Creativity and New Media

A little while back I decided to make my saltwater reefing addiction into my work.  I never actually ended up doing that but my first step was to imitate what I saw as new media by the big reefing companies such as Bulk Reef Supply and Marine Depot and create a Youtube channel.  My goal on this channel was to do some product reviews and share some things I learned along the way while participating in this hobby.  I figured since I did not yet have the resources to actually create a store I could begin with this channel, accumulate some followers, and then use these videos to promote my own company.  The truth is I never took it completely seriously and it can be seen on the videos.  Here is a link to my most popular product review, of a fan you can use to cool the aquarium during the warm summer days.  Surprisingly without any other promotion and without a popular page I did reach around 3,000 views, which compared to other product reviews on Youtube for this same product is very high, making it one of the most viewed ones.  I achieved this by thinking like a consumer.  When I was researching this product myself I went to youtube for advice, only to find a few short clips that didn't help much.  I made a list of what I would have wanted to know prior to purchasing this product and used that list to make the most informative video possible.  Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgKcKWiLvlw

Creativity

In today's society we have a limitless amount of information that we can access.  We can do whatever we want and however we like it in regards to how creative we can be with information and the tools that come with it.  Anyone can open up a computer, pick up a camera, or even turn on their phone and create whatever they like with or without background knowledge.  This is how new media helps foster creativity.  With the access we have to this new media, and everything we can either learn from it or teach others, we are now able to generate whatever we want.  Twitter, which caught onto this early on in the game, lets the consumers be the creative types instead of dictating what creativity is.  We no longer have to just look at a magazine or read the newspaper to be told what's new and whats creative and how we should be.  These days we can each just create our own lifestyle, whether it be the things we wear or the things we produce, and using new media like social media we can get it to the world.  Seeing that we have these options makes others want to be creative as well.  Knowing that these days their creations can be seen by everyone with just a few clicks leads many to get out there and create the products and trends of tomorrow.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual reality is becoming increasingly popular and with that the market is making a shift to meet this virtual demand.  With this comes the question, can everything be represented virtually.  When I was helping my parents redo their kitchen we went into a few different places to get estimates.  The one we ended up going with represented the kitchen in the best way because that person made a virtual kitchen for us, based on our kitchen’s dimensions and what we like, and helped us see exactly what it would look like.  At first we saw a 2D representation where he put a cabinet here, placed our window there, and basically made a blueprint of the kitchen.  With the push of a button we were in the kitchen looking around it, and that was just on the computer screen.  More than that a interior designer actually put on a pair of virtual reality goggles on us and let us walk around an apartment looking at different pieces of furniture and design.  It was amazing to hear him ask, “where are you now?” every time we pointed at something we like. This leads me to see some pros and cons for this platform.  First the pros: a. we can see products in a whole new dimension allowing us to better understand what is being sold. B. It can help designers get their actual products made right the first time.  C. People from around the world can see exactly what a company is selling (ex: viewing a home to purchase virtually which already exists as well). D.  It is a way to preserve the past as explained in In Room 100, It’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again by Saki Knafo, where a hotel is represented as it was before management was fired and changes were made. The cons are: a. It takes time to make these virtual reality representations. B. It is difficult to get the virtual representation to look exactly like the real one, with all the details. C. The time it takes to produce these is costly as well. Despite the many cons I believe the pro’s outweigh them.  Due to a easier way to “touch and feel” the product we are selling and buying I believe this fosters creativity.  Take Minecraft for example as discussed in After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot? By Diane Metha of Forbes.  She discusses how even in this Lego like virtual reality world it allows kids to express themselves creatively.  This creativity will help them in the future because it is at this young age that their minds are absorbing this information like a sponge.  It allows people to pay more attention to details for products being designed.  In fact, I believe that in the future virtual reality will become the standard for many forms of advertising, especially in the real estate market, where at times it is difficult to sell the product that can sometimes not be actually seen without fully representing it in a way such as this one.

