Elizabeth Llera

I thought a lot about this blog post. How to start it, how to dive deeply into my online presence, and what footprint I leave for an outsider looking into my life digitally as their first impression of me.  I have Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat. That is a lot of platforms to keep up with and scroll through on a daily basis. Like Juan Enriquez stated in his TED Talk, your online presence is like hundreds of internet tattoos. They can be beautiful, but they stay forever. As also a person that has three tattoos, I can attest to that being true. These tattoos are my form of expression, much like my online presence. But once you decide to post a photo, it is out there forever. Much like the ink I decided to put on my body. Someone has it. Forever. And that is scary, scary enough for the 14-year-old to take action in taking all of her social media accounts down until further notice.  Enriquez also looks at the surprisingly permanent effects of digital sharing on our personal pri

Propaganda is defined by Merriam- Webster as information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.  It seems simple, doesn’t it? Misleading information. The definition is plain and simple, but often we associate the term with power and control in a negative way (the Hitler regime, communist control in Central Europe, etc.).  But in the era of the digital age, it is far more complex. Propaganda implies only telling one side of the story, the side you want your audience to know. It also plays into the consumer's emotions, rather than their intellect. This makes propaganda highly persuasive and molds malleable minds to believe one side of the story. Propaganda has the power to sway elections, shape minds, and change the narrative of fact-checked news.  Propaganda can be a positive thing. It is used to persuade and share information. It was coined as a negative term when politicians began making false clai

  Instagram is a platform that has been around since 2010 and it quickly surged to one of the top social media platforms. Now owned by Facebook, Instagram created a platform that originally was created to allow users to post photos. The app included amatuer editing features and allowed users to post captions and interact with each other via comments, likes and followers. Instagram is one of the platforms that paved the way for the value of free expression via social media.  “Goal: transforming Instagram from a photo app for sharing pics of puppies and pizza into a media company that communicates through photos."-Mark Zukerburg Instagram specifically, as it have evolved, has been one of the largest channels for users to exercise free expression. For example, using hashtags to form movements and Instagram “stories” to share your daily life. The most recent example is Instagram’s eruption of content regarding #BlackLivesMatter and “JusticeforBreonnaTaylor. By having hashtags, it grou

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory was developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962, and it stands as one of the oldest social science theories. The Diffusion Theory began to explain how, over a certain period of time, an ideology spreads through a population. At the end of the process of diffusion, is people adopting a new idea, behavior, or product. Diffusion is made possible by a person perceiving the idea, behavior, or product as new and innovative. This way, they adopt it and spread it to their social system.  Some examples of Diffusion Theory might by purchasing a new product or acquiring and performing a new behavior.  I decided to dive into how Diffusion Theory paved the way for CBD oil to boom in the most recent years.   CBD oil began as a product for (excuse my language), stoners. People viewed the tiny tinters of hemp oil as a product for getting high, without knowing CBD actually contains little to no THC, the astringent that has effects on the brain. Fast forward a few years and Mandy