HMV and Blockbuster

After the increase of downloads- including films, music and television shows, as well as the use of websites such as 4od, and other retailers- HMV and Blockbuster have both announced that they have gone into administration.

Advertising Standards Authority

The Advertising Standards Authority's purpose is to check advertisements, to ensure that they are not misleading, or offensive towards the audience. They recieve complaints about adverts seen or heard, and have the right to take action against those who own the adverts.

Press Complaints Commission

The Press Complaints Commission is an independent body set up to deal with complaints about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines (and their websites) and the conduct of journalists who work for print media.

Office of Communications

Office of Communications (also known as Ofcom) ensures that the UK consumers receive the best from their communication services, as well as protecting the public from harmful or offensive images and material within the internet.

Their legal duties include ensuring that: the UK has high speed services (such as broadband), there are high-quality television and radio programmes for a wide range of tastes and interests, we’re protected from harmful material, peoples privacy isn’t invaded, the postal service is working six days a week universally across the country.

However, this does not include: premium rate services (such as mobile phone text messages), TV licence fee, post offices, advertising and information in newspapers or magazines.

The Long Tail Theory

The phrase 'The Long Tail' was first created in 2006 by Chris Anderson, to describe certain businesses and economic models such as Amazon.com or Netflix. He described the effects of The Long Tail on current and future businesses. 
       Anderson stated that products which are low in demand can make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the few bestsellers or blockbusters, if the store is large enough. 'The Long Tail' is a potential market as he long tail market is enabled by the distribution and sales the internet creates. 
       'The Long Tail' theory has the potential to threaten a lot of established businesses, which is clear through the administration of HMV and Blockbuster. These businesses can only offer the most popular products in store, due to the cost of storage, therefore this results in a smaller target audience. That can in turn, reduce the demand for the most popular products.

Obama's Digital Fundraising

President Obama successfully gained millions of fans throughout his campaign time through the social network website Twitter. This allowed him to recieve donations from millions of people, worldwide, from his followers as well as others. Although his rival recieved larger donations from more affluent supporters, he earned more overall. Obama used micro-donations, allowing his supporters to donate small amounts individually (an example of Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory).

Twitter

Positives

• Good form of distribution as it’s easier to spread ideas, information and content. You’re able to link websites to distribute more. This is easier to distribute to a wide audience. As well as being a fantastic form of marketing, as you can alert to your community of followers, making the news/website/business go viral.
• Twitter is the first draft of news, as many rumours start there first.
• It’s an easy way to search for topics you’re interested in. A personalised newsfeed allows you to follow the most interesting people with the most interesting information. It’s a great aid to find information.
• Users are able to agree or disagree with what everyone is saying. You receive an instant reaction and are able to share and discuss. It allows anyone in, generating user content, letting us have our say.
• There is a lot more humour, and it much more personal. Twitter allows use to engage and be entertained.
• A recognised name attracts a lot of followers, to increase their popularity and publicity. As well as linking celebrities with fans. For example, Sir Alan Sugar received a lot of positive feelings due to his kindness during the Great Ormond Street robbery. http://www.thenationalstudent.com/News/2012-12-19/Ormond_Street_Theft__Apprentice_Boss_says_send_me_the_bill.html
• There is a lot of attention on topics which were barely covered by the news. You can search a particular keyword, which will display many views and a lot of information about the topic.
• Communities form themselves around particular issues, people, events and much more. This is good for celebrities and topics such as Joseph Kony.

Negatives

• A lot of bullying on the internet can have harsh consequences. Victims can be targeted by a celebrity’s community of fans and followers, after they hurl abuse at the certain celebrity.  There is also a lot of abuse between celebrities, such as Chris Brown deleting his Twitter after a feud with comedian Jenny Johnson relating to his attack on Rihanna. http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/11/26/chris-brown-twitter-rihanna/
• Twitter challenges the media, leaving newspapers rendered useless. They are in competition as the internet works faster than newspapers, as well as it being free of charge, whereas newspapers are attempting to charge for their content.

What is a meme?

An internet meme is a word, phrase or image which spreads person to person via the internet. They grow rapidly because of the instant communication, which is a lot faster than word of mouth. They're spread via search engines, social networking sites and internety forums; as well as usually involving a condesending tone. Without search engines, memes would be heard to find even by those interested in the subject, as it makes it a lot easier to be located.

Web 2.0

What is it?
Web 2.0 is a second generation of the World Wide Web. The web hasnt changed, although the way it's used is. It now allows users to interact and collaborate with eachother and online to those around the world (this is called user generator content). This is used mainly for marketing; as well as allowing the public to blog, post videos on YouTube, speak to friends across the world using Skype, Tweet and create pages of information on Wikipedia.


Pros:

• Information is easily located from numerous places, and is personalised to meet the user’s needs.
• Better decisions are made due to the information being located from multiple sources.
• People are able to express their ideas easily, without the oversight of governments or corporations. They are unrestricted
• Web 2.0 allows the mass population to communicate with each other easily around the world at a very low cost, such as on Skype, Twitter and Facebook.

Cons:

• People become very dependent on the internet for communication and information.
• Many web services are free, which means they won’t be secure and can easily be hacked.
• Many things are no longer kept in hard copy form. This is worrying as your hard drive is sometimes unreliable, which means you could lose many years of work in one moment.
• Some users share copyrighted information. Videos, music and movies are main victims of privacy, leading to a loss of profit for those who deserve it.

A digital native- someone who has grown up around technology.

A digital immigrant- someone born before technology and has adopted it to some extent in their later life.