Where Do We Go From Here??

Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring the future of communications. The way we consume content is changing almost as rapidly as the digital landscape itself. These changes are prominent within every new announcement ranging from both platforms and publishers as well as opportunities for more personalised, better mobile-optimised and more accessible content increases.

As we approach the end of the year, we’re witnessing a growth in ‘smarter content’ – tailored not just to its audience but also to the form and function of the device it’s consumed on. This content is set to engage users wherever they are and whatever the device they’re using, with relevant, high quality content experiences.

The convergence of digital media and technology, under way since the dawn of the Internet, will accelerate. Distinctions between old and new media will fade; most media will be digital. Mobile devices, already the preferred media and Internet platform for many people, will continue to proliferate. We may wear them on our bodies or weave them into our clothing.

Some industries, like music and newspapers, have already been through the wringer. While the recording industry showed its first revenue growth last year after a decade of decline, the upheaval in the newspaper business continues, as reflected in the sale of The Washington Post to Jeff Bezos of Amazon, announced this past summer. Will television be next? Until now, it has held up better. TV audiences have fragmented as channels have proliferated, but overall viewer figures and advertising remain strong in much of the world.

The sands are shifting in the world of content, thanks to the continuous evolution of platforms and technology. Facebook has given nine publishers including the Times, the New York Times, National Geographic and BuzzFeed access to Instant Articles and the initial results look amazing. These well-designed, interactive pieces of mobile content are opening up new opportunities for native brand advertising, targeted at specific readerships. Some of the same publishers, namely BuzzFeed and the New York Times, are also working with Apple to improve their mobile content experience. The tech giant has announced it’s ditching the Newsstand app and replacing it with Apple News, a sleek new reader app for iOS9.

Apple is not the only brand to make use of curating and customising content – earlier this year, Snapchat invited brands and publishers to get in on the action with the Discover channels, which provides curated news from partners like Sky News, National Geographic, MTV and Cosmopolitan.

It surely won’t be long now before Snapchat begins producing its own content on Discover, much the way that Spotify and Reddit are looking to produce their own audiovisual content, diversifying their streaming offering to video.

With that being said, here are six digital content “megatrends” we should expect in the future:

1. Content distribution models are shifting towards instantaneous, ubiquitous access, often using social networks
2. New technologies, big data, and the growth of virtual content are reshaping the creative economy landscape
3. The traditional lines between content creators and content consumers are blurring, with consumers playing an increasingly important role in collaborative content creation
4. Business models for digital content distribution are changing, with licensing and service-based delivery models replacing traditional sales-based distribution
5. Commerce in creative works is increasingly global – but national and regional intellectual property frameworks have yet not caught up with the full range of cross-border content movement enabled by today’s technologies
6. Technology is making it easier to modify and redistribute content. The resulting complex chains of “derivative works” provide increased opportunities to capture creativity, but also create challenges to managing copyright.

How do you think this will impact the future of media content and production??

Thank you guys so much for tuning in! COM 6630 has been an experience! I have learned so much for this course, and I cannot wait to share it with the world… Until next time! Peace & blessings to you…

– Myra

Baby Einstein? Children and Technology!

Media technology is here to stay and has become a permanent part of our lives. But there is great concern about how it may be affecting our children. I believe we can learn to embrace its advantages, reduce its adverse effects and raise children who can still relate heart-to-heart with people, appreciate and participate in the beauty and wonders of nature and grow up to be well-rounded, healthy, caring and compassionate adults. The challenge for parents is to understand the benefits and pitfalls of children’s technology use and to help their children create balance in their lives.

Research tells us that developing children thrive when they are talked to, read to, played with and given time for creative play, physically active play, and interactions with other children and adults. And there’s no research showing the benefits of introducing children to new technologies in the first years of life. Yet educators face increasing pressure to increase the amount of time children spend with digital technologies in early childhood settings, taking valuable time and resources away from activities proven to benefit learning and development.

Reminiscing about the good old days when we were growing up is a memory trip well worth taking when trying to understand the issues facing the children of today. A mere 20 years ago, children used to play outside all day, riding bikes, playing sports and building forts. Masters of imaginary games, children of the past created their own form of play that didn’t require costly equipment or parental supervision. Children of the past moved… a lot, and their sensory world was nature based and simple. In the past, family time was often spent doing chores, and children had expectations to meet on a daily basis. The dining room table was a central place where families came together to eat and talk about their day, and after dinner became the center for baking, crafts and homework.

