Next New

A new type of new media that I suggest would be an app that allows users to shop products from photos seen on social media platforms. As one scrolls through their Instagram feed, they find an outfit they really like on one of their followers. They then screenshot the photo and submit it through this new app that will tell you where the person bought the clothes for and how much it is. This is great for fashionistas who scroll through social media platforms and find clothes they would love to wear themselves. As great as it would be to have an app like this, there will also be privacy issues that arise with this. However, the idea itself is great and will definitely help many users such as myself that would love to buy half the outfits I see on my Instagram feed.

Wiki So Far

So far, I have been contributing content to our class wiki. In order to do my part as the Layout Editor, I edited the layout for the following pages: Accounting in Social Media, Fashion, Marketing, Dance and Vlogging. Some of the subtopics were not as organized as I thought they could be, so I moved some topics together to have the overall page flow better together. I also combined some subtopics together under a similar topic. For instance, one of the pages I edited the layout for was Marketing. Social Media platforms was another topic within Marketing and so was Social Media Marketing. I moved Social Media Platforms under Social Media Marketing to keep everything more organized for future users to visit our wiki.

I have additionally added content to our class wiki. In the Fashion page of our class wiki, I moved 'Beauty and Cosmetics" under makeup and moved the makeup brands under this section as well. In addition, I added another makeup brand: Glossier. I described how Glossier has implemented social media in their business strategies to increase their audience and brand presence online. Another page I have edited and contributed content to is the Marketing page. Under 'Popular Brands Using Social Media,' I added another brand: Fashion Nova. In this section, I described how Fashion Nova uses their Instagram page to strengthen their brand. Overall, this is the work I have thus far contributed to our class wiki.

P2P

1. What is File Sharing?

File sharing is transmitting files from one device to another over a network or the internet.

2. What is P2P File Sharing?

According to P2p File Sharing  by Marmomin, P2P file sharing is a "peer to peer file sharing which allows individuals to access media files using software programs. P2P file sharing can benefit the community for both consumers and producers of the media content. 

3. What are some examples of P2P file sharing?

Some examples of P2P file sharing include Gnutella which is the most well-known P2P network. Other examples include Big Champagne and Pirate Bay.

Works Cited:

Margomin. “P2p File Sharing.” Margomin, 13 Apr. 2016, margomin.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/p2p-file-sharing/.

Privacy

Issues of privacy and confidentiality are heavily related to new media. As new media increasingly becomes popular among all generations, many are creating social media accounts that make it quite impossible to stay private about our lives and even our identities. Social media sites have a user agreement before one goes forth and uses their account. This basically gives the platform the right to sell our data that the site is collecting to sell to advertisements. It's quite shocking how sometimes when you speak about, let's say lipsticks with a friend through text, a sponsored ad on Instagram from M.A.C pops up on your IG feed. This has increasingly become popular, in multiple forms, even on browsers as many companies are using this to their advantage to reach targeted audiences. Even social media sites like TikTok are gathering information on a user's activities online by collecting cookies to generate a FYP (For You Page) specifically for the user. This has been quite shocking for me because as a new TikTok user, I see all these relevant videos on my page that I would be interested in and even content on some topics I text about with my friends. As a result, privacy and confidentiality is basically non-existent when you're using new media. While there have been many concerns and opinions voiced about this issue, this will only seem to get worse as more and more users turn to new media. 

