New Media Comentary.
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
I Am Awesome, Watch Me Grow.
You know those awkward moments when you're chilling in the shower just thinking about how cool you are and all the clever things you've said. This is like that, except its got cool music behind it.
Did Ryan Giggs Kill The Newspaper?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you have no doubt heard about the escalating “freedom of information” battle surrounding Twitter and the breach of numerous injunction orders. This is a debate that has been brewing for sometime and as it rapidly approaches boiling point authorities are struggling to put a lid on the emerging pot of internet activists. For the first time in the lengthy saga that stretches back to 2009 Twitter has bowed to pressure from the courts and made it known that they will “comply with a law, regulation or legal request” The statement follows in the wake of a flurry of publicity surrounding the naming of English Football star Ryan Giggs as the holder of an injunction that protects details of his personal life. Just hours after the move by Twitter, an anonymous user mocked authorities by posting a fresh batch of injunctions on the mini-blogging site. Despite quickly being removed, the post attracted hundreds of followers who wasted no time in plastering the names all over the web.This blatant disregard for the court warnings, and the inability for authorities to enforce injunctions has once again put the issue of “free information” under a spotlight.
The social web, and the ease in which it facilitates the dissemination of information is at the heart of this debate. In this new environment we are all broadcasters. We can share and access information from a huge range of sources, and if we choose we can remain anonymous in the process.
The movie The Green Hornet, which I just recently watched for the first time paints a nice picture surrounding the spread of Information and should help explain the rise in the social web. If you haven’t seen it, the film is about Britt Reid (played by Seth Rogen) a party boy and heir to his father’s Newspaper fortune. “When Daddy gets murdered, Britt hires a secretary, Lenore Case (a superfluous Cameron Diaz), who is older and smarter than he is. [And] teams up with Kato (Taiwanese singer Jay Chou), the family chauffeur, a gadget-maker and martial artist, to exact revenge.”
Adapted from the 1966 TV show, The Green Hornet is set in a historic land where News Paper’s were the worlds primary source of information. Throughout the movie we are repeatedly reminded of the power that these News paper’s possessed, and how easily the news could be manipulated. After inheriting the paper from his father, Reid wastes no time in harnessing it’s influence to establish his alter alter-ego - The Green Hornet - as a household name. Sitting at the head of the News Room table he fires off headlines and stories to his staff despite the warnings of Mike Axon, one of his fathers trusted advisors.
As the story progresses we learn that Reid’s father was being bribed by District Attorney Frank Scanlon, and was slanting the news in his favor by refusing to print stories about the rise in crime. As a result there was a wide-spread public disillusion that the D.A. was doing a sterling job fighting crime. When in actuality there was a ruthless gang-war tearing the city apart. This revelation is in contrast to his father’s claim in the opening scene of the film. With his son sitting in his office he yells down the phone that “he will never jeopardize the journalistic integrity of the newspaper for some random mayors political agenda.” highlighting the fact that despite the best intentions, it is far to easy for the news to be manipulated when controlled by a single individual or conglomerate. The ease in which public perception was manipulated by the newspaper coupled with the public’s inability to garner another source of information is a sharp contrast of todays “social” society where Twitter and Youtube are fast becoming staple sources of news.
Another interesting observation from the movie is the way the villains obsess over how they’re perceived. This is a notion that is introduced in one of the opening scene’s where two rival villains argue over what makes them scary.
In the scene Benjamin Chudnofsky, the head of crime in the city, sits down with a young hot-shot drug dealer who threatening his dominance. The flamboyant drug dealer - Crystal Clear - dismisses the aging Chudnofsky as a boring washed up old man who “dresses like shit”. He claims that today, in order to get to the top, you need style, you need a catchy name, you need henchmen dressed in Gucci and Armani, and you need to leave a calling card that people can use to spread word of your scaryness. This strong emphasis on perception and the reliance on word-of-mouth to build up their reputations highlights two of the key factors in the emergence of the internet and prevalence of the social web.
When exploring any new media, or information communication technology (ICT) I always look at it through the eyes of Marshall McLuhan’s Laws of the Media. This concept was created as a means of understanding the effects that new technology has on society. McLuhan concludes that four things happen whenever a new technology is adapted, these effects are universal, they happen to all new media and human artifacts, and they happen simultaneously.
