Podcast Added - AV and the Internet: One Persons Curse another Persons Blessing

Media in the digital age is a ridiculously broad topic...


It encompasses discussions of old copyright laws and new business models...It provides a platform for odd and obscure to compete against the established and mainstream...It allows for targeted advertising where viewers get to choose the commercials they watch...and most important to me...it creates an ecosystem where substance and hype compete for the attention of the masses...regardless of the resources behind it...


As what I write is largely restricted to the academic nature of this exercise I am going to look at a few examples of digital media that highlight the above...

Music is a funny thing in that most artists would kill just to have someone they don't know listen to their creations...while other artists and the businesses that enable them are concerned with income first...Enter the Creative Commons License a copy right alternative that does not assume full protection...but rather matches 'copyright clauses' with the intention of the artist...This combined with the decline of the traditional music business models allow for new business models of music distribution to emerge...some new models include LiveNations artist deals that focus on all revenue streams (concert ticket sales, merchandising etc.) related to an artist...Theres the iTunes model...Pandora's model...and then there's MySpace...

The latter two create low cost avenues for artists to give their material to the world...for example without the internet and Creative Commons we would never see this...


But the new way of doing things is not lost on big business...in the olden days a company like Nike would pay big bucks for the chance to roll dice on placing a commercial on TV hoping that the content and product resonate with the folks watching TV (assuming they are in fact watching and channel surfing while the networks get paid)...today if Nike has a commercial that's worth it's shit then people are likely to seek it out...wow sports fans seeking out commercials cause they actually offer some entertainment value...all without paying networks...


So it is clear that to date the internet and the AV avenues are democratic enough to have all sorts of players going at it on the same field...but the substance has to be there....

You can use all the tools recommended in the Social Media Bible...and gain zero...any content has to be worth it's shit in terms of production and quality (not necessarily at a hight cost) as well as relevance...while it's hard to find the looser's their is a consistent presence of the x-factor that is a necessary component of going viral in all that are worth watching...






Our Podcast:



podcastmt8425.mp3

The Business of Gaming

A game is a game is a game...until you throw it on a network...and...well then the game changes...

So what is the potential of virtual worlds and games?

Well that really depends on which games your talking about...

For instance Second Life is the most popular virtual world...it appears to have a decent size user base...it has enterprise applications...and the presence of some pretty big brands...

Without hindsight it's impossible to say if the success to date is based on substance or hype...but if I was a betting man I'd take the latter...

As a business on it's own I think that there is some substance...until some disruptive technology comes along Second Life should be able to maintain their user base...but corporate interest is another story...

I'd like to think that I'm more then just a hater so I'll throw down some  reasons...

On-line collaboration...it's cool to have avatars attend meetings in a virtual world...but does it add any value? is it really sensible or secure to hold conferences in a virtual world that is open to anyone and hosted on another businesses servers?

If I know one thing it's that a sustainable business cannot be everything to everyone...it's still early in the game...but Second Life is going to have to choose a direction...if they try to act as an enterprise solution...someones gonna start another social virtual world...directing all resources to the cause...but I digress...

A company could use Second Life to raise brand awareness and protect their name from slander...but it's impossible to target marketing efforts...with such a diverse group of people...from so many regions...with their real identity and location concealed...how can a company measure their investment?

I do think that their is massive potential in niche virtual worlds that attract a certain demographic or interest group...like maybe a MBA virtual world...or an student athlete virtual world...or a regional virtual world...

Having said that...there appears to be a trade off between the openness of such worlds and the commercial potential for third parties...

But limitless potential is less relevant to games then to virtual worlds...so gaming consoles sitting on a network is a whole different story...

Be it a sporting game or guitar hero...it is far easier to understand the interest of your users...additionally by tracking ip addresses and internet service providers...ads can be targeted according to real life geography...virtual worlds such as Second Life would loose major appeal if different people saw different things based on their real world location...with Guitar Hero and...say...NHL 2010 (or whatever it's called) the adds by the stage or on the boards is unlikely to affect game play in the slightest...meaning that a guitar store in  Ohio can advertise to someone in Ohio whose playing with someone in Toronto...while they are exposed to a Toronto based retailer...