Advice

As a new hire to improve some aspects about Baruch, I would implement new media usage in our academic learning. With the COVID-19 pandemic circulating around the globe and becoming a growing concern especially in the state of New York, CUNY Baruch College has used new media to stay connected with students. There are some of the suggestions I would make when using new media:

1. Use Social Media to Listen to the Baruch Community: With new media platforms such as social media, students have a desire to have their voices heard, especially during pandemics like the current COVID-19 outbreak. For instance, students wanted to change the grading criteria to pass/fail during this pandemic. As a result, many turned to social media platforms to promote a petition students created to have CUNY grades changed to pass/fail. With these new media platforms, students are able to voice their concerns and the Baruch community (along with CUNY) is able to listen to students. Aside from voicing their concerns, students also have many questions that staff should be able to answer. Someone from the Baruch community staff should be available to answer all questions and support students.
2. Analyze Baruch Demographics: By posting surveys on social media platforms and doing additional research to find the demographics of Baruch students, Baruch faculty can use this information to see what the interests of some students are, along with their background and ages to see which course content we can curate based on the results. Baruch, out of all CUNYs, is the most diverse. Each student reflects a specific background that might want them to enroll in different courses that reflect their interests. These interests can also help student organizations on campus, as well the Undergraduate Student Government. 
3. Webinars: A current relevant example of Baruch using new media is implementing webinars in online learning since the COVID-19 has everyone quarantined. In the future, Baruch faculty should use platforms like Zoom, Amazon Chime, Google Hangouts to have professors and students communicate along with any clubs on campus that need to switch to remote access. 
4. Increase Social Media Audience: If Baruch was to increase their social media audience, this would be a great way to gain the attention from students around the world that have any interests in attending Baruch College to jumpstart their professional career. 

Creativity and New Media

New media truly fosters creativity. In order to explore my creativity, I used a virtual media, Second Life, and explored around the virtual world created in the game. Second Life is an online virtual world where users can chat during real-time, change their avatar, transport to different places in the world, buy items from the market place and much more! This was my first time exploring around with Second Life, but I enjoyed it and glad I got to take the time using it due to this assignment! To start off on Second Life, I changed my avatar and played around with her outfit. I let my creativity take on from here and added a silky top and pencil skirt to match my own personal fashion aesthetic and style. Although there weren't many options since I just started the account, I still explored around and added additional accessories to complete the look. I've attached a screenshot below of the complete look of my avatar. In addition to customizing my avatar, I also chatted with other online users that were able to familiarize me with the functions and activities of this virtual world. Second Life operated similar to a browser and had many files you can explore. If you wanted to explore another part of the world, you would have to click on a spot of the world you would like to teleport to. I've attached a screenshot below that shows the different places I've explored and was able to meet new people through. I find this aspect of Second Life very creative as it gives users the chance to look back to what places they explored, along with a map that shows them where more users can be found to interact with. While Second Life has many creative and interactive aspects to the game, one thing I wish they were able to include for the basic account members is for us to decorate our houses. According to someone I chatted with on Second Life, you have to upgrade your account for that. However, I really enjoyed my time on Second Life because it allowed me to explore a virtual world filled with new people to meet online while I got characterize my avatar the way I want to! It was a great experience, especially during a time we all are quarantined and can't actually explore the real world because of the pandemic.

Creativity

New media fosters creativity which can benefit many users, especially marketers for companies. According to the assigned reading, "How user-generated content can improve your social media marketing strategy," content that users create can significantly improve your marketing campaigns. UGC includes any content such as videos, blogs, images, etc. that is created by consumers and is available publicly to other consumers. The article mentions that in order to improve your social media marketing, you should encourage your satisfied consumers to submit/post video testimonials, asking them to "talk about [your] products in the real-life environments." This is a great way to build consumer trust! This is also great on the user-end because consumers get to explore with their creativity to see how to develop this content. For instance, let's say an e-commerce makeup brand encourages consumers to post videos of their product reviews or makeup tutorials with a hashtag of their brand name. Not only is this great for makeup junkies to play around with their video-editing skills, content-creation skills, etc., but it's also great for the brand because it's generating a lot of brand recognition. Hence, new media fosters creativity and also helps businesses because of increased product and brand recognition.