In terms of Marshall McLuhan’s laws the rise in the “social web” represents the “Reverse” law, whereby the Newspaper has been pushed to the limit of it’s potential as a source of news. In the example of the Green Hornet this is highlighted by its inability to accurately report on the state of crime, in the case of modern society it represents the inability of traditional media to report on things that are protected by injunctions. McLuhan’s law states that when this happens we see a reverse effect whereby a new technology emerges with opposite characteristics. In this case, the social web. In today’s society Twitter and Youtube are widely used by the individual to disseminate information free from agenda and influence. Word of Mouth is now the norm whereby information is Tweeted and Re-Tweeted on Twitter at an extremely rapid pace. The power of traditional media has taken a huge hit as people shift away from the notion of being spoon-fed news and move towards a word-of-mouth environment where they can consume news directly from the source.
So while authorities and law-makers scramble to adapt to this changing environment and snatch back some of their control, ultimately they are fighting a loosing battle.
The days of a single source of news are gone, the individual now has the power.
When All Else Fails.... Turn To Facebook
Zeald Case Study - by PatchworkMedia
The Return Of The Community
So rather than trim it down and I thought I’d convert it into a rebuttal-blog-post instead. What I’m getting at is that before you read this I highly recommend you read Thomas’s post.
This section bellow is the one section from the post that really stuck with me and got me thinking.
Remixable and conversational new media; like zines, hip-hop, hypermedia and then the Internet have burst the spell/bubble. They are a re-awakening of our essential humanness, an interest in community, conversation and direct connection with those who produce what we consume (food, services, media…).
This is the essence of social media. Which is not a specific tool – but more like a set of wedges that we can jam in the cogs of the printing press and move from audience to participant – in terms of again participating in creating our culture(s), interacting with one-another and business.
First off I disagree and think social media can be a specific tool, especially for the individual. It all comes down to how it's used; some people use Blogs and Twitter as a means of "broadcasting" their opinions, and participating in the media - a channel/tool they utilize for self-expression. Others use facebook, bebo, myspace and twitter solely as channel of communication between them and their friends. And others use it as a one way channel for receiving information; subscriptions to blogs and twitter and facebook streams can all be fine tuned into delivering specifically tailored news and information directly to the individual’s pocket.
With that being said, I think Thomas nails it when he states that the way social media differs from other channels and tools, is that it resurrects the concept of a community. This is a concept that suffered a deadly blow at the hands of the printing press – and later television - as individuals no longer had to communicate with their friends and neighbors to get information and news. They could now purchase a newspaper and read up on all that was interesting, and news worthy from the comfort of their homes. The days of converging in the town square for a town meeting, and gossiping at the local pub or convenience store were on the decline.
As is the nature of all technologies and tools however they eventually get pushed to their limits and usher in a reverse effect (read this: McLuhan's Laws of Media).
This detraction from the community did exactly as Tomas stated above. It resulted in a scenario where the voices of the many were being overshadowed by the voices of the powerful. And everyday people began to long for a channel in which they could participate and express their opinions. Social media has stepped into this void by bringing back that sense of community and providing everyone with an equal voice. “Tools” like twitter and facebook essentially function as great big group conversations, or communities. Everyone can converse and listen to everyone else’s conversations. News and information is rife with opinion and comes from the mouths –or keyboards- of trusted friends and family. Businesses have gone from being faceless entities, to friendly community stores who not only provide goods and services, but also join in the conversation. The days of the community are definitely returning.
As Thomas says later in his post however the danger – I tend to think its an inevitability - of this is that once social media is pushed to it’s limit and everyone turns into “mini-mass-media beings, or micro-broadcasters” then we will become so overwhelmed with the opinions of individuals that we will once again long for a unified authority and source of news.
But at the end of the day that appears to be a long way away. And at the current rate that the technological landscape is changing who knows what that day will look like.
(Thomas’s post is the 1st in a series, definitely worth following)
The Out of Control Spiral That is the Digital Future
The practical aspects of the papers I am studying are getting less and less relevant, as the digital jugernaught that is the Internet continues its unrelenting march into the mainstream. The traditional marketing powerhouses of print and broadcast media are beginning to feel the effects of this rise in digital marketing and as agencies scramble and adapt to this new and exciting medium we as audiences are being faced with a wide array of innovative digital campaigns.
Social media is rapidly cementing itself as a key player in future marketing mix’s and as the growth of information and communications technologies races skyward in an out of control spiral, the words “expert” and “guru” begin to lose their relevance.
As new technologies continue to emerge we are beginning to see a telescoping effect, whereby the time between game-changing developments is becoming shorter and shorter. And there are no signs that suggest this will slow down any time soon.