Today’s families are different. Technology’s impact on the 21st century family is fracturing its very foundation, and causing a disintegration of core values that long ago were the fabric that held families together. Juggling school, work, home, and community lives, parents now rely heavily on communication, information, and transportation technology to make their lives faster and more efficient. Entertainment technology (TV, Internet, video games, iPads, cell phones) has advanced so rapidly, that families have scarcely noticed the significant impact and changes to their family structure and lifestyles.

The amount of time children spend using media technology, including computers, cell phones, video games and MP3 players among others, is setting off alarms. Children and teens between ages eight and 18 spend an average of seven hours and 38 minutes daily playing video games, going online and watching TV, and most have no household rules governing how much time they’re allowed to spend doing these things.The fear is not only that this technology is replacing physical and imaginative play, but that it also may be diminishing development of social skills, heart connection and empathy for others.

The uncertain reality is that, with this new technological frontier in its infancy and developments emerging at a rapid pace, we have neither the benefit of historical hindsight nor the time to ponder or examine the value and cost of these advancements in terms of how it influences our children’s ability to think.

Studies over the past decade have concluded that a large number of adolescents and teens today are having difficulty identifying emotions in people, thus creating an inability to feel empathy toward others who may be feeling pain, sorrow, anger and other emotions. There is concern that excessive viewing of real or contrived violence online and/or playing video games that are violent or contain other age-inappropriate content could be numbing the sensitivities of young people, immunizing them from experiencing compassion and caring for others.

I strongly encourage parents and adults to closely monitor children’s media technology habits and the time they spend with media, beginning at an early age and continuing through adolescence and the teen years. It’s important to help children to create a balance between their relationship with technology and activities that nurture their social, emotional and physical skills.

Exposure to technology isn’t all bad. My philosophy is that technology can also play a role in helping children develop socially and emotionally, when used in balance. Media has helped children care about what is happening on the other side of the world, giving them access to people of different cultures and lifestyles in a click. Research shows that, for example, video games and other screen media improve visual-spatial capabilities, increase attentional ability, reaction times, and the capacity to identify details among clutter. Technology is creating common platforms of socialization, exchange of information leading to more understanding and connectedness to the greater whole. Online polls allow teens to participate in social issues. Through blogging, many youths feel they have a voice on different social issues, allowing expression of their perspectives and learning about other people’s perspectives as well. Many are getting involved in online social causes and movements happening worldwide, from saving endangered species to raising money for the homeless.

The technology world is a place for parents and grandparents to interact and communicate with children, even though the learning curve can be a challenge for many of us. It’s important to enter into the world where our children are increasingly spending more and more time. By learning to navigate that world with them, we can better guide them on how to manage themselves and their time within it.

What does all this mean for raising your children? The bottom line is that too much screen time and not enough other activities, such as reading, playing games, and good old unstructured and imaginative play, will result in your children having their brains wired in ways that may make them less, not more, prepared to thrive in this crazy new world of technology.

I hope that you all found this post resourceful and very beneficial! Thanks guys for tuning in! Until next time… Peace and blessings to you all!

– Myra

What does your brand read?

A brand, it’s commonly accepted, is a promise. It’s a promise of quality, as well as consistency. You know that the next tube of your favorite brand of toothpaste will be the same as the last. Branding is now shorthand for a bunch of other, real concepts, such as reputation, expectations, and attitudes – everything, it seems, except what branding really is.

Branding is the expression of the essential truth or value of an organization, product, or service. It is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is and is not. It gives you a shorthand way of putting your product or service across to the marketplace, quickly and emphatically, with a name, a logo, a look or a slogan.

Branding goes way beyond just a logo or graphic element however. When you think about your brand, you really want to think about your entire customer experience; everything from your logo, your website, your social media experiences, the way you answer the phone, to the way your customers experience your staff. 

Over time a brand will come to embody all the attributes, history and image of your product or service. And though the value is unlikely to appear as a separate item on your balance sheet, the accountants will base some part of the goodwill you have built up on brand values.

A strong brand image will help you establish an edge over the competition and can open doors to new opportunities. For example, other lines can be bought in, branded and sold as your own products, i.e. Coca-Cola.

When you look at the broad definition of branding, it can be a bit overwhelming to think about what is involved in your brand. In short, your brand is the way your customer perceives you. It is critical to be aware of your brand experience and have a plan to create the brand experience that you want to have — a good brand doesn’t just happen — it is a well thought out and strategic plan. 

It takes time to build a strong, consistent brand. The time it takes to build a brand is the time it takes your customers to come around to accepting your brand values. These may include the belief, for example, that your product or service will give better value or be more reliable than competing ones. They may also start to believe that they will be happier with your product or service than any others and that your product or service is the most suitable for people like them.