Citations:
Mulcahy, Lisa. “How User-Generated Content Can Improve Your Social Media Marketing Strategy.” Multibriefs, 26 Feb. 2020, exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/how-user-generated-content-can-improve-your-social-media-marketing-st/marketing.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Over the past few years, virtual technology has increasingly been on the rise. Virtual worlds are computer-based simulated environment that allows users to explore a virtual world. Some of these are games that allows users to create avatars, explore a virtual world and interact with other users online. Some examples of virtual worlds include The Sims, IMVU, Minecraft, etc. Virtual worlds can be used in many ways, like in a classroom setting for instance. Especially during a time like this while the COVID-19 spreads and wrecks havoc in communities, many public schools are closing and are mandating students to learn remotely. Online platforms that are built for meetings are great examples of virtual technologies. However, during a time of limited face-to-face communication, more virtual world technologies will be implemented. Virtual campuses are becoming quite common with learning resources and student centers having a virtual presence. Other examples include virtual field trips, virtual classrooms and virtual platforms in libraries.

There are many pros and cons of virtual worlds technologies. One of the pros of this technology is that it creates solutions for many problems. For instance, according to the assigned article "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?", Diane Mehta, the writer, has a Q&A with a Senior Scientist at USC. The article reiterated that the Senior Scientist, Jacki Morie, designed a virtual healing space for returning soldiers. Instead of creating a training space, Morie thought it would be best to design a healing space to repair the damage done for people going into these types of environments. Thus, this was a great benefit of virtual world technologies since it's purpose is to heal soldiers. Another pro of virtual world technologies is it's time efficiency. For instance, according to the assigned article, "Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life," IBM's chief technology officer Parmer states how him and his team saved so much travel time and additionally generated many new ideas due to Second Life's virtual world technology. As a result, virtual worlds come with many pros that benefit users.

While there are many pros of these technologies, there are also cons. Some cons include less face-to-face communication, functionality issues, expenses to implement the technologies, and so on. There are many cons that come with the benefits of these technologies. However, the creativity that virtual world technologies foster within users outweigh these cons. This creativity is developed within users because of the many built-in features that are implemented in these technologies. Since there are so many options and ways for a user to navigate through the technology, this will expand their minds to adapt to a new flexible technology. The future of virtual worlds will obviously advance much more. Maybe, we might even be able to see the future through the new VR technologies!

Works Cited: 

Mehta, Diane. “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 May 2013, www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/#1a9e8f63735a.

Tutton, Mark. “Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Nov. 2009, www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html.

Blog Social Networking

Social networking has numerous benefits, as well as consequences, to society. These technologies have evolved the way users interact with one another, which has significantly benefited businesses in the corporate world from a marketing perspective. One of the ways social networking sites have benefited businesses is that they help build brand awareness once you begin to engage with a broad audience. Another benefit is the traffic social media platforms help generate. For instance, if a clothing company uses Pinterest, a social networking site to post pins with a clickable link that directs them to their product web page, then that business will generate additional traffic to their website from the social networking sites that directed the Pinterest users. This in turn, assists with generating a higher search engine ranking since the search engine picks up the increased traffic that is leading to the website from the various social networking sites. Another benefit social networking sites has on society is that it is a cost-effective strategy to increase brand exposure, boost sales and increase engagement. Lastly, as mentioned in one of the required readings from class, "Social Media in Plain English," the YouTuber explains how social media can benefit businesses due to their collaborative features of blogging, writing reviews and leaving comments. Thus, while these technologies can be used in many ways and have numerous benefits, I specifically decided to focus on how these social networking sites can positively impact corporate businesses from a marketing perspective.

There are also some slight consequences to these technologies. Social networking sites have worsened the mental health of many users, which might be due to the content users run across on their social networking sites. Some issues include increased depression, poor sleeping habits, dissatisfaction with body image and cyber-bullying as well. All these negatively impact the human body, which is why many say social networking sites should be used to a minimum and usage should be kept under control.

According to one of the required readings from the class site, "Canceling AOL," the guy in the video consistently urges the AOL rep to cancel his account since he doesn't use it anymore. Since technologies have been evolving, many consumers have been shifting their focus and usage towards products that are the latest in or products that consumers actually benefit off of. AOL is an example of a social networking site that failed because other sites overpowered with more interesting features for social net-workers. I personally feel that these current social networking platforms will stay "in" in the future, and something that is more engaging, user-friendly and exciting like TikTok will take over.

