The Next New Thing

I think the next type of New Media will help people make choices. Bing is already functioning on this platform becasue it is telling its customers that it helps sort out through all of the information and choose the best results. This is the future of New Media becasue there is just so much information out there that people are getting tired of sifting through everything and companies are paying in order to be in the front so it makes information very bias. The New Media will help people decide on purchasing decisions, career decisions, entertainment decisions. People will have to fill out an extensive profile in order for the New Media service to know who you are but in the end they will be able to help you make decision!

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I am the contributor to the Marketing and Advertising using New Media wiki and the Editor of the New media and the Arts.

As a contributor I want to focus on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and how they have revolutionized marketing and advertising. I will mention new innovations in New Media which will affect marketers' ability to communicate with the masses. For example on Tuesday, Twitter announced a new advertising service which will allow companies to manipulate search, by paying of course, in order for the company's tweets to come up first in the search. This is important because it manipulates how people consumer information.

As the Editor, I will focus on how the Arts are using New Media in order to communicate with their audience as well as to market their events. Also, I will mention how people in the Arts are using New Media in order to conduct research on people's interests and wants from entertainment.

About My Term Research Paper

I was really excited to write my research paper becasue it is on a very popular issue in technology and new media. My research topic is on "Cybercrime" and how it affects social networking and interaction online. I chose this topic becasue I hear a lot of my friends are dealing with annoying and threatening cybercrimes such as spammers and hackers. The breach of privacy on social networking websites is a huge issue becasue it is ambiguous in who to blame for cybercrimes committed- is it the companies, the government or even ourselves?

I began my research by going to the Baruch Library and speaking with a librarian whom has a specialty in research. After discussing my topic with her she pointed out several resources I can use in order to gather more information about this topic. I used the library databases in order to find journal articles and reports on my topics.

Through my research I was able to find, to my surprise, that child predation is not the top crime online. The top cybercrimes actually have to do with phishing, identity theft, and spamming. Before I did the research I thought the top cybercrimes related to social networking would include bullying and sexual harassment but surprisingly it has to do more with spam and phishing.

Some of the conclusions I found were that there are a lot of security issues that both governments and financial institutions are dealing with as people become more tech-savvy and use the Internet for activities such as shopping and applying for jobs. Recently, some hackers were even able to hack into the US government's software, which makes it very scary for the average person out there to think that even the government is vulnerable.

I think my paper is a major contribution to New Media research becasue it outlines the future of cybercrime- an activity that affects us all. Moreover, it is ever-growing as hackers become smarter in how they break security codes and scam people. It is an issue of utmost importance seeing as it can harm a person's finances, job, social interactions and even overall safety.

Privacy & Confidentiality

I think the most important concern of people with new media is its privacy and confidentiality. The problem is that when people expose themselves so much through mediums such as twitter, Facebook and blogs, they are making a lot of valuable information attainable to the general public. It is thus important to always set very strict privacy settings on these websites and also to have strict judgment when choosing what to post.

Issues of privacy and confidentiality are very related to media becasue people expose a lot of themselves online and could get very hurt as a result. In this sense, although free speech should be encouraged, I think it is the irresponsibility of these websites to censor what people post. It is also our own responsibility to use judgment when we decide to make something public. I think it is difficult to expect much privacy when one is posting everything they do and their pictures on public websites. Unless people are protected with privacy settings, I don't think they should expect much privacy. This could pose a huge issue in the future as people's darkest secrets get exposed online. It could also mean disaster for people professionally speaking becasue once something gets on the web, it is almost impossible to delete. The lesson is to always be careful and maintain sound judgment.

Advice to Baruch College

If I was hired as a new media coordinator in order to improve Baruch College's social media communications with its student and faculty, I would institute several changes. First of all, I think as incoming freshmen enter the school they feel lost especially since Baruch is a commuter school. Thus, to make the process easier, I would ask several seniors to have blogs of their own, which would be posted on the Baruch website, so that people can read about their experience and ask them questions. I would reward the seniors by paying them or giving them internship credit. I think this would work great becasue the seniors can discuss things like registrations, career types, and great opportunities they were involved in.

