It's Going VIRAL?

How many followers do you have? YouTube Subscribers? How many hits do you have to your blog? Is anybody watching your YouTube video? Who is your main audience? Are you making money from this? These are some of the questions that arise in today's society because of new new media and spreadablility. Jenkins raises these issues in Chapter 1 of his book. He analyzes how media spreads today, who spreads it, the impact of viral or spreadable media based on location and culture, and much more. While discussing many overarching questions in class, someone brought up the question of whether or not the desire for instant fame and constant self-glorification via social media was unique to Americans. Although other cultures share videos, update their statuses, and tweet about life, Americans still seem to have a money-driven goal while using new new media. Instead of using it as a casual way to pass time, many use new new media to market their looks, personalities, talents, and skills. The idea of a normal person rapidly attaining fame or glory is not something that is new to us. However, it seems as if this has become a major goal in recent years. With the advent of reality television some years ago, we began to see once unknown people become pseudo-celebrities who enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame. Some even extend their fame and become well-known personalities, e.g., Cast of Jersey Shore. So what does this mean? This means that the old model is gone. Advertisers can no longer stick with the old way of trying to reach their target audiences. In today's society, we are very much dependent on sharing information with each other which enables us to avoid getting the said information from a traditional source. The audience rules. The advertisers need us to share information and make something viral in order to increase their revenue. Its a new day. Okay I am starting to ramble now, but I have listed some articles for you to read that are related to this topic and a funny related video!

 

Spreadable War on Viral Media 

Best Viral Marketing Campaigns 

Let's Go to the Dark Side

In Chapter 11, Levinson discusses the Dark Side of New New Media and how it compares to old and new media. What was interesting is how he examines the fact that the some of same dangers that are associated with new new media evolve from new and old media. Therefore, the dark side that we see today is just an evolution of the negative uses from new and old media. With today's technology and fast-paced world, the impact of using new new media for negative purposes is even greater. There have been many deaths as a result of cyberbullying, online gossiping, and anonymous insults and threats. However, Levinson goes on to talk about the use of twitter to enhance terrorism, the use of Craigslist to enlist accomplices for a robbery, and the recent increase in Cyberstalking. This, however, should not discourage people from using new new media. If you really think about it, the positive outweighs the negative. As long as you use common sense, avoid certain websites and spam messages, and remember that there are evil people out there, then you should be fine. For an example check out this story below of someone who didn't use common sense while on Facebook. Although new new media somewhat entices us to share all of our information, some stuff should be kept personal.

Using Facebook To Rob?

Age of the New New

Within the past five years, media has transformed the way we live our lives and interact with others. This concept of "New New Media" is something that has never crossed my mind before. There has been an acknowledgment in my mind that social media has become a major part of everyday life, but it wasn't until this Capstone Seminar class that I realized the true meaning and impact of new new media in today's society. In our last class, we spent the majority of our time deciphering exactly what new new media was. Although the interpretations varied, we eventually came up with a basic meaning that somewhat explained it. My interpretation of new new media is simple. In my eyes, sharing+connecting+interacting+worldwide=new new media. Allow me to explain further. With blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the many other forms of new new media, we have the capability to not only view thoughts from others globally, but we can provide feedback instantly, create our own opinion for others to comment on, share information over one platform which connects to many others, and recreate ourselves in online communities. So, not only can we interact, share, and connect, but if we choose to, we can also create alternate identities for ourselves online. Although this all sounds great, there are definitely some negatives of new new media that unfortunately have caused a lot of pain in people's lives. Because you can have anonymous identity online, many people hide being these identities in order to use the internet and new new media for, quite frankly, evil purposes. However, I will discuss the negatives in more detail in the next post. See you later.

Hi.

My name is Emile M. Ennis Jr. I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I am an aspiring editor, producer, cinematogropher... The truth is I am not sure what I want to concentrate in yet, but I love anything that deals with film or television/commercials. I attend Reinhardt University in North Georgia majoring in Visual Communications: Electronic Media. However, I am counting down the days until I move to LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. I interned with MRB Productions this past summer, and I had a wonderful time. I got to deal with all aspects of production and meet lots of people. Overall, I am a laid-back person who just wants to be successful in whatever I do. I always strive to go above and beyond, but  I am just a guy who loves to be surrounded by people who are just as funny and motivated as I am. I enjoy many things, and I am always talking about my future plans and goals. Speaking of future plans and goals, I plan to graduate in MAY 2011! I just have a few more classes, and then I can enter the real world. Enjoy.