watch. That is just upsetting. It is estimated that users spend 25 to 30 minutes a day on snap chat.

By the people you interact with and the people you follow, and the people’s stories you watch that could be considered bias. When looking at the discovery page, there are different news outlet that you can go too. They are ranked on what you use the most, so the first things that pop up are the things that appeal to you. Snapchat tries to get every story up and from different perspectives, but their only news outlet is CNN, Daily Mail, and a live stream of something that is happening in the world.

 

Twitter

by Alec Rudolph and Paul DiPasqua

Twitter is quite a unique social media platform; Not only are users able to share photos and videos, but they can also casually chat with people from all over the world. However, Twitter was not always the mega-platform for expressing views and opinions that it is today.

The social micro-blogging service is a product of Jack Dorsey’s interest in mass transportation and experiments with keeping couriers, bus drivers, cab drivers, etc. in touch with each other in real-time. After noticing that taxi drivers were constantly updating their statuses while he was working on messaging systems for cab companies, Dorsey began planning to create a “web site that combined dispatch software and instant messaging“. The site was not met with as much acclaim as you would expect, and it was initially written off as a site meant strictly for prominent figures and those obsessed with chronicling every moment of their lives. However, Twitter began to grow on Americans and after Dorsey set up a demonstration of Twitter at the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive conference, the number of tweets per day tripled from 20,000 to 60,000 because “hundreds of conference-goers kept tabs on each other via constant twitters. Panelists and speakers mentioned the service, and the bloggers in attendance touted it,” according to Newsweek.

Due to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain using the site extensively in the 2008 election, Twitter became fully accepted by the American people. But the next year, 7239 miles away in Iran, another presidential election proved that Twitter was here to stay. In response to claims that the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, had acquired massive amounts of fraudulent votes, Iranian officials tried to shut down all media in the country. Twitter, however, would not be stopped by this blackout and allowed Iranian users to tell the world what was really happening — with live updates. This apparently caught the attention of a U.S. State Department official, who e-mailed Dorsey because Twitter was “playing an important role at a crucial time in Iran,” and proceeded to request that Dorsey not perform scheduled site maintenance in order for protesters to keep tweeting. The site’s frequent compliance with these requests has led to it being noted as one of the most crucial communication tools in other protests, from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement in New York and other cities.

As of 2013, Twitter’s 105,000,000 users sent out a collective 55,000,000 tweets per day. By now, these numbers have surely skyrocketed and although he has already revolutionized communication, Dorsey plans to bring about “a better and more immediate experience around the everyday things we do in life.”

As Twitter began to dig itself deeper into society, it naturally began to have certain effects on its users. For one, since tweets are limited to 140 characters, users can’t type in tangents and long paragraphs. Everything has to be short and concise. College professors report that students’ writing has changed to be a fog of brief snippets of first-person blog-speak and a file photo hurriedly culled from somewhere.  However, this style of writing is very effective in certain fields. The news is meant to be reported as quickly and concisely as possible, while still providing an adequate amount of information. So, Twitter’s new format has had a huge influence on the way people wrote, particularly in the field of news reporting. This is why countless news outlets have turned to Twitter. The app’s format allows for quick and concise reporting, and it is seen by millions in a matter of seconds.

However, sometimes quick and concise is not sufficient. Often times, stories are too complicated to be squeezed into a tweet or link, and they can easily be distorted by ignorant eyes. As Matthew Arnold describes it, the reader suffers both from the effects of not enough information, and too much extraneous information.

There are more major effects of Twitter, such as affected relationships. James Vincent of Independent writes that countless relationships have been negatively affected by the use of social media, particularly Twitter. A simple concept, the analysis of a study done by Russell Clayton shows that users who use the app more report conflicts with their partners  over the app. This is not a surprising concept, but those conflicts often result in broken relationships and emotional stress. This stress also tends to lead to more use of social media, so the app coincidentally benefits from the stress of its users. So, moderation is highly suggested with the app.

