Blog Assignment 5

Traditional and online marketing is very similar, but differs in how the advertisements are distributed. The biggest difference is that online marketing actively uses the consumer to help push the product its trying to sell. In traditional marketing, the advertisement might take the form of a billboard or a television commercial and try to reach a large audience. This type of marketing has been around for a long time and will most likely continue to be successful for many years to come. However, some companies are now starting to take advantage of their online resources.
Online marketing can be very successful because it has the potential to reach a very large audience if done correctly. For an online advertisement its the companies goal to get the consumer to promote the product for them. For example, when promoting The Hunger Games movie the company Lionsgate had the fans do a lot of promoting for them. They created a website that would give fans points for sharing and posting new things about the movie on their social media sites. This created a competition among the fans to share the most Hunger Games related post, and it was basically free publicity for the movie that Lionsgate let the fans do for them. This type of consumer driven advertisement can be used for almost any type of product and we are seeing more and more of it online everyday.
Both types of marketing tries to appeal to the wants and needs of the consumers its targeting. Online marketing might just be more successful because of how much time people spend online. If you don't see a commercial on TV then it is unlikely that your friend will tell you about it or even mention it in conversation. However, if your friend sees something interesting on their twitter they are more likely to share it and then you will have seen it also. With the potential of exponential growth among consumers the online marketing strategy is becoming very successful and more useful. It will be interesting to see where online marketing is in the next few years as technology continues to develop and companies learn better ways to advertise online.

Blog Assignment 4

The case of Girl Talk is very complicated and I can see both sides of the argument. Personally, I believe that he is using the music under fair use and it could be considered transformative. Since he isn't actually using a song in its entirety and mixing different ones together I don't see a problem with it. Girl Talk also gives recognition to the original song and artist in his work. So, by him just using parts of other people's songs it isn't taking anything away from the original artist. If someone likes one of the songs that make up his music then they will most likely go out and buy the original song, which might actually benefit the original artist. Limiting his use of other people's music would just hinder his own personal creativity. I think it's important for people like Girl Talk to push the boundaries of fair use and help others be able to express their creativity under fair use. I see no problem with him playing the songs he creates at shows so that people can enjoy them live, because its still not taking anything away from the original artist. However, I'm not sure if I agree with him selling CD's of his music. If he wants to give away the music he creates for free and allow people to donate whatever amount they want then that would be more reasonable. Even still, when he sells a CD of his music he isn't taking away any monetary value from the original artist, so it might still be considered fair use. I can see why some people might be upset about him using their music, but I think as long as he isn't claiming to be the original artist and isn't taking away any sells from the original artist then there is no reason for him not to create the music he enjoys.

Blog Assignment 3: Interactivity

http://www.digitaldesign.us/howTo/interactivity.html

I found this article about interactivity interesting because it talks about how interactivity can increase the effectiveness of a website. The author talks about how expectations for websites are changing and that interactivity is important to give visitors what they want. Basically, the more interactive and engaging a website is the more successful it will be.

Interactivity for a website is important because it keeps visitors on the site longer, brings them back for future visits, and can create a "buzz" about the website. If there are things to interact with and activities to participate in on the site, then the user is likely to stay on and participate longer. With fun and exciting interactive options, such as chat boxes, polls, or games, the user is more likely to interact with the website and to return in the future. Additionally, if the user finds interactive options that intrigues them they are more likely to tell their friends or link the website from another site. This is very helpful when trying to gain a larger audience and create a "buzz" about the website.

I also found it interesting in the third article on AsUlearn titled "The effect of user interactivity on user experience" that said, even interactive options that people do not use will draw them to a website. Just by simply seeing something such as a chat box makes the user think that the website is more interactive which makes them more likely to return in the future. This just means that the mere appearance of visual cues may have the same effect as the actual use of interactive features.

I think that interactivity is difficult to measure, but can be determined to some degree. There are many variables that go into interactivity but some simple concepts can be observed. For example, interactivity could be measured simply by recording the number of users that visit a site and how many times they click on or interact with something. If you were able to track when a user revisited the site you could even see how successful the interactivity is in drawing the user back for future visits. The amount of users who visit a site is a good measurement of how successful the site is, but it might be difficult to determine how much each user is actually interacting with the site while they are on it.