Another thing I would institute is a Facebook and a LinkedIn page for all of the Baruch alumni in order to allow them to network and also for other students who are still in Baruch to ask them questions and ask advice.

I also think the registration and financial aid need a better way in which they communicate with the student body. I know recently they added twitter and facebook, which helped a lot, but they need to post more often and allow people to ask questions more efficiently. Also, I think student life should get more involved in New Media seeing as they are supposed to be the most connected to the students. They should post on twitter and Facebook the events around the campus, outside opportunities as well as important due dates to keep in mind.

My Twitter Experience

I was surprised at first to see how many people bash Twitter! I think it is mostly because they are not too familiar with what Twitter can offer. First off, if you follow some very interesting people you can get live up to date information about current event around the world. It is great because you can see people's reaction in real time and build a relationship with that person by replying to their tweet. I also like the fact that certain companies, such was JetBlue and HBO, post tweets when there are sales. There are also quite a lot of tweets around fans...I know HBO has a whole twitter account for just True Blood and it updated its followers with sales, new cast, screening, new products and etc. I think if you are a fan Twitter is a great way to keep in touch with things you love. I think overall people do not give Twitter a chance before they put it down.

I agree that it was a lot more difficult at first to write in only 140 characters but then that forces you to be concise and to the point. It also allows for your followers to get a quick update of your thoughts instead of a long one which might take time to read. It is definitely shorter and maybe not as personal as a BB discussion would be or a FB wall post. And it definitely gets confusing to retweet topics so in this sense it is more complicated than an in-class discussion. But I think it is effective in the sense that it is short and simple and gets the job done!

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

There are several different ways in which virtual worlds can be used. As mentioned in the the CNN article, it can be used for work purposes. For example, Second Life enabled IBM and other companies to hold meetings virtually. Another way in which virtual words can be used is in toys. An article published in BusinessWeek recently mentioned how toys such as Webkinz allow for the new generation of tech-savvy children to also enjoy the existence of the virtual world. Aside from these two examples, virtual worlds can be used as social tools in order to met new people and/or maintain relationships and interact with family and friends.

The benefits of a virtual world in a professional sense include decreasing costs associated with work travel and thus saving money, making the communication platform more engaging to professionals, and building and maintaining relationships more easier in the professional sense. The negative aspects would be that by using virtual worlds people lose the "human affect", where people spontaneously interact and build relationships. Virtual worlds can also make people anti-social in real-life situations.

Virtual worlds foster creativity because they allow people to open up and not hold their ideas inside. By being comfortable inside their home they feel freer to speak their mind and all social boundaries are lifted. It also allows for people to look up information and bring in facts into conversations that were not readily available before.

I think in the future, people will rely on virtual worlds much more in the professional sense than in the social sense. I think people still enjoy going our for a real beer more than just sitting in front of a computer and pretending to sip a beer over the internet. But in terms of getting work done and communicating with professionals all over the world, I think virtual worlds will be very prominent in this aspect. We already use so much digital technology in order to connect with people all over the world and I think in the future it will be cheaper and more convenient to have a virtual conference than to fly to Europe and have a face-to-face meeting.

Social Networking

I think Social Networking has gone a long way and it still has a long way to go. I know for a face that many corporations keep in touch with their "fan" through the usage of Facebook and MySpace. One example I know for a fact is regarding HBO. I am currently interning there and I know that HBO has close to 35 Facebook Fan Pages for various shows and movies they release. It has 4 pages alone for True Blood, its hit series, and the fans number close to 800'000. HBO uses these Facebook pages to post programming updates, ask opinions from fans, post new merchandise links, post discounts and coupons to its online store, and post images as well as videos in order to engage the fans even after the show is over. It is primarily used in order to create marketing buzz around the show even after the show is over and also to make revenue from selling merchandising items. It also serves as a great way to keep a dialogue with the fans and allow them to voice their opinions in regards to vital issues. HBO reviews these websites and then gains important insights into how the fans feel about what is going on. It also keeps the communication going between HBO and its fans.

