#bradylyon

[kcb206group12]

Big Data, changing the way we sell ourselves online

Online media, just like many others relies on viewership to gain revenue. The more people reading your stories the better, because of this people are constantly trying to appeal to certain demographics and audiences. 

Online media is heavily influenced by big data, with users creating accounts to view content it is incredibly easy for content creators to understand their audience. 

This is an example of a YouTube analytics page, while this is for my own youtube channel with a total of one video other larger channels have all potential audiences covered. Everything from viewers age and gender to country of origin. All this information helps content creators understand what content they need to create to please their audience.

This can both be good and bad for the consumers and creators of this content. While knowing who is interested in what you have to say helps you create content for them it can also impair the quality of the content. This is commonly referred to as "Selling out" and many online personalities have been accused of this. Instead of creating things they are interested in they pursue revenue. This can backfire for the producer resulting in a lower than expected profit. 

So while there are some slight risks when using Big Data it helps the content creator understand who their audience is.  All forms of media benefit from Big Data though it is easier to collect for online audiences. This information can help creators properly appeal to their audience which is huge in the impersonal media of the internet. 

Sources: https://www.youtube.com/analytics?o=U

https://developers.google.com/youtube/analytics/

http://www.shopify.com.au/blog/6763696-youtube-analytics-10-ways-to-track-video-performance

[kcb206group12]

Politics and the Internet, Do they mix?

For years now the Internet has had a severe impact on many spheres of society. it enables us to find out things about the many corners of the world and enables people to communicate without a worry of distance. This of course has had a huge impact on politics and how countries are run. Now countries must either face the scrutiny of the world or shut themselves off.

In Australia the internet hasn't had as much of an impact on politics as other places. For us, the internet is a great place to look up information about our local mp and party policies. Though in other countries this isn't the case. 

Countries like China, heavily regulate the public's internet access, denying them access to millions of websites because they don't meet the government's criteria. These webpages could contain anything from negative messages about China or Communism or even positive opinions about democracy. It depends on what the government decides to let through, which is normally not very much. 

Numerous countries use internet filters, some less extreme then others. All of these filters have their uses and are implemented where the government sees fit. This brings up the question, why should the government decide what content we can and cannot see online? Some situations are understandable but others raise the question, Should the Government decide what we can see when its a global information source?

Though in Australia the closest thing we have had to an internet filter was a proposed one two years ago. Aside from keeping their websites relevent the only thing Australian politicians have to regularly worry about is what the general public has said online. With websites like YouTube it makes it extremely easy to take a message out of context and post it online. It also gives people a creative way to have their say about our politicians. A great example of this is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCvzs68PzRc

These social commentary's give people a say while also providing entertainment for other consumers.

In the Digital age the Australian politicians dont have too many concerns about the internet, until a video like this goes up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ9y1c73-IM 

Sources:

Shirky, Clay. 2011 “The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change.”In Foreign Affairs 90:1. Available at: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media

Faris, David. 2010. “(Amplified) Voices for the Voiceless.” Arab Media & Society, 11. Available at: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=750