In today’s fast-paced world, it is more important than ever to promote recognition of a product or service. If you’re remembered as a quality provider, then you will be encouraging repeat business. Branding is a great way to promote this recognition because people are busy and tend to adhere to familiarity. If consumers recognize a brand that they have previously used and they remember being satisfied with it, then they are more likely to choose that product or service again. This is especially true in the tremendous hodgepodge of advertising going on today. 

Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-discovery. It can be difficult, time-consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you answer the questions below and consider the listed approaches:

• What is your company’s mission?
• What are the benefits and features of your products or services?
• What do your customers and prospects already think of your company?
• What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?

Branding Approach:

– Individual product branding – Each new product is assigned a new name with no connection to other brands owned by a company.

– Family branding – New products are placed under an existing brand.

– Co-branding – The marketer partners with another firm that has an existing, established brand in hopes that the theory “two brands are better than one” will stimulate interest.

– Private or store branding – When suppliers produce products for other companies, and place that company’s brand on the product.

– No Name Branding – Also referred to as generic branding, this is a “brandless” product that is sold as a low-cost alternative to a brand. 

If you don’t think branding is for you, you are not alone; however, your brand may be just as important to your relationships with partners and suppliers as it is to your customers. 

Today brands are everything, and all kinds of products and services — from accounting firms to sneaker makers to restaurants — are figuring out how to transcend the narrow boundaries of their categories and become a brand surrounded by a Vera Wang -like buzz.

When it comes to branding, it is all about the impression you make. If you want to succeed, that impression should do two jobs – it should convey what is special about your business and it should show you in a positive light.

Of course, many small businesses make a good impression most of the time without ever giving a thought to their brand. But think how much more successful you would be if you gave a good impression all of the time.

What I am advocating is that you think about the impression you want to make – your brand – and actively take steps to manage it.

 A successful brand invariably results in superior profit and marketing performance. A brand name is therefore a valuable asset which can set a product or service apart and add significant value as a capital asset. It’s all about applying your values to everything you do, clearly and consistently.

 The message is clear. If you’ve got a business, then you’ve got a brand. What you do with it is up to you.

I hope that you all enjoy this post! Please share it to your media outlets and spread the knowledge! Don’t be stingy! Until next week guys… Peace and blessings to you. 

– Myra 

Say it with me now… Crowdsourcing!

Despite the jargony name, crowdsourcing is a very real and important business idea. Definitions and terms vary, but the basic idea is to tap into the collective intelligence of the public at large to complete business-related tasks that a company would normally either perform itself or outsource to a third-party provider. Yet free labor is only a narrow part of crowdsourcing’s appeal. More importantly, it enables managers to expand the size of their talent pool while also gaining deeper insight into what customers really want.

Crowdsourcing touches across all social and business interactions. It is changing the way we work, hire, research, make and market. Governments are applying crowdsourcing to empower citizens and give a greater voice to the people. In science and health care, crowdsourcing can democratize problem solving and accelerate innovation. With education, it has the potential to revolutionize the system, just as crowdfunding is currently challenging traditional banking and investing processes. It’s a 21st-century mindset and approach that can be applied in many areas and in many ways.

Crowdsourcing can improve productivity and creativity while minimizing labor and research expenses. Using the Internet to solicit feedback from an active and passionate community of customers can reduce the amount of time spent collecting data through formal focus groups or trend research, while also seeding enthusiasm for upcoming products. By involving a small group of customers in key marketing, branding, and product-development processes, managers can reduce both staffing costs and the risks associated with uncertain marketplace demand.

For example, Wikipedia. Instead of Wikipedia creating an encyclopedia on their own, hiring writers and editors, they gave a crowd the ability to create the information on their own. The result? The most comprehensive encyclopedia this world has ever seen.

The principle of crowdsourcing is that more heads are better than one. By canvassing a large crowd of people for ideas, skills, or participation, the quality of content and idea generation will be superior.

Here’s another example…If you’re looking for a logo design, you can tell a crowd of designers what you want, how much you will pay, and your deadline. All interested designers will create a finished design specifically for you. You’ll receive 50-300+ different finished logo designs, and you can keep whichever design you like the best. By doing design this way, crowdsourcing actually increases the quality & decreases the price, compared to online freelancing.

If you are unsure of where to begin with an idea for a business opportunity, whether it’s product design or perhaps a marketing firm, crowdsourcing can help through open innovation. Open innovation allows people from all aspects of business such as investors, designers, inventors, and marketers to collaborate into a functional profit making reality. This can be done either through a dedicated web platform to gain outside perspective, or used with only internal employees.