Of all the age groups that use Twitter, the teenager is perhaps the largest. The app plays a big part in the maturing of young adults, and while it was mentioned earlier that twitter could have positive effects on a person’s writing, negative effects certainly outweigh the positive. Michael Burton, in an article on Ragan.com, wrote that “there are growing signs that excessive use of direct messaging, especially Twitter, leads to an erosion of the English language…teachers are noticing more punctuation errors, spelling mistakes, and inconsistent capitalization usually found only in text messages and Twitter posts. More students are failing English exams due to a lack of basic grammar skills.” Kids are far to easily influenced to be on an app such as Twitter for too long, or else this could easily happen. So while Twitter does make for a useful news outlet, it also is the cause of broken relationships and poor grammar in teens and young adults.

Twitter is a unique social media site in that it has many functions. Unlike Instagram or Snapchat, users can post and view basically anything they want and talk to anyone they want in seconds. There is nothing like a tweet. It is a form of communication bundled together into 140 characters that can be a simple statement, a picture, a video, or a GIF. With that being said, the app applies to more than just the first and obvious sense, sight. We read and see everything on Twitter, like in real life. We can also hear videos being played, adding another human aspect to the app. Twitter provides all the means necessary to be able to see and listen to anything we want. Since this is the case, twitter’s multiple “mediums” of communication and observation consequently affect us in multiple ways.

Most notably, our social order itself has been greatly affected by Twitter. The social life of every person who has used the app has been affected. We see and hear things on the app that we otherwise wouldn’t likely see. We interact with people we otherwise wouldn’t react. We are more in touch with each other, and this has affected our society drastically, but not just among users. As we evolve more and more into a media based society, applications like Twitter only speed up the process from paper to digital. However, this could lead to a separated society down the road. Less face-to-face interaction can lead to an unorganized society that has failed to keep entirely in-touch over the years. I believe that as we use social media and electronic devices more and more, we as a society will lose touch with each other and become stagnant and boring. This seems likely considering the effects of Twitter on young users that were mentioned earlier. Only time will tell how much of an impact apps like Twitter will truly have, because the generation that grew up with Twitter will soon take over.

Snapchat

By: Elizabeth Banquer, Maria Vazquez, and Emily Bennett

The app, Snapchat, was first created by three former Stanford University students, Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown and launched in September of 2011. The inventors of Snapchat wanted to create an app that allowed users to send selfies as a means of communication and focused primarily on the advantages of temporary communication. The strength of the app grew over time as the company began to add new features such as the ability to send videos, add “My Stories” and use filters. All of these attributes came about within only a few years of each other and made the app more popular among millennials.

Today, Snapchat has an estimated 150 million daily active users and about 301 million monthly active users. These people are from all over the world with only 40% of users living in Canada and the US. Additionally, 18% of all US social media users use Snapchat to communicate and roughly 60% of them contribute/post content through the app. These numbers are staggering and are only projected to continue as Snapchat continues to progress and develop more unique features. For other interesting statistics on Snapchat, visit this site.

In today’s society the common app, Snapchat is becoming the new norm for keeping up with the latest news around the world as well as personal news among friends. Snapchat has replaced other media forms such as the newspaper or magazines by allowing its users access to a variety of stories and posts. Snapchat allows users to follow not only their friends and personal connections, but celebrities from all around the world. This is groundbreaking because it allows you to create a technological connection to those who you don’t see on a daily basis. Additionally, Snapchat creates a lifestyle that is spur the moment and allows you to follow other adventures that your friends go on, yet experience it from the comfort of your own device.

Snapchat lets users create their own profiles and add whomever they like to their list of friends. The app also includes a news feature where you can keep up with current stories, gossip, and drama and subscribe based on your own preferences. Additionally Snapchat lets users post stories that disappear after 24 hours. This allows individuals to share particular parts of their day as well as watch posts from others, but with the security of knowing the media will be removed automatically within a day.