I can’t speak for everyone, but for me at least, these are very exciting times and as someone who has grown up immersed in these developing mediums I cannot wait to see where this out of control spiral takes us.
This blog by Tim I read on hotmix.co paints a very real and vivid picture as to the direction we are heading and what it means for digital marketers. It highlights the extent to which companies are going to have to adapt as the speed and scale of these new developments continues to increase.
Bellow is a research report I did as an assignment for one of my uni papers earlier in the year. This was the paper that sent me tumbling down the road I now find myself on. And the further I go, and the more I observe, the more relevant I think the words it contains are.
Have a read. I’d love to know what you think.
Patchwork Media - Managing ICTs, The Future of the NZ Boadcast Sector
The Rise Of New Media - The Christchurch Earthquake
The recent coverage of the Christchurch earthquake is a prime example of how these traditional media outlets need to adapt to this new environment. Both TV stations and news websites were unacceptably sluggish with their coverage of the quake which prompted a huge number of people to follow via Twitter. Dozens of photos were surfacing and making their way around the world of social media as users “tweeted” and “re-tweeted” over and over in order to provider friends and followers with up-to-date info.
Here are some of the many photos shared (note all are via social media sites)
http://twitpic.com/2kwei5
http://twitpic.com/2kwhat
http://twitpic.com/2kwhsv
http://twitpic.com/2kwcnk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbergler/4954284461/
http://twitpic.com/2kw706
http://twitpic.com/2kw2j2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbergler/4954284461/in/photostream/
http://twitpic.com/2kwbf8
http://twitpic.com/2kwc34
http://twitpic.com/2kwc27
The extent to which talk of the quakes spread through social networking sites is illustrated bellow in twitters trending topics for both Auckland and Christchurch.
These trends were quickly identified as the best source of news for the quakes. This tweet from TelstraClear was "re-tweeted" 30 times.
One “tweep” (twitter user) was even quick to proclaim:
“New Zealand Earthquake: tweeters decide on hashtag in 30 mins: #eqnz”.
For those that aren’t familiar with a hash tag, it is a method twitter users use for consolidating data into an easy to follow stream. The promptness of this hashtag meant that any tweets regarding the earthquake could be tagged and anyone wanting updates needed to just follow the stream of that tag (see bellow)
This rapid and constantly updating stream became the go-to source of information for people following the quake.
As more and more info and pictures began to surface via twitter there was still no decent info or coverage on TV. This blog surfaced time-lining the lacklustre TV coverage after the quake and was tweeted amongst many outbursts as to the poor response time of the NZ media. Below are some of the tweets:
chiefie: @TelstraClearNZ @NZStuff I got news from BBC and CNN while MCDEM and NZ news aren't up yet. TCL was supplying tweet news since happened.
DavidSlack: What we've seen so far. Christchurch is made of bricks and TV news is made of marshmallow.
jofajafa: Grrrr #tv3 collect random pictures from twittersphere and scroll without commentary...
JonathanMosen: Coverage on TV 3 now, a little under 3 hours after the quake.
JonathanMosen: Getting better TV coverage from US than here. Some people need to be out of jobs PDQ
nztv: TV ONE, TV3, please interrupt your regular programming even if you repeat the same things over and over #christchurch #quake
nztv: Why is there not a news ticker on TV ONE/TV 3 for people needing information?
juhasaarinen: TV3's news site can't cope with the extra attention... 503 server busy
Ultimately the traditional mediums woke up and began reporting the quake, but their response was not nearly quick enough. This sort of response time and the fact that people were able to obtain such quick and constant updates via twitter is definitely not a good sign for TV and Print media.
More analysis will follow. What are your thoughts?
The Benefits of Social Media: Turning the Negative into the Positive.
SocialmediaTCL.bussinesstalk Case
A Marketers Inception
My Debut post on adreview.
For the past few years Hollywood has operated on a fairly predictable and conservative formula; they’ve made comic book movies, and they’ve made re-makes. Films like The Dark Night, Spiderman 1, 2 &3, Alice and Wonderland, Transformers, Iron Man 1&2, The A Team and Star Trek are just a fraction of movies - or products – to come off the Hollywood production line over this period. They all have one thing in common; they were chosen because of their marketability and their capacity to become more than just movies. They were chosen for their ability to become franchises. These films have shown that in today’s society a big box office movie has the potential to be so much more than just a film. Merchandise, video games, spin off cartoons are just some of the by-products of a well-marketed film. Hollywood are now more than ever transforming their movies into brands... (Read more)
Our Perception Of Privacy
Whether you view these stories as horrors or comedy’s they do undoubtedly impart wisdom and provide us with some sort of lesson. But how do we identify what that lesson is?
