Social Media and the Arab Spring

Social media and the Arab Spring

View more PowerPoint from emerica9597

Week 13: Think Piece

Having access to the Internet is a privilege. But, users are paying more than what they think to be apart of the World Wide Web. They're paying with personal information. Google and Facebook have a privacy policy that breaks down just how much they take.
Google will take information like searches, device information, log information, unique application numbers, cookies, and even your location. So how do they use this information? Google claims it uses your information to provide a better service. This claim has some truth. With more information, Google can provide more relevant advertisements, search results and online connections. But, you lose a lot of privacy.
Facebook works the same way, only in more detail. The service Facebook provides requires users to share very personal information everyday. Just about every piece of information is given to Facebook. Not only what you post, but also what your friends post is all given away. Status updates, comments, tags and a wealth of other information is sacrificed to enjoy the benefits Facebook provides. Facebook claims it uses information to provide friend suggestions, measure the success of ads, and allow location features.

Week 9 Think Piece

We have entered a new digital age. This is an era where one can access infinite information, videos, games, and socialize with friends. Thanks to Web 2.0, the online realm has truly become limitless. So, what is Web 2.0? That question has been argued for years.
The best way to demonstrate Web 2.0 is by comparing it to its predecessor, Web 1.0. The characteristics that define Web 1.0 include static sites, sites that aren’t interactive, and proprietary applications. Web 2.0 offers much more.
Static sites never change. Web 1.0 was riddled with permanent sites, or sites that required lots of time to update. Web 2.0 allows for sites to evolve. Facebook is a good example. Facebook.com is constantly changing. Users contribute with millions of posts per day, and advertisements are always being updated.
Web 1.0 lacked interactive sites. Today, one can enter almost any site on the web and share its information on the vast amount of social networks. Users can leave comments, “like” stories, and post their own videos. Blogs are accessible for surfers to view or create. The Internet is an interactive realm provided by Web 2.0.
“Under the Web 1.0 philosophy, companies develop software applications that users can download, but they can't see how the application works or change it” (Strickland). Web 2.0 and its browsers, like Firefox, allows users to view and alter applications. This benefits everyone, as some alterations may improve applications.
To conclude, Tim O’Reilly claims Web 2.0 components include:

• Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
• Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
• Trusting users as co-developers
• Harnessing collective intelligence
• Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
• Software above the level of a single device
• Lightweight user interfaces, development models, and business models

Web 2.0 is constantly changing, it is interactive, and it is allowing users to be more interactive.

Sources:
O'Reilly, T. (2005, Sept. 30). What is web 2.0. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/lpt/a/6228

Strickland, J. (n.d.). Is there a web 2.0?. Retrieved from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-101.htm

Places to Eat in Jax: Suggested by UNF Students

View Best Restaurants In Jacksonville in a larger map

Delicous Yum Yums!

View Delicious Yum Yums! in a larger map

Deer Tick = Awesome

They're too good!

Week 6: Think Piece

Accountability is important for all advertisers. Advertisers must know where, when and how their promotions are being run. There are several means to measure the success of promotions, yet some advertisers have no idea how these ads are being managed. Advertisers turn to ad-buying firms to place promotions in the media. Ad-buying firms “typically uses its marketplace leverage to buy ad time for the best prices possible” (Steinberg, 2010). This strategy may allow advertisers to know where their ads are being placed, but not when.

Advertisers could be losing the attention of their targets as well as profit, because they are left in the dark. When an ad-buying firm places an ad on a certain channel, the firm rarely looks at how long the commercial breaks are or at what programming is being aired at the time of the ad. This overlook by the firms can have negative results for the advertisers.

When an ad is placed in the middle of a nine-minute commercial break, the consumer may lose focus and disregard the ad. Firms will place the same ad multiple times during one program, “a practice that many ad buyers will tell you can lead to a condition known as "commercial wear-out" in which viewers get so burned out on the ad they stop listening to what it says” (Steinberg, 2010). The same mistakes occur online as well.

Advertisers need to have a tighter grip on where and how there ads are being managed. It takes a lot of time, money and creativity to develop an affective ad, so there is no sense in letting an ad slip by the target. Advertisers need to know not just where there promotions are being placed, but they also need to know when and in what context those ads are being placed.

Source: 

Brian, S. (2010, Sept. 13). Do you know where your commercials are?. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/advertising-marketers-commercials-run/145858/ 

Week 5: Think Piece

            Online advertising is an excellent way to reach consumers of all demographics and psychographics. People of all ages, children, millennials and seniors use the Internet for several reasons. But, how do marketers measure Web activity such as exposure of a Web site, stickiness, relevance of messages to users, comarketing opportunities, and efficacy of user targeting? There is no perfect measurement, but some measurements offer more advantages than others.

            For measuring Web site exposure, advertisers use page impressions, top pages requested, hits, visits, unique visitors, ad impressions, clicks and click-through rate. A broad measurement for Web site exposure is the ad impression measurement. But, “It may not be a good indicator of user involvement with an ad because it does not track whether users interacted with the ad” (Bhat, Bevans & Sengupta, 2002, p. 103). An advertiser would use the click measurement to measure ad interactions.