Snapchat is an app that is taking the world by storm. The app was released in September of 2011 and has been a best-seller since then. Since the app has been created the “Snapchat Effect” has become prominent in today’s society. In this technological era the art of communication has become less personal and face to face because the app allows you to have conversations and see other people without actually being with them in person. Also that the app “erases” the content after a certain amount of time so the conversation is fast paced and temporary.

https://businesscollective.com/the-snapchat-effect/

 

Another website states that snapchat has a “platform returning a profit higher than any company in history” snapchat allows ads on their app; they also have a “news” section where different websites and companies that have public sponsored channels can share with followers the latest news and gossip. This allows snapchat to make its profit and increase its ratings.

https://snapchatting.wordpress.com/

 

One downfall of snapchat is that it “encourages” its users to pry into the lives of others. Sure seeing what your favorite celebrities and high school friends are doing all the time is fun, but it can also bring animosity and hard feelings if a user sees something they do not want to. On one hand snapchat is a great way to communicate and keep in contact with the people you do not see every day, but it also can create negative feelings because it allows users to show almost too much of their personal lives.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/positive-negative-aspects-snapchat

 

This app extends a users senses by letting people view particular pictures and events from the comfort of their own private lives. Snapchat makes it easy for individuals to feel like they are apart of a larger society because they are more connected with the news around them. Snapchat can be instant or viewed later on, but either way, people can choose how they spend their time and who they follow. People are more likely to know what their friends are doing or what’s going on in the world in a more indirect, effortless way.

Spotify and the Music Streaming Industry

By: Sydney Wall and Drew Pearson

Music streaming apps such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Music, have recently become a popular way to access music. Many people have the apps on their phones, tablets, computers, and more.

 

 

 

 

 

Music streaming has been around for the past decade but has only become popular in the past few years. Spotify was founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon of Stockholm, Sweden. They “officially launched the company in 2008 and have since made over 30 million tracks available to users.” After gaining popularity in Europe, Spotify launched in the United States in 2011. With Spotify, users can stream music live rather than downloading it first. Spotify is available for use on a variety of technologies including “smartphones, tablets, PCs, and even television-connected set top boxes (including gaming consoles).” Spotify has become accessible in over 58 countries around the world. Here are some statistics found on expandedramblings.com: Spotify has over 100 million users (compared to Apple Music’s 15 million users), 40 million paid subscribers, over 30 million songs, over 20,00 songs added per day, Spotify is projected to reach 100 million paying subscribers by 2020, and the average number of hours’ users listen to Spotify is 1.7 billion hours.

Number of paying Spotify subscribers worldwide from July 2010 to September 2016 (in millions)

These music streaming resources have replaced other sources of media such as the radio, cd’s, records, and even iTunes. People have even stopped listening to the ratio stations in their cars and opt to use an aux cord to utilize these music streaming apps. Many music listeners have stopped buying songs on iTunes and instead listen to them for free. Some streaming outlets are free while others have a small monthly fee.

Music streaming has reshaped social life and changed the use of older media because it is now easier to find and share music, it helps musicians to grow, it is available on the go, and it has become another form of so called social media. On Spotify, people can create playlists and share it with their friends who can listen to it on their own devices. Aspiring musicians post their material on Soundcloud and hope to grow their fanbase.

Although Spotify has revolutionized the music streaming industry, many artists like Taylor Swift, withheld their music from the company claiming that they do not receive enough profit and the service is responsible for a decline in album sales (Swanson). According to Gillian Ezra, head of African operations at Deezer, another music streaming service, Millennials’ transition to streaming is due to the desire for access rather than ownership. He says, “It’s about access to the way you want it, when you want it. It’s instant gratification at its best…Streaming offers all the music you want, as you want it, with no need to pay for each track. It’s easy and convenient, so it appeals to this market,” (The Sunday Independent-South Africa). In 2009, Michael Learmonth predicted that Spotify would give Apple a run for its money. People would much rather pay a monthly fee for Spotify and have unlimited access to all music, than paying for songs individually on iTunes. Spotify is like “having the convenience of iTunes without the need to buy or download individual files-and you choose from pretty much all the music in the world, all the time,” (Learmonth).

