Artistic vs. Too Much Free Time

Check out some of these peoples creative facebook profiles.
10 Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS]

Continuing Trends of Mobile Devices

   The first handheld cellular telephone call was made in Manhattan in April 1983, within 35 years, about 2.8 billion people worldwide have become mobile phone subscribers. No technology has ever experienced such a rapid adaption rate as has the mobile phone (Castells, Qiu, & Fernandez-Ardevol, 2006).
   Our's truly, Yi-fan Chen and fellow researcher K.M. Lever study of "tele-density" supports further confirmation that there is widespread and heavy useage of these technologies.
   Preliminary research though on within- and across media networks suggests that mobile phones tend to be used to reinforce strong social ties, while computer-mediated text-based media tend to be used in explanding relationships with weak ties (Kim, Kim, Park, & Rice, 2007).
   In all mobile devices and mobile trends of communication have contributed to many pros and cons of day to day situations people around the worl encounter.

Charles R. Taylor's Six Principles of Digital Advertising

   As you may or may not know, Internet advertising was created in 1994 making it a still relatively young approach to target consumers. In the beginning of this new advertising trend failure was more common than success, some even believed that the Internet would never create the same amount of steam major advertising mediums did. However as the rates of positive influence has seen a influx of buyers, research has taken place.
   Over the past five years, multiple factors including: the Internets availability, broadband upgrades, and behavior targeting, have contributed to the Internet achieving the status of a major advertising medium. Charles R. Taylor of Villanova University set forward six principles of new media advertising that can be applied to other new media. Of these six principles identified: Three relate specifically to consumer considerations, two to execution factors of the design of the ad, and one to the general philosophy behind the advertising.

   Principle one states, "the marketers must be sensitive to consumer concerns about privacy and spam". Basically Taylor explains here that in our everyday lives we are set in an "always on" mode, meaning we are always connected to media in some way; through or phones and devices alike which become target to marketers. However these marketers must limit their approach to the way they connect with the projected target's.
   Principle two states, "consumers are more likely to be receptive to digital ads from marketers they trust". This principle is pretty self explanatory and goes hand in hand with principle three that states, "consumers are more likely to be receptive to respond to digital ads for products that are relevant to them".
   Digital Advertising principle four states, "digital approaches that incorporate interactivity are more likely to be effective". Because the Internet has the ability to reach greater depths than traditional mediums a wide variety of ways that marketers can draw in new consumers. Principle Five is self explanatory: "advertising messages that are entertaining have a higher chance of success in the digital context".
   And finally principle six states, "in the long run, new media messages need to build the brand to be effective", which can be accomplished by using new media's unique brand-building capacity. as consumers we base brands off of criticism of what we see and know. Build your brands reputation.
   In all the Internet provides a wide open space for marketers to build brands and market trends set forth towards future and reoccurring consumers.
To read more about Charles R. Taylor and his works visit: Charles R. Taylor Homepage


Reference:
Taylor, C. R. (2009). Editorial: the six principles of digital advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 28(3). doi: 10.2501/S0265048709200679

The Internet's Involvement on Political Campaigns

   A strong force driving political elections is the direct access medium of the Internet. In the past candidates did not have the means of direct communication with the public. Voters con go online and visit a candidates website to obtain information about where the candidate stands on a particular issue, make a contribution, or even volunteer to help the candidates party (Pavlik & McIntosh, 472). However most of the successful candidates have gone far beyond a simple website to communicate with the public. It is said that President Obama owes his election win to the Internet. By collecting small donations by the public obtained via the web, Obama became the first presidential candidate to refuse taxpayer funding (Pavlik & McIntosh, 473). The Internet has become a powerful tool utilized many candidates and has changed the way the public views candidates.

Pavlik, J.V., & McIntosh, S. (2004). Converging Media. A New Introduction to Mass Communication. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Everett M. Rogers

   Everett M. Rogers (1931-2004) was a communication scholar, sociologist, writer, and teacher. He earned his Ph. D. in socioligy and statistics in 1957 from Iowa State University after serving two years in the Korean War. At the age of 30, Everett Rogers was already becoming a world-renowned-academic figure. Rogers is best known for originating the Diffusion of Innovations which became the second-most-cited book in the social sciences.

   Eventually Rogers turned his attention to the field of Entertainment-Education. Rogers co-wrote Entertainment Education: A Communication Strategy for Social Change. To commemorate his contributions to the field, the University of Southern California Norman Lear Center established the Everett M. Rogers Award for Achievement in Entertainment-Education, which recognizes outstanding practice or research in the field of entertainment education.



Journal of Creative Communications March 2006 vol. 1 no. 1 111-121

Second Life Tour

On November 22, 2010, myself and 20 some-odd students from Dr. Yi-Fan Chen's Comm. 372 class attended the Career Management Center to participate and partake in a what is called "Second Life". For those who do not know what second life is, there is no need to worry, I too had no idea what Second Life was until I atteneded the group meeting on November 22nd. Second Life (http://secondlife.com/) is perhaps the most popular virtual world platform in use today, with an emphisis on social interaction. Second Life is a virtual world that is computer based, multi-media enviornment, usually running over the Web, designed so that users can "inhabit" and interact via their own graphical self representations known as avitars (Boulos & Hetherington & Wheeler, 2007). Below is a video explaining the main functions of Second Life.

Though I have no specific use for Second Life in my life. I do feel the multi functional tools and systems Second Life has provided for it users are very useful means of communication amoung one another form different geographical regions.

To learn more about Second Life, please visit the website: Second Life, Official Website
Boulos, M. N. K., Hetherington, L. and Wheeler, S. (2007), Second Life: an overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 24: 233–245. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2007.00733.x