Credibiltiy and the Alternative News

The article we will be going over today "Disciplining the Virtual Home Front" is about the MSM ( Mainstream Media) and how they use the internet to receive 24-7 news coverage and how people still follow the mainstream news providers. I feel though after reading that even with the new perspectives that the internet can provide there is still a problem with credibility for the alternative news reporting entities on the web.

In the article it addresses how people still primarily use the "trusted" news networks for information about war. This means that many of those different perspectives are ignored and the the MSM's ideas are then spread the same as it always has been. I believe the Reason for this is that people don't read alternative news coverage for that fact that the internet makes it very hard to prove credibility.

What could turn this around? Personally it would be hard but possibly and company could be created and made to verify authors who wish to earn a credibility mark. This would be similar to safety locks on certain sites that show it is secure. Well the same could be done for credibility. I think, and this is just a suggestion, that this could help people open up to the alternative sites for their information creating, hopefully, a more critical public. I think unless the word can get out and credibility can be reliably established online people will still generally stay in their safety zone of MSM for their knowledge on news in general and especially on something that is more sensitive and serious like war.

I guess what I'm saying is that I do agree with what is said and that the fix isn't simple but possible. Credibility is key and especially online where there are many users able to things unchecked that credibility becomes extremely hard to manage. However i think that a credibility signifier that is genuine and recognizable could fix a lot of the lost perspectives. Perspectives that are reasonable and true and rid the false and sometimes more emotional and false biased news coverage that is possible on the internet. I think credibility online will take a while to establish because it seems to evolve so fast, but it's definitely possible.

It's almost like news is a joke, and here is an example that gives alternative a bad light despite it being a joke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyph_DZa_GQ

Video Games in War and staying Current

Today in class, I started talking about how gamers both casual and hardcore don't really focus on the real life connection when picking a war video game. In my opinion I find most gamers either try a video game for either one of two things when it comes to shooters especially with war games. There are certain aspects that grab the attention of gamers

The first is staying in the current technology and graphics. They also, within this, look for great game-play and having it be smooth overall. The second is the social network and availability of the game. The dominant games in the market are ones that tie in social networking and also have the best available technology. I would say that it is unjust to say that gamers buy the games for the real life political and war substance/issues at hand.

War itself over the years with action movies has inspired the video game creators with a fun and exciting action packed platform. Yes, you might say that some of the things are over emphasized with the actual war material, but at the same time if you ask gamers in general they might have a better understanding at how bad war can be, rather than be eager to join it after seeing what can happen. If anything I feel like these games are just like anything else and can be used correctly for either entertainment or they can be used inappropriately and take too far. I feel that it is not only just the gamers that can take the ideas within a game too far but the creator's as well by making the game relate to the real world too much. In the end it all about the person's intentions when it comes down to it, games are just a entertainment platform enveloped in material from our lives past present and future.

Parental Failure

Last Tuesday in class we ended on the concept of parenting, and were beginning to analyze the extent to which parenting plays a role on children. I found this topic to be very interesting, because a semester back I wrote a paper on the disappearance of the middle class. You might wonder how that plays a role into the discussion of parenting, but in reality is very tightly connected. The reason being that with a harder economically sustainable middle class it forces dual income earning families in order to stay in that class. Now by having two parents working full-time you then see how parenting is affected.

It seems as though this might be a conundrum driven by society itself and in a way is. Without parents around the children absorb more and more advertising, while parents are off working and sometimes not really seeing much of it. This is where marketers got creative and designed advertisements for children. This goes along with Frank in the "Culture for Cool" where children are consumers, and we teach them to like brands and cultivate a particular style.

The bad thing is that dual income earning families is now a norm and that has become a mainstream culture. The counter culture that so readily accompanies it though is with the children. People began to see how important family was, with having to work forty hours a week each they start to value the family more now that it isn't taken for granted as much. By doing so they empower the kids and marketer's saw this phenomena and decided to take advantage of it.

I feel that once the "Child" independence counter culture came to be public it became a whole new marker area just like other counter cultures that seem to go mainstream themselves. Now on a daily basis it is easy to see the movement to a child controlled set of consumers. The power Children have on the parents is amazing and to see this market segment actually being taken advantage of is a little over the top. The bad thing to this is that children are the victims to societies pull into a different mainstream culture that was almost developed out of an economical and financial hardship through the nation.
The video attached is a commercial you might have seen illustrating the power children have. Children almost seem to be tools used for further consumption.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80pNUxIczig

Advertising and Recruiting within Social Media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&feature=related

After being in class Tuesday and discussing the "The Power of Many" article I realized the magnitude to which Social media encompasses. This video helps grasp the size and importance of social media and the demographics it reaches to and focuses. However in class we failed to see that not only advertisement is in social media. Yet another avenue also uses social media to better understand you and this is in the real world of recruitment for jobs and non for profit volunteer organizations.

I don't understand why it took me so long to be able to relate this and why I didn't think of this in class but in the professional world companies use social media to help recruit. Which allows them to cover a vast majority of people and to see them or they're recreated self online while not under the "microscope". This then allows them to really make a better judgement call on the person outside of the interview to make sure they are a good fit. Now you might just ask how this ties into advertising well that's a good question.

In the "The Power of Many" we talk about "mini segments" where in this video can show how difficult it might be considering Facebook is, if it were a country, would be the third largest in the world. To be able to advertise into niches would be extremely difficult and how could you really make sure your hitting the right demographic for your product. Well in Facebook's case its through the Likes and Dislikes program. Like and Dislikes have never been more influential and with recommendations playing a more important role than raw advertisement its easy to see how Facebook thrives.

What seems to have happened over night with both advertisement and recruiting is that it's not what you know it's who you know. With the vast networks of the internet combined with a social media medium, its easy to create a new type of community and demographic scaling system. It's just crazy to think that "Word of Mouth" has turned into "World of Mouth".