Ok but like tbt to when you used to listen to a 30 sec preview of a song on iTunes over and over cause ur parents wouldn't let u buy it

— Carys Jeffrey (@carysmatics) January 28, 2017

I need one music streaming app that has both Taylor and Jonas, this Spotify and Apple Music struggle is real

— Shelley Ann (@Shelleyann1817) January 19, 2017

Music streaming systems allow users to experience a broader variety of music. They can listen to any genre of music they wish, and do not have to contemplate whether or not they should buy a song. On iTunes, users have to buy songs individually or by the album, which makes it harder for people to experience new music because they probably will not buy a song that they don’t know. Music streaming extends our senses because we can make our own playlists of various songs and share them with the world instead of making a playlist on a tape and only sharing it with a few people. Friends can connect and bond through music due to the fact that Spotify allows your friends to see what songs you are listening to from their account.

Forever thankful that we share the same Spotify account so that I can tell you I love you with songs because I can't find the words

— Syd Hopkins (@dcmonk7) January 25, 2017

Music streaming has replaced older media such as CDs and even iTunes. To me, an avid Spotify fan, iTunes is outdated. I think that music streaming is the way of today. I predict than in less than ten years, it will be immensely more popular than iTunes. With how many songs are available today, who knows how many might be available in 5 years? The music industry is constantly and rapidly changing and soon it will be hard to keep up. Music streaming has transformed the music industry and has changed the way we listen to songs and artists we love.

“Age of Instant Gratification.” The Sunday Independent [South Africa] 14 Aug. 2016, E1 ed., LIFE; Pg. 7 sec.: n. pag. Print.

Learmonth, Michael. “Did Apple Sacrifice ITunes with Latest Apps?” 80.31 (2009): n. pag. Communications & Mass Media Complete. Web. 28 Jan. 2017

Swanson, Kate. “A case study on Spotify: exploring perceptions of the music streaming service.” MEIEA Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, 2013, p. 207+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=loyoland_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA356143089&asid=cb8bfd36c6eb21d9dc0a100fbe942b45. Accessed 28 Jan. 2017.

Instagram

Written By Joey Martino and Jack Walzer

The app instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The app was created in October of 2010 and instantly became a hit. The creators released the app for free which obviously increased downloads. Instagram was popular right off the get go and had hit 100 million users in under two years. By December 2014, Instagram had 300 million users and now today, Instagram has about 600 million users. At first it became popular with people ages 13-30 and has now extended to people of all ages. The app was used to spread the user’s experience to all of their followers by sharing pictures. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram)

Years later, Instagram has made a huge impact on society. It has affected the fashion society by giving many designers an outlet to showcase their new designs. The fashion industry is now able to hit any different type of people but especially people who usually would not interact with these types of things. Instagram also impacts society on the travel side. People who couldn’t afford to get out and explore the world can now get a sense of what the other parts of the world are like by checking their Instagram feed. Instagram also gave people a place to share their views and participate in activism. Many protests like the recent Women’s March took to Instagram to spread their message. (http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/fashion/instagram-is-changing-the-world/)

View this post on Instagram

Can't skip Moraine Lake while in Alberta. @travelalberta #travelalberta

A post shared by eelco roos (@croyable) on Sep 25, 2015 at 9:19am PDT

 

Ever since the first photograph was taken in 1814, photo sharing has influenced our lives in a major way. The medium of sharing photos allows one to explain visuals and is a key factor in sharing news. The evolution of the camera aids to the expansion of photography and has made it easier to share visual news. After the camera evolved to fit in our pockets, the possibilities became endless. Instagram emerged to be the top photo sharing company globally and created the most innovative way to share photos this century. Instagram allows you to broadcast your view (whether figuratively or literally) to anyone in the world just by the click of a button. This gives people the opportunity to see the world from your eyes. A picture is worth a thousand words and Instagram gives you the ability share your pictures with the world. The future of the medium of photo sharing is Instagram.