With the rise of user-generated media such as blogs, Wikipedia, Facebook, and YouTube, it’s clear that traditional distinctions between producers and consumers are becoming blurry. It’s no longer fanciful to speak of the marketplace as having a “collective intelligence” because today that knowledge, passion, creativity, and insight are accessible for all to see. Open innovation does just that! It brings together people from different parts of the world and different sectors of business to work together on a project. This is effectively a collection of different fields and levels of expertise that would not otherwise be available to any budding entrepreneur. It also elevates previously considered uninvolved parties, such as investors, to roll up their sleeves and impart their knowledge, essentially becoming more than just a cash cow.

Crowdsourcing’s biggest benefit is the ability to receive better quality results, since several people offer their best ideas, skills, & support. Crowdsourcing allows you to select the best result from a sea of ‘best entries,’ as opposed to receiving the best entry from a single provider. Results can be delivered much quicker than traditional methods, since crowdsourcing is a form of freelancing. You can get a finished video within a month, a finished design or idea within a week, and microtasks appear within minutes.

Crowds are not employees, so executives can’t expect to control them. Indeed, while they may not ask for cash or in-kind products, participants will seek compensation in the form of satisfaction, recognition, and freedom. They will also demand time, attention, patience, good listening skills, transparency, and honesty. For traditional top-down organizations, this shift in management culture may prove difficult.

What can be crowdsourced? The short answer is, a collaborative or crowd-centric approach can be applied to everything. But here are just a few areas where it has had significant impact and huge potential:

• Enterprise

• Education

• Government

• Fashion

• IT

• Finance

• Entrepreneurship

• Marketing

• Science & Health

• Social Enterprise & NonProfit

Clear instructions are essential in crowdsourcing. You could potentially be searching through thousands of possible ideas, which can be painstaking, or even complicated, if the instructions are not clearly understood. Some forms of crowdsourcing do involve spec work, which some people are against. Quality can be difficult to judge if proper expectations are not clearly stated.

So how can this phenomenon work for organizations? Crowdsourcing as a work model, financial model, and business model are here to stay. Leveraging collaborative practices and tools leads to disruptive business implications and transformative innovations. If existing enterprise are not prepared to adapt and embrace this new opportunity, they will be disrupted. Knowledge and understanding of collaborative business practices will be a required skill for all level employees, executives, communications strategist and entrepreneurs.

I hope that you all enjoyed this post. Please be sure to like, comment and subscribe! Share it with friends on your social media handles as well! Don’t be stingy! Until next time….

Peace & blessings to you all….

– Myra

Social Media Burnout? Here’s a solution!

Social media is growing at a frighteningly quick pace. With new social networks, features, and rules popping up every day, it can be challenging to keep up. But for people who also manage multiple social media accounts, it can also be exhausting.

No matter how experienced you are, or where you are in your career, social media burnout is a real possibility, just like with any other activity or profession. One of the most important things about this medium is participation, and when you’re burnt out, you’re off your game and your community notices, sometimes even before you do.

Consider the amount of time you spend plugged-in. Before you get out of bed you probably already know what’s in your Inbox, who’s Liked your latest Facebook update, and sent a few tweets in between stretches. There’s a fine line between enthusiasm and addiction. Both, however, can lead to fatigue.

One of the most obvious signs of burnout is apathy. Instead of feeling energized, if a once-loved activity has become emotionally exhausting, you’re probably getting burned out.

The next typical phase of social media burnout is radio silence. Whether you’re putting off responding to an email, a tweet, or relaying feedback to your team, as a strategic communications specialist you’re hurting your community and your brand’s reputation.

Social media is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. If you use it correctly, you can create a strong personal connection with your audience and prospective customers. However, marketers often make the mistake of diving into social media without a clear plan and get burned out quick. At best, this is a waste of time, and at worst, it can lead to a PR disaster. If you’re burned out, not only is your audience not getting the support they need, but your team is missing out on valuable opportunities as well. In any industry, being able to delegate is an important quality to have. However, there’s a difference between delegating and dropping the ball. If team members are continuously having to pick up your slack because you’re burned out, you’re distracting them from their own responsibilities and goals.

In social media, it’s especially important that you’re willing to adapt and grow as the industry changes. Everyone has a routine, but it’s necessary to ask yourself if there are any habits or dependencies that are holding you back. Burnout is an undeniable sign that something isn’t working, and at the end of the day, it all comes down to your passion for the industry. Now that we have identified what social media burn out is, here are just a few social media strategies to help you overcome social media burnout.

