Case Study...#5

5. Who are the primary target audience now and has this changed? Who was it before and how do you know?

The primary audiences of facebook used to be university student, with 85% being collage students as the founder of Facebook made it to use for university uses without acknowledging that it will soon be used world wide and now it has changed massively, as more and more audiences are able to accuse and join social networking sites at the ages of 13+.

In the past the age range used to start roughly from 18-24 but now the age range has expanded and social networking g site users are increasing daily as more and more people are interacting and socializing through Facebook and Twitter rather than face to face which used to by the traditional way, now audiences can range from 13-50. The different types of applications appeal to different needs of the audiences. On average 6 hours or more is spend on Facebook per day compared to Japan who spend 2 hours and 50 mins. Twitter users also spend 4-5 hours per day, however the amount of time spend on social networking sites depends on the individuals needs and uses.

- Facebook:
Current users: 12-50
Originally users: 18-24
-The age restriction has become 13+ with parental permission.

-Twitter:
Current users: Mostly celebrities and fans
Originally users: Ordinary people
-People now use twitter to follow celebrities and see what is new with them rather than keep up with friends.

-Myspace:
Current Users: Mostly Music fans, new artists to promote themselves.
Original users: teenagers, interaction with friends
-Myspcae was the first social networking site, but now its more entertainment based, allowing people to download, share files and exchange music.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/05/social-networking-future/
http://www.smudailymustang.com/?p=15464
http://techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/

Case Study...#4

4. Is the size of the audience any different now than before the impact of new and digital media (or has the pattern of usage changed)?

There is a high increase of social networking user; there is a rise of 58.5% in the last year. The highest audience users are between the ages of 18-24. However the age range has expanded and children who are 12 can have Facebook. Social networking sites have become extremely popular amongst young audience. However Facebook and Twitter do have older audiences, celebrities are also hooked onto to the social networking culture.

This is because there are more applications made available, such as games, video links ect,. UK audience spends roughly about 6 hours on Facebook per day compared to Japan who spend only 2 hours and 50 minutes. However Myspace did not become as successful as Facebook and Twitter, as the new revaluation new and digital media aloowed Facebook, to get their audience hooked to its new technological advances which the social networking site had to offer with many new and creative applications which applied to the Target audience more than Myspace, who was owned by Fox Interactive Media which is owned by News Corporation, but according to comScore, MySpace was overtaken internationally by its main competitor, Facebook, in April 2008, based on monthly unique visitors, as a result it failed to rise to fame, even though Myspace was the very first social networking site to allow people to communicate and interact alongside Bebo.

However now Myspace has changed to music site allowing people to downloads and share files, it is more of an entertainment site rather than social networking site. The new and digital media has had a great impact on the way user use social networking site as the technological advances have allowed audience to make the most of the applications. Twitter and Facebook gained a worldwide audience and are now available in many different languages and this has had a major affect in the audience size compared to a few years ago:

http://everyjoe.com/technology/facebook-losing-18-25-audience/

http://techcrunch.com/2008/08/10/why-twitter-hasnt-failed-the-power-of-audience/

Case Study...#3

3. What impact has there been on how the media institution now has to produce the texts and the way in which the texts/products are distributed and exhibited?

Social networking site are constantly updating and upgrading their sites to keep up with the constant changes that take place due to development of technology and the rise in demand of change. This is aimed to make the sites easier for the users. The latest development are that Facebook, Twitter, myspcace and instant messaging can be accessed through the use of smart phone.

“30.8 percent of smart phone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010”

“In January 2010, 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser, up 112 percent from the previous year”

“MySpace attracted 11.4 million users”

This suggests that through the use of smart phones and new convergence such as iphone, ipad, blackberry ect , people are using their phones to accessed social networking sites and there has been a rise by 112% for Facebook users, this is implying that this type of convergence is popular amongst today’s audiences.

“Twitter, which has experienced tremendous growth in both mobile and PC-based visitation, attracted 4.7 million mobile users in January, up 347 percent versus year ago”.

According to statistics Facebook and Twitter have a much higher demand than Myspace as they are the most popular social networking sits. With Facebook having over 6oo million users at the start of January 2011 and Twitter with 190 million users. Whereas MySpace only has just a few thousands users. This clearly shows that Facebook and Twitter are the most used social networking sites. All the sites offer free signing up, which makes it more applying to the audience.