Privacy on social network sites is a topic that is rapidly heating up. The “who owns all of the data and what are they going to do with it?” question is a popular one. But there is also the question of how the information we share will impact upon us in the long run. What are the adverse effects of our 300 drunken photos that we’re tagged in on Facebook? Who is going to read our angry twitter ranst and what are they going to think?
I read an article recently entitled “Google and the Search for the Future” and in it Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted “that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites.”
This is a very interesting prediction and has particular relevance to generation Z, who are in the unfamiliar situation of growing up immersed within the world of social media. This was the vain of some of the questions posed at the recent Auckland Google Barcamp, and the topic fuelled a very interesting discussion.
One viewpoint was that of the concerned parent and/or teacher. These people were horrified at some of the information their kids (some as young as 7) were sharing via facebook. Their concern was centred round the inability for some kids - and subsequently their parent’s - to fully understand the implications of social networking privacy. To put it bluntly, they felt that a lot of the personal information being shared was grossly inappropriate and had the potential to be harmful both in the short and long term.
An opposing view put forth the idea of perception, and how in 10-20 years when generation Z are in the position a lot of us are in now then the drunken facebook photos and angry rants of their youth will be dismissed as commonplace as everyone will be in the same boat. More specifically these so-called inappropriate photos and statuses will be perceived as normal.
Which begs the question; how much of our online privacy concerns come down to differencing perceptions?
Are we concerned that our personal information is available to be seen, or are we concerned about the people that can potentially see it and how they will perceive it?
I WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS!! Throw some opinion around!
TO SWEAR OR NOT TO SWEAR
I’m going to back track a little with this post and resurrect a topic I touched on a few months ago. It’s a topic that has sparked many a debate for me over the past little while so I thought I’d reopen the can of worms and throw it out there for all of you to have a good go at.
I’m talking about swearing.
Now by that I don’t mean the casual “WTF”, “damn”, “hell” “bitch” or any of the other half-ass “curse words” that often get thrown under the swearing umbrella (see here). I’m talking about the big ones, the F-Bombs, the C-Bombs and the less imposing sh*t and d*ck bombs. And I’m talking about the place – or lack thereof - these words have in the world of social media.
Now me, I’m a fan. I like swearing. I particularly like how effective the words are at adding emphasis. However, I also acknowledge that not all people are susceptible to swearing and that a miss placed F-Bomb can often put you in a spot of bother. So obviously there’s a time and place. But where does social media fit into that time and place?
In order to truly understand this question we must step back and have a look at direction we are heading as a society.
New Zealand has always had that rough around the edges culture where even the most respected members of society let lose and fire off a few profanities when in the company of friends. Granted some do it more than others, but I challenge you to find a kiwi who has not been exposed to, or indulged in some healthy social swearing at some point in their lives. It’s not malicious, or intended to cause offence. It is simply a social behaviour that is entrenched in New Zealand's culture.
In years passed these expletives have been confined to social gatherings, with the vast majority of people remaining prim and proper while mingling with the rest of society. However, the sharp increase in the use of “foul” language in the media has resulted in society becoming very desensitised. TV, Movies, Magazines, News Papers and Radio are now packed full of profanities meaning the nations youth have been brought up with this sort of language being mainstream. Kids are being exposed to it at a very young age and by the time they finish school it has become an intricate part of their everyday vocabulary.
This is where it gets a bit dicey. For the majority of young people “curse” words are everyday run of the mill words. They are used frequently when conversing with friends, family, lecturers, managers and even complete strangers. Ninety-nine percent of the time this is not an issue because everyone else throws these words around just as much. Yet as a business targeting this demographic there is still a taboo associated with swearing.
The thing with social media is that it can’t be treated like other advertising mediums. Unlike the more traditional mediums social media is, well.. it’s social. It presents a scenario where the business is at the same level as the consumer and as such the businesses goal must be to present a face that the consumer is able to relate to and engage with. Basic marketing theory suggests that speaking the target markets language would go a long way to achieving that face. Thus throwing around a few f-bombs in your tweets and status's is potentially a very good way to attract and engage certain demographics. So, to swear or not to swear?
In ten to twenty years when today’s younger generations have become upstanding members of society swear words wont exist. But as of right now they do. Which means that while a few well-placed f-bombs would be well received by certain target demographics, those same f-bombs would literally blow away the potential customers in others.
So ultimately it comes down to a trade-off. To swear of not to swear.