Overcoming burnout can be as simple as taking more breaks. Physically get away from your desk more often. Unplug and eat your lunch away from the glow of a monitor. Also, set clear objectives! Focus on the S.M.A.R.T. strategy for goal setting to ensure your objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time based. Once you set your objectives, make sure you can measure them. Find the right tools to track and analyze each one, so that you can quantify your progress. Not only will this let you know when you have arrived, it will also help you to spot problems early and adjust your course if you need to.

Try characterizing your customers and audience. A successful social-media strategy that is all about targeting the right people with the right messages. To do this, you need to understand your audience. For instance, there’s no point in targeting everyone in the 18 to 35 age group if you really want to get to upwardly mobile young professionals like us who are technology enthusiasts. The best way to do this is to create buyer personas. Sit down and create a detailed profile of your ideal customer. Start by giving them a name. How old are they? What is their income? Do they have children? What do they like or dislike? What motivates them? And so on. If you have more than one ideal customer, create a persona for each.

Now that you have a handle on your customers and your target audience, it’s time to start developing clear, concise  messages. This isn’t detailed content; rather it’s the top-level set of key messages that you think will resonate with your customers based on the personas you have created. Choose two or three messages, then break each one down another level creating a simple messaging hierarchy.

There’s nothing wrong with adopting some of your competitors’ successful messaging ideas either, but also try to create original messages that set you apart. This will help you to create a unique brand voice. Don’t be afraid to get creative as your social media presence should be exciting, not boring.

Finally,  you need to develop a strong content plan that will deliver engaging material. The content needs to align with your overall messaging and be appropriate for the channels you’re using. This is more than just product information! Think about how you can deliver real value to your audience. Don’t just stick to one type of media; a mix of videos, guides, infographics and other styles will engage your potential customers and audience more effectively. Also, don’t think of content as something you post once. You need to have an ongoing presence on social media, and that includes delivering fresh content on a regular basis.

If the ultimate reason for your burnout is that you’ve lost your enthusiasm and willingness to learn and try new strategies, then it’s time to think about your goals and what’s truly important to you. Burnout doesn’t have to be a negative thing. Use this as an opportunity to rediscover what makes you happy.

I hope this blog post was helpful guys! Until next time…. Peace & blessings to you all!

– Myra

Unplugged.

Ever feel like disconnecting? Unplugging? Discharging from the digital atmosphere..? Yes, me too! This is kind of difficult when you have an iPhone, iPad and MacBook like myself. Mobile devices are becoming everyday objects that people don’t only use everyday but rely on. Experts stated in 2014, that there are more active mobile devices on the world than humans on the planet. That fact brings me to this week’s post….mobile connectivity and its impact.

Mobile phone owners like the convenience and ease of connectivity. No longer are we confined to a computer desk with a horrible  DSL connection. We have the World Wide Web right at our fingertips. Most American adults now own a cell phone of some kind, and these devices mean many things to their owners; an always-available link to friends and family, a pocket computer, or a time-saving tool, even an actual telephone! These devices are being used day in and day out, and they are starting to replace some of the uses of computers. When I first got Facebook back in 2007, you had to receive an email from someone that already had an account to create one. Now you can create a Facebook account with a mobile app.

 People are now using phone apps more than they are using the web browser. Studies show that people use their phone 80 percent of the time in apps and only 20 percent of the time in the browser. Studies also show that from the fourth quarter in 2013 to the fourth quarter in 2014 monthly use of mobile apps have increased drastically to the tune of about seven hours a month.

One of my colleagues, who does marketing for AT&T, recently conducted a focus group to gather data on the type of phones that the company offers and the services that they have, and the findings were very interesting. When the group was asked to describe in their own words what they like most about owning a cell phone:

– 17% of cell owners say the best thing about their phone is that it is convenient.

– 12% like the ability to call or talk with others at any time.

– 11% like that their cell phone can help them get assistance in an emergency.

– 9% say that using the internet, email, or apps is the best thing about their mobile phone.

– 8% cite the ability to connect with family.

One thing that I have noticed, and I am just as guilty as everyone else, is that mobile owners are extremely attached to their phones; although most don’t see that as too big of a problem. Jan Chipchase said in in his TED Talk, The anthropology of mobile phones, “If you ask people what the three most important things that they carry are — across cultures and across gender and across contexts — most people will say keys, money and, if they own one, a mobile phone.” At this point of the digital age, the mobile phone is the modern day bible! Actually if you download the bible app, it can be just that. People simply cannot function without it.

For many cell owners, their phone is an essential utility that they check frequently, keep close by at all times, and would have trouble functioning without. 

67% of cell owners find themselves checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls — even when they don’t notice their phone ringing or vibrating. Some 18% of cell owners say that they do this “frequently.”

