The Valencia Bay-farer is 826 Valencia's only in-house newspaper written for students by students (ages 8 to 14). Our intrepid reporters learn lessons about the various aspects of journalism, from crafting ledes to interviewing to citing sources, and at the end of each five-week workshop, we release a new issue full of articles about the kinds of things you'd love to read if you were a kid. We hope you enjoy these articles. To learn more about 826 Valencia, visit our website.
A Cup of Social Networking
By Lola Morrell, age 10
Do you recall the word "Facebook?" What about "Twitter?" And "LinkedIn?" A lot of thoughts probably just went through your head: tweets, posts, all on the social network. The social network is the place where old friends that haven't seen each other for years reconnect and where enemies that will see each other in five seconds chat.
But the problem is: you go on the computer, you want to check up with your friends, but how? You could use email, but you like Facebook better. But all your friends are on Google+, and Google+ isn't your style. What about Twitter? No, too many enemies on there. What about Pinterest? Nah. LinkedIn? Nah. MySpace? Only musicians on there. So, what network do you use?
Facebook, according to Digital Buzz, has about 71.2 percent of the U.S. Internet audience on their website as of 2011. The 18 to 24 age demographic of Facebook grew the fastest at 74 percent in one year, and the over 35 demographic now represents more than 30 percent of the entire user base. I could fit more Digital Buzz facts in here, but instead I will just say that most of the world is on Facebook.
Twitter is, for me, easy to use because you can easily find who is following whom, what people have posted, and you can post whatever you think on your own page. Simply, the only skills you really need to use Twitter are the abilities to read, write on a keyboard, and click. Therefore, it's easy to use and tons of people use it.
Google+ does not have as many users as Facebook and Twitter, but I personally think it will grow. All other Google things gain users, and you can easily switch from Gmail to Google Drive to Google Images to, finally, Google+. I favor it because I can easily get from Gmail to Google+, and I think it is as easy to use as Twitter with the good look of Facebook.
Do you want all the friends on Facebook, the ease of Twitter, or the handiness of Google+?
A technology teacher at Katherine Delmar Burke School, Jennifer Howland, likes all of them. She uses social networking in her professional life and her personal life. She keeps up with friends through Facebook and is professional in Google+ and Twitter:
I like the visual ease of Facebook; and I like the more text-based Twitter for scanning for tech projects and what the buzz is in the tech world. I like nosing around LinkedIn to see what teachers and tech people I can connect with and to see what they are all doing. LinkedIn has been good for finding former colleagues from my Children's Television Workshop and Voyage of the Mimi jobs. It is fun to see where people have ended up.
Howland answered when asked what she liked about the different networks. She likes different things about different networks, and I think this is how many people feel.
So each network has variety, and each is good in different ways. Some prefer one network over others, and some use it all, but either way, social networking has America tied up in Tweet suits.
The New iPhone 5
By Ryleen Edwards, age 8
If you want to know about the iPhone 5, check it out here. The iPhone 5 has Siri, who is a "girl" that you could ask questions to and she would answer them. For example, you could ask her what is the weather, and she would answer that it's going to be 79 degrees in San Francisco.
You could do anything on the iPhone 5. If you get it, you should try out Siri. The iPhone 5 broke the record of selling two million iPhones on the first day!
The screen used to be three inches, but now it's four inches instead of three. The iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S both have Siri. You get up to 225 hours of doing stuff before you charge your iPhone 5. You also get up to eight hours of talking time. You could do lots of stuff on the iPhone 5 at once.
The color options are black or white. The iPhone 5 is two times faster than the iPhone 4S. It's 20 percent lighter, 18 percent thinner, and has 12 percent less volume. Also, Apple duplicated the pins on the charger so you can rotate the charger any way you want. Apple's CEO Tim Cook said that the new iPhone 5 is "the most beautiful thing we've ever made." Once they made the announcement, there were over two million people that pre-ordered the iPhone 5.
That's what I know about the iPhone 5.