Technology today extends our senses in many different ways. The app Instagram extends our visual sense and helps us see the world through a different light. It can cause us to perceive people in a different way than we would before.Instagram is used by many people in many different ways. For the average user, Instagram is a way to connect with your friends and even celebrities on a daily basis. Whether its casual selfie, or even a major ad campaign, Instagram gives you the opportunity to see into other peoples lives.

View this post on Instagram

Thank you for a brilliant season @loyolamlax #gohounds #ncaalax

A post shared by Loyola University Maryland (@loyolamaryland) on May 28, 2016 at 11:50am PDT

Instagram currently has 600 million active users. These accounts include personal accounts, business accounts and even Universities.

Instagram emerged as a social media powerhouse in 2010 and continued to expand after Facebook bought the company in 2012. Instagram was created initially to be a photo-sharing app, but has grown to be much more than that. Now offering videos, stories and live videos, Instagram has best parts of social media wrapped into one app.

View this post on Instagram

when your lyrics are on the bottle 😛 #ad

A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on Jun 25, 2016 at 2:03pm PDT

(Selena Gomez’s Coca Cola ad is currently the most liked picture on Instagram)

MAGA

On Friday January 20th, 2017 Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45h President of the United States. As expected, there has been a lot of turmoil in Washington over the course of the last few weeks. The people of the United States are divided and aren’t thrilled to have Trump as our President. But like it or not, he is your President now.

It seems like there are 2 types of Americans right now, those excited to see what Trump can do for our country, and those who want to flee to Canada. Whether you like Trump or not, everyone is a little anxious to see what Trump has is store. Trump is a loose cannon and can go off at anytime. Some people are attracted to that characteristic however most people are worried. But our only choice is to wait it out.

The reason for our nations divide can be blamed on the media. Whether its the way Trump acts on social media, or the way he is perceived, our nation is divided and the media is the major cause. After the inauguration, many pictures surfaced showing the crowd outside the Capitol building. These pictures try to portray that our nation doesn’t stand behind Trump and that he will never be liked as much as Obama. Personally, I don’t see the need for this discussion. It doesn’t matter how many people showed up to see Trump, what matters is supporting him so our nation can prosper.

Inauguration Day crowds for President Trump in 2017 and former President Obama in 2009: https://t.co/I2emA3LokP pic.twitter.com/KFg3dwAesA

— ABC News (@ABC) January 21, 2017

At this point there is nothing the people can do to change the fact that Donald J Trump is the 45th President of the United States. There will still be protests and I don’t anticipate them ending anytime soon, but they don’t lead to anything. Trump will realize that the people of the U.S.  have him under a microscope. Trump is going to hit the ground running and hopefully we can support his decisions and MAGA.

I am honored to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States! pic.twitter.com/BVtt7lSrlA

— President Trump (@POTUS) January 21, 2017

 

Making America Great Again

The 2016 election has been one of the most controversial from the start. Since it was announced that Donald Trump was a presidential candidate, not many people believed that he would get as far as he did. However, on November 8^th, when Trump won the presidential election, the country became divided. Many people couldn’t believe what they were hearing was true, whether that was a good or bad thing to them. The idea of calling Trump the president of the United States brings either fear or joy to the people of America. Many people even took to social medias, such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to voice their opinions. Several people even questioned if he was qualified to run a diverse country, like America, given his record of racist comments throughout the election season.