44% of cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed because they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss any calls, text messages, or other updates during the night.

29% of cell owners describe their cell phone as “something they can’t imagine living without.”

( Qualitative data collected by Meagan Williams)

As mentioned earlier, as mobile usage increases, app use increases. Some digital properties have seen exponential growth through those mobile apps. Pandora, ESPN, Instagram, and Twitter have seen the greatest increase in audience in the mobile age. 

Personally, I use my phone at least twice every hour during the day. It is basically my life line! Whether I am at work, the doctors office, or in my bed my phone is always with me. At a concert last weekend,  I checked my Instagram app muliple times, even when I didn’t have a connection. I also ran up my data, but that’s a story that we will save for later. Between the constant updates of Snapchat and the latest fall fashion shows in New York, I was making my move to that app as much as I was to the dance floor. It is so important to just unplug and enjoy the moment. I have failed to do that multiple times and ended up missing something really important. All in all, just unplug from the mobile world and be present! I promise you won’t regret it…. Until next time guys! Peace and blessings to you.

– Myra

Media Convergence… How Important is it?

Media convergence has become a vital element of life for many people. With the development of technology in different  platforms and operations such as television, Internet and mobile communication, audiences have had both a bigger choice of media and a life which media technologies have made easier. However, one question needed to be asked…whether or not media convergence creates opportunities and challenges to the industry and society itself.

In terms of the industry, with the development of technology, the cost of products and software is lowered. Instead of having different news crews for every medium, one converged media operation can use the same reporters and staff to produce stories for, television, telecommunication and Internet mediums. By combining each medium’s resource, a converged operation can increase the quality of its product. As a result satisfaction of customer is increased, which leads to a larger audience. From the public’s standpoint, the increased convenience of information provided by converged stories makes using the media a better experience.

The convergence between digital and traditional methods of viewing content has pushed media consumption from gathering around the family television to catch the latest episode of a show, to enabling individual viewers to watch their favorite shows on their TVs, phones, tablets and more – anytime and anywhere. However, this convergence in media consumption has caused a myriad of issues when it comes to delivering high-quality content. For media convergence to hit its stride — and for consumers and industry players to reap the full benefits — content delivery must address the unique roadblocks that face users, device manufacturers and content providers.

The last decade has marked a significant shift in content consumption preferences as a result of the advancement in device capabilities. Manufacturers are prolifically producing devices (TVs, tablets, mobile phones), each with more bells and whistles than the last. For example, recent studies reveal that there were nearly 12,000 unique Android mobile devices on the market at the end of 2013, with different dimensions and operating system flavors. With factors such as varying screen sizes, natively supported protocols and operating systems at play, creating a universal, high-quality media experience is quite challenging.

Nowadays, people talk about not having enough time to do everything they want in a day or doing more than one thing at one time. Convergence lead the media is more interactive and audience participation is encouraged. In addition, greater audience engagement can help to enhance the way people experience the media. Moreover, with the interactive World Wide Web, audiences are able to download and share music , video , photo via social networking and become media produce.

Media convergence brings many challenges. Audiences complain about information overload and they can be overwhelmed and find it difficult. Furthermore, the rapidly changing of technology has obstructed audience’s activities. People lack of skill to take full advantage of new media especially old people and disable. So will an audience so used to traditional forms of media embrace a new way of receiving information. In addition, media companies pursue audiences by greater benefit from maketing and advertising through cross-selling.

Those who ignore the shift in consumption or refuse to hear the consumer will surely get left behind. Fortunately there are ways to address these challenges of convergence and help users, device makers and content providers move to the new era of content consumption models. Software multimedia frameworks are viewed as the universal solution for enabling high-quality multimedia on any device that a consumer chooses. Software is a cost-effective approach with less internal support needed to implement these solutions and provide a viable alternative that can be updated on a consistent basis.

With changes coming to the ways users consume media in the next several years, both content providers and device manufacturers must evolve to remain profitable by increasing the quality of the media experience and expanding service offerings.

In conclusion, while the future of converged media seems very bright, its proprietors will have to ask themselves some questions: Will the new technology that is anticipated be as revolutionary as people expect? Will the investment in convergence be profitable enough in the short term, or in the long term? What competing technologies should be utilized in order to produce the best media? Will converged media be successful in a world marketplace?

Those are few of the many questions posed by the growing trend of media convergence. At the very least, no one want to miss the premiere — or revenue opportunity — of Game of Thrones, right?

Peace & blessings to you all..

