A few words about different media technologies:
Cell phones - There once was a time when the only people who had cellular phones were rich. A phone that you could take anywhere was probably very useful for doctors, lawyers, and CEOs. (Pagers were the same way, although I don't know of anyone who uses them anymore.) These were important people who might have needed to be reached at a moment's notice. The original intention was to give someone great luxury and unheard of convenience. Now, it's hard to remember what life was like without them. I have recently experienced this firsthand. Due to a limited budget, I switched to a landline for personal use and have a prepaid cell that I only use for work. I can't tell you how many times I have thought about pulling out my phone and calling someone on the spot (or taking a picture, or checking the time), only to remember that the convenience just isn't there for me anymore.
The current audience for cell phones is "everyone" and its uses are "everything" (as in, "there's an app for that"). With the advent of i-phones and smart phones, having a cell phone is like having a tiny computer. They do everything. I still view smart phones and PDAs as luxuries, but I have a job now that would actually be easier if I owned one. However, due to their high price tags, I guess I'll just have to make do with an old-fashioned day-planner.
Radio - Radio used to have its target audience cornered because... well... there were no other options when it came to home entertainment. People gathered around radios the way we do modern TVs to hear the latest episode of a series. There was also music and news, but not to the degree that there is now. With the advent of visual media, radio has become background noise. You don't even need an actual "radio" to enjoy it; you can stream it live on your computer.
While the bulk of radio programming still seems to be music, you can also listen to sports events, talk shows, church services, and the news and weather, but the audience for radio is becoming smaller and more specialized. This can be a good thing for advertising, because you can get an idea of who you're reaching by the music that the station plays. For many people, the car might be the only place they would bother listening to the radio, but now even that has been replaced with CD players and i-pods (I, personally, prefer the radio). I think a lot of the marketing that radio stations do these days involves sponsoring contests and events. Radio has become as commercial-ridden as television and some people will tell you that it is a dying media. I hope that this isn't the case, because I would love to work in Classic Rock radio for a living, or for NPR.
Radio is actually a good media outlet in times of emergency, because it doesn't take much to keep a signal up and running, and it can pretty much cut through anything. (Radio broadcasts are always the last thing to go in a crisis; just watch any zombie movie). The emergency broadcast service can be a lifesaver in times of national disaster.
Social networking sites - I'm not really sure what happened here. If you go by what they say in the movie, Facebook started as an elite social club. Over time, it has become more "social" and less "elite" by ditching any hopes of being exclusive and going global. This is great for people who just want to screw around, make friends, and play Farmville, but I wonder what this means for the people who really wanted this to be a window of opportunity. (They started things like linkedin, I guess.) Facebook has divided into two camps: Kids (and adults) that want to play games, and adults that want to do business. In a bizarre twist of intent, the networkers have become sort of a buzzkill. Anything you try to do on Facebook to advance your business is declared "spam" by people who can't be bothered with it. I'm speaking from experience here. When I try to promote my business through Facebook, I get snubbed, yet when I attempt to compile a hard copy of a guest list for someone's party with a pen and paper, I always get "I send my invites out on Facebook" (from my age group, anyway).
So, again, it has become segmented. You have to go onto a job-oriented social networking site to find a job, a dating-centered social networking site to find a date, and Facebook to find...lolcats videos. Or whatever.
Television - TV's primary purpose is seemingly to entertain, although it can be just as versatile as radio once was; news, sports, weather, advertising, public service announcements, emergency broadcasts, The State of the Union Address, and all-day coverage of William and Kate's wedding. Entertainment was the main goal when TV was invented, although being informed about things like the Vietnam War and the moon landing turned out to be an integral part of our history. (Not to mention hearing about the death of Osama bin Laden during The Celebrity Apprentice.) The "problem" now is the sheer number of channels and programs available. From a marketing standpoint, it's hard to keep track of what people want to see anymore because we don't know really what people are watching. Hit shows just don't have the audience volume that they used to because everyone has different tastes and there are so many options. Television advertising has taken big a hit, too. You can try to figure out who your target audience is based on the shows they watch, but with TiVo, DVR, and On Demand, very few people even sit through the commercials anymore. Again, there's not much you can get out of your TV that you can't find on the internet. I wonder if, eventually, all of these media technologies are just going to merge into one giant technology - namely computers - and everything else will be deemed unnecessary. We'll have various-sized devices that all connect to the same network. Everything will be interchangeable. Computers will be "the media." You'll watch, listen to, talk on, read, and write with your computer, and all of the other labels will vanish. Actually, I think that might already be happening.