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/3/Facebook_and_Twitter_Access_via_Mobile_Browser_Grows_by_Triple-Digits

Case Study...#2

2. What impact has there been on the way in which the audience now consume the media products/texts involved in your case study? How does it differ from what went before?

Everything is online!!!!
Audiences have more control over what they view and how they use social networking site whether its for promotion or personal use such as interacting with friends and family, as this allows the to share,exchange and gain knowledge about the latest news all over the world. Audince have more power over what they consume and what they don't.

"Technology has made information accessible to everyone irrespective of his location" By:Ernest Owusu-Dapaa

"Consumers are no longer passive but, they are active producers"

Social Media Revolution 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB_P-_NUdLw&NR=1

In today’s generation and mediated culture, people have adapted the idea of becoming much more dependent on social networking sites and relying on the Internet for activities such as socializing, arranging meetings, business promotions ect which would have been done in person years ago, however everyone seems to be so busy with their lives these days, they don’t have the time to socialize face to face anymore and therefore find it easier to interact and contact others via networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the dependency on the Internet had made is more accessible to use as it suits each individual’s life style. According to Sherry Turkle we are: “ Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber- reality is a poor imitation of the real world”


Whilst Evgeny Morozov seems to think the more people use social networking get lazier and less reliable people will get. “Social media has bred a generation of "slacktivists". It has made people lazy and enshrined the illusion that clicking a mouse is a form of activism equal to real world donations of money and time". This emphasises on the negative impact social networking has on society and the young generation of today. This is suggested by ‘The online Sub- Life’ (Guardian) “ MySpace has been sucked into its own black hole recently, cutting 500 employees and admitting that they’re no longer battling binary codes with Facebook”.

This can also suggest that people are forgetting to communicate in the traditional way as websites and the reach engine can be accessed anywhere anytime suitable to the person and their needs, for example the Internet can be accessed on new smart phones, laptops, computers etc. As Marshall McLuhan said: "The future of the book is the blur", implying that because as technological advance people are less readying more newspapers and book like the old fashioned way. This has also had a big impact on how people communicate, “Traditional courtship has been negatively impacted via online dating by removing the element of conversation”. This clearly suggests that even though new and digital media has had a changing effect on how people use the Internet and social networking but it has its negative aspects on society as well.

Case Study...#1

The Impact of New and Digital Media Case Study:

1. Has new and digital media had an impact upon ownership and control of the media institutions involved in your case study? Explain in detail any impact and what exactly has changed.

Social networking sites have change the way people communicate and interact, through the use of new and digital media.Social networking has become a community of its own online,with thousands joining social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter everyday, which has developed dramatically over the last 5-10 years.As a result the growing cutler of social networking has had a great impact on other institutions such print,newspaper and adverting.

Facebook: The founder of Facebook was Zuckerberg in February 2004 whilst he was studying at Harvard. Facebook has over 1,700 employees and offices in 12 countries. With users reaching a sky high 0f 600 million by the start of 2011 as seers may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics. Mark Zuckerberg owns 24% of the company share, Accel Partners owns 10%, Digital Sky Technologies owns 10%, Dustin Moskovitz owns 6%, Eduardo Saverin owns 5%, Sean Parker owns 4%, Peter Thiel owns 3%, Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners own between 1 to 2% each, Microsoft owns 1.3%, Li Ka-shing owns 0.75%, the Interpublic Group owns less than 0.5%, a small group of current and former employees and celebrities own less than 1% each, celebrity's such as Matt Cohler, Jeff Rothschild, Adam D'Angelo, Chris Hughes, and Owen Van Natta, while Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus have sizable holdings of the company, and the remaining 30% or so are owned by employees, an undisclosed number of celebrities, and outside investors. Most of their revenue comes from advertising as they don’t charge their customers.

Twitter was founded by:

Twitter was founded by Jack Dorsey in July 2006, soon after the setup twitter had over millions of users, Twitter is used by many celebrities who promote and advertise their materials, celebrities such as Rihanna, Kim kardashin, Katie price ect. Auden ice and fans also join twitter as it has a highly star appeal to it. To to days generations starts such as Justin Bieber have increased the amount of fans joining twitter as he appeals to the younger gradations between the ages of 12-16. As chief executive officer, Dorsey saw the start-up through two rounds of capital funding by the venture capitalists who backed the company up and help to set twitter up. Williams took over the role of CEO, and Dorsey became chairman of the board. On October 4, 2010, Williams announced that he was stepping down as CEO. Dick Costolo, formerly Twitters chief operating officer, became CEO. Twitter currently Have more than 340 employees and this amount is growing.

