Thursday 7 April 2011

News Case Studies

-Rupert Murdoch vs Google (IP theft?)
-Researcg a particular online news provision
-Murdoch monopoly

Music Case Studies

-Study how artists have used the online age to further their career
-Zavvi/virgin and HMV
-Wikileaks (cost of free)
-illegal downloads

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Stop Press? Media Revolution (BBC2)

Media Revolution is a documentary on BBC2 which has an in-depth look at the decline in newspaper circulation sales and the rise of technology and how this has effect the print journalism.
As an example of this the 'dailies' have lost over 2.25 million readers over the past 10 years; The Mirror lost 750,000; The Sun lost 400,000; The Telegraph has went down 17%; The Guardian down 10% and the Sunday papers have lost 500,000 readers. The only newspaper which did not lose readers between 2008 and 2009 was The Sun, who effectively had to cut their cover price to keep sales of their newspaper up. The percentage of revenue for local papers is up to a 3/4 of revenue from advertising, and is down 23%.
Due to technology advances over the 80's, newspapers from the USA and Japan already using this advanced technology, Rupert Murdoch revolutionized newspaper production by moving his printing press in Fleet Street to computer operators in Wapping.
Also newspapers attempt to attract readers, or hold their existing readers, through giving away freebies with their papers, especially CDs and DVDs. In 2008 McFly gave away their new CD with the Mail on Sunday which caused the tabloid's sales to rise from the average 2.1 million up to 2.4 million on the day it was sold.
Some newspapers are 'free', for example the Metro which is given away on trains across the country, and this has numerous effects on the industry; some good, some bad. The good points are that the news is given for free and reaches the niche group of young people a lot easier than other newspapers, these young people often have a lot of disposable income and this appeals to the advertises. However other newspapers criticize the Metro due to its apparent 'dumbing down' of the headlines, making the articles take up a lot less room, therefore saving money - only 55% of the Metro is actual news, a giant 45% is advertisements. Also the free newspapers cause problems for the other newspapers as the potential customers could well be more inclined to read the Metro, a smaller and easier to handle newspaper on trains and other forms of transport rather than the larger broadsheets.
The internet has also had a heavy impact on newspaper sales as more people can read their news online and due to the media convergence of such gadgets as the iPad, and smart/android phones they can read it on the go. Online you can look up the exact articles you would like read, or the topic it s about rather than having to flick through a newspaper trying to find it, therefore the immediacy is more relevant to the younger people of today. The internet is also, for the most part, free content - however now some newspaper sites are charging for their news to be read online; for example the Times online chargers £6 for a weeks content.
Some newspapers have tried to embrace this such as the Telegraph which has embraced the digital world through moving to a high-tech office which has a 'projection wall' which shows the articles which are currently online over a large wall for all the journalist to see whilst working, also a video studio, and a tally which shows what the most read articles are to motivate the writers. Showing that newspapers are not just printing presses anymore, they are multimedia offices. This online access has had a major impact on some newspapers, for example the Guardian which has 1/3 of their readers from the UK, 1/3 from America and 1/3 from the rest of the world (2009 approximate figures), therefore the newspapers need to think even further globally. Advertises may not be willing to share their adverts with countries to which their adverts or products is invalid, and the newspapers companies will need to altercate this, as before the digital world took over the newspaper printed copies, were they would be more locally printed, had advertisements which were applicable to that area. Whereas now, due to the online age, as people are reading all over the world their adverts would be useless.

Technologies which have changed the way which we access our news include the Amazon Kindle and iPad as well as 'apps' for the smart/android phones which are also internet accessible so people can buy subscriptions from the websites. I personally don't pay for news a lot, it is easy to access the main headlines through TV broadcasting or Radio bulletins, however I occasionally purchase the Times newspaper, but I never buy news online.

Stop Press?


