New Forms of Media Publishing

Newest Trends

New media technologies today are radically challenging media forms. Popular forms of media publishing may be called by different names, and they may be used in different ways. As the idea of new media has often been debated, there are a few new forms of media publishing. Today the new forms of media publishing that people are into are the Moblog and Vlog. One of the famous websites for vlog, of course the ever famous youtube. As for moblogs, on example of it would be Flickr. However, we have to ask ourselves what are the benefits and issues surrounding these two new trends.

Vlog

Description- Youtube is a well known vlog in the Wold Wide Web. YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos, and view them in MPEG-4 format. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005.

Benefits- According to Alfie (2008), some of the benefits of youtube is that you can upload videos that allow other other web users to either watch the videos online or download it to their own computer. The greatest benefit is that it is free.

Downsides- Although Youtube is known to be a beneficial site to web users, it is however not some companies. Youtube faces a lot of problems dealing with copyright issues. An article in the Wall Street Journal( 2007) reported that a handful of key media companies, some of them known as News Corp, General Electric's NBC Universal and Viacom have teamed up together to weigh the legality of some videos appearing on YouTube.com. They are looking into whether YouTube might be liable for copyright-protected videos that are frequently uploaded to the site alongside home videos and authorized professional videos and will sue if it is needed.

As reported in the BBC News (2007),The International Cricket Council (ICC) has planned a copyright suit against YouTube in May 2007. The league has issued a gentle reminder that the video site is still allegedly mis-using its material in the form of a second class action complaint. They claim that 5,000 videos of its content had appeared since the league began. This has thus cause a lot of companies to lose money and and they are worried of their existence.



Videos that were published without the consent of the league.

Source: GoogleