Essay Question MAS110
Discuss the phenomenon
of digital media convergence in relation to one of the following: Advertising
and New Media or Music Video Online.
Essay
The phenomenon of digital media convergence is a direct
result of analogues’ and “old media’s” shortcomings. The transmission of
messages globally, the ability for consumers to produce and distribute their
own content, as well as the ability for identical methods or distribution
allowed digital media to revolutionise the contemporary media landscape. This
essay aims to discuss and analyse the advantages of advertising and new media,
through a marketer’s perspective, in relation to convergent digital media
forms.
Media convergence, as Jenkins defines as the ‘flow of
content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media
industries and the migratory behaviour of audiences” (Jenkins, 2006). Digital
media convergence is a fairly new paradigm, made more apparent in our everyday
lives through the emergence of smart phones and other multimedia devices. The
growth of new media has led to new ways for advertisers to market products over
traditional forms such as billboards and television advertisements. Examples of
these new modes of advertising are evident through social media networking
services such as Facebook. Facebook can be easily accessed through a range of
convergent digital media devices such as smartphones, computers and smart TVs
and with the possibility of reaching mass audiences of over 750 million as of
September 2011 (Meikle + Young, 2012) its no wonder that advertisers have
tapped into supremacy. “It is estimated that, by 2015, social media will become
a mainstream mass-media platform that, in one form or another, will engage one third
of the world’s population” (Nelson-Field, 2012).
Marketers
create Facebook Fan pages for their brands and then encourage Facebook users to
become “Fans” of these pages by clicking the “like” button on the page. Once a
user has “liked” a brand’s they may receive brand updates and the comments of
other brand Fans in their personal newsfeed (Nelson-Field). The introduction of
the “timeline” on fan pages, allows marketers to insert key dates on fan pages
through the “milestone” application (Lam, 2012). This results in an increase of
interactivity between the consumer and the fan page, allowing consumers to
investigate and explore a brands history and products. Similarly, Fans are able
to “share” these posts, through the simple at of clicking the share button. The
post will appear on the Fans home page, and in the Fans friends “newsfeed”.
This ability is one of the main causes of advertising videos going “viral”.
Viral videos are a marketer’s dream, due to the exposure a brand receives and
its relatively low costs to produce. Viral videos are shared across a variety of
social media forms such as Youtube, and Twitter and can be accessed by many
digital media devices. An example of an advertisement video going viral is
shown below
Further
more, the cover photo located at the top of the fan page, allows a brand to
refresh its image, and if updated regularly, can coincide with product launches
and new events (Lam,2012) further exposing a brands product or image to the
mass audience. Additionally marketers are now able to “pin” posts they make on
fan pages, which are of importance, such as newly release products, and will
stay on the top of the page wall for several days.
“The
Reach Generator” is a new addition to Facebook, that allows brands fan pages
with more than 500,00 Fans to pay a fixed fee to ensure their content reaches a
“guaranteed 75% of their existing fan base each month compared to the average
16% that a page's posts currently achieve without paid support”. (Lam, 2012). With
the “Reach Generator”, fans might see the brand's message in different ways: as
a sponsored story on the right hand side of their homepage, or in their
newsfeed (included in the mobile version)(Lam, 2012). Essentially, Reach
Generator transforms a post on a brand's page into a sponsored story on its
fans' homepage. Similarly, Facebook now includes the ability for a brand to pay
for promotion of their Fan page or posts. A brand's post on their page will
appear in the right hand side of its fans' home pages as sponsored stories, or
in their newsfeeds, while the same story will appear as an ad on the right hand
side of their homepage for non-fans.
The
act of “liking” brands on Facebook has dramatically increased in popularity in
recent years. In part, this is due to the natural growth of the Facebook
platform but also as a result of its increasing cross functionality with other
online media and portability with other digital devices. (Nelson-Field, 2012). From
this we can see how interrelated convergent media devices have become with new
media and advertising.
Reference List
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where old and new
media collide. NY University Press
Yu Lam, Cai. (2012). Facebook’s new ad rules: a marketer’s
guide. Warc Exclusive
Nelson-Field, K. Riebe, E and
Sharp, B. (2012). What's Not to . Journal
of Advertising Research. 52 (2), pg1-12
Meikle, G. and
Young, S. (2012) Chapter 1 “Content, Computing, Communications” in Media
Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life. Palgrave Macmillan, pp 20-34
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