The benefits of these technologies to the society is that people are able to stay more connected to people in their lives that they might have otherwise lost touch with. It also allows for people to share information, such as videos and pictures, with many of their friends and family. I also think it serves as a good way to get away from daily life and escape into a more peaceful and fun life. Some people are also able to communicate better with others over the internet and build lasting relationships on these social networking sites. Of course the "dark side" is that people can get either carried away with spending time on these websites or these websites can become platforms for potential crime.

I think in the future social networking sites will be pose even greater opportunities for marketers and various organizations in order to maintain their relationship with their audience but I also think these websites will be more closely monitored by the government in order to prevent crime. I also think these websites will act as great ways to build and maintain relationships on the professional level, as the NPR article points out! As mentioned in the article LinkedIn has "a network of 8 million professionals"- and that is a great starting point in finding a job!

Check Out Social Networking Sites

My first impression of most of the required social networking sites has happened over four years ago. I remember the first time I logged into MySpace I was totally confused about how to navigate around the website and I thought there was too much freedom as to how to design your profile. Too many choices leads to confusion. At lease for me. I also remember that there were even websites to get background designs from- which made it even more confusing for me when it came to choosing the most interesting one. I also remember that MySpace had a very sleazy feel to it and that it was filled with naked people and wannabe gangsters. I think it was everyone's effort to hook up.

Facebook, on the other hand, was simple and down-to-earth. I did not have to figure out too many options and I did not spend much time "designing" my profile. Plus it had a more mature crowd. I definitely thought it served my purpose a lot more- it was a way to stay in touch with people.

Friendster seems to me like it is a middle ground between MySpace and Facebook. It has the clean and hip feel of Facebook but also the cluttered with ads and very free feel to it like MySpace. I really like the branding of the page (ex. the green logo and the way albums looks) but overall I like simplicity, which Facebooks gives me.

Lastly, I have been part of a Polish social networking website called NaszaKlasa.pl. It means "our class" and it was designed for people to keep in touch with the friends they made in their classes. It has now turned into something more like Facebook and people keep in touch with everyone from family to coworkers. I really like that website becasue it is relatively clean looking and it allows me to keep in touch with my family and friends in Poland.

Overall, I am satisfied with a combination of Facebook and Naszaklasa.pl !

Blogs vs. Wikis

There are several similarities and differences between Blogs and Wikis. To begin I would like to discuss the differences. First off, Blogs and Wikis are operated by different companies with slightly different corporate strategies. Also the primary intentions for each are different; Blogs are a platform for personal expression while Wikis are intended to show unbiased facts and figures. Thus the difference is that Blogs are subjective while Wikis should be objective. The reality is since both are written by humans there will always be some bias. The difference also is that the content on Wikis can be edited and changed by everyone, while Blogs are changed/edited only by the author and the only feedback readers have is to post some comments. It of course requires a "leap of faith", as the New York Times article points out.

The similarities of Blogs and Wikis are that they are both intended to spread information around the world. Their mission is to share information; and whether it is personal or formal information, it still needs to be shared for it to be meaningful.

Convergence in today's networked world is the notion that ideas and opinions are becoming more mainstream as information is shared quickly. Moreover, single individuals can change the future by providing information to unlimited numbers of people. Information is also becoming more accessible to the public and as a result more people are involved in the creation of information. Wikis can be used for collaboration since it allows other people to not only change the content, but to also alter data more quickly. Blogs can also be used to collaborate as they allow people to comment on other peoples ideas, which in essence creates dialogue and exchange of ideas.

If I were to think of a new use for a wiki, it would be to allow creative expression to also be exposed to the public and thus allow the public to collaborate with authors. Wikis should allow for photography and creative writing to be published so that people can learn from each other and share ideas. The problem is that people are too protective of their work nowadays. No one wants to share.

Old vs. New

There are several ways to distinguish between old media and new media. The easiest way is just to know the difference between old media and new media. Old media is the more traditional form of media which has been historically successful until New Media emerged and changed how people consume information. New Media would include eBooks, Blogs, Pandora, ezines, podcasts, VOIP, YouTube, and Flickr. In contrast Old Media would have included Books, Journalism, Magazines, Newspapers, Radio, TV, landline phone, Film and Photography.