Get involved; throw your thoughts around. I want to hear what you think.
NEW AGE ARTISTRY
One of the joys of social media - in particular social networking sites - are the various links and clips that when shared by a friend, show up in your news feed. As I was scrolling through mine today Sam Hill, a long standing Auckland DJ and Promoter, had shared this article - from on inthemix.com.au -which I found very interesting. Basically what it talks about is the apparent demise of the Club scene at the hands of the new age promoters. It highlights a trend where DJ’s are being booked based not on their skills and talent, but on their ability to inflate the guest-list. It raises examples that show just how far this trend goes, and brings forth instances where DJ’s were given quotas as to how many paying friends they must bring along. In response to these claims Sophie Page - ‘Home The Venue’s’ - argued by saying:
“Sublime was hammered on ITM for having quotas, but it was taken somewhat out of context,” she says. “We are all about our DJs promoting the brand, as well as themselves, so we can build something bigger than a local dancefloor. What we did put in place was a bonus pay scheme so we could get some more dollars into their pockets and motivate them to really push themselves further than through a new event on Facebook.”
What its basically saying is that from a business and marketing perspective, social media and the ability to utilize it effectively is a hugely valuable and important skill. It is a trend that is not just confined to DJing and the club scene either; it applies to many businesses across a wide array of industries. It highlights, in no uncertain terms, the effectiveness of social media as a promotional tool and the unfamiliar scenario in which young people have the upper hand.
The fact of the matter it’s the young up-and-comers that are making the most noise in the world of social media, and because of that they are generating large followings and securing more sets. Clubs and events want to become bigger than local dancefloors, and they recognise social media as one of the key mediums that can get them there. The DJ’s who can offer them the greatest exposure are the ones with the greatest online presence. And as it appears they are more often than not the young up-and-comers.
This is the idea that interests me the most. In times past it was the older generations that were looked up to. They were seen as wise and knowledgeable and they represented the top of a fairly ridged working structure that saw young people having to work the ranks before earning a place atop the ladder. The Information Revolution however, has seen the “wise and knowledgeable” factor whittle away. The rise of the internet gave young people an infinite source of knowledge that they could tap whenever they wanted. This resulted in the role reversal we see today; young people, after growing up with the Internet are proving to be the experts in the field of social media and as such are leaving their older counter parts confessed and frustrated in their wake.
A movie I saw recently which illustrated all of this perfectly was the superhero film Kick Ass. The movie as a whole was decidedly average but it dealt with this particular scenario well. Without regurgitating the whole plot it was about Dave Lizewski, a geeky teenager who decided to dress up in a costume and become the super hero Kiss Ass. A serious car crash, a public brawl and a YouTube video later and Kiss Ass had become the new web phenomenon. As Dave put it; “[his] MySpace: 38 friends, Kiss Ass’s MySpace: 16,000 and counting.” This did a great job of Illustrating the speed at which information flows through social media, and its power as a communications medium.
As the movie progressed the evil mob boss villain was revealed. Enter Frank D’Amico, an aging mobster with a geeky 17 year old son. When D’Amico’s attempts at canvassing the streets looking for Kick Ass failed he reluctantly decided to enlist his son Chris’s help. Chris, upon transforming into another superhero Red Mist, effortlessly utilized the power of social networking sites to track down and meet up with Kick Ass. This particular segment illustrated the extent to which the pendulum has swung and transferred to the power to the younger generation. Frank D’Amico was a feared and powerful mob boss with years of wisdom and knowledge behind him. In many respects he was far more skilled than his son, but his refusal to embrace new technology caused him to hit a brick wall when looking for Kick Ass. A wall his son was easily able to climb.
A scene towards the end of the film summed it up nicely; Chris had captured a gun fight on a teddy bear nanny-cam and had burst into his Dads office to show him. Frank, not knowing what the teddy was or how to use it was quickly told to sit down on the couch while Chris plugged the bear into the TV and showed his Dad the video. In a picture that resembled a teacher teaching some pupils we the audience were shown the power that the young geeky teenagers now posses, as well as the dangers that can become of refusing to embrace new technology.
