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Friday, December 10, 2010

Illustrator Project

Rushkoff Important Terms

Neuromarketing
study consumers  cognitive and affective response to marketing stimuli
Study measures in the brain to track progress, used to measure consumer's preference on products.
 Example - researchers measured the brain to see how people think in relation to what they actually do. Measure people's satisfaction with products that they use. 





Emotional branding

"do you feel lonely when you eat bread" try to figure out what emotions are attached to products.
register moment by moment feelings of republicans/ democrats.
 Emotional branding influences how the company advertises and markets the product because they are much more concerned with what people feel then what
they think. 
Example- persuasion techniques try to persuade people to buy products by making
an emotional connection

.


Branding/creating a culture around a brand

Identity of a specific product. creating a name/culture changes consumers
attitude on the product.
 Example- airline "song" vs. Delta. Crucial for song airline to build an
identity. They don't even show airplane in ads, focused on other aspects, tried to
appeal to certain demographic which ultimately failed. Shows the importance of advertising, it can make or break a product/company.





Narrowcasting

Disseminating information to the general public. radio, tv, newspaper, internet.
Aim media messages at specific segments of the public
Example- "Cabivision"- a network in London cabs which shows pre-recorded TV
programs which target taxi cab passengers.





 Rhetorical marketing

What accounts for primal impulses? must understand the unspoken need of the people. Good marketing research works- marketers understand need of customers. "Give us what we want" changing slogans and words to have different meaning to appeal to consumer. By changing the rhetoric you can sell anything to the
consumer. (FRAMING).
 Using technology to figure out what language for politicians to use. When both
political parties agree with rhetoric of speach, he can tell, and knows want
to use that wording when he wants everyone to agree. Example- Global warming vs. Global climate change 





Under the radar marketing

low- key marketing and advertising
. Example- Advertisements embedded into cell phones and games.






Guerilla marketing
Advertising where people aren’t expecting it, like having your brand’s logobe
the stamp at a night club. This technique reaches people who are not searching
for the advertisement, but it’s easier to target specific “types” of customers
this way because you are going to them in their everyday lives and putting
advertisements in front of their faces when they aren’t expecting or maybe even
realizing it.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Internet & Demecracy

1. In my opinion a Direct Democracy is most appropriate when we address about our growing reliance and integration of digital networked technologies. Like Jimmy Wales, I think that democracy is when people come together as a society to share ideas on issues and then make their choices. The internet allows us to connect with others in ways that were not possible before. With features like blogs users can have a conversation about issues that you couldn’t have with a newspaper.

2. People in today’s society tend to share ideas, they can literally say whatever is on their mind. Thanks to anonymity on the internet, people can share their ideas, even if they are controversial, without being shunned by society. People can share their thoughts with the world instead of only sharing what they would say in a conversation. I don’t think that this is a problem. Lets say someone made an offensive comment on a particular website. Although this comment may be unpleasant and hurtful, it allows us all to see the negative feelings of society. With this knowledge we can try to understand and prevent this type of thinking and behavior.

3. An echo-chamber or a silo is when people who feel a certain way about something only look for information that supports and backs up what they believe. An example of this is a conservative only getting their news and information from Fox News, which is considered more conservative media. I don’t think that the internet created silos or echo-chambers. I think that people will always tend to look for information that supports their beliefs. People like being agreed with more than disagreed with. Silos would still exist without the internet. The best way we can prevent this type of behavior is to encourage others to look at many sources of information before taking a side on an issue.

4. I refuse to believe expertise and authority on the internet can be enforced. It is the users responsibility to get quality information from the internet. I think people can be encouraged to find quality information but it can’t really be forced onto people. I think finding quality information is encouraged in today’s society. My college professors constantly remind the class to gather good information for our assignments. When people look for information on the internet, they should remember not to believe everything they hear or read. Expertise already exists on the internet, people just have to look for it.

5. A prime example of business making an improvement to keep up with the changing nature of the internet is iTunes. It allows users to download songs from the store for 99 cents each. Since people are using the internet to illegally download music instead of buy it, Itunes allowed users to download music for a price. iTunes even shows music you may like based on what you purchased from their store. iTunes also allows its customers to download their favorite movies or tv shows in addition to music.


6. No, democracy is not threatened by the internet. The internet supports democracy by helping people come together to make choices. The internet allows us to communicate with others in new ways like forums and blogs. It gives us access to lots of different information. Everyone can participate in public conversation. On the internet everybody has a voice, not just the people working for mainstream media. The internet helps democracy rather than threatens democracy.  

The Great Seduction

1. According to Keen democratized media is a society in which everyone relatively has the same digital power. Everyone is allowed to directly upload there ideas to the internet. Keen believes that this democratization of media will lead to a downfall in quality since amateurs in all areas will be able to create media. This could also lead to job loss since professionals will have vastly more competition against people who most often upload their media for free. Sites such as twitter.com, youtube.com and wikipeida.org are good examples of this as they allow anyone with internet access to create media and change/add information. Keen thinks that groups of people online have too much power as they are able to exert their power online with little to know repercussions. Websites such as 4chan.org have histories of using their anonymity to wreak havoc on anyone they deem an enemy. This includes hacking websites and sending threating emails, sometimes carrying viruses with them. The free dispersion of information and data makes it very hard for people to make money off of web2.0.