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Works Cited: 

Nalts, Cancelling AOL (to Music). www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JYIXzfhel8.

Common Craft. Social Media in Plain English. 28 May 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE.

Blog v Wiki

We live in a world where technology has allowed people to become more collaborative due to their multiple features that encourage communication. A blog is a great example of a new media that is collaborative among people to share information. Many blogs have comment sections for users to directly comment upon an interesting point the blogger made in his/her content section. With this feature, users are able to communicate with one another and share ideas or inspiration. This feature, and blogs in general, are also very beneficial to users since it builds relationships with creators and readers. Blogs also allow creators to create hyperlinks in their content for users to directly link to another website or blog. Once the website or blog recognizes where the traffic is coming from, this can also be a great way for the blogger to develop relationships. This feature allows the creator to collaborate with external sites and share his or her opinion. In other words, blogs allow users to build their professional network online. According to Huffpost, "blogging is a community-based endeavor, and networking is one reason people engage in it. Whether you are a solopreneur or blogging to market your business, building relationship will facilitate your blog's growth." As a result, not only does blogging help you build relationships, but building relationships also allows you to in turn increase your blog's growth.

Blogs allow creators to share content about anything they are interested about on their own website. They are the owners of their own blog and can edit and share content on it as they please, since it is their own managed site. A wiki, however, differs from a blog in which wikis can be edited by anyone, since anyone online has access to it. Because wikis are easily accessible to anyone, many teachers and professors do not recommend going to Wikis to contain information since anyone can have edited it with false information. For instance, according to Finding Dulcinea, "Very few Wikipedia editors and contributors use their real name or provide any information about who they are." Thus, you cannot rely on some information, especially when you do not even know who wrote it. Another difference between blogs and wikis is that, blogs are more personal to the creator, wikis are not. They both, however, are very collaborative because wikis allows any user to basically add on to what the previous user had written before. Wikis are indeed very useful for many reasons. I would like a wiki to be created that shares fashion stories of users. It would be a guide to all fashionistas who want to see the opinions of people around the world in terms of their fashion senses, latest news people update each other in regards to new collection releases, any budget-friendly chic brands with detailed explanations, etc.

Works Cited:

“The Top 10 Reasons Students Cannot Cite or Rely On Wikipedia.” FindingDulcinea, www.findingdulcinea.com/news/education/2010/march/The-Top-10-Reasons-Students-Cannot-Cite-or-Rely-on-Wikipedia.html.

Dekmezian, Gary. “Why Do People Blog? The Benefits of Blogging.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 23 Sept. 2016, www.huffpost.com/entry/why-do-people-blog-the-be_b_8178624.

Positive & Negative Effects of Social Media on Society

Social media is used universally to share content in real-time and also allows users to participate in social networking. These websites and applications notably have improved communication among people due to the ease and efficiency in which people can share content or network.

In my term paper, I want to highlight the benefits social media provides to its users. I also would like to shed a light on the positive effects social media has on businesses. I've interned at multiple companies' Marketing Department and realized they all incorporate social media in at least one aspect of their marketing strategies. Since almost every business utilizes social media to achieve a business goal, I would like to research any data that confirms social media's positive effects on businesses. For instance, I would love to see if there is any correlation between a company's rising profits and increased social media usage/engagement. At the same time, I would love to see how social media can have some negative effects on businesses as well. Not only do I want to focus on the effects of social media from a business perspective, I would also like to see how social media has affected face-to-face communication. Many people used to fear that social media, and technology in general, will lead people to not communicate with each other as often. I have not done research on this topic but would love to see if there have been any studies done that test this. There are numerous other negative aspects of social media such as user privacy and security issues people deal with. I plan to further dive in detail by highlighting many of these effects social media has on society today.