Media during the Great Depression

In the 1930's, the world took a hit from the Great Depression.  In America, thousands of banks failed, a third of the nation was unemployed, and society was collapsing.  It was the worst economic ditch America had ever been in since the industrial revolution began.  The stock market had completely crashed, most of America was going hungry without any income, and things didn't seem to be shaping up anytime soon.   

What gave people hope were the fireside chats, a series of speeches given by President Roosevelt on the radio.  Radio was a form of mass media was used to help support the American citizens and get the dream of america back on track.  He addressed many different issues through the radio.  Roosevelt discussed different topics as the world progressed with the economic down-turn.  He discussed the bank failure situation, the new deal he was proposing, recovery programs, unemployment, European war, the declaration of war with Japan, and the progress of war.

The purpose of these speeches were to inform the people of ongoing issues, conflicts, and struggles in America.  They were used to help promote measures that Roosevelt wanted passed by legislature so that he could help revive the state of the nation.  It was a campaign to create awareness, and radio was the perfect medium to get these messages across.  He used the radio as a perfect medium to get in touch with his audience and inform them of important issues.

President Roosevelt took advantage of the media he could use, and made perfect use of it.  He became an activist in terms of informing the citizens of America what to expect, what to fear, and how to be strong.  He was a leader during dark times.  He is now known as one of the best American presidents in history.  We should take note of his leadership, activism, courage, and bravery, and apply his characteristics to one of the biggest problems this generation will face in the future: climate change.

Engage Chapters 19-23

Engaging audiences and communities with a purpose is the ultimate goal of social media.  Its important to listen in on your audience, and monitor what they are saying.  Reflecting on these opinions and voices are going to reflect  your business or cause.  Acting upon listening will help you grow.  To find an audience or community, its important to know where to search and how to find what you're looking for.
Searching the social web is very easy thanks to all the different search engines of different outlets.  Brian Solis lists blog search engines, twitter advanced search utilization, and forum searches among others.  All these are related to the human network, which brings people together by common bonds and special topics.    There are different roles in different online communities.  There are leaders, followers, bloggers, trouble makers, and people who are aggressive or passive.

Skittles: Interactive Marketing on the Internet

Skittles has launched a new advertising campaign exclusive to youtube that requires you to put your finger on the screen.  It's a new interactive marketing ploy that engages the viewer and makes them feel like they are influencing a scene.  Try out the one below.



It's cute, funny, entertaining, and creepy all at the same time.  There are 5 other "interactive" videos that all require putting your finger on the screen.  This cat video already has almost 3 million views in a little over 2 weeks.  If they can keep this up, Skittles will have a great word out for their product due to their attractive marketing division.

This makes me think. Will other companies jump onto the "interactive" bandwagon?  It's exciting, fun, and very efficient at getting people's attention.  I discovered this video through word of mouth on the internet and reposted it myself.  Interactive marketing is very appealing and I think we might see it more in the future after the success of skittles.

This is some of the most interesting advertising I've seen on the internet.  Ever since the introduction of ads before videos on Youtube, people have been very bitter about online advertising.  Most comments on Youtube were claiming Youtube wasn't "you" anymore.  If ads became more entertaining then it would provide better experiences for  users and companies alike.

The video has over 14,000 likes, and less than 600 dislikes; a great ratio of positive feedback.  All the comments crack jokes and mention how funny the video is.  I found this while browsing through the comments, which sums up my post very well.

Brian Solis's Engage (12-17)

Brian Solis puts an emphasis on the internet giving people their own personal identities.  There has been a shift of power from corporations to online communities simply composed of humble individual people.  We have all been given the chance to create an online persona.  Our identities online give us a brand for our lives on the internet.  The ability to create an identity will help us express ourselves by emphasizing our beliefs and core values.  Many communities are brought together by the fact that they share the same values.  Everyday people can now break news to the world by simple active discussion and word of mouth.  Twitter promotes two way discussions and the trending hashtag system really encourages the word of mouth as a form of communication in terms of social media.  I remember I found about the Earthquake in Japan when I was browsing the forum I post on.  I then went to Twitter and joined in on the breaking news discussion.  I was given a voice because I am part of a community.  Managing your brand reflects how you act, what you like, and everyone has to do it if they want to have a presence in a community on the internet.

Solis also speaks about the future of community generated branding and word of mouth marketing in Chapter  13.  Electronic Arts just launched a facebook marketing campaign to promote the hyped video game Battlefield 3, encouraging 1 million people to like the official page in order to release the first full trailer for the game.  As of now it has 500,000 likes after one day.  It's a great way to spawn viral word of mouth and marketing simply through social media.  If there is a demand for it, people will want to discuss it.

Would a Government Shutdown affect media?

The recent talks of a government shutdown have been quite a scare for many people.  It has been over 15 years since the last shutdown in 1995.  Back then the internet was nothing like it is now.  It was a different society back then, and a lot of our society is dependent on the internet for information these days.  How would a government shut down affect the internet and America if it were happening today?

The White House stated that critical websites would remain functional.  IRS.gov would be expected to stay operational, as well as the US Postal Service.  Agencies would be expected to list which functionalities would be available and unavailable during a shutdown.  Most other websites would be shut-down or become very limited.

It is illegal for government workers to show up to work during a shutdown.  Many government workers have been issued laptops and blackberry phones, so they would be forced to turn them in for the duration of the shutdown so they could not work at home.

This just proves that we should not be so dependent  on the internet.  If we were to lose the ability to control the internet it would mean bad things for our society and economy.  The internet is a great tool and its a wonderful thing but we are learning to depend on it too much.  If we lost control of the internet and the economy collapsed, it would be our faults.  We shouldn't set ourselves up for a vulnerable position like this.

Engage Chapters 7-12

Brian Solis goes into some things I wasn't previously familiar with in Chapters 7-12 of Engaged.  I'm very familiar with social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.  Ning, one example of a purpose-driven network, looked very intriguing if used for businesses and social groups.  It lets you create your own personalized social network.  Whenever I think of social networks, I immediately think Facebook, but I shouldn't be so narrow minded.  Facebook is the most casual because it's free (I looked up Ning and found there was a subscription cost) and very assessable as well.
Chapter 8 goes into the business aspect of online communities.  The internet is very useful for customer service, marketing, convenience to the consumers, and schedule planning among other things.  Twitter, blogs, professional domains, and micro-communities within Facebook and all positive for business.  The internet has made many advancements in the business world.  The technology is here and big organizations are learning to take advantage of it.
There are tags discussed in Chapter 10, which are the labels for thing posted on the web, making them easier to categorize.  The internet is all about connecting with other topics, pages, links, videos, and making it very convenient for the user.

The technology of the 3DS

Nintendo released the 3DS last month, which introduced 3D without the need for glasses to new audiences all across the world.  The handheld launched at $250, has two separate cameras in the back, and can take pictures that measure depth.

A big gripe about 3D technology was that everyone hated the glasses.  Glasses for 3D movies are inconvenient, uncomfortable (especially if people are already wearing glasses), and gimmicky.  The screen's level of visual depth can be tuned up and down, or even turned off.  Nintendo has introduced the technology and created a demand for it.  Other companies will be following suit.  You can expect to see this 3D technology in phones, computers, and other handhelds.  Netflix will soon be able to be viewed on the device in 3D.  The camera is my favorite aspect of the device.  Soon, people will be able to express themselves with 3D media.  Right now, its not very accessible because you would have to own a 3DS, but I can see this new media becoming very popular and widespread in the near future.  Imagine if our 3D enabled computers would allow for 3D Facebook upload and image sharing.  This new media is very exciting.