Information Studies

[paulrr-blog]

This is the infographic that I was planning on presenting in class until we ran out of time, so I decided to use this as a great post topic.  Music Festivals and Concerts have become a living and breathing entity amongst my generation.  Each one has its own personality and its own community that coincides with it.  From the fans to the musicians concerts create a very specific and unique environment that seem to be overwhelmingly attractive to people.  Fans not only flock to the event themselves but they also come together on social networking sites to both discuss feelings prior to the event and to also re-live the event after it has ended.  Being someone who goes to multiple shows a year (most specifically during the summer time) I thought that looking at the best ways to find tickets and what were the most popular shows of this past summer was very interesting to me.  Its cool to see how much the music business and online activity amongst ticket distributing websites gain during the summer months.  

The information is not the only thing that I found intriguing about this inforgraphic.  I also thought that the general layout and the way its presented to the reader directly connects to an inforgraphic that I want to make.           

[paulrr-blog]

My hometown of Rye, New York was battered by super-storm Sandy which occurred this past week.  My hometown had been seriously damaged and it crippled the entire town for an entire week.  My house was luckily left relatively un-affected, but a few of my friends houses were partially destroyed as a result of the storm.  Some were more un-lucky then others, but it is clear that overall Rye, along with countless other towns were irreversibly changed as a result of Sandy.   Sandy took out the power to my house for more than week.  Rye schools had been shut down and flooded for the entire week following the arrival of Sandy.  Sandy had left its mark by causing millions of dollars in damages in Rye and billions of dollars in damages throughout the entire NorthEast.  

This is a letter that was sent out by the Rye School District, I thought that this would be a good article to show and put into perspective to how super-storm Sandy was an extremely serious and dangerous storm that greatly changed a large part of the NorthEast, specifically my hometown of Rye, New York.       

[paulrr-blog]

Since there was no specific topic for this weeks post I decided to talk about one of the lawsuit claims that I found when we were researching about Facebook in class.

This article came off as kind of ridiculous to me, because it really shows how people will truly do anything they can to try to get a piece of something as big as Facebook.  This guy, Paul Ceglia went as far as to say that he was promised as much as a 50% share of Facebook, yes I said 50%.  This just shows how some people are either truly desperate or just completely incompetent.  Either way its an interesting article about how far some people will go to make their lie come true.

I would recommend reading the entire complaint that is posted in the article.    

[paulrr-blog]

This article goes into detail about how much weight a 'like', reblogging, or tweeting actually has on the current tight presidential race.  This article asks the question of wither or not our personalities on social media really help change or re-enforce someone's ideals.  

In order to really get a feel for how social media has affected this election, it takes a look at the last presidential race between Obama and McCain.  This article credits Obama's social media campaign has part of the reason for his victory in the 2008 win against McCain.  Stating that "...one could be lead to believe that the candidate who harnesses social media the most effectively will win.", which is exactly what Obama did. Obama went against McCain who had a very strong media campaign himself, but McCain failed to attract the younger generations because of his lack of social media awareness.  

This was a great article that really explained that just because some people don't see social media as that big of an influence anymore, doesn't mean that you should ignore it completely.  If you look at the stats you can see that social media is still a prevalent entity in politics. 

[paulrr-blog]

Being able to get consumers to talk to their friends about a product is the most authentic and trustworthy form of connection that a brand can have.  People enjoy hearing what their friends are interested in.  Friend to Friend interaction is the simplest and the quickest form of getting a consumer attracted to a product.  ‘Hey you gotta check this out’, is all you have to say to a buddy and they are hooked.  Why people may ask?  It’s simply because it’s coming from a dependable and relatable source.  Consumers know what their friend likes/wants and vice versa.

Trust is Key

Millennials are looking for the next big thing amongst their friends.  Millennials do not want to hear from some Joe Schmo about product X; we want a source who we know is interested in the same products as I am.  I am not listening on the corner to what strangers are saying about new products, I am being engaged in a group of friends whose opinion that I trust and actually want to hear.  Listening to a personal testimony from a “real person (not paid actor)” I might as well be a Charlie Brown character trying to listen to his teacher.  Opinions like that go in one ear and out the other; they don’t resonate with Millennials at all.  Why should I trust some random guy?  How does he know what I like or what I want?

The most effective way of reaching a Millennial and their friends is to have it so it benefits them and not just the brand.  Having a friend just say ‘hey look at this’ isn’t always enough, Millennials may believe that it’s a great product but they often ask ‘what’s in it for me if I buy this product’, and that’s where incentives and the value of exchange come in handy.  (To be continued…)

[paulrr-blog]

A "How To" guide to successfully self-promote your music within the realm of social media.  This article covers the many different ways in which both new and established musicians are taking the multiple social media outlets and using them to help accomplish their dreams and aspirations.  Websites such as Kickstarter have really started to gain popularity and have become an extremely viable source for new musicians to get funding for their many expensive ventures.  

Not only has social media benefited its musicians, it has also helped the many advertisers find musicians to sponsor.  Social media has helped sponsors in getting their product to more markets a lot quicker and more efficiently, and in most cases far cheaper.  After reading this article it can be seen that artist who can master the use of social media should have little trouble in gaining at least some level of success as a musician. 

[paulrr-blog]

CD sales are dropping, no problem Social Media is on the rise.  Free outlets with a limitless reach, how much more could you ask for?  A look at how the music industry is a perfect fit for social media.

The constant innovations in the ever changing industries of music and social media.  This article by Andrew Telling goes in depth on why the music industry is slowly but surely relying social media.  Both adapting to new technologies and capabilities within their respective industries.  Being able to take new fads and using them to attract new potential customers is something that the music industries has needed ever since CD sales began to drop as a result of buying single tracks for MP3 players.  Social Media created the unique opportunity for musicians to not just sell music but to also become a brand in the process, in turn boosting their appeal and sales.    

[paulrr-blog]

Since in class today we discussed how Apple is coming up with the next big thing in personalized streaming music I thought that this would be an appropriate article to look at and understand how social media moves at an incredible rate.

The constant evolving nature of social media makes it very difficult to pinpoint what exactly is the new ‘cool’ way of reaching out to current and potential fans.  This article dives into that idea, and argues that social media is an entity that is so fast paced that once you’ve caught up to it it’s already transformed into something else.  Trying to keep up with the newest fad and craze has become even more difficult than ever due to social media, and because of that very problem some people believe that social media may not be the ‘savior’ for the music industry that everyone thought.

[paulrr-blog]

Social Media cannot deny the need for Musicians.  Musicians have become one of the, if not the largest entity on social media platforms.  The music industry has used social media to the fullest, making it the number one way of reaching out to fans and vice versa. 

This article puts an emphasis on how musicians are taking over and representing the largest demographic on social networking and why social media is the platform that musicians should continue to tap into for both financial and fan based gains.

[paulrr-blog]