The Incredible Impact of Web 2.0

 

In 2005 the World Wide Web changed from just a place where everyone could meet, read and write. What it became and is still becoming today in 2014, is an interactive world where everyone is empowered to become media producers, distributors and diehard fans. Users are now allowed to interact and come together with one another to be social media reporters or to create content in a virtual community. Before Web 2.0 people were limited to just the passive viewing of content.  Example of Web 2.0 is sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn which allow users to post, comment, and update their site as often as they wish. Web 2.0 has created a shift in digital culture and has completely changed the way people interact with each other online.

The great thing about Web 2.0 is that it provides a participatory model of information sharing. Today, companies have an easier time reaching their target audiences when they release or are trying to sell a product. The new web has many tools that encourage users to participate. If we look back before Web 2.0 there was no way to spread information quickly and to a mass group of people. One thing you can see in marketing today is tracking reports. I myself take use of trackers that are free on Facebook. I love being able to create a PR post and upload it to a group Facebook page. The post reaches everyone in the group and I am allowed to look and see who all has taken a look at my post. For example, if I created a new product line of cotton t-shirts it would be wise of me to create my own website where I could post, manage, track and sell my t-shirts to customers all over the world. What the web does is it pulls states, countries, and different cultures together by allowing everyone to access and use its very helpful tools. However, along with everyone having the ability to produce and distribute does allow for errors such as scam artists and people who will post written work that is stolen from someone else or is just completely false information.

The notion of authority and authorship has changed. Before 2005 most who published and sent out press releases were certified journalist who have spent many years at school studying the field and learning how to properly check their facts. This means the majority of the time when an article was published in the paper or on the web it had credibility behind it. Today, we have lost that credibility. You could be a fifteen year old who would like to write a post about for example our government. Numerous people can use the tool Google.com to find your article. Then, People will read the article and assume, because it is posted that it must be true. This is wrong, and people will try to make up things to publish just because they believe their knowledge is the truth. Also, aside from published writing is other things produced without professional expertise credibility. Music is what thousands of people today like to produce and upload to the internet in hopes of finding a fan base who will love and appreciate their music. You do not have to be a signed artist to create a YouTube channel of your own that displays your talent for the world to see! 

If you are an amateur artist striving to be a star or just having some fun, the most popular site for such users is YouTube. YouTube is the site that has taken the idea and concept of what Web 2.0 is and just went over and above to provide that viral concept for users. On YouTube people are turned into cyber celebs overnight! Could you imagine posting a video of you doing something funny or singing a cool song, and the next day you wake up and Google has sent you a check requesting that you keep making videos for the YouTube site. This leads us into how musicians, business owners and YouTube makes money. When the YouTube channel receives views and hits from a consumer the consumer may also click on the ads or buy the businesses product. The business can track how many views the creator of the YouTube site is receiving every day and they pay YouTube to continue running the ad on the creator’s popular site. In return YouTube pays the creators of the site. It is genius and definitely a new and creative way to make a living. This has really changed the way society thinks about getting a job or making money.

Social Media through Web 2.0 has given everyone their own voice. With Facebook each user has his or her own page to fill out with thoughts and comments. For example, every day on Facebook someone is sending around an article or a story that they would like others to be aware of. This could be something such as the campaign to legalize same sex marriage. Users who felt this should be legalized took a stand by changing their Facebook profile picture to an equal sign symbol. Simple things like this make a big impact on our society, because when the world sees over 100,000 users putting up equal signs it sends a big message to our decision makers. It brings the world joy to be able to stand up and post what they believe that everyone in the world deserves to see and be apart of. In the beginning of all this new change it may have seemed strange, scary and unacceptable, but now the public relations industry is learning to adapt to it and utilize the new concept of spreadable media.

