The Online Me

This was an assignment i got for New Media Culture. It was a 1000 words about how I use the Internet and why. My final assignment is below.


THE ONLINE ME

I use the Internet for a lot of different things from emailing to blogging to games. It seems that you have to register to do anything on the Internet now. At first it took me a long time to actually get a username for my main use, Hotmail.com. I probably spent about 2 hours trying to come up with one and then a memory just clicked in my ‘dogactor87’. This is because when I was younger I used to run around the house on all fours and growl when I was angry so my mum’s biker friends named me, dogactor. Its ‘dogactor87’ because I thought it sounded more right for an email, at the time. When ever I type it I always remember the guys and taking me out on their bikes. So if you typed ‘dogactor87’ into any search engine such as Yahoo.com you will find a lot of pages! Strangely one is a bob the builder club that my mate signed my address up to, still makes me giggle.

There are 6 websites that I use the most, which are listed below: -
www.hotmail.com
www.yahoo.com
www.blogger.com
www.bebo.com
www.ebay.co.uk
www.humcc.co.uk

WWW.HOTMAIL.COM
This is a pretty obvious reason for using this site, its home of my main email address. I particularly like hotmail because it’s easy to use although it does seem to send and receive some files differently so it’s hard to open them. I also use MSN Messenger, which is part of hotmail. Every time I go on the Internet I log on to MSN just so I can keep in touch with my friends. I went to a boarding school in Llandudno and a lot of my friends came from around the world, such as my best friend, Jenny who’s from Barbados! Without it I probably would have lost touch with her but because of MSN I know that’s she’s happy and in University in Canada and complaining it’s cold!

WWW.YAHOO.COM
Everyone I meet says oh no don’t use yahoo use google but I grew up using yahoo so it’s just hard to swap. I think everyone has one search engine website they always use, mines just yahoo! I do also use it for emails and games especially Pool! I love playing with all the people you find on there and meeting new people. I’ve never met anyone on there like the ones you hear on the news.etc. Its just a bit of fun although I usually just end up on the same points I was on originally as I usually win one then lose one! Oh well, its all fun.

WWW.BLOGGER.COM
I didnt actually know that blogger.com actually existed until I came to Huddersfield university and I’m glad that we actually got told about it because I strangely enjoy writing on my blog and adding photos and videos.
I haven’t actually set up a separate blog about myself as I’ve actually not had time but updating it with information, research, videos and photos is fun enough anyway. I have especially found the ability for people to leave comments on my blog and contact me. It’s very helpful because I have actually had people sending me messages with suggestions!
Blogger does have the feature of mobile blogging, which I’d love to try but I just can’t afford it at the moment. I do think it’s an excellent idea because I personally have a terrible memory and by the time I got home I would have forgotten about what I was going to say in the blog plus it would be an easier way of getting photos off my phone!

WWW.BEBO.COM
Bebo has to be one of my favourite websites as I use it for everything! From storing my photos to meeting new people! I actually met Andy through bebo and he is now a good mate of mine! I do actually have a blog on there too but I don’t actually update it much. It’s just a fun site, which actually feels like a homepage for myself. It has quizzes, polls, photos, blogs and information about me. I think my biggest and most helpful use for bebo is the photos option. I have a total of 986 and I’m uploading more everyday!

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK
You can buy practically anything on eBay and at great prices! I love going on eBay whether buying or selling, it’s easy and fun and you'll never know what you’ll find especially as there are over 100 million members worldwide and over 25 million items for sale everyday!
I mainly use it for buying things, especially motorbike parts/accessories, CDs, DVDs and books. I find eBay very addictive, which isn’t always a good thing as I have had some problems with some sellers before.

WWW.HUMCC.CO.UK
This is the website for the Huddersfield University Motorcycle Club (HUMCC). I am a member of this club and also help to update the website and take photos for it. It’s used to let people know who we are, where we are and what we do and have done. People can contact us through the site and send us videos, photos and information. It lets people get closer to us and for us to get closer to them. I’m currently trying to work out how to get videos to work off the site as I’m having problems with it as the site was originally set up with a program and not html so I cant do it the normal way I would of. I’ve tried using flash to upload them onto the site but just get green boxes! The point of the videos is to make people laugh, see what its like with us and for current and past members to see all the fun times we had.

The Internet is one of the greatest technologies and without it I would never have anything that I have spoken about in this. I grew up with the Internet and to lose it would leave a gap, for this century the Internet is necessary.