hi all! welcome back to The Bloom Blog and “Just A Girl..in this digital world”! hope you’ve all had a blessed week and thanks for checking back to meet our newest feature:
GLENNISHA MORGAN.
as the founder and publisher of The Fembassy, a website that is solely dedicated to female MC’s and women in Hip Hop, she is a sista after my own heart! supporting women in Hip Hop, for those of you who don’t know, is very important to me and I first met Glennisha last summer via our phone interview and we’ve kept in touch via the various forms of social networking and communication since. not to mention the fact that she came through to “She’s So Fresh” Showcase II that took place in November! again, I support all those who support women in Hip Hop!
Glennisha is also a freelance journalist currently contributing to Clutch Magazine and Autostraddle.com. she’s had her work appear in the Michigan Front Page, Digiwaxx Media’s The Blast, Street Logik, and AOL’s Spinner.com, just to name a few. During her writing career she has had the wonderful opportunity to interview people like MC Lyte, Deborah Cox, Jesse Dayton, Bobby Valentino, Bahamadia, and Chester French. currently residing in Detroit, Michigan with plans to relocate to NYC, she took some time answer a few questions for us:
me: how much time on average do you spend online?
Glennisha Morgan: I honestly spend entirely too much time online but, the majority of everything that I do requires me to use the internet. If you want to count using the internet on my phone you could probably say that I spend about 12-14 hours a day online.
me: any fave sites or apps you’re loving right now?
Glennisha Morgan: On the daily I make several stops at Clutch Magazine, Concrete Loop, Kidd U Not, and Necole Bitchie. I hate to admit it but, I’m a junkie for celebrity news. I’m also a Twitter addict so you can imagine how many times I visit that site. I like to log into Hip Hop Sisters a few times a week at least. As far as applications my favorite one is the dictionary on my Macbook. I’m always checking the spelling of words. Also, if I come across something that I don’t know the meaning of I’m going to look it up. I also can’t forget about Google. Google should be everybody’s best friend.
me: do you feel that social media is becoming saturated?
Glennisha Morgan: There are so many different sites out here that I want to say yes but, then again everybody has certain things that they are attracted to. People also have their own reasons for using different sites. What may be addictive and fun for one person may not to be to another. Also, I may not like how one person delivers media but, someone else may love it.
The thing with media today is almost anyone can create it. It’s great because we don’t just have to accept media from one source. The downside is because just anyone can create media whose to say what’s official, what isn’t, and who’s genuine and who is not. On the flip side for someone like myself who is a journalist and also a blogger I’m able to profit off of the media that I create vs. having to always depend on a “gig” or job to support myself. Not saying that you can make tons of money overnight but, you can definitely profit from what you create.
me: where do you see social networking going in the next 3-5 years?
Glennisha Morgan: Social networking is already explosive. In the next 3-5 years I see social networking providing a great percentage of jobs. I’ve already seen jobs who look for people that are great on Twitter and Facebook. It’s funny and crazy at the same time that companies already want to hire people just to social network for them. Even with my last two 9-5 jobs I created blogs and Myspace pages for them. For one I even proposed setting up a Blog Talk Radio show. It was amazing for me to be able to use something for work that I use for leisure all of the time.
me: do you feel that social networking is an advantage or disadvantage for independent artists?
Glennisha Morgan: I think social networking is definitely an advantage for indie artists. I run across tons of really dope independent artists all of the time online. In fact the majority of the people that I post about on my blog I find through either Twitter or Youtube. Besides look at artists like Dondria, Soulja Boy, and Priscilla Renea. All of them were discovered on Youtube. You never know who is watching.
me: do you feel our easy access to information is a positive or a negative?
Glennisha Morgan: I think it’s positive and negative. At least in my profession it makes research so much easier. I don’t think that there is any excuse for being ignorant about any matter because with the click of a button we can learn about anything. We don’t have to leave our homes or commute to a library to learn about something. You can even complete high school and college online. And that’s amazing but, the downside is some people get so caught up that they tend to cease real human interaction. Sometimes the convenience of getting things from the information highway can keep you from enjoying doing things the good old fashion way. Instead of visiting the wonderful King Tut exhibit someone may just Google him instead. Or instead of experiencing the joy of sitting in a bookstore for half a day we may spend less than 15 minutes and order books from Amazon.
Most of all I worry about children having access to so much information. They already are exposed to so much at school and the internet and television just bombards them with even more. Sometimes its so much that children can’t really be children. Instead of enjoying playing tag or a game of jacks kids are worried about if Jay Z and Beyonce are going to have kids or if Wendy Williams is really a man. I find it a bit much that my 13 year old sister feels like she needs to record Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Tyra Bank’s show everyday. It’s not let me rush home from school to do my homework. It’s let me rush home from school to see what Tyra was talking about. When I was 13 it was nothing of the sort. When I came home from school I wanted to hurry and finish my homework so that I could go outside and play. Not so I could watch Tyra or be on Youtube until bedtime.
I know that’s right! and that’s part of what this blog is about…understanding our use of technology and social media and it’s impact on the world around us. so shouts to Glennisha Morgan for not only embracing it all but keeping it in perspective! and of course, supporting women in Hip Hop while she’s doing it!
so, til next week fam! I hope you’re all excited for the weekend and planning good things where ever you are gonna be, stay up stay strong, stay positive and I’ll stay giving you updates on the shapes reshaping the online landscape!
© J.A.G. Music and Media