The current audience for cell phones is "everyone" and its uses are "everything" (as in, "there's an app for that"). With the advent of i-phones and smart phones, having a cell phone is like having a tiny computer. They do everything. I still view smart phones and PDAs as luxuries, but I have a job now that would actually be easier if I owned one. However, due to their high price tags, I guess I'll just have to make do with an old-fashioned day-planner.
Radio - Radio used to have its target audience cornered because... well... there were no other options when it came to home entertainment. People gathered around radios the way we do modern TVs to hear the latest episode of a series. There was also music and news, but not to the degree that there is now. With the advent of visual media, radio has become background noise. You don't even need an actual "radio" to enjoy it; you can stream it live on your computer.
While the bulk of radio programming still seems to be music, you can also listen to sports events, talk shows, church services, and the news and weather, but the audience for radio is becoming smaller and more specialized. This can be a good thing for advertising, because you can get an idea of who you're reaching by the music that the station plays. For many people, the car might be the only place they would bother listening to the radio, but now even that has been replaced with CD players and i-pods (I, personally, prefer the radio). I think a lot of the marketing that radio stations do these days involves sponsoring contests and events. Radio has become as commercial-ridden as television and some people will tell you that it is a dying media. I hope that this isn't the case, because I would love to work in Classic Rock radio for a living, or for NPR.
Radio is actually a good media outlet in times of emergency, because it doesn't take much to keep a signal up and running, and it can pretty much cut through anything. (Radio broadcasts are always the last thing to go in a crisis; just watch any zombie movie). The emergency broadcast service can be a lifesaver in times of national disaster.
Social networking sites - I'm not really sure what happened here. If you go by what they say in the movie, Facebook started as an elite social club. Over time, it has become more "social" and less "elite" by ditching any hopes of being exclusive and going global. This is great for people who just want to screw around, make friends, and play Farmville, but I wonder what this means for the people who really wanted this to be a window of opportunity. (They started things like linkedin, I guess.) Facebook has divided into two camps: Kids (and adults) that want to play games, and adults that want to do business. In a bizarre twist of intent, the networkers have become sort of a buzzkill. Anything you try to do on Facebook to advance your business is declared "spam" by people who can't be bothered with it. I'm speaking from experience here. When I try to promote my business through Facebook, I get snubbed, yet when I attempt to compile a hard copy of a guest list for someone's party with a pen and paper, I always get "I send my invites out on Facebook" (from my age group, anyway).
So, again, it has become segmented. You have to go onto a job-oriented social networking site to find a job, a dating-centered social networking site to find a date, and Facebook to find...lolcats videos. Or whatever.
Television - TV's primary purpose is seemingly to entertain, although it can be just as versatile as radio once was; news, sports, weather, advertising, public service announcements, emergency broadcasts, The State of the Union Address, and all-day coverage of William and Kate's wedding. Entertainment was the main goal when TV was invented, although being informed about things like the Vietnam War and the moon landing turned out to be an integral part of our history. (Not to mention hearing about the death of Osama bin Laden during The Celebrity Apprentice.) The "problem" now is the sheer number of channels and programs available. From a marketing standpoint, it's hard to keep track of what people want to see anymore because we don't know really what people are watching. Hit shows just don't have the audience volume that they used to because everyone has different tastes and there are so many options. Television advertising has taken big a hit, too. You can try to figure out who your target audience is based on the shows they watch, but with TiVo, DVR, and On Demand, very few people even sit through the commercials anymore. Again, there's not much you can get out of your TV that you can't find on the internet. I wonder if, eventually, all of these media technologies are just going to merge into one giant technology - namely computers - and everything else will be deemed unnecessary. We'll have various-sized devices that all connect to the same network. Everything will be interchangeable. Computers will be "the media." You'll watch, listen to, talk on, read, and write with your computer, and all of the other labels will vanish. Actually, I think that might already be happening.
Just like food, communications is now so plentiful that it actually requires thought to one's choices meaningful. Sure, you can live off of frozen pizzas and drive thru and listen to the ClearChannel flavour of your choice all day long... but what kind of an existence is that? What are you doing that is sooooo important that you'll let advertisers decide what you should be exposed to? Keep on listening to NPR and finding mom-and-pop restaurants! Ditch reality TV, check out some documentaries on Netflix and keep on searching for another point of view (while eating delicious food).
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