Week 14 NCA conference

At the NCA conference in New Orleans this year I sat in on a lot of good panels and discussions. two of which were very pertinent to Social media, although many of them related a bit.

The two best ones focused on two ideas, Identity and political impacts. In both discussion there was a great emphasis on the power of social media to give voice to the voiceless. This sea change was agreed upon to being dealt with better than similar explosions of technology giving access to more individuals being heard in the past. But both sides also did not escape being pessimistic how hegemonic instituitions, feeling threatened could use this change to exploit or justify some negative actions.

The Identity people were concerned about how for example we feel it necessary to construct and manage social media identities. Is this a luxury? A burden? A necessity? A privilege? There are more questions than answers right now, but that is what makes this field so very exciting.

The political theorists see it as a great equalizer and are more or less excited about the prospects. However it seems easy to praise this technology when you aren't the institution being challenged. I'd be curious how they would feel similar revolutions growing in the academic field in relation to journal publication and peer review.

I'm excited about what the future Social media communication holds. Hopefully I finish everything this semester so that I can explore it in the future. :-/ So many papers due.

Have a wonderful Winter Holiday season!

The panels attended were called: Changing Identities and Evolving Media

and : New Voices in and about North Africa and the Middle East: Problematizing the Nexus between Technology and Participatory

Democracy

Among any others

Stitcher

For my last original post I was inspired to talk about my favorite app for my iphone by the app presentation and discussion a few weeks previous.

I have personally logged over 1400 hours on it (the app keeps track). It's called Stitcher and it relates back to another area the class focused on - podcasting. Stitcher in my opinion is better than the itunes model of consuming podcasts, and if not, it certainly is its only viable competition. With that being said stitcher may not have the quantity of choices itunes has, but it's easy interface, intuitive build and quality of options makes it invaluable to me.

It categorizes podcasts and suggests ones you might like after you start building your playlist of podcasts you subscribe to. All of the podcasts are free and never miss an update. Most news programs no have a podcast for stitcher. The app will automatically update when a new show comes in. After you have set up your favorite shows you no longer have to worry about anything accept hitting play. Unless of course you want to customize a bit.

Whether you are a podcast veteran, trying to find an audience for your podcast, or trying to find an easy introductory experience you should download stitcher.

New old school approaches

Wow. Talk about saving the best for last. From the beginning of the article i was skeptical of what the author might mean by her sentiment that the more things change the more they stay the same. If you have read any of my blog up to this point you've certainty caught an air of sea change sentiment coming from my direction. I'm not dogmatic about it, but have certainly been vocal that I think we either already or are entering a new era.

It wasn't long though until the nuance of the suggestion that I began to come over to the author's side. She condemns the belief that everything can be managed. This is different she just doesn't acknowledge it as such. Then states, "...it takes a new approach. The old command and control, top down message delivery is no longer an option."

The only thing old school about her theories is the method to approaching measurement and management of what is possible. This is both old and new, and concede that indeed the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This is truly where the paper shines, the author provides a very detailed description as how she sees such an approach could be implemented. If any of the posts I have written interest you I strongly suggest you check out this article. Especially if you are considering a future in the PR world.

Perfect last reading assignment.

Why I refuse to use Bing

This article is the best I've ever found on this incident that occurred earlier this year, and personally I think deserves some sort of outrage. I'm not sure what legal recource their is for google, or even if there should be legal recourse available. But I do know I don't want to use a product that is being produced in a lazy or underhanded way.

I thought sharing this would be great in response to- the search engine optimization presentation we had a few weeks back. You should read it. It clearly explains how google found out and caught bing using it's technology unlawfully and the lack of outrage that resulted.

Mobile apps and virtual markets.

For those that may be unfamiliar a mobile application, also known as mobile app, is a term used to describe software that runs on smartphones and mobile phones.

The presentation in class had a very interesting inforgraphic on the economics and numbers surrounding app stores.

The article about mobile apps, and their ascendance is fascinating. This however is not the first instance of this type of virtual marketplace. Video games have been blazing this trail for a long time, either legitimately though the game system, or illegally selling game items gotten by potentially ill gotten means. I think it was that lesson that pushed the google team to push for their open handset initiative. They could have been learning from games like World of Warcraft that despite Blizzard's attempts to eradicate there is a flourishing underground gold farming market.

Ok maybe not, but they certainly were using this initiative as a bargaining chip with cell phone makers on incentive for users not to "jail break" the phones, which was commonly seen in Iphones at the time and zapped any revenue from app stores that user might have provided.

social celebs

I enjoyed the presentation this week over Organizational use of social media, particularly the focus on celebrity's use for branding and reputation. Though the lady gaga example is an excellent another example that seems even more amazing is Tila Tequila. Numerous articles have been written about her ascendance to fame, the short of it is that it was meteoric and it was all thanks to Myspace.

She would readily admit in interviews that her asset was her attractiveness and her ability to spread her message across social media platforms. Her message was I'm hot, so hot I should be a celbrity. And magically it has worked, since this beginning she's starred on multiple reality shows, and I'm sure makes far more money than me.

This ABC article talks about the unwittingly branding, and advertising that can also result with this technology and age.

The future of Advertising and Gamefication

In response to chapter 17 in the Twitter Revolution book -

I like the idea behind contests are the new advertising. I think it is very true that this type of advertising will be the future of advertising. Whether or not it will wholly replace old advertising techniques; I'm less persuaded.

On a more general note, to talk about the origin theoretically of such a model; I think we are seeing a "gamefication" of all aspects of our culture, advertising being one of the earlier adopters.

This idea isn't even new in advertising. The most obvious example is McDonald's Monopoly game every year. Essentially this is the same model as the example in the chapter of the book. Close interest and sales in hopes of winning something. Yes you don't have to buy in the example in the book but both uses the prospect of winning a game to add to buzz and exposure.

I think there are pros and cons to gamefication in society and hope to devote a paper to it in the near future.