            Stickiness “is the ability of a Web site to attract and hold visitors’ interest” (Bhat, Bevans & Sengupta, 2002, p. 103). To measure stickiness advertisers measure unique visitors, average time per visit, average time per unique visitor, repeat visitor percentage, frequency and regency. The first component for measuring stickiness is through unique visitors. With greater number of visitors, there is higher chance for user involvement in online ads.

            Measuring targeting efficiency is valuable to advertisers. By knowing whether or not advertisements are effectively reaching their consumers, marketers can create more reliable campaigns. Targeting efficiency is measured through composition, global geographic overview and observed profiling. Observed profiling analyzes users online behavior and places ads accordingly. If a user spends lots of time looking at cars, then the advertiser would place a car ad on another site such as Google or Yahoo!.

Source: 

Bhat, S., Bevans, M., & Sengupta, S. (2002). Measuring users' web activity to evaluate and enhance advertising effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 31(3), 97-106

Media Log: Summary

After analyzing my media habits, I have discovered just how much of a role media plays in my life. I now realize the most common way I stay in touch with friends is through Facebook. Between shuttle rides to and from campus, and work out sessions at the gym, I listen to my iPod almost six hours per week. While driving, I never listen to the radio, because my iPod is always plugged in. I watch about 10 hours of television per week. Add about five hours of video game play and that's about 15 hours per week spent in front of the TV. When I catch up with the news, I never read a paper. My news is delivered through iPhone apps and websites. It's scary to think how much of a role media plays in my life.

Think Piece: Week 4

Since the Great Recession in late 2007, the world economy has been rolling on a downslope. Many businesses have lost profit, declared bankruptcy, or shut down. Advertising on “print and television saw double-digit declines” (Frelinghuysen & Joshi). Fortunately, “online advertising revenues fell by just 3 percent in 2009” (Frelinghuysen & Joshi). Still, online advertising attracts minimal attention from marketers and publishers. Through innovation, advertisers can tap deep into the realm of online advertising, intrigue marketers, and gain healthy profits.

It’s odd advertising agencies still pour funds and talents into the traditional media pool. The Internet is relatively new, but the same types of advertisements have been overused. Log onto AOL.com and one will still see cluttered banner ads that have been used for years. It’s time for creative change. Advertising agencies should have their creative directors focus on the possibilities online advertising offers. Some companies, such as Apple have gained success by creating intriguing online ads. Apple’s “‘Mac vs. PC’ campaign on the New York Times, Yahoo! and Wall Street Journal sites showed a willingness to experiment with new formats—using video as well as custom ad units that interact across the page” (Frelinghuysen & Joshi). The first advertisers to follow Apple’s lead could profit off innovation.

Creating a better system for calculating return on investment will help the evolution of online advertising. Marketers may be able to know how many hits, views or click a certain online advertisement has accumulated, but it does not share other factors, like brand awareness. Marketers will be persuaded to turn toward online advertising if there is a more reliable way of analyzing consumer data. Having advertisers cross-platform their campaigns could solve this issue. Through a cross-platform, an agency could easily connect an online advertisement to an advertisement in a magazine. Marketers could then use consumer analyses to relate their findings back to the online advertisement. 

Media Log: (1/23)

I woke up today and went to school. As usual I listened to my iPhone before class.

After class I watched the movie Dive on Netflix.

I took a nap for 3 hours

I cooked steak for dinner. While cooking I listened to music on my Playstation 3.

After dinner I read a book on my Kindle and went to sleeps

Week 3

Advertising on the Internet has evolved to become an interactive, entertaining and creative way to reach consumers. As popularity for the Internet grows, advertising follows. The current problem for advertisers is the clutter surrounding the online environment. Search engines, in particular, host several advertisements that can become intrusive. Banner and pop-up ads tend to annoy, rather than entice. If advertisers want to attract consumers, then they must create innovative promotions that stand out from competitors. Another problem is accountability. Companies want to know the advertisements being paid for are reaching consumers and bringing in profit.
            Technology provides advertisers to create promotions that are interactive. These advertisements can be come in the form of games, videos and pictures. It’s up to the developers to create an advertisement that appeals to consumers and stands out from the clutter. This is imperative for the growth of online advertising.  With creative ads comes the need for accountability.

            Companies require that advertisers provide accountability. Companies want to know if their paid advertisements are attracting consumers. According to DoubleClick the following metrics are used to calculate advertisement effectiveness:

·      Post-click conversions

·      Cost per conversion

·      Unique reach of ads delivered

·      Average frequency of exposures

·      Frequency-to-conversion ratio

·      Ad exposure time

·      Ad interaction time

·      Brand impact lift vs. control ad

·      View-through rate

·      Share of voice

·      Web page eye tracking

·      Offline sales lift

·      Cross-media-mix econometric modeling

DoubleClick uses several of these tools to measure advertisements online.  Another factor that helps the progress of Internet advertising is control. Control is what consumers and companies want.

            By creating innovative advertisements that can be measured, companies will be satisfied. Progress in the advertising world will continue and consumers will benefit from the balance of creativity and accountability.