With people fearing what Trump’s presidential campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”, entailed protests broke out across the nation. Just the day after he won and even during the inauguration on January 20^th, city streets were flooded with people chanting things like “Not my President”. Many of these protests resulted in violence. However, while many were out protesting, Trump supporters were celebrating their victories at the inauguration.  At Loyola University Maryland, a teach-in was held for both the students and professors. The following day, after the inauguration of president Trump, a “Woman’s March” was organized in major cities across the county such as Washington D.C., New York, and Chicago.

While the results of the election may have not been ideal for many people across America, I believe that, although the protests may bring a slight amount of comfort to those who are uneasy, Americans need to be optimistic and provide the candidate whom America elected to be our president with respect by uniting in a positive way.

Make America Great Again

On January 20, 2017 our new president was inaugurated into the White House and officially  transformed from President elect to the President of the United States of America. This inauguration definitely came with a huge amount of controversy. Donald Trump has successfully became the President with the highest disapproval rating when inaugurated into office. This being said, there are also many who do approve of Donald Trump and can’t wait to see what he has in store for the country. If looking on social media outlets such as twitter, Instagram, and even snapchat, most people speaking out seem to be against Trump. There are also positive posts about his like this following one.

The fake news media says President Trump is divisive when it's the MSM truly dividing America by constantly spreading lies about Trump!

— Makada 🇺🇸 (@_Makada_) January 23, 2017

Many voters who voted for Trump look at this day as a positive. For these people, today marks a day of change. For the majority of these voters, they were not impressed with what Obama has done and see this day as a great day of change. They think the country needs to be turned around and they believe this is the time when this will finally happen. For these voters they feel like the day they’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. On the other hand there were people reacting in other ways. This tweet shows that side.

Women's March was bigger than Nixon or Vietnam protests. Trump is that bad people. Wake up. This isn't a football game. The world watches us

— IMPEACH OrangeJulius (@puppymnkey) January 23, 2017

Many protestors took to the streets to protest the Trump inauguration. These people believe that what Trump stands for is very misogynistic, racist, and homophobic. These people are doing whatever it takes to try and get their word out their. You will see on news sites like CNN these sides of the story and what they are fighting for. Protests like the million women march had a large number of women and people marching in the name of women protest in D.C. the day after the inauguration. These protests are peaceful and are people who feel like they are unheard trying to get their voice out. This day to these people is a day of horror. They believe after this day, their voices will no longer be heard and they will no longer have the rights they deserve.

This day is a very split day for the United States of America. The country seems to be split and many don’t know if it will be fixed. The future of the country now rides on the shoulders of Donald Trump.

 

Hope is Not Lost

By Alec Rudolph

On Friday, January 20th 2017, our country changed forever. Donald Trump was sworn into office on Pennsylvania Ave in Washington D.C., officially making him the 45th president of the United States. But the new president is the furthest thing from everyone’s minds. Mr. Trump’s special day was overshadowed by the reportedly record low Inauguration Day crowds, the women’s march on the White House, and both violent and non-violent protests alike.

When an anti-Trump protest has a bigger crowd than the #Inauguration #TrumpInauguration #j20 #j20pdx #pdxresistance pic.twitter.com/DbOeXSxsXn

— Cas (@lukemh8) January 21, 2017

#WomensMarchOnWashington — one of the largest in history. https://t.co/4fePC9JXeq

— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) January 22, 2017

On a day that was supposed to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory in the election, it will instead be remembered as a day of mourning his victory. We all foresaw this. Mr. Trump is already one of the least popular presidents ever, and certainly the least popular of the 21st Century. However, in being the least popular president, he has brought our country closer together than ever.

People may not have shown up for his inauguration, but people did show up for things that matter: speaking out against racism, sexism, and bigotry. Whether you support Trump or not, it is impossible to deny the fact that our people want what is best for our country. Mr. Trump’s first hours in office will forever be known as a time of unity. Because of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, people care.

This is not a time for panic, this is a time for unity. Trump supporter or not, he is our president, and we have united around his inauguration. Perhaps he is the leader we need.