In order to expand their insinuation, Microsoft has developed twitter micro-blogging service for business and advertising. The Research Office Talk, which is still not a finished product that Microsoft would find out, let’s use the benefits of “social media” in companies without the associated risks. This plan has been setup especially for the younger people in business so that they don’t miss out when working on the possibilities of Web 2.0 and Social Media. Many companies therefore make concessions, sometimes there are no clear rules. These involve social media offerings such as “Facebook” and “Twitter” risks to the safety of technical systems and trade secrets. About Social Media, information quickly with the wrong people divided, whether by accident or because of lack of awareness.

Weblink:http://wisdo.co.cc/microsoft-develops-twitter-micro-blogging-service-for-businesses

Myspace: ( the down fall)

MySpace was founded by: Tom Anderson in July 2003. MySpace was once used by thousands of teenagers, before the development of Facebook which as a result damaged the success of MySpace which only lived for a short amount; as a result MySpace lost a great deal of fans and user as Facebook offered a better service and more power for users to create their own profiles, share and exchange ideas ect.

According to sherly turkel there is no sign of anyone deleting or remove their profiles on social networking site: "Lets face it, i see no sign of anyone unplugging". this shows that then grow of social networking is not slowing down any time soon as more and more people join everyday. Myspace institution and the company become powerless after the growth of Facebook and Twitter.

Case Study Quotes/theories:

=>Sherry Turkle: ('Alone Together'book)

"A behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems that once caused us to see it as pathological,"

"technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world"

"It is a huge backlash. The different kinds of communication that people are using have become something that scares people,"

"Lets face it, i see no sign of anyone unplugging"

The Social Network has been seen as a thinly veiled attack on the social media generation, suggesting that Facebook was created by "people who failed to fit in with the real world".

"We have invented inspiring and enhancing technologies, yet we have allowed them to diminish us,"

=>Evgeny Morozov: (The Net Delusion)

Social media has bred a generation of "slacktivists". It has made people lazy and enshrined the illusion that clicking a mouse is a form of activism equal to real world donations of money and time"

=>Karl Marx:"The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs."

"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people."

=>Marshall McLuhan: "The medium is the message or the medium of a grown social subject". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/marshall_Mcluhan)

"The future of the book is the blur"

"as technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of 'do it yourself" (1957)

=>Hegemony:Antonio Gramsci

"the systems of power cannot be maintained by force alone. People have to do things, willingly and happily to keep the powerful people on top". (http://www.suite101.com/content/hegemony-and-media-studies-a52278)

"The dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others.
'subordinated groups accept the ideas, values and readership of dominant groups"(Strinati,1995)

=>Marxist Media Theory:Althusser, Daniel Chandler,(2000)

"a political economy of new media insists on examination of the circumstances that give rise to any given distribution of power and of the consequences to consumers and citizens". (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/762/1/NMISsnt2.pdf)

"Marxism is a particular political philosophy, economic and sociological world view based upon a materialistic interpretation of history".(Marcism wiki)

=>Pluralism:'A social organisation in which diversity of racial or religious or ethnic or cultural groups is tolerated'.(wordnet.com)

=>Globalization of Media: Key Issues and Dimensions, Mirza Jan,(2009)

"personal and social consequences of any medium result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology"
(http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage)

"Globalisation' is often portrayed as a positive force which is unifying widely different societies, integrating them into a 'global village' and enriching all in the process."

=>Cultural imperialism:'western Nations dominate the media around the world which in return effects on third world culture by imposing them western views and therefore destroying narrative culture'. (Schiller, H.J (1973) communication and cultural domination)

=>Past conalisation:'Post modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to and analysis of the cultural legacy of conalism'. (Wiki)

Further links:
why has Twitter not failed:
http://techcrunch.com/2008/08/10/why-twitter-hasnt-failed-the-power-of-audience/
FACEBOOK:
http://techcrunch.com/tag/facebook/
social networking:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/22/social-networking-cyber-scepticism-twitter
socaity and trend:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/social-trends

Powerpoint!

CASE STUDY 1: Represntation of young female celebrities in Gossip Magazine.

Mr bush representation case study

View more presentations from kareenaa.