The best way to distinguish is that New Media uses digital technology such as the Internet, new innovative electronic products such as e-readers, and faster communication networks around the world. The more traditional media, or old media, uses more old-fashioned technologies. For this reason the audience for these two different medias can also vary. The old media attracts people who group up with such technology, such as the baby-boomers. New media is intended for the younger generation who is more tech-savvy.

Description of Research Paper

In my research paper I want to discuss the negative and the positive affects of social media on crime. More specifically how do such social websites such as Facebook and Myspace instigate crime and on the flip side, helps to prevent it. I want to discuss recent crimes, which appeared in the news, that were prevented through the use of Facebook. Also, I want to discuss how social media gives the platform for people, such as the school bullies, to harass the weaker people by means of such things as spreading rumors or targeting the person directly. I want to look at what the government is doing to stop the harassment of people on social media and what the companies running these websites are doing. I also want to make a small prediction about the future of crime prevention and how social media will affect it.

What is New Media?

The purpose of this entry is to define what New Media is. Although to me, it is strange to call something “new” and “old” when it is all relative to the time and person viewing it. When I look at media I just look at it as a consistent flow of communication between the author and the consumer of media. There are changes however, as “seamless” as this evolution seems, which triggered vast advances in the technologies supporting mass media.

Firstly, the Internet has undoubtedly changed how the masses consume media. That cannot be denied. The year before the Internet was developed and the year after Internet was developed seem like totally different eras, even centuries. People began communicating in time that they could not even imagine and were staying connected with practically everyone in the world- from family to co-workers, the latter of both which some people now regret. Seconfly, New Media became more interactive and personal. It became even more democratic with the development of Web 2.0, which made New Media a “do-it-yourself” media, as the Web 2.0 YouTube video explains.

The new technologies, which support this open and equal communication between the creator and the receiver, include blogs, wikis, Flickr, and websites such as Facebook, Technorati and Google Maps. These advances changed the Internet from a “static website”, to a more customizable and collaborative platform for mass communication, where everyone has a voice, no matter how insignificant their real life is in the grand spectrum of the world. For the first time, oppressed people in the Middle East could post YouTube videos of governmental violence against citizens, which shocked the whole world and called for change. There is more transparency now. More responsibility for one’s actions and statements. All you have to do is “ youtube it”, and it already has a voice. It gave people more freedom to fight back for injustices done to them. It decentralized the power to communicate and thus the power to influence.

As the previously mentioned video, in Web 1.0 you, as the creator, choose your content while in Web 2.0 your content is created by the people and only influenced by you. The Internet made communication faster and thus more current and meaningful, which allows for people to experience life together and more simultaneously. No matter what the future will bring in terms of technology “the lid is blowing off”, as Clive Thompson writes in his Wired article, and media can be transformed into anything people desire it to be. New Media is succeeding because it is more interactive and it lets people influence what they consume in terms of information. You have a question? Go to Yahoo!Answers. Old media is not going to cease to exist because people still crave knowledge and entertainment. It will just blend into a more balanced form of media that people want to consume. Where you people can read what they like and post their reactions. People are in charge now. Finally.

My First Steps

Hello Blog-readers

This is the first time I'm writing a blog. I am not really sure what to write about, but I'm sure I'll find a calling through my New Media class at Baruch College. For now I'll write more of the formal greetings: My name is Natalia and I'm 22 years old. I am graduating college in May with an International Marketing major. For now, I am only focused on about three things 1) getting in shape since this is my last semester of free gym at Baruch College 2) getting my driver's license so that way I can avoid being humiliated when my baby cousin picks me up from the train station when I come visit her in Connecticut 3) getting job...Task # 3 being the last one on my list since it is less by choice or a sense of a purpose, but instead I'm just trying to fulfill social norms of being a college graduate...if I had it my way i would travel to 100 countries in 200 days!

Anyway, welcome to my so far purposeless blog...I will let you know when I find a purpose!

Good night!

Natalia

PS. I experimented with cool pastel and bright colors, but I felt I won't be taken very seriously with a bright turquoise blog...I will change the boring black color by Blog # 3 or 4...we will see!