Because it’s my last blog post I felt it would be appropriate to end the semester with a post that highlights everything I have taken away from this course. I have learned many new facets about programming, apps, and the technical side of Facebook and social networking. In addition, to my benefit as an avid Facebook user I became more familiar with privacy settings and the goals and ambitions of the company itself. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that each week seemed to incorporate a different aspect of Facebook or social networking, ranging from Supreme Court cases to using Facebook for psychological testing. Another great opportunity this course offered was the ability to interact with many guest speakers who are experts in their field. One thing I regretted was forgetting to ask Aneesh Chopra what I should say to his friend, President Obama, when I meet him (The Princeton Field Hockey Team will be visiting the White House in the Spring) =). In addition I felt that although I was extremely nervous and it involved extensive preparation I really enjoyed the ignite style presentations. I felt it helped me improve my public speaking skills, while also being able to learn about many different aspects of Facebook/social networking in a short time span. I really enjoyed Bobby’s presentation because I liked how he compared the possible twitter IPO to Facebook’s disappointing IPO result. Like Bobby recognized, I feel as if twitter seems to be surpassing Facebook as the new innovative social network controlling the mobile sector. Gabriella’s presentation highlighted twitter’s successful evolution into a new networking powerhouse that I really enjoyed as well. I found Lovia’s presentation very interesting and I liked how it contrasted with my presentation. In addition, Aneesh Chopra’s description of the government’s utilization of challenges at challenge.gov highlighted the benefits that I expressed in my gamification presentation. I enjoyed researching and having my presentation reflect success in gamification because, as an athlete, I feel as if it is very successful in my training regiment. Amateur athletes work every day not for material rewards, but rather for the shear recognition of being the best. I also believe in a progress bar/check-in/check list system. I think this enables you to successful complete short-term goals while also working towards your long-term goals. This system can also help you focus on specific areas of improvement and prevent one from being overwhelmed or loosing focus.

I’m very appreciative to my classmates and professors for creating a great learning environment and experience for my first semester at Princeton.