Web 2.0...Social Media...And Other Classifications that Lack Creative Names

Boom...Bust...Echo

That's the story behind Web 2.0...

According to these guys the term Web 2.0 occurred at the intersection of overvalued websites and new and improved technology...allowing for the lessons of the internet bust to be applied to the new web...

Although the world wide web is constantly evolving all hype indicates that social media is here to stay...

FYI... in broad and bland terms social media involves the interaction of people and people or people and content through and on various websites...think Facebook, Twitter or any other site that allows you to have your say...

So y care?

Well people want to be heard and seen...and Web 2.0 allows for this to happen...but more to the point the engagement goes both ways...one will find it hard to be heard and seen without hearing and seeing others...

So you've got their attention...what now? TRY TO SELL SOMETHING...a product, a service, an ideology or anything else for that matter...for better or worse anything remotely worthwhile in the land of the internet comes with a built in audience...

Still  reaching the masses (or the long tail) is easier said then done...but in theory...if you have something decent to hawk and a willingness to learn the tricks of the trade then...the masses will be putty in or hands...or not...

Either way I intend to put in an honest effort in expanding the readership of this blog...by putting out something decent and learning the tricks of the trade...

As an MBA student @ Ryerson ...I'm gonna focus a lil bit on business...which shouldn't be to hard...seeing that every things business...in doing so I plan on discussing; the fact that a web presence is neccessary cause if your not representing your brand someone else will, the fact that a web presence is essential cause if your not online...your competition is, the fact organizations can test promotions at minimal cost and reach a super targeted audience...

But that's nothing new...but neither is the shock that the internet has bought to whole industry...media across the board is hurting, the same way that supply chain networks are thriving...

In fact the reasons for business to get online or care about what happens online are so plentiful and well documented that I would rather use this space to bring you a cool quote so that you may want to see what I have to say at a later date...


Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein 


UntilNextTime


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Cause I care about my grades...Any company can leverage social media devices for communication within their organization and beyond...


Internally it makes sense to have a closed social network...where employees can seek out mentors ...share ideas... receive feedback and so on...


with regards to the outside world...social networks can communicate what is new and exciting in terms of products and services...


But twitter and facebook can also be effective in acting as a front line in terms of customer relations...these sites can be used to track demographics...solicit new ideas...respond to negative media...respond to online rumors...and offer the consumer a chance to interact with the company...additionally the direct relationships that can emerge encourage a certain degree of transparency not seen before...


http://twitter.com/virginmobilecan

What the Fuck Do I Know?

Welcome to my social media blog...

As the title infers...unlike many other social media blogs out there...the weblog is not written by an expert...

I should also disclose that this blog is a school related project...however as I've started and abandoned my share of these things...I appreciate the extra incentive to follow through...

So with that said "what the fuck do I know?"

Well I have yet to get empirical on the topic of social and digital media, or anything with an e or i in the front...and of course anything ending in 2.0...but I have made some observations that will not only be discussed but also tested in this blog...

As I've mentioned this blog is primarily a school related activity...and I intend to post accordingly...

However...in the hopes of following through and actually getting people to read this...I'm going to be peppering the posts with content that is not necessarily related to the topic at hand...but still relevant to the over arching themes...

So heres a couple of those observations...

1. The same is boring...unique content will drive traffic...think newspapers...once upon a time it paid to run the same stories in different papers cause access was an issue...remove the access barriers and you get redundancy...and killed demand...although this is little more then my own thought...the folks @ Canwest may or may not agree

2. Bending and breaking the rules is a good way to ensure your blog is different...think about Mr. Howard stern or just about anyone else who makes a buck on controversy

3. Technology Trumps...I like using those two words together cause of the alliteration...of course I am aware that my blog will not be superior in a technological sense...however I like to = content to technology...in short...if the content is weak it doesn't matter how different or controversial it is...people won't care...