– Myra

The New “Digital” and Privacy Risk

For this weeks post, we will be focusing on the digital age and the vulnerability that creates for individuals. It seems the best way to secure one’s online privacy is by meticulously controlling what one is sharing, how they are sharing, and who they are sharing with — in addition to keeping up with one’s favorite social media sites’ privacy policies. Fortunately, it seems many people have already realized that careful curation of whatever content they post is essential to protecting online privacy. In one of our assigned readings for the week, “Is America at a digital turning point?” the author discussed how our privacy is completely lost due to the digital age. In fact, privacy lost is one of the biggest sacrifices that users make to utilize the internet, and thanks to a dramatic shift in technological innovation, the government can easily track, monitor and surveil its citizens.

Some social networking sites change their extensive policies so often, it can be hard to keep up, and I know it can be difficult to navigate the privacy settings on all your social media networks, but it must be done! Privacy rights have been steadily eroding for some time, but with the advent of social media we are watching them disappear at a faster clip. Among some of the most interesting stats: A greater percentage of social networking site users untagged photos, deleted comments, and unfriended someone in 2014 than just two years ago in 2013, indicating that many people are becoming warier online. In addition, 19 percent more women than men have their profiles set to private, allowing only friends to view what they’ve posted. Men, on the other hand, are more likely than women to have partially private or completely public profiles.

“The issue of privacy is simple – if you go online for anything at all, your privacy is gone,” said Cole, the author of the assigned article. “Americans love that they can buy online, look for information online, and join social communities online. But the price we pay is that we are monitored constantly; private organizations know everything there is to know about us: our interests, our buying preferences, our behavior, and our beliefs.” This is very evident because every time we go onto a new website, the first thing we are asked for is our personal information and/or email address. Think about it! Automatic sharing features on some social networking sites, such as Facebook, lets one publicize their activities without having to hit a “share” button. It can be pretty convenient, until the day comes when one forgets they’ve elected to use these particular features. Last fall, Facebook launched its “frictionless sharing” which shares information about what one is reading even if one didn’t intend to!

The problem with living simultaneously in both the digital world and reality is that sometimes we end up sharing way more than we realize. Social media is an addictive part of our everyday lives. In fact, habits like scrolling through Twitter or Instagram have become almost second nature! Researchers have found that almost 40 percent of Americans even admit to checking their smartphones while on the toilet. Guilty huh? Users may forget that the digital world is a pretty public space and may be too quick to post where they are, who they’re with and what they’re doing this weekend. Just imagine how much vital information we are unknowingly sharing.

Have you ever accidentally shared information on the web? Do me a favor and sound off in the comments section below as well as like this post & share with friends! Stay tuned to see what we will be discussing next week! Until then… Peace & blessings to you all!

— Myra

Until Next Time …

Throughout this entire journey of starting my graduate degree in Strategic Communications at Troy University, I have learned more than I ever could have imagined about myself and the importance of communication throughout life in general.  We all know that strong communicators are usually the best leaders, which brings me to my favorite topic of the semester, managers vs. leaders. 

What comes to mind when I say “leader?” Maybe you think of managers, supervisors, or administrators when hearing leadership.  But I am talking about a different kind of leader.  The word “manager” and “leader” are not synonymous!  Anyone that has the ability to multi-task and organize a group of people can be a leader.  

In this section I learned the difference between the characteristics of a manager and how they differ from those of a leader. I have listed them below… 

Characteristics of a strong leader:

• Honesty & Integrity: are crucial to get your people to believe you and buy in to the journey you are taking them on
• Vision: know where you are, where you want to go and enroll your team in charting a path for the future
• Inspiration: inspire your team to be all they can by making sure they understand their role in the bigger picture
• Ability to Challenge: do not be afraid to challenge the status quo, do things differently and have the courage to think outside the box
• Communication Skills: keep your team informed of the journey, where you are, where you are heading and share any roadblocks you may encounter along the way

Traits shared by strong managers:

• Being Able to Execute a Vision: take a strategic vision and break it down into a roadmap to be followed by the team
• Ability to Direct: day-to-day work efforts, review resources needed and anticipate needs along the way
• Process Management: establish work rules, processes, standards and operating procedures
• People Focused: look after your people, their needs, listen to them and involve them

I have taken the characteristics of a leader and applied them to my career, and I have a grown so much with my team. We all understand the importance of being leaders instead of simply managing only to produce. I encourage everyone to evaluate their current communicative role and apply not only these characteristics, but the other tips and topics covered throughout this entire blog! You will see how making simple changes in your communications style can benefit your work life and career! 

I hope that you all enjoyed my blog this term and that it helped enhance your communication skills in some sort of way! Until next time all… Peace & blessings to you all, Myra.