Instead of being against the new social media and protesting claims of false credibility, the industry has allowed room for change to take place and are allowing the Web 2.0 to grow even bigger than ever before. Big news stations such as HLN have decided to let their audience decide what news they would like to hear about, and what news we like to dispute with friends over whether or not the information is really true. I feel as if today we post, pick and talk about stories that are shared around and a lot of times seem too crazy to be true. When this happens we turn to our news channels and we allow what is considered to be the creditable sources verify for us whether or not the current media circulating is true or false. Society is beginning to see Web 2.0 for the good it producers, for the connections, and for so many more possibilities for future advancements. Whether you are someone searching for your history on Geni, a young boy or girl dreaming for stardom, a business owner looking for a better way to reach new clients or a gamer just wanting to make some new friends by joining a cyber-community, Web 2.0 has something it can provide for absolutely everyone. With thousands of post and videos going viral daily the possibilities of spreadable media are truly endless for those hoping to achieve their goals.

Spread Your Content Like Wild Fire!

If you haven't heard the term spread like wild fire, then let me tell you what that means. If you ever want to become a successful business owner or if you have dreams of becoming YouTube famous, you will need to create the kind of content that will spread all over the web just like a wild fire in the forest. So what kind of content is spreadable content? Content is more likely to spread if it is available when and where the audience wants it.

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 The producers of the product say for insistence a music producer, will need to move beyond an "if you build, they will come" mentality like mentioned in chapter 5, and needs to send the material to where audiences will be able to find it. I really like to example giving in the chapter by Mike Arauz who says "People's lives revolve around life". When people become fans of a product and create a place for it in their lives that is when you know you have an excellent product that people will spread to their family and friends. A great example of spreadable media is the YouTube video we spoke about in my media class. 

The video called "The Harlem Shake" is content that truly has spread like wild fire! A guy who was known on YouTube for making silly videos uploaded a video of him and some of his friends dances very a few seconds to an upbeat songs. This short clip was viewed and then copied by thousands of other people and every other organizations around the U.S. Of course the guy who originally started this video on his YouTube channel is known as a celeb and can profit by adding more videos and he is able to get paid by YouTube each month for letting people place their adds on his channel. It may seem silly to profit off of silly 30 second videos, but from what I have learned about today's media it really is all about your audience and what they choose is worthy to watch and to spend money on. People want to laugh, and to invest in products that will make them happy and make their day to day life easier.




Producers may also enjoy spreadable media, because for them it means lower sunk costs of production. In chapter 5, Lotz says there is lower sunk cost particularly because audiences don't hold "the same high production-budget expectations that hobble established media". There are certain things a producer should consider if they want their content to be spread. Content is more likely to be shared if it is out there when and where the audiences want it as discussed previously, if it is portable, easily reusable, relevant to many audiences, and part of a steady stream of material. The term most often tossed around is "viral". When things go viral on the web it means your content is spreading to everyone, everywhere. The "viral" mentality is what leads to brands that will invest all of their energy in a particular media text that is expected to generate exponential hits on the web. I absolutely love creative and fun videos that can pull me from reality and give me a giggle. Those are the kind of videos that go viral. The videos that we laugh at, cry with or are in complete shock of what we just saw. These kind of videos are the ones we talk about with our peers and family members.

This "viral" video then has advertisements right before it comes on. No one wants to sit and watch a boring commercial for even 30 seconds. So what marketers do is come up with catchy commercials that may be more entertaining now than the actual video you clicked to watch. This is in my opinion an easy concept. Lets think; what happens when Old Spice films a charming young man drawing not only men in to watch their commercials, but also women. Well what happens is that commercial is so inviting and so funny to you that later down the road when your shopping at a store you will be more likely to buy a bottle of Old Spice just because you remember just how hilarious the companies commercial was on YouTube.




Humor is one something I can definitely agree with chapter 5 on. When you can create a product that can make everyone laugh that is when you have found the key to brand loyalty. Of course, for certain products you can use many different approaches such as; the feeling of safety for a car commercial. However, I have observed in my class with my peers and at home with my family that commercial that can make use laugh usually get a lot more credit in the "brand book" than those who don't. So if you want to spread some content think of what you personally would love to see in film, music, and commercials.  Then when you are trying to distributing content you may be surprised that what you would love to see is also what others love to see. Make the connection with your audiences, and then you will see redaction and your spreadable work all over the web!  









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