Vs. December 20, 2008
Posted by airyrae in Merging with the Market.Tags: new media, new media vs. old media
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“All of us who professionally use the media are the shapers of society. We can vulgerize that society. We can brutalize it.
Or we can help lift it onto a higher level”
William Bernbach
In the red corner we have new media. New media is convenient, accessible, personable, easy, targeted and since it’s mostly free it puts up one heck of a fight. Pay no mind to its ‘stalker-like” qualities and questionable reporting methods. In the blue corner we have old media. Old, or traditional media, is tried, true, private, and accountable. And in the instance that it’s not accountable there is a professional somewhere who is, and oftentimes pays for it with the loss of their job. Pay no mind to the fact that you can’t get in now! It is predicted that new media, sometimes referred to as ‘people media’, will knockout old-time media and its disgraced professionals before the final round. But before you place your bets: Caveat lector (reader beware).
You can’t believe everything read, regardless of whether you’re getting your information from new or old media. However, credible information is a lot more difficult to distinguish from sponsored results or otherwise supplied by those with ulterior motives. Despite the reports of unreliability in traditional media outlets, it has been argued that old, paid-for, mediums are more reliable than the new, free media. Because professionals are paid, trained, and held accountable for their work. As a culture we expect the absolute truth from traditional media. Yet, new media isn’t held to this same high standard, with the exception of news Web sites. The new media, on the other hand, can be very useful and compelling. You can’t beat the Internet for accessing a diverse view on a wide variety of subjects. And traditional mediums just can’t compete with the ability to provide such a vast amount of information to readers.
As such, nearly 70 percent of Americans believe traditional journalism is out of touch, and nearly half are turning to the Internet to get their news. I guess ‘traditional journalists’ don’t contribute to Internet news stories so they’re more credible. Plus we all know that ‘Jo-Blow’ has no ulterior motives so his contributions to the Internet are reliable. So before you bet, its only fair that understand that the sources you are accessing online such as Google News and Yahoo News pull stories from newspapers, television, wire services and other media sources. While it’s delivered in a non-traditional form, that doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t traditional journalism underneath it.
So who will you put your money on? Personally, I’m banking on both the old and the new. There is pain anytime the new threatens the old, but I think in the case of merging media the two rivals will mesh to create something that is so much more than its parts. Imagine media that is trustworthy, credible, timely, efficient, engaging, targeted, affordable, and requires the informed consent of its audience. Ultimately, both new and old mediums have their strengths and weaknesses. Instead of turning the media landscape into the next season of Survivor we should be focusing on merging the admiral aspects of each medium to create entities that equally benefit society and commerce.
Online behavior targeting December 18, 2008
Posted by airyrae in Merging with the Market.Tags: online behavior targeting, online ethics, search marketing
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“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the trouble is I don’t know which half”
William Hesketh Lever
The idea that half of the money a company spends on advertising is wasted is a realistic given the limitations of traditional media. However, new media and online behavior targeting in particular, is bringing us closer to figuring out which part of the advertising budget is wasted and which half is effective: but at what cost? Online behavior targeting aims to deliver the right ad to the right people. Seems obvious right? Isn’t this the “aim” of advertising on the whole?
Sending the right message to the right people isn’t new to the advertising industry; in fact it’s kind of a founding concept. However, digital media is effectively accomplishing this feat by observing consumer’s behavior, oftentimes, without their knowledge or consent. Simply put, online behavior targeting strives to automatically understand consumers as they interact with a web presence in order to show them the most relevant content. Search engines use online behavior targeting to construct target markets based on almost any observed behavior, which dramatically increases the potential effectiveness of marketing and at the same time increases the ‘gray’ area in regards to the ethics and advertising.
