Twitter Podcast2

Video Project!

The social issue that I chose for this particular project was Global Warming. As a true advocate of Global Warming, I decided to create a video that represented vivid scenarios of the cause. But before I could create my own video, I first had to choose editing software that would help me generate my own original work. After careful deliberation, I decided to use the program Jaycut. Jaycut proved to be a very meticulous site to work with. At first Jaycut seemed to be straightforward; the program had tabs that indicated were everything was placed but as soon as I finished downloading the pictures I began to have some technical difficulties. For some odd reason, I could not get the transitions and the picture to properly connect. But after viewing the help video, I was able to somewhat fix the problem. After that, I tried to insert some music but that apparently did not go as planned. The Jaycut program froze my slides and muted my music. Although this occurred, I managed to unfreeze the slides and input the appropriate wording to prove my point across.
My video consisted of vivid images that represented Global Warming. I began my video with a picture that resembles a busy urban street with people walking by; I chose this piece because it represented the busy lives that we all have. Within the picture I inserted text that stated:“Stop Overconsupmtion…” I chose these words because the picture represents how much a person overuses goods such as cars, and electricity. The next slide consisted of a picture that showcased hundreds of cars and people. The slide after that also showed cars halted by a huge line of traffic. I selected these pictures as an example of how much CO2 is being consumed. In my next two slides I showed coal plants that depicted thick clouds of smog. Within one of the pictures I inserted text that stated “Reduce Co2 Emissions” as a caution. The next slide consisted of a picture of a farm and acres of land. I picked this picture as a representation of how we’re supposed to preserve our land for cultivation. The next two slides illustrate animal pictures; I chose these images so that people can begin to preserve our wildlife. The next image embodied a picture of the planet Earth covered in water. I selected this image as a representation of what the Earth can face if we continue with our lifestyle. My last image consisted of a man with a sign that stated: “Stop Global Warming”.
I decided to create a video regarding Global Warming because I believe that this is a serious subject that many disregard. Regardless of what skeptics believe, there have been signs that state that our overconsumption and mistreatment of the world has caused changes in the Earth’s atmosphere. The video is just a plea to stop over utilizing commodities, and help preserve our surroundings by reducing the use of fossil fuels, and by limiting our use of goods.

Music by: Garage band's Missing Edge Band

The Restoration of the Myspace Dynasty

Photo by: Kylemac
With social media sites fighting for the title of biggest online network site, Myspace has stepped up for the challenge and has began working on revamping its company. Former Facebook executive Van Natta, has taken the position of CEO of Myspace (Ortutay 1). Writer Barbara Ortutay states in one of her articles that Mr. Natta has replaced Chris DeWolfe; one of the co-founders of Myspace this past Wednesday. The writer states that Mr. Natta faces new challenges on his way. Ortutay discusses that although Myspace is the current highest social network site; their users are still less than those of Facebook (130 Million Myspace users vs. 200 Million Facebook users). Ortutay discusses that much of Myspace revenues come from advertisings that Google Inc has done throughout the years. The writer states that the CEO Van Natta will bring new change to the company. Ortutay continues by stating that unlike Facebook, Myspace has not redesigned or updates their sites as frequently. Writer Ortutay concludes her article by stating that CEO Van Natta comes from a strong background and can do wonders for the Myspace site.

I believe that redesigning one's company's image such as Myspace did is a good way to revitalize their company and obtain a bigger audience. I think, that social media sites such as Myspace are good online sites that help connect the world by helping connect one another through the virtual world.

The Enhancement of the News Release

With the vast innovations of Web 2.0, news releases had to be modified for the new era. As technology emerged, news releases transformed into a good resource for journalists and the general audience. The need to obtain relevant and detailed material from news releases became prominent, and the features need to have a good news release became very important. The readings from the book PR 2.0-New Media, New Tools, New Audiences, believes that there should be changes to the news release in order to be appealing to journalists. The book specifies that news releases should have RSS feeds to link the subject matter to its content and vice versa, "photo libraries with high resolution, MP3 files, video footage for Video-On-Demand (VOD), links to previous coverage on a topic with the ability to use del.icio.us or Digg for social bookmarking, and Technorati" because it is a good site that has an abundance of sources worldwide. All of these prerequisites are good innovations that would not only revitalize the news release but make it appealing to the new age.