2. Keen and Rushkoff ideas on Web 2.0 and social mediacontrast dramaticaly. Although, they both recognize that social media has had a tremendous i impact on modern society, Rushkoff has a more positive point of view. Keen seems to see the worst in all aspects of web 2.0, believing that the nature of humanity will cause new internet technologies to be a bastion poor quality filth. Since anyone can upload media, he thinks quality work from professionals will cease as the public will crave cheaper and easier media from amateurs. Rushkoff is much more optimistic. He sees how new social media can positively impact many different fields of work. He feels as I do, that new open source technology is a good thing as it allows more good ideas to come in from many different people from different backgrounds.

Digital Nation - The Mob

The mob is a compelling topic on the internet. I believe the anonymity really does encourage people into saying and posting things about them that they would never normally consider. Today everyone is much more connected then they used to be. It has become something that we as a population have become so dependent on. We use the virtual world for multiple sources like; connecting with friends, researching information, booking travel plans, reading digital books, and a wide variety of other methods. On the other hand I definitely do not believe it is always interconnected, I believe it allows for the behavior and has caused many of the cyber bullying cases we hear about every day. I think the anger that is unleashed is something most of the people live with everyday, and the online world allows them to vent without the threat of consequences or recourse. People will do very crazy things if they don’t believe that they will get in trouble or be judged for it and the internet it the perfect storm in it acquiesces to all 3 of these criteria.  At the same time, I ultimately believe people are the ones responsible for what they post on the internet. If you can’t handle the fact that what you put out about yourself will have unexpected or intended backlash, then you need to examine why you are putting things online. While this may not be fair, it is the system that is in place and people need to be careful with what they put on their Facebook or Twitter. The internet is truly a dangerous place when not used properly and the Mob is a great example of what happens when you don’t take care of your information. If you put a video of yourself on Youtube, one can expect a fair amount of criticism. If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the fire. Be responsible and don’t post embarrassing information and one can hopefully avoid the wrath of the mob.  But as long as people are looking for attention and people are allowed to say whatever they want over the internet, the mob figures to be a big part of the process and will remain so until there are actual consequences for the brutish behavior over the internet. But I don’t see this coming anytime soon.

Disscussion questions

1.) In my opinion professional production value will not drop overtime.  There will always be a want for the amateur user-generated content but I think that will be along side professional production values. Using amateurish or "homegrown" television shows, or advertisements will cut out a lot of jobs in the television industry. When reality t.v started to come out there was big backlash because it was cutting down on jobs. Just like we still see reality t.v. today I think we will also continue to see these amateur user-generated things. I also do think that eventually they will get better over time.

2.  The main reason I use  Facebook the most out of social network sites mostly because everybody I know has a Facebook so it's a convenient way of communicating.  I have had the opportunity to use both a MySpace and a Facebook, the difference is just the likability.  MySpace was over concerned with cool backgrounds you could download, while Facebook is more concerned with the functionality of the site.  You can tell this because I often find my homepage being revamped to make navigation easier.  As of now I don't see Facebook dying out, however I'm sure eventually something will surpass it, but for now its a convenient way of keeping in touch for users of all ages while MySpace was usually just for teens to play around with after school.

The is no comparison,  Facebook has been a lot more successful than MySpace because I find it to be an easier site to use. When MySpace came out it was the newest and best thing. When Facebook was developed that became the new craze and everyone soon had it. Nothing has been created after Facebook to make that the new "must have" social media site.

I do think Facebook is "here to stay" for the long term. Very rarely do you meet someone who does not have a Facebook. At first it was popular with college kids. Now all different age groups have one. My sister got one when she was a sophomore in high school. My mom also has one as a way to stay in contact with her friends from grade school and high school. Another way she uses it as a free advertisement for her real estate business. Some people will get sick and get rid of their Facebook pages, but I just think than there will always be a new group of people who create one.

3.) Transparency is one of the more important concept in the Social Media world because it "implies openness, communication, and accountability." We have all learned since we were little not to lie. That same lesson should be carried over to the social media world. Social media is a way for people and companies to represent themselves honestly and to build real and lasting relationships.

I think transparency is just as important in the when you’re not on the internet. When you lie most of the time you get caught. In life you have to build lasting relationships. These relationships can be with friends, family, and co-workers. I think all of these people play a part in you being successful in life. If you lie and are deceitful you burn bridges and than are forced to do it on your own.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Uncurable Addiction



McHulan's concept of the "Medium is the Message," is evident through our undying desire for new technology. Modern advances in products such as the iPhone, The BlackBerry, and the iPad create a serious addiction to on-the-go mobile technology, because of its convenience and accessibility. Similar to a drug addicts desire to get "high," our desire for the latest technology is an addiction to be connected and up to date.