The U.S. Congress has been investigating the use of behavioral targeting since protests raised awareness of large internet service providers like Embarq, Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner Cable using the targeted ad service from web tracking company NebuAd. The question at hand is whether the analyzing these plethora of Internet traffic violates federal wiretap laws by not gaining consent from the consumer to the gathering and use of their web communications. As shown through this New York Time’s chart, the public is being heavily tracked and marketing to as a result of their particiation on the Internet:
Some providers, like Verizon, have pledged to refrain from collecting and tracking the browsing behavior of their customers unless they receive explicit permission from the affected consumers. But we’re still being watched. As previously mentioned search engines also track consumer’s online behavior to make money by helping online advertisers better target their marketing effort through their search engine. Ultimately the solution to this ‘increasingly complex’ ethical situation that online behavior targeting brings to our ‘wired’ existence seems rather simply: informed consent. Internet companies don’t need to gain the informed consent of consumers to track their online behavior. However, it is seen in the previous video that regulators are moving towards a disclosure 2.0 policy. As such, any player who partakes in online behavior targeting should self regulate themselves now to gain the loyalty of consumers, avoid negative press, and gain a competitive advantage for the day when legislation regarding online behavior target is passed if the future.
Green Consumers Care About the Online Environment Too December 9, 2008
Posted by airyrae in Merging with the Market.Tags: green marketing, green websites
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“Environments are not just containers, but are processes that change the content totally”
Marshall McLuhan
There is no doubt that new media has brought about many exciting opportunities to target and inform consumers. With the environment and the economy being of people’s utmost concerns these days the Internet has become an extremely effective way of targeting green consumers. Green consumers being anyone who has integrated green activity into their daily life.
Green consumers are a great target and are actively using the Internet as an information resource to gather green information. Companies need to take advantage of their Web site’s ability to not only target the various levels of green consumers, but also in its ability to deliver them a plethora of information. Research has shown that consumers feel that company’s do a poor job of providing information on any green benefits that are touted through their advertisements. Furthermore, consumers who consider themselves to be green are oftentimes distrustful of advertising, especially television, yet they are active seekers and exchangers of information.
The obvious solution to effectively reaching these green consumers is by having an effective and engaging Web site. I was reading an article about the Top 6 eMarketing Tips for Reaching Green Consumers and would like to discuss some of these tips in more depth because while they seem obvious there lack would be poorly received by green consumers.
To insure that green consumers aren’t dissuaded by your Web site it is pertinent that they can easily find the information they are looking for the second the logon to your site. As such, incorporating a standard green section or graphic link that brings consumers to a page with more information about the environmental initiatives of a product and company is a necessity. Green consumers are interested in new products and actively seek information. As such, it is inevitable that green consumers will gravitate to a product’s Web site to research for themselves.
It is also necessary that companies targeting green consumers support their public relation efforts effectively through their Web site. Since green consumers are skeptical of advertising in general they often seek out 3rd party recommendations or the advice of other green consumers in making their purchasing decisions. As such, any publicity that your product generates should be accessible through your Web site. Don’t make these consumers search for endorsements about your product. Enable them to find out how other reputable sources view your product.
Wired Kids November 12, 2008
Posted by airyrae in Merging with the Market.Tags: children, monitoring new media, wired kids
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“My kids idea of a hard life is to live in a house with only one phone”
George Foreman
This week we’re discussing the ethics and effectiveness of corporate Web sites and other new media applications that target children. When it comes to advertising to children the consensus seems to be that it’s generally acceptable if it’s a public service announcement, education, or health-related message: but ultimately the parent’s job to monitor their children’s activities. As such, many corporations that manufacture items for children often try to align their products with marketing messages that promote education and health.
Yet, the digital age has propelled us into a society with extremely wired children: in the sense that more and more children are using digital media. Overall, children between the ages of two and 18 spend an average of almost five-and-a-half hours a day at home watching television, playing video games, surfing the Web or using some other form of media. Some parents and critics are beginning to worry about the amount of time that their children spend with new-age entertainment and what messages their children encounter through new media. While some studies have been conducted on this topic; the effects that new media have on children are still widely unknown and require further research.
Educators know that when children are engaged, they learn more. Interactive digital media are engaging more children at younger ages. How much they are learning from this exposure remains an open question since many products are developed without benefit of the principles of child development and little research into their educational effects exists. Children often encounter interactive media first in the form of digitally enabled toys and story books. By the time they’re in preschool, the majority can use a computer mouse and can even load CDs and DVDs in the family computer. And since most television shows children watch now have web sites, they are gravitating to the Internet at younger ages. Especially with the invention of live gaming and virtual toys like Webkinz. There are five major market trends that are shaping the digital landscape that targets children:
1. Virtual Worlds – Simulated environments (such as Club Penguin and Webkinz) that children inhabit and interact with one another through digital representations of themselves known as avatars.