Blog Assignment 2: Network Laws

I don't believe that any one of the laws can accurately determine the value of a network with all of the different variables we have today. However, I think that Reed's Law comes the closest to giving us the best estimate. Reed's Law basically states that a network size can increase exponentially determined by the number of users. I think this is a good estimate of a networks value because of how we see things go viral on the internet. If one person shares it to two people, then those people can share it to two more friends and so on. This is especially accurate on social media sites where one person can instantly share something to hundreds of people with the click of a button. However, this doesn't mean that every one of those people on theirs friends list will share or even see the content. This is why it makes it very difficult to determine an accurate measure of a networks value. With people using multiple social networks such as twitter, facebook, instagram, etc. it becomes even more difficult to measure a networks value.

In the next five years I believe that people will get their information the same way we do today, maybe just a little more streamlined. With more and more content becoming available online we may see a decrease in things such as physical magazines, books, and newspapers. It seem like more of these types of media keep moving to an online format that can easily be accessed from someones phone or computer. As more people access these things online the physical copies will become less common and may eventually go away all together. I'm sure we will see the development of more news applications and social networks in the next five years and there is no telling how they will impact how information is exchanged. It may get to the point where you can instantly share something to all of your social media sites at the same time, or maybe a social network that makes all others obsolete will come along. Either way, I feel that the process of gathering and sharing information will become faster and easier in the next five years.

"Generation Like" Discussion Questions

1.   Engagement: The amount of users that view/interact with content on a social media site             Interaction: Users actively interacting with content by discussion, "likes", comments, etc.           Reach: The total possible amount of people that the content can be seen by                                 Target: The audience that the content is meant for or is trying to appeal to
2. "Like"ing someone's post on Facebook means that you are agreeing with, or liking, the content that the other user has posted
3. Knowing that others like the same things I do really doesn't influence me. I like the things I like because I find them interesting even if other people don't. However, sometimes I will find new interest about things I didn't know before by seeing what other people like.
4. An "influencer" is someone who gets other people to like the same things that they do by sharing the content they find interesting. An "influencer" may cause someone to like certain things, such as brands or products through endorsement.
5. Oreo marketed their product with the current issue of same-sex marriage. They created a rainbow colored Oreo to show that they supported same-sex marriage. By doing this they appealed to anyone who also agrees with same-sex marriage and made it more likely that those people would buy their product.
6. Companies use social media to advertise by getting people to like and share their brands on social media sites. The more people who "like" and share their products then the more the company will benefit. This allows the consumers to basically advertise for the company on social media.
7. Marketers use social media to get consumers to like, share, re-tweet, and advertise their brands to other people with the same interest. The more people that share the product the more credible and recognized it becomes. Having trusted celebrities endorse their products on social media is also a good way to advertise. 
8. Celebrities advertise on social media by backing brands through commercials and advertisements. Celebrities already have a large audience so any endorsement they display on their social media will surely be seen by plenty of people. People usually trust brands that celebrities they follow also like. 
9. Corporate sponsorship is when a company sponsors someone by giving them products to try out and endorse. The company will give someone with credibility, such as a celebrity, their product to try and the person will talk about how great the product is. A good example of this is a skateboard company sponsoring a skater who wears their brand of clothing and skates on their brand of gear. 
10. Marketers are trying to appear transparent with most of their marketing today. That means that it appears as if they are hiding nothing from the consumer and that the consumer actually feels like they are part of the marketing process. By being transparent, the marketers hope to build brand trust and loyalty from their consumers. 
11. The Hunger Games is a lot like advertising on social media because it can sometimes seem similar. In The Hunger Games, a lot of younger people are put into an arena for other peoples amusement and entertainment, while people "behind the scenes" pull all the strings and control the outcome. This is similar to advertising because there are usually the marketing people behind the scene making all of the decisions while kids on social media like and share their brands and essentially advertise for them.

Video created by my Video Production 1 group over the summer