Communications Measurements

So, am I the only one that gets eerie when I hear the word measurement? Well, I have had to get very comfortable in that area because when analyzing data and communications evaluations, measurements are required! Both tangible and intangible! Evaluation is a tool to plan, reduce waste, and improve effectiveness by monitoring and testing inputs, outputs and outcomes in a continuous, integrated process from the earliest stages of planning, using a range of formal and informal methods.

 As a general rule of thumb, strategic communications and PR professionals look at three types of levels for campaign measurement:  communications output, communications outtakes and communications outcomes.

Communications output is the most basic way of measurement, evaluating the communications tools and materials that were used for the launch, such as press releases and social media posts.

Communications outtakes evaluate what has been achieved in terms of key message penetration and stakeholder engagement. These metrics include an analysis of quantitative and qualitative media coverage, share of voice, event attendance, Twitter chat attendance, number of social media likes and followers, and email newsletter opening rates. Outtakes measurements look at who engaged with the company and what was written/said about the company. However, we still don’t know how the outtakes have shaped the perception about the company and whether they have triggered behavioral changes.

This is why looking at communications outcomes is the best form of measurement. You can gage the actual impact of your communications program on the stakeholder perception and behavior; how the program moved the needle for your business. These metrics include perception/brand audits, social media presence analysis and, in some cases, lead generation.

Some of the measurement methods mentioned above are complex and difficult to implement. But thanks to data analytics, there are simple ways to incorporate effective measurement metrics into any product campaign or program on every level.

A strategic communication professional can begin to measure the impact of his or her own campaign by being able to have efficient and achievable goals. These goals are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. By having a specific goal attached to your campaign, a strategic communication professional is able to know exactly what it is that his or her company is trying to accomplish. Without having a specific goal in mind, most companies do fail because of a lack of preparation and the absence of goal setting. In addition to having a specific goal, companies need to have achievable goals. As stated earlier, a strategic communications professional must be able to measure both the tangible aspects of a campaign and also be able to measure the intangible aspects as well. With measuring both components, the strategic communication professional is able to effectively understand how the campaign should work and also be able to communicate the information to its consumers and stakeholders.

When I first read the assigned articles for this week, I wondered, “what are intangibles?” I already knew the common definition of the adjective intangible, but I didn’t quite understand what the word meant as far as strategic communication goes. After reading the articles for this week, I concluded that intangibles are those innate qualities about a person or company that keeps people coming back or that makes them run away. Dictionary.com defines intangible as “(of an asset) existing only in connection with something else, as the goodwill of a business” (Dictionary.com, n.d.). These things include such qualities as trustworthiness, credibility, loyalty, and goodwill. It’s hard to measure these qualities, but it’s not impossible for companies to put in the effort to measure them. What it takes is effective communication and the strategic use of the tools that our technologically advanced society has afforded us to humanize companies and to create a conversational “voice” for organizations. I believe we can find these tools in social media platforms.

Using these methods of measurements, strategic communication professionals can measure the impact of their campaigns by looking at how well or poorly their campaigns do. If they use these methods poorly, they lose their audiences and potential consumers, and they damage the credibility of their brands. If they use these methods correctly, they will see increases across the board. So, how does all of this lead to measuring intangibles? At first, I wasn’t sure, but then I realized that through the agents’ blogs, videos, and social media sites, Ford was able to see just how much of a positive impact its campaign had on its potential customers. Its campaign exhibited all of the qualities that one would want in a brand—credibility, honesty, goodwill—and brought the company tangible results through sales and “likes” on social media sites. Ford’s target audience was able to see, through the agents, just how relatable the brand was to its consumers. In addition, the company was also able to show its audience how solid and trusting the brand is through the personal and genuine experiences its test drivers had during the Fiesta Movement campaign.

By allowing its stakeholders and its potential buyers to take the reins during the campaign, Ford was able to get the tangible and intangible success it was looking for with its campaign. Strategic communicators can learn so much from this campaign, because it showed how easy it is for companies to develop relationships with their customers. This campaign also showed how easy it was for the company to humanize itself through the words of its test drivers. Using some of the same methods Ford used in its campaign, along with organizational blogs that utilize a conversational tone, strategic communicators can build solid reputations for their companies that aren’t built solely on structured, mechanical methods of operation, but are also built on a more personal, human approach.

What are your views on evaluating and measuring a camping or PR plan? I would love to hear your thoughts! Please feel free to share my postings to your social media outlets, and I will see you back next week on theemillennialist.wordpress.com.

Peace & blessings to you all…

– Myra