CMN450 (03) Participatory Media

This article will help teach how to identify appropriate audiences for products and brands, etc.  There is also a short video which demonstrates how the author helps others build effective online platforms.  Without an effective platform to reach the desired audience it can be difficult to branch out and meet the desired goals.  

This article could be helpful for anyone hoping to work in communications or as an entrepreneur in the future.  It thoroughly explains how companies make money by using free social medias including Facebook and twitter (even providing visual examples).  Due to the increase of people online, and on social networking websites these tips can largely increase profitability and communication clarity of any public company.  They may also help with the media episodes project whilst trying to create and market social media to a specific audience.   

This blog post elaborates upon the possible implications of the continuous technological convergence occurring in society.  He touches on negative issues such as the growing dependence on technology such as cellphones, which have only been around for a number of years.  He also explains positives for advertisers and entrepreneurs such as the ability to reach a global audience at next to no fee.  I thought this article would be relevant because our course similarly reflects upon the impacts of media on our lives as citizens, students and consumers.

This article speaks to the effects of listening to the radio compared to watching TV, surfing the web, or doing none of the above. Radio, according to this survey, makes people happier and gives them more energy as they go about their lives everyday when compared to people that watch television, people that use the internet, and people that consume no media at all. Could this be because of how engaged it forced us to be? 

This article relates to the prior discussion of "blindness" experienced by radio listeners.  To elaborate, radio is a simple form of media which can thus produce a more intimate relationship between host and listener.  Radio hosts often seem to have more authentic personalities vs those on other forms of media, which makes content more friendly and familiar to listen to.  This article reflects upon positive emotions experienced by listeners vs those experienced by other media.  

This webpage relates to our earlier discussion about genre theory which depicted some forms of media are more prone to fit into a particular genre label.  More so this page outlines the main types of genres in film which could be helpful for the media episodes project, in order to help identify an appropriate audience and content per the given episode content.  

The most current and popular video editing techniques are explained and explored in this article. Features programs such as Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer and Sony Vegas.

This article explores how many viewers can be brought in for specific, landmarking televised events such as Superbowl.

This video provides pointers on how to make your YouTube video viral and very successful.

This video explores the benefits of YouTube and how shows such as Dane Boedigheimer's "Annoying Orange" is extremely successful.

This video disputes the strengths and weaknesses of two valuable tools of media; YouTube and Vimeo. The video explores the variables that effect and contribute to the strengths and weaknesses of each type of video host website.

Steve P. Young (Director of SmartShoot) provides a simple framework for creating viral video. He provides 5 criteria to create a viral video. This resource is no boring read. It features claims as "be a purple cow", and "promote like a Kardashian". While fun and an interesting read, there is real truth to his points. .

Having issues getting view counts on your video? Don't fret; instead this resource may help you. Laura Stampler discusses the power of viral video, provides great examples, and even reveals the secrets of making a viral ad. What 2 things are crucial to making a true viral ad? Read on to find out.

Have you seen Brian Sollis' ingenious "Conversation Prism"? If you don't I urge you to check it out and learn how it works. As Solis explains, the goal of any online conversation is to relate back to the user (you). It shows all the ways that a user can connect to the social web. The way I see it, it is complex and interconnected like a spider web.

This short article takes a critical look at the different types of social media platforms. The author has an interesting take on how social media has evolved over the past years saying that: "Within the last seven years, we have been through three waves of social domination: The publishing wave (with blogs), the sharing wave (with Facebook and Twitter), and the curating wave (with Quora, Pinterest and alike)." The author goes on to place further importance on the type of content users post and how that impacts the evolution of social platforms. Towards the end he also touches on the choosing the right social media for different types of business.

Last week Professor McMaster touched on online ecosystems. If you want to know more about it, this Forbes article clearly describes what a social media ecosystem is. The key image depicts the social media landscape in very compact and useful way. It shows all the different ways users interact with their devices.

This dynamic and info-packed Infographic highlights how to design for viral growth. The author, Morgan Brown discusses virality, how to make viral designs, and sums its all up in one neat infographic that is compelling, easily embedded into personal websites, and acts as a good reference sheet. A must to keep in mind when designing content for online promotion.

(Borgini, 2014). Julia Borgini in this compelling article discusses the top 14 social media trends of 2014. While some trends seem obvious, others are more interesting, such as Slideshare becoming a key influencer. Who knew it was one of the most visited websites in the word? These 14 trends are good to keep in mind when promoting on social media pages. This is a good list to keep in mind for video series promotions.

This website provides advice on what colour combinations go well together when creating a website template. It contains sample templates of webpages.

This short article describes the social media efforts employed by the Occupy movement. It also includes links to some of these social media pages to further arouse the interest by the reader.

This article highlights 5 golden rules for effective web design. The article describes how to make typefaces work to your advantage, how to choose colour palettes, the advantages of correctly sized graphics, how to include space and headings, and the importance of consistency in design.

This article deals with website design and what to make note of when designing, as most first-time visitors will give you less than five seconds to "wow" them, making the aesthetics a vital part of reeling in customers. The website must be both visually appealing to your targeted demographic as well as communicate important things to know.

This article covers website aesthetics. Clara Teoh advises web designers to design their websites with: the preferences of their target demographic in mind, the right tone  to focus on designing the layout of the website to capture the attention of users by choosing appropriate colours and  correctly sized buttons. She also says to compare your site using other successful websites as benchmarks. She goes on to say that site aesthetics even affect variables like conversion rates and sales for businesses.