New Media

   

 Media has become an important asset in our daily lives. Everyone from your grandmother to the youngest member of your family is now involved with media in some shape or form. The greatest thing about our technological advancements is that now we can have any information at the snap of our fingers.

 New media platforms are used by a source of news these days. Everyone in the field of media is utilizing social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube. Traditional News stations use many different platforms to connect with their audience. Twitter is utilized to keep the audience up to date with immediate coverage of on going stories. Instagram can be used to show the "behind the scenes" shots to intrigue the everyday Joe. Facebook is more of a "comfort zone"...I say this because Facebook is not only filled with the tech savvy type, but it covers a wide variety of people. Even people not familiar with social media. On Facebook, people can see and get to know the people bringing their news. Also the audience can be kept up to date with immediate coverage. Now when it comes to advertising...new media is a dream. Just the thought to possibly reach millions of people all over the world just with one ad, seemed fiction not to long ago. Now this is a reality. Ad's can be placed just about anywhere. The best place you'd think to put an ad is a place that is most visited. Yes, big cities are great but how much money do you actually spend to get possibly a couple million to see your ad? For example let's use one of the busiest places in the world.... Times Square, New York City, New York. The cheapest billboard on the building hosting the "New Year's Ball" is $1.1 million a year, and your ad will probably be seen by more than 100 million people. Expensive right? Well according to Facebook's advertising page there are over a billion people on the website. So in theory it is possible to reach the same amount of people as in Times Square for a fraction of the cost. Also, Times Square isn't able to be visited just by a click.  The web is so accessible it has made some advertising companies not even mess with traditional advertising anymore.  New media as also has been incredibly helpful and incredibly hurtful when it comes to public relations. Many people have lost their job due to their actions over social media, but social media has also offered the opportunity of personal issues to be dealt with. Now it is possible to send a negative review through twitter or Facebook and get a personal response apologizing from the company or the restaurant. Also media has such a wide audience, now companies can address a public issue on their social media pages, and it be seen by more people than traditional ways. One of the greatest things about media now is the personal factor. Now it possible to have direct contact with your idol via Twitter. In the olden times a few years ago you would have to set up an interview with a person's agent or something, but now it is possible to have contact with that individual just with the push of a button. This opens the door for fan's and notoriety. Some people have strictly relied on media to reach their goals in life, and succeeded. Like I said, our technology has not only elevated what we are capable of doing, but it has also elevated who we can do it with. Now some people do not even have to go to an office and work, because of what they can do with their smartphone or just the Internet in general. Broadcasting professionals can connect so well with their target market just through the following of social media, it is fascinating.

 Now understanding how new media controls are future you will need to know a few terms. First lets start with a common term today... Web 2.0... Web 2.0 is a term referring to web based communities and  hosted services, for example social media sites as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, also it refers to  blogs or other communities online. So what is a blog? A blog is similar to an online diary.  Now I'm sure you have heard of the website Wikipedia. Now Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, but lets take the first part of that and understand what "Wiki" means...wiki refers to a collaboration of different authors on a webpage.  This is how most websites function. I have referred to the term "social media" already so what is? Social media is different types of media that allow people to interact with one another. So how are you going to keep the number of views your ad has on the Internet? CPM, or Cost Per Thousand impressions. This is a formula used to understand how much it will cost to reach 1,000 impressions. PPC is another term very simlar to CPM but PPC means Pay Per Click..  this is what you'd want if you were running an ad. Every time your ad may be clicked.. you will receive a payment. Cool huh? Since we are talking about social media, lets break down some common terms. On twitter a trending topic would be started by using a hashtag (#) then your topic.  This is an amazing tool to connect with other around the world with the same interest as you. For example #NHL15bergeron currently is a top trending topic saying Patrice Bergeron deserves the NHL15 game cover. If you follow the link you will see something unique... companies actually using this hash tag to advertise their product. Mention's is another term from twitter, it basically mean's people are engaging you.  Direct message, well that’s pretty self explanatory, but it means someone sends you a private message. Facebook has a few different terms like wall post for example. A wall post is a post that someone sends to you, but everyone can see it, it is not private. Now you're probably wondering what a "wall" is..well one Facebook your wall is what everyone see's when they venture on to your profile. It includes status updates photo's other post from friends, new interactions and even your bio.

   What is something everyone need's in life?.... besides toilet paper.... that’s right! Tools! Tools are what make our life easier, and with advancements in technology we might just need to tools to know how fulfill our dream online. There are many different Website or app's to aid us in our day-to-day life. So lets start with one that will keep your creative juices flowing. Pinterest. Pinterest is an app and a website which is fully digital billboard. Different articles, recipes, DIY projects and many more different varieties of things. Pinterest can give you information, Help build your reputation and even help bring out your inner artist. Objects are pinned for later and are able to be categorized by your choosing. Yes...this site is made for you! One of the coolest things about Pinterest is that it is all possible to share over social media. So say you got a new workout plan you want to share with the guys, it is all possible at the click of a button. Another great tool is Storify, what Storify is...is a curation tool which allows you to bundle social media content. So say you just watched game 3 of the Western Conference finals in the 2014 Stanley cup finals. You can Live tweet and interact with millions then later go back and make a virtual scrapbook, but not only of your words.... anyone’s words! This is an amazing tool to have especially if you are a student needing to gather information in a hurry. The Next program I’d like to talk about is Linkedin. LinkedIn is a professional social media connection app. What it does is connect people on a professional level. Believe it or not, LinkedIn can be an amazing asset to your job search. Let’s say you are working on a documentary, and you find a person through social media. Later you can add this person and get their connections with that person's connections. So basically what you are doing is adding stepping-stones to your career, which who doesn't want that? Zanran is another great tool, what Zanran is..Is a search engine for statistic's and data. This is great for anyone who needs that information, like advertising agencies and student's. Zanran does not focus on the text but actually finds numerical data such as statistics or graphs. Shazam is another amazing tool we have. What Shazam is... is a program that listens to a piece of music you provided and it will tell you the artist and name of the song. Now I know we have all had that moment when we hear a song on the radio and love it but the Dj never tells you what it is. With Shazam that problem is no more. Now updating your music library will be painless. But it doesn't only focus on music, it now can understand TV and tell you the show name! So now your surroundings can be identified just at the hold of a button.

   We live in a fast evolving society. Technology is growing and growing more rapidly by the hour. Now we surround ourselves with media, but it has its pro's and con's. Some of the Pro's are that our knowledge can increase incredibly fast; life experiences can be shared with people all over the globe. We can connect as a human race, no matter our location. The fear to find food, is not longer a big deal because of the accessibly we have due to our new media. Now I'm not saying this is true everywhere in the world but for the majority it is true. But like any great thing there are negative sides to this. The biggest fear that strikes me is..are we investing too much? Now most of our lives revolve around media, the constant fear of not knowing what is going on at that exact moment strikes deep in most people. Do we even remember of a time when people did not learn about certain big events until days or even weeks later? Think about World War 2... Newspapers were primarily our source of information, and print is not immediate. Another huge con is the loss of retained knowledge. Yes, there is a positive side to having all the information you could want instantly, but how much do you actually take in and remember? I looked it up in an instant so what’s not saying I’ll forget it in an instant. Now through the advancements in technology like Google and the Internet, why remember it if i just can Google it again? I mean it is that easy right? But what shall we do when technology fails us? What will we do when the Internet does not exist? There is a lot more people that have no clue on how the Internet works than people that do...So personally that'd be a great skill to learn, cause if the Internet goes down... I could restart my own brand of Internet and make unbelievable amounts of money. Social media is a pivotal part in our current world. The chances of getting job are much higher, and some jobs only consist of monitoring social media. It is truly incredible what we have accomplished in the last few decades, like I said..." Something that seemed Science Fiction" but it is all a reality now in the year 2014. What will happen next? I mean people are already able to connect with others across the globe as if they were in the same room. Maybe the Holographic image? An idea that has been toyed with for years.. Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it already exists. Rapper 2 Pac Shakur was reincarnated at the live music festival "Coachella" in the year 2012. Yeah, that’s right 2 years ago. Real life 3D image acting just as the Rapper/Actor would of performed. And this is how it works. New media is important because it is actually our future. With a new day comes new advancements, and in our modern times.... we sculpt our lives around new media.

Save Tomorrow, Don't Post Today.

Technology Addicts

Imagine this... the year is 2014, a time when an actually verbal agreement is no longer needed. A time when you can quickly look up different witty things to say to a girl in an instant. A time when distance does not restrict you from talking or knowing another person. A time to look down and have a face to face conversation with someone across the world. A time to spend your entire paycheck on things made over seas and actually never hold that dollar amount.

Well if you were reading this 20 year's ago, you'd just believe I'm telling fiction. Now this is all happening. Now a person can spend as much as they have to their name just with the swipe of a card, and not to mention your entire identity can be gone in an instant.

Technology is an amazing thing, but what is it really doing? destroying...Yes.. helping.. yes. The man will destroy this planet with what he creates, no i'm not saying the movie "iRobot" will actually happen, but I am saying that the larger we grow the more of a risk we our to ourselves.
We put so much into technology and trust it so much, what will we do when it fails us? The time when we no longer have books, because we all have digital readers. What we will do when our electricity fails? how will we gain knowledge if we do not have a charger?

War is what will happen when technology fails, and who will be the strongest? Most likely it will be the poorest countries because these people did not have the money to indulge and warp their life around technology. The world is growing, and we are running out of space. Whats next? Us as humans having to learn to adapt to aquatic conditions? it is possible. Will we have to reverse Evolution?

The world population is now estimated at  7.165 billion according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Now why is the number of humans growing and growing? technology is the answer. Think about this  in the 1800s the average life span was 40 years of age, Now due to modern technology and medicine the life span is 85 years. This has increased to because of our knowledge of medicine, and Sanitizing. But what don't we know now? There could be a jump in our life span's. We just don't know though, thats what is scary to us. 

Time to Get to Each Billion
	Billions of People On Earth	Year	Time Span
	1 B	1830	50,000 years
	2 B	1930	100 years
	3 B	1960	30 years
	4 B	1975	15 years
	5 B	1989	14 years
	6 B	1999	10 years
	7 B	2011	12 years	The recent rate of increase has slowed due to diminishing birth rates.
	8 B	2025	14 years
	9 B	2045	20 years
	. What could intervene? 1. Starvation - Can we feed 8 billion people? Some say no. 2. Disease Epidemic - SARS, a new bird flu? 3. Nuclear winter - nuclear war, comet, or asteroid? 4. Birth rate change 5. The Earth's poles flip 6. The Apocalypse (religion induced)

So we are now trying to make a dollar, thats the only goal in life right? But have we noticed what we are doing to the earth? The United states is regulated by OSHA, but like any smart business men we will find the way to get around current regulations to make the greater dollar. Thats why we build factories in Countries without Regulations just like China for instance.  We can produce more product at a cheaper cost because of no pollution regulations.  So what are human's doing? Destroying our current world for something that we made up ourselves....money. 

Everyday New technologies come out to aid us in task so we do not have to do the labor we use to. As long as these material objects do not have their own mind and opinion we should be safe..from them taking over our world. But we will never be safe from our own brothers and sisters. 

GPS location: How Safe Are We?

 Technology has advanced so much in the past couple of years its remarkable. The idea of knowing a person is doing and knowing exactly where they are use to seem fiction, but now it is a reality.

Smartphones are the most popular thing out. The thought of not being able to connect to your online persona strikes fear in the hearts of many now a days. Have we thought about how much privacy we are actually giving up though? Now every app I seem to download would first like to know if I would like push notifications, then the following question is would be alright to turn location services on. Like anyone who solely wants to get to their media I just accept. Now is weird because any picture I take or any Status I update is now free for the public to see my exact location.

Now this thought can be good or bad. Good if people are worried or I am currently on Vacation and just wanting to show off to all my friends. But the bad outweighs the good here. Say I post a picture and check in at a restaurant. Anyone can go to that page and find me. Some people actually confront some these miss-user's in prank form, acting as if they know the future. Its funny because the people are so shocked, but in reality it shows how careless we are with our social media.

Kinda scary because you don't know who has your information just from seeing you post. Seems like "Big Brother" is watching us, but why should we be mad... I mean we are the ones posting it.

Another scary thought is that most children have smartphones. Teenagers looking for friends. This is a predators dream.  Murderers can happen very easily, especially if you know the exact location of your target. 

But on the positive side if you're a parent of an untrustworthy child, you can now their every move. 

The Power Of the Spoken Word

    The voice is the most powerful tool a human can posses. No matter what you say as long as you say it with confidence, and passion you will gain a following. History has proved this, but sadly the spoken word was usually used to benefit in negative ways.   

     This can bee seen through World War 2 especially. Adolf Hitler was just not an evil man, More than anything he was an amazing speaker. if you take the time to actually listen to some of his speeches, without the thought of what he, he will suck you into his way of thinking. I found myself listening to a speech in 1936, and found myself agreeing with his words. No, I am not a racist nor do I hate the same people he hated, but his words persuaded me. Now I understand why this man led a nation, and was so close to dominating the world. Yes, what he did was horrible, and no I do not support what happened, But I do have to give him credit on his ability to persuade.

     Jim Jones is another example i'd Like to give.... Jim Jones for you people that do not know, was an American religious leader, communist, and community organizer. Jones was the founder and leader of the "The People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ" Church.  This is know best for the events that occurred because of Jim Jones in November 1978, when Jones led his church to commit a mass suicide. Jones used his power of persuading to kill 909 people. He persuaded these people to relocate out of the United states to Guyana, and live a life dictated by himself. Jones led his followers to commit mass suicide by drinking Kool-aid laced with cyanide. The mass suicide was brought on by a visit from California Congressman Leo Ryan, who was investing rumors of human rights abuse. Congressman Ryan visited Guyana to witness what Jim Jones had been doing. Sadly, Congressman Ryan's trip ending in his death on an airstrip by Jones' instruction.  Jim Jones feared Congressman Ryan would go back to the US and expose the truth... so he killed him.  Then directly after, Jones directed his followers to drink the Kool aid in fear of the backlash of his actions.

   Now we have seen 2 examples on how the voice has cause death and destruction lets look at some positive impacts.

   Martin Luther King Jr.  was a remarkable man.. the impact he had changed a nation. His un-violent approach brought communities together. People of all different backgrounds, and of different race joined as one while he spoke. He led a revolution and changed the United States forever just with his words.  He is remembered most by his infamous line "I have a dream", which he said in his speech during the march on Washington in 1963. He led the nonviolent revolt against the US, and commanded equality of man.  

  Martin Luther King Jr. took the nonviolent approach and used his words to gain equality, but by far he was not the only person to do this at the time. Stokely Carmichael was a Trinidadian-American Black Activist active during the same time as Martin Luther King Jr.. Carmichael coined the term "Black Power".  Carmichael came with strong delivery and an extremely persuading way of thinking.  He later became Prime minister of the Black patter party... a more violent approach to equality.

  Another way to be heard is through the power of music. Many artist have said things they did not actually mean. Just because a lyric says to do something does not mean that you do it, this is a common misinterpretation. Can we blame peoples actions on the music they listen to? The example that just sticks out more than anything in my mind would be Rock Star Marilyn Manson, and the backlash he received over the killings of High school students and teachers at Columbine High school on April 20, 1999. 

  Blaming a Musician for acts he did not commit? Yep, America did it.  People take something and evolve it into a completely different thing. Yes, his lyrics may of been bad and odd, but did his actual lyrics kill those people? No, those kids killed those people.  The only ties they have is that those kids listened to Marilyn Manson, and just because he was off the wall and something the media did not like, they tried to blame these murders on this person. Wrong? Yes of course but who's really to blame? 

 The voice is undeniably the most powerful thing a human can posses. There is one thing all these people did, and that was know how to relate to their audience. Good or bad, These men set the times apart in history.  There is a reason the words of these people are still around. I could take any quote from Adolf Hitler or Jim Jones and post it on Facebook and receive an amazing amounts of likes... as long as I didn't clarify on who's words I was using. Movies have been made strictly over these peoples speeches. Full on movies. The voice is the best way to persuade a person, or even a nation. 

Why take action and risk it all, when you could just use your words to prove your point.

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” 

                                                   ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Net Neutrality: What Will it really do to us?

 
      So as many of you know the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on the subject of net neutrality about 4 days ago..... but you're probably wondering, what is net neutrality? Well let me break it down where it is easy to understand.

   When you visit a website... it comes at a certain speed. As of right now it doesn't matter what content you are pulling up. It will all appear at the same speed depending on your internet service provider. So say you're paying $59.99 a month for "lightning fast internet"... any site you visit will come at the same rate.."lighting fast". What net neutrality will do, is let the bigger corporations with more money like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, these companies will receive faster loading, but at a cost out of their pocket.

   So for all you history people out there, this will evolve into something similar to Standard Oil, and JD Rockefeller. Basically, the internet will be ruled by big named corporations that can afford to have their name out there. So the disappearance of public opinion will happen. The only story you will probably be reading is off of CNN or other huge News networks. So the Idea of freedom, is no longer. Worried yet?

  Is this gonna happen? Most likely... yes, but like anything, it all depends on the money, and internet providers now have an eye for a profit maker. So we will probably be telling our children of the times where we could find local opinions, or someone that wasn't controlled by the money. The founding father's did not want this country to run entirely off of money but like the old expressions says.."you got the money, I got the time." Meaning if you got the right amount of money, anything is possible. "Money can't buy everything"... whoever said that wasn't living in the current United States of America. It doesn't matter how bad or sick the crime you committed was, it just depends on how loaded your bank account is.

   So America needs another revolution? I believe so, but instead of a civil rights movement it is going to become an Internet movement. I find it ironic that we overlook some of the common theme's said in the 1960's. The black power movement had its specifics, but if you listen to those revolutionist's speeches, they still apply today, just dealing with the internet.  Below are lyrics from the song "5 to 1" by The Doors. Do you think it would be pretty amazing, if we would just apply these lyrics to our modern dilemma? I think so, but when is the actual Revolution going to begin? Let me know.. I'm sure i'll be the guy holding the sign.

"The old get old and the young gets stronger

May take a week and it may take longer

They got the guns but we got the numbers

Gonna win, yeah, we're takin' over, come on!"

Technology: Aiding or Hurting Us?

  Common sense seems to not exist with the modern youth, but you can bet they know how to work any iPhone or new technology that came out. Text over phone calls, Google over wise advice... thats the modern way of thinking, but what are we really doing to our future leaders? When a child ask for life advice, will be just reply with "google it" or will we actually be capable to answer their question? My father was born in 1947, he may have not known how to work the TV or his cell phone, but he gave me something I could not get from any of that, life experience.  He taught me it was better to not fall victim to this technology craze... to have an actual conversation with someone instead of texting.  I cannot even explain how much knowledge i gathered from this man, my true role model. Since his passing I have started to noticed myself falling more and more victim to what he told me not to. The technology craze is starting to captivate my life.

   As I grow older I notice how valuable an actually encounter is. Im starting to realize how important the value of research is, and yes Google is the easiest way to get many different opinions, but are those views necessarily true? What if the internet goes down? how will be research?! People will run around like chicken with their heads cut off, just because we don't have this asset. Well people guess what, humans did it for thousands of years without the internet so if we lose it, yes it'll be back to the dark days but it will also open doors for things we took for granted.

   The up in coming high school freshman class of fall 2014 will be the senior class of 2018, now think about that... those kids were born in the year 2000, all they have ever known is technology. So if something did happen to the internet, what shall these kids do? Does this mean they will have to go outside? or actually open a book? Yes, exactly.... The internet has destroyed a lot of lives, but it has also aided us in many ways. We can now communicate across the world, within seconds. We also learn of different cultures, we probably had no previous knowledge of. The internet has also led in a few revolutions in the past couple of years.  Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, the revolutionist kept in contact.

 So as you can see technology has helped us in many ways, but also has hurt us in many ways. Everything is good unless you over indulge. If you text to much, thats bad, if you search the internet for multiple hours a day that is bad... if you eat too much thats bad.... If you do anything at all  too much it is bad for you.  Too much of anything makes you an addict.  So what we need to take from this is, technology is great as long as we use it the correct way and correct amount of time.