I believe that the news release is an important artifact to keep around. The news release has helped journalists come along this far and what better way to incorporate it into the new age than by enhancing it with new Web 2.0 innovations.

Jump Cut's Creations

This past week lecture focused on our most upcoming project, a 1 minute video. Our professor gave our class a number of video editing sites that allowed us to create our own video; I chose Jumpcut as my video editing site. Although I don't know much of editing software, I may admit that Jumpcut did not seem to be very hard to understand. The program seems to be very self explanatory. Although the video editing site may seem to work proficiently,trying to create a video did not seem easy. Uploading pictures, inserting effects, and inputting texts may seem easy to do within a matter of minutes but trying to concise everything into a video did not seem easy.

I think that Jumpcut is a good website to use to create your own video. The site seems to be very user friendly and easy to understand.I believe that this site is a great website that can enhance your own understanding on video editing while perfecting your skills.

Gizmodo-Tech Savvy Website

With Web 2.0 at its top, companies such as Gawker Media have began to use the internet as a mean of advertising. Gawker Media is one of the leading publishers for new "gadgets, gizmos, and cutting-edge electronics". It's target audience consists of technological savvy individuals who are on the looks for a great new gadget. The website gives recommendations for "laptops, cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras, home entertainment", and other sort of gizmos. With its vast amount of information, Gizmodo, one of Gawker Media's main websites publishes more than 60 reviews per weekday. Some of the brands that are utilized within the site include Intel, Microsoft, AT&T, Canon, Bose, Google, Best Buy, HP, to say the least. In addition to their advertising, Gawker also includes various "buzz" stories that include worldly news, company information, etc.

Before stumbling upon this site I was oblivious to know that there were websites like Gawker that obtain efficient information for the average person. I think that this site is an excellent site for one to view the newest gadgets and be able to know what is more reliable.

Karkovack 's 1o1 Marketing

Image provided by: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en
This week's readings emphasized on the importance of interactive marketing. The Citizen Marketers book emphasized that to have a good social media relationship with your client you must first pay attention to their needs. Chapter 5 of the Citizen Marketer's book talks about a Web site developer by the name of Eric Karkovack who launched a website to revive a drink by the name of Surge. Karkovack's website was titled SaveSurge.org; this website depicted Karkovack's great interest of Surge. As time progressed SaveSurege.org began to grow and the popularity of the site increased dramatically. As Surge activists were increasing in popularity; Coca Cola began to launch a new beverage to the market called Vault. Vault was a test beverage that was particularly similar to Surge. Karkovack became interested in the test beverage and decided to drive 4 hours to obtain the Vault drink. After he obtains some Vault, Karkovack begins to blog about it. As he begins to blog more and more people began to link Vault with Surge and see the new beverage as a reincarnation of the Surge beverage. After several months of Karkovack's attempt to revive the Surge product he decides to built a new fan site called VaultKicks.org. This site was launched to promote the success of Vault and to launch the product worldwide. The site became a huge success but had no recognition from the Coca Cola company. Google entries in 2006 showed that VaultKicks.org had more recognition than Coca Cola's official Vault's site. Korkovack concludes by stating that the Coca Cola needs a lot of enhancement on the issue of interactive marketing. He states that their marketing techniques are descent but still need adjustments on their websites.

I believe that Korkovack is right; companies such as Coca Cola need to pay attention to their customer's and acknowledge their work. Korkovack's websites are a perfect example of what the average person can do for a company. His drive to revive Surge and promote Vault played a huge part in the company's prospects. The book concludes Karkovack's story by stating that companies should be more customer friendly and should really listen to their customers. I do agree with the Citizen Marketer's authors when they state that without customer satisfaction a company will not last. Customer's input is a huge asset to a company's future.