Social Networking Sites

In this discussion I will discuss the four main competitors in social networking, as probably everyone else will, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter.  I never thought of the difference their sites have between them until this post and looking at them now is kind of fascinating.  I started out with Facebook and suddenly realized that I hate their page.  Like many people I constantly look at Facebook, but these days I use it to look at funny clips and tag my friends in memes instead of actually reading people's posts and looking through their albums.  Although very familiar and at this point easy to use after so many years on Facebook it bothered me to see all the ads presented.  There were ads all along the right side, and ads on my feed.  Altogether it as just a mess of advertisements and posts from people my mothers age, along with some memes.  Instagram takes a very simple approach.  Their sites is very plain and solely involves pictures that were posted by what seems to be a much younger generation.  There are advertisements sometimes but they are very subtle compared to Facebook.  Snapchat's site prompts you to download the app since it cannot be viewed online so when I looked at my snapchat page again I loved how simple it was, and if I did not want to see a post that paid for my views I did not have to.  I am new to Twitter so I am still getting used to it but I feel like their page resembles Facebook.  Although I could not find random advertisements at first I did see tweets that I did not follow which can be great if you're looking to explore or intrusive if you're looking to do the opposite.  Altogether I favor Snapchats look and maybe even Instagram because they are not as intrusive as the competitors.

Blog Social networking

These days social networking has become the new sensation.  It is a great tool that consumers and producers use to get products to one another.  Whether it's someone famous that wore a certain pair of shoes that everyone now wants or just a paid advertisement that shows up on your Instagram feed it is pretty obvious that this once "social" tool is now becoming a marketing one. Social networking can even be as simple as someone commenting on someone else youtube videos, just like the boards in Scoopsville had comments on them Corporations have taken advantage of Instagram, Tweeter, Facebook, and Snapchat in their never ending search for a better marketing tool.  This sometimes free advertising tool can lead great sales among these corporations because whether we like it or not, we spend a big chunk of our day getting updates from these apps. Society benefits from this in two different ways.  On the one side producers get their products out there, whether they are use or just starting out they can have an even distribution of ads to their target customers.  On the other hand consumers get to see the latest and greats products, and find them for the same price.  Through social media and the internet in general these days consumers are smarter because with just a few clicks they can compare prices and specs of any product they want to purchase. On Comcast sleeping we see someone who has many complaints about their product and service.  Through Complaintsboard.com, the page he posted in, others are able to see for themselves what the complaints are all about and can help them be smart consumers who know what service to purchase. The dark side might be that people are overly glued to their devised in general, which is mostly likely primarily due to social media.  In the future I believe that technology will make it even easier to purchase products.  Whether it be a better implementation of drones like Amazon is testing out to deliver products as quickly as possible, or whether it be an ever better way to find and locate great deals which we haven't even thought of yet.  Through social media our buying possibilities are endless. We can even see that people are being followed on social media when they are looking to be hired for a job.  This can be a positive or negative thing.  Some people may not want to be followed and either change their names or block their pages to the public.  This is because they do not want to be judged by a few pictures.  Some may see this as a great networking tool and a way to advertise themselves.

Citations:

Social Media in Plain English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE

 - Comcast Sleeping - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viw2TVBygBg

Blog vs. Wiki

Wikis and blogs may seem similar due to the fact that they are both made and editing by us, normal people, but they are quite different.  Firstly, what is a wiki and what is a blog?

Wikis consist of different subjects that can be written about and edited by different people.  They are used for contributions.  On the other hand a blog is more like a journal, written by one person who puts his/her thoughts down for everyone to read.  Now, although wiki is the mainly used for collaboration, blogs could be used for this same reason.  If you link different blogs to yours, as we have done, and write about similar yet slightly different subjects it can become closer to what a wiki is. Also, if bloggers give information that journalists would in real time, as a Brooklyn blogger did leading to a drug raid written about in the NY Times, than blogs could be used to help the authorities as well.  Blogs can be used for information for consumers as well.  A walmart employee helped us get a taste of the products he purchases for the store and let people know what is better for them.  Wikis can also be used different than what they have been used for up until now.  Mainly, every student knows what Wikipedia is, which is probably the most popular wiki there is.  Our class wiki covers topics related to business.  I would like to see a wiki that is used for hobbies.  This would be a list of different hobbies and different people would be able to share their experiences using this wiki. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html