2. Video Games – Makers of gaming platforms such as Nintendo’s popular Wii are shifting some of their focus to casual gaming. Likewise, online or live versions of these consoles allow children access to their computer, the internet, and live chat.
3. Video on the Web – Spurred by the success of video web sites such as YouTube, media companies have developed youth-oriented video destinations such as Kid Videos.
4. Youth-Generated Content – User-generated content such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, which originated with adults, are finding applications in children’s media.
5. Media Convergence – Television shows, radio broadcasts and movies are no longer confined to the television set, radio or theater. Children can receive them on computers and portable media, enabling a multi-platform delivery of educational programs.
Some argue that these trends are limiting the quality of sleep and physical activity of that children receive; others say that these experiences can truly be educational – offering children opportunities to explore the world, form communities with other children, and create their own works of art and literature. For the most part, however, the heavily promoted commercial sites, sponsored mainly by media conglomerates and toy companies, are overshadowing the legitimately educational sites. While everyone has their own opinion about our society of wired children; the emphasis that new media puts on shared interests rather than social or physical characteristics can be empowering for all people, and especially for members of disadvantaged social groups, those who may be geographically isolated, or physically disabled.
But if you’re worried about your child’s many digital experiences keep in mind that several new media applications allow parents to control the content of child’s experience. If your children are using social networking sites you can ease your concerns by creating an account of your own and having your children accept you as a ‘friend’ so you can monitor their interaction and youth-generated content to ensure that their activities and contacts are age-appropriate. Furthermore, the ‘Three C’s” Approach to Kid’s Media’ serves as a great compass in helping you decide whether or not your child’s interaction with any given new media application is beneficial based on your child’s individual situation:
Content – What is the basic premise of application? How is it designed? Does it have repetition? Are new words defined by pointing or labeling? Can you control the content?
Context – Who is interacting with the child? Do you talk to your child about what’s on the screen? Is the child learning through a game, then applying that in another activity? Is the child telling stories about what he or she has experienced?
Child – How much stimulation can this child take? What scares her? What types of media trigger the most curious questions, playful reenactments, engagement and joy?
-Arin
New Media Benefits All November 11, 2008
Posted by airyrae in Merging with the Market.Tags: new media, telecommuting, user-generated content
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“Change your thoughts and you change your world”
Norman Vincent Peale
US clergyman (1898 – 1993)
I’m starting to realize that new media is no better, no worse, but simply just different from traditional media. OK, maybe its better, but only if I get to keep my books, and magazines, and newspapers. While I speak as if I’m against all things new media, I do appreciate the convenience these new applications bring to my life. I would die with out online banking and the ability to search the Web to my heart’s content. I get driving directions and watch live broadcasts on my cell phone. My house is totally online: digital cable, monitored security systems, wireless internet, Xbox Live networked to our PC. And while I feel dissonant if I don’t surf the Web at least once after I get home from work, I’m still disheartened when people talk about the demise of traditional media. I want it all, but as you can see the trends are against me:
But ultimately I’ve come to realize that new media benefits us all in one way or another. Consider the following three areas:
Need I say more? Individuals are becoming more and more in control of the media. Consumers have the freedom to choose what they view and what they interact with more so today than ever before. Users are in control and not forced down any particular route.
Businesses have long been talking about marketing to a segment of one and new media is bringing us closer and closer to accomplishing this feat. New media allows us the ability to deliver as much or as little information as the user requires. New media allows marketers to focus in on more specific niches through permission based marketing and cookies.
I’m sure we’ve all experienced a temporary Internet outage at work; during which work ceases to exist and filing becomes everyone’s priority. Businesses rely on new media to both do business and promote their business. This reliance on new media has enabled more and more employees the opportunity to telecommute. Telecommuting has been shown to increase productivity because employees are better able to manage their work/life balance.