Full breakdown of national newspaper circulation figures for December 2010:
(average sale; percentage change year on year - source ABC)

Dailes

Daily Mirror ; 1,133,440 ; -7.51

Daily Record ; 290,247 ; -7.79

Daily Star ; 713,602 ; -9.09

The Sun ; 2,717,013 ; -5.10

Daily Express ; 623,689 ; -7.98

Daily Mail ; 2,030,968 ; -3.89

The Daily Telegraph ; 631,280 ; -10.23

Financial Times ; 390,121 ; -2.67

The Herald ; 51,469 ; -7.78

The Guardian ; 264,819 ; -11.89

The Independent ; 175,002 ; -6.39

The Scotsman ; 41,572 ; -7.56

The Times ; 448,463 ; -14.01

Racing Post ; 49,274 ; -12.39

Sunday titles

Daily Star Sunday ; 336,868 ; -4.64

News of the World ; 2,600,985 ; -6.83

Sunday Mail ; 352,300 ; -8.95

Sunday Mirror ; 1,047,363 ; -5.92

The People ; 486,669 ; -8.64

Sunday Express ; 544,870 ; -7.74

Sunday Post ; 309,456 ; -7.55

The Mail on Sunday ; 1,951,783 ; -2.43

Independent on Sunday ; 150,437 ; -3.23

The Observer ; 301,457 ; -14.12

Scotland on Sunday ; 48,480 ; -11.77

Sunday Herald ; 39,831 ; -1.94

The Sunday Telegraph ; 490,322 ; -6.62

The Sunday Times ; 1,008,163 ; -9.44

Sunday 6 March 2011

The Social Network

The Social Network.

The Social Network is a film about the setup and first 6 to 12 months of Facebook.
It starts out showing Mark Zuckerberg with his ex girlfriend who just happens to split up with him. In a rage he first blogged about her while hacking sororities photos so he could set up a website, Facesmash to make himself feel better. This rated girls against each other to see who was 'hotter'.
Seeing the success of this Zuckerberg was perused by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who wanted to set up a dating website for Harvard students knows as the Harvard connection. After the first meeting or two Zuckerberg took somewhat of the same idea and used different processes to set up 'the facebook' a complete social network site for only people with a harvard email address.

Soon afterward, Mark approaches Eduardo and tells him of his idea for what he calls "Thefacebook", an online social networking website exclusive to Harvard University students. He explains this would let people share personal and social information securely. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing $1,000 to help start the site. They distribute the link to Eduardo's connections at the
Phoenix S-K final club, and it quickly becomes popular throughout the student body. When they learn of Thefacebook, the Winklevoss twins and Narendra believe Zuckerberg had stolen their idea while stalling on their website. Tyler and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Cameron convinces them they can settle the matter as "Harvard gentlemen" without the courts. Meanwhile, Mark continues to add features like "relationship status" to the profile page, since "people don't walk around wearing signs."
At a visiting lecture by Bill Gates, fellow Harvard University student Christy Lee introduces herself and her friend Alice Cantwel to Eduardo and Mark. She asks the boys "Facebook us"; their use of this phrase impresses both of them. Christy invites them to a bar where Mark runs into Erica, who is not aware of Thefacebook because she is not a Harvard student. Mark decides to expand the site to more schools. As Thefacebook grows in popularity, they expand to other schools in the Northeastern United States, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra become angrier at seeing "their idea" advance without them. Cameron refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct. Through their father's connections they arrange a meeting with Harvard President Larry Summers, who is dismissive and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in Thefacebook website itself.
Through Christy, now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster co-founder Sean Parker. When Christy, Mark, and Eduardo meet Sean, Eduardo becomes skeptical noting Sean's problematic personal and professional history. Christy thinks Eduardo is jealous of Sean, and attempts to calm him to avoid a scene. Sean presents a vision for Facebook similar to Mark's and impresses him. In a parting comment, Sean suggests they drop the "The" from Thefacebook.
At Sean's suggestion, Mark moves the company to Palo Alto, while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support. Meanwhile in England, while competing in the Henley Royal Regatta for Harvard, the Winklevoss twins discover Facebook has expanded to a number of universities there. Cameron finally relents and they decide to sue. When Eduardo visits from New York, he is angered to find Sean is living at the house they have rented and is making business decisions for Facebook. After arguing with Mark, Eduardo freezes the company's bank account and returns to New York. Upon returning, Christy argues with Eduardo about his Facebook profile, which still lists him as "single". When Christy questions Eduardo about why he has not changed his Facebook profile, he tells her he does not know how to, further infuriating Christy because she believes he is lying. She cites his profile as evidence he cheated on her with promiscuous women in Silicon Valley and sets fire to a scarf he has given to her. While Eduardo extinguishes the fire, Mark reveals on the phone that they have secured money from an angel investor through Parker's contacts. Eduardo ends his relationship with Christy.
Eduardo soon discovers the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company from thirty-four percent to three hundredths of a percent, while maintaining the ownership percentage of all other parties. He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him. Later that night, during a party celebrating Facebook's 1 millionth member, Sean and a number of Facebook interns are arrested for possession of cocaine.
The framing device throughout the film shows Mark testifying in depositions in two lawsuits: one filed by the Winklevoss twins, and the other filed by Eduardo. In the final scene, a junior lawyer for the defense informs Mark they should settle with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's personality will make a jury highly unsympathetic. The film ends with Mark sending a friend request to Erica on Facebook, and refreshing the page every few seconds waiting for a response.

