Internet Advertising

Advertising- Will Internet replace traditional advertising?


Advertising is derived from Latin which means 'to turn the mind toward'. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, good and services by an identified sponsor. Advertising has always been shaped by technology. Radio did not replace newspapers but served to different audience needs, likewise with TV and the Internet. There are many changes that come from the Internet revolution, accepting the evolution from a simplified marketing/advertising concepts to a communication concept. It is now a process wherein the advertising agency enables, engages, facilitates, sustains and rewards interactivity between consumers and advertising throughout the entire consumption cycle.

Communication message becomes multidimensional and transaction, from intrusive communication to invited conversation. The beauty of open source and produsage is that consumers are actively seeking out and requesting advertising better known as 'invitational advertising'. Web advertising has become the greatest phenomena in advertising, through many different mediums, here are some examples:

- Banners and buttons, skyscrapers, pop-ups, direct e-mail, web commercials, video streaming, games, dynamic buttons, audio, radio and online TV.

According to Bauer and Scharl (2000, 31) and Holeckova and Li (2005, 77) a website must initially uphold east of access and an understandable technical system whereby connection to a website is quick and easy. Whereas an overly sophisticated website is more like to diver users away as the majority of users do have excessive understanding of complex technologies (Siegel 2006, 295).

Personally, I believe that the Internet has already changed the face of advertising, but it has not and will not replace traditional advertising for generations to come. The lack or speed of Internet connections in some markets will take years to catch up to western countries and the growing anti-spam or pop-up ad blockers can definitely stall the 'effectiveness' of the online advertising process. Finally, in today's era there are no set practices for consumers, with so much open source media, consumer patterns and response rates are unpredictable making it even harder to measure success or failure of certain advertising.


References:

Bauer, C. and Scharl, A. 2000. Quantitive evaluation of a Web site content and structure. Internet Reseach. Bradford, 10 (1): 31.

Holeckova, K. and Li, S. 2005. Evaluation of UK car insurance brokers’ websites: some preliminary findings. Marketing Intelligence and Planning. Bradford, 23
(1): 77.

Siegel, C. F. 2006. Internet Marketing – Foundations and
Applications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

Gaming Culture & Web 2.0

The electronic gaming culture is a growing phenomenon of a new media that has been inspired by video and computer games. The gaming industry has increased in popularity over the years it has resulted in a frenzy of enthusiasm that has escalated in a passionate gaming sub-culture. Today, the impact of the gaming culture of video and computer games has influences television, politics, Hollywood and even popular music. As the gaming culture has exploded it has often endured many skeptic theories and negative attention.

Electronic gaming is a media sensation that has been completely influenced large masses of individuals all interested and influenced by computer and video games. The expansion of technology and the upgrades in electronic material have caused a mountain of popularity and ultimately picked-up many social fads and consumer created content. The gaming culture has expanded with the introduction of new technologies such as Web 2.0 and has impacted most societal groups with its’ large ability to interact and socialize worldwide, resulting in an upsurge in gaming social networks and user-created content.

As Jenkins states, "much video game play is social", funnily enough this is contrary to most popular belief. Almost sixty percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and twenty-five percent play with spouses and parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players — for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Gaming researchers have invested many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta-gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rule-breaking (Jenkins, Undated). It is evident through the information above that ‘normal’ social interaction is governed and practiced through gaming cultures even with the lapsed fantasies presented on the gaming console.


Jenkins, H. (Undated)."Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about Video Games Debunked." PBS,
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html.
(accessed, May 8, 2008).

GET A second LIFE!!!

The line between the real world and virtual reality is becoming harder to draw. Web 2.0 or social software offers the public an online platform to connect in a wide range of genres such as music, social networking, careers, sports, film and television, and ultimately helps create millions of different cultures. In today's online era, you rarely have to go far to make yourself known on websites such as Youtube, or make a million new friends on MySpace, and even start a romantic relationship on AdultMatcher.com. Given the various open source phenomena, it seems that this is not enough, companies are now introducing entire life-altering worlds at the click of a mouse. Secondlife.com is the latest phenomenon that allows you to be virtually reborn, it is often described as a mix between The Sims and MySpace where users are digitally transformed into characters known as 'avatars' (Secondlife.com). The online community allows you to interact and meet new people, work, shop, buy and sell land, and even engage in sexual activity- basically anything you would do in the real world and more.

The popularity of Second Life has completely escalated with over 13 million worldwide registered accounts, not only this, the virtual residents of the digital continent trade, buy and sell in 'the marketplace' which currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transaction with the in-world trade of the 'Linden Dollar' (SecondLife.com). The introduction of this virtual community has provided the basis of a 'significant paradigm shift' (Bruns, 2008), where the rise of social software stands to have a profound impact on social practices, the media, economic and legal frameworks (Bruns, 2008). The perfect example is in the produsage and produsers, as residents of Second Life retain intellectual rights they are surrounded by their own and fellow community members creations. As Bruns (2008) explains, "Second Life operator Linden Lab's decision to break with standard industry practice in allowing its community to retain copyright over its contributions is commercially exploiting produsers without remuneration or acknowledgement"(p. 4).

This context of user-led content creation needs to be challenged as real-life problems are beginning to plague the virtual world. Second Life enthusiasts are realising the world as having limits, with activity such as illegal gambling, tax-free commerce, child pornography and bestiality currently practiced in the virtual community. You only have to hear the words 'age-play' to be concerned with the open-mindedness of the virtual reality, the practice has recently come under serious scrutiny as it has been discovered that adults are engaging in sexual activities with avatars made to look like children and the lack of law and limits makes it unlikely to press charges (Terdiman, 2006). One of the major appeal of Second Life is the freedom and privacy of the online community making it harder for the website to restrict illicit activity without loosing registrations.

Even with its ignominies, I personally recognise the significant of Second Life as a useful online tool. The collaborative environment breaks down the boundaries between producers and consumers and allows participants to share information and knowledge, become filmmakers, musicians, university students, tycoons and housewives. As with any online community there are problems and scandals but you only have to see the formation of a complete online economy to really realise the value of this virtual phenomena that allows people to be creative, worldly and free. All in all, if this trend persists, the balance between mass and networked media will continue to further shift in favour of us 'citizens'.


References:

Bruns, A (2008). The Future Is User-Led: The Path Towards Widespread Produsage. (http://produsage.org/files/The%20Future%20Is%20User-Led%20(PerthDAC%202007).pdf
(accessed May 13, 2008).

Bruns, A (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. News Blogs and Citizen Journalism: Perpetual Collaboration in Evaluating the News (p.69-100). PeterLang: New York

Terdiman, D. (2006). Phony Kids, Virtual Sex. Cnetnews.com. http://www.news.com/Phony-kids,-virtual-sex/2100-1043_3-6060132.html
(accessed May 14, 2007).