But I Digress. Going back to the article on the clubbing scene from the beginning of this post; when reading it I asked myself is this trend a good thing? It has obviously led to a scenario where DJs with average mixing skills are landing gigs ahead of their more skilled counterparts. From a strictly musical perspective it is definitely not a good direction to be travelling, and to be honest I find it concerning. However, to dismiss these young up-and-comers as punks with no talent is in my opinion short sighted. Their ability to successfully navigate and manipulate the world of social media is in itself an amazing skill. While the older more experienced DJs can manipulate and control a crowd from behind the decks, the new age promoter/DJ can do it from behind a computer. Their ability to build a brand, and inspire a drove of “friends” is at the end of the day a far more desirable talent from a business and marketing perspective. This is something that the older generations definitely need to look out for as a refusal to embrace social media will surely put them at a disadvantage.
Sorry for the length, it’s been a while so I had a lot of pent up opinion to get out. I’m currently working on a social media experiment for an upcoming post, so make sure you stay tuned. When it’s all done it should be a good read.
- Jake
THE FUTURE IS NOW
I recently stumbled across an ingenious facebook group called the Trademe auction bombarders! Now basically what these guys do is every week they pick one lucky trademe auction and bombard it with funny and witty questions about the product. Now I say lucky due to the fact that it is an extremely effective use of new media and new communications technology to promote a product. This is a trend that we are seeing more and more in the marketplace as we charge through this rapidly changing technological landscape. Schneezy Mcgee, the group’s creator, personifies a new age marketer. He is at the cutting edge of technology riding the wave of new and social media by utilizing the new promotional mediums they create. To get an idea of just how revolutionary and visionary this approach is we must first understand where we have come from and thus the direction we are heading.
The nature of marketing has changed dramatically over the past few decades as a result of the development and implication of new information and communication technologies (ICT’s). Perhaps the most influential ICT over this period has been the Internet, and it continues to grow. Since 1997 Internet traffic has doubled annually, and due to constant enhancements it continues to grow at that rate. In 1990 the average speed of the internet was 9.6kbs, in 2000 the introduction of broadband saw speeds to increase to 512kbs, and now as we charge through 2010 speeds are set to increase to a staggering 100mbs (100,000kbs). This huge increase in bandwidth availability has opened the door for the transmission of data rich content like HDTV (high definition television), Radio Broadcasts and Full Magazines and Newspapers to be streamed over the internet, thus taking a lot of power away from the traditional media outlets.
This rapid growth of the internet is crippling traditional media channels and thus advertising and promotional mediums. Magazines and newspapers are on the verge of death; the emergence of the iPad enables consumers to access their news and culture online. Traditional over-the-air radio broadcasting is also on the verge of extinction with experts predicting that by 2020 the last terrestrial radio transmitter will be turned off in America, with the last in the UK being turned off in 2015. And even TV isn’t safe, the birth of on-demand free video content like youtube.com is completely changing the way young people consume their television and the more they watch youtube the less they watch TV. In a nut shell everything is going digital and online. This is particularly concerning for marketers who are left with mediums with diminished audiences, and thus less promotional merit. Therefore innovative new mediums must be found on the internet and marketers must utilize the capabilities of the new and emerging ICT’s.
In regards to Schneezy Mcgee, the group’s creator, his utilization of one of the fastest emerging ICT’s, social media, is indicative of the direction we are going as an audience. The future appears to be in interactivity, with evidence of this sprouting up through all forms of traditional media. News websites are now allowing readers to post feedback and opinion at the bottom of their stories, thus encouraging readers to engage further with the material. Radio stations have introduced txt machines and set up twitter and facebook feeds and are encouraging listeners to provide feedback and interact with DJ’s. Even TV is heading this way with broadcasters who are using multicasting (e.g. TVNZ on demand) looking to establish interactive advertising. This is essentially where viewers would be able to click on and purchase products in the programme they are viewing online. For example a designer dress worn by a character on an episode of ‘The Hills’ could be clicked on by viewers who will then be directed to a retail website where that dress could be purchased. This increased interactivity is valuable as it encourages greater engagement and thus prolonged interest in the content, which in turn means greater promotional visibility. Social media in this regard is a gold mine for marketers as it provides an audience that can engage with the product.
This is where we can truly see the revolutionary aspects of the Trademe auction bombarders! Their success as a promotional tool lies in there encouragement of not only interaction but engagement. The group’s challenge for consumers to create witty and funny questions about the product requires them to critically look at and think about the product. It burns it in into their brain by forcing them to consider every aspect of it in order to create a well worded, well thought out question. In order to fully appreciate the effectiveness of this one only needs to look at how consumers engage with older promotional mediums such as billboards. They are looked at, processed then forgotten. Interactivity is the future and the Trademe auction bombarders! Are the guides.
By Jake Davy
NOTE: The Trademe auction bombarders! have been closed down due to the complaints of a few of the older trademe users
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