The Online Age

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Wikinomics: Five Big Ideas.



1. By Adam. 'Peering - he free sharing of material on the internet'
Peering is used in the music industry online. Peering is good for new music artists as it gives them the opportunity to upload and share their music and build a fan base and try to get noticed by a record label. On the other hand however once this new music artist begins to charge for their music, peering makes it easier for the artist's fans to illegally and freely download music, which will negatively effect the music artist.



2. By Kirsten
'Free creativity is a natural and positive outcome of the free market, it basically lets artist share their artistic works through the Internet.'

Examples



Realise by Wibz

This is a screen grab from Sound Cloud where people in bands who create music individually can upload their own music to the site and then share through facebook and other social networking sights. The screen grab is from my friends profile who uploads his personal works and works the he has created at university. He then shares them with his friends and gets creative feedback from everyone. This could also act as an oppertunity for him to just send links to people in the media world or for him to be 'discovered' such as artists like Jessie J and Justin Bieber on youtube.com by uploading videos of them singing.
Example.





A few examples for music sharing that may not come from the artist include www.spotify.com, Www.mediafire.com, www.it-leaked.com, and Napster.

3. By Rachel.
'The media is democratised by peering, free creativity and the
we media journalism produced by normal people.'





4. By Sarah.
'Web 2.0 makes thinking globally inevitable. The internet is the 'worlds biggest coffeehouse', a virtual space in which a new blog is created every second. In this instantly global communication sphere, national and cultural boundaries are inevitably reduced.'
These images are examples of a virtual space. It is a prime example of just how many blogs are created every day.
Twitter and Tumblr are just 2 of many popular social networking sites that contribute to global communication.

5. By me,
'The combination of three things - technology (web 2.0), demographics and economics'
An example of this are stores which have online websites, for example Debenhams, which allows people to browse the stores collections before purchasing and also allowing people who live a further distance from the physical store to buy items and have them delivered. Therefore enhancing the companies profits. Also the stores can be seen on websites that are not their own through using social networking sites i.e. facebook.

http://www.debenhams.com/

Whereas the profits of stores which do not have any interent affiliation will suffer because of the people using internet accessable shops, and internet shopping are ever-growing in popularity.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Chris Anderson - 'the Long Tail' theory 2006



This graph is an example of the long tail theory, by Chris Anderson.

The green area of this graph shows mainstream product popularity when first released, and the yellow area shows the product popularity lowering after time.


The Long Tail theroy is that the general profit outcome of mainstream products is equal to that of niche products in the long run. An example of this is a mainstream product; Britney Spears' album '...Baby One More Time' (released 1999) which has sold 26 million copies world wide and a niche product; Nirvana's album 'Nevermind' (released 1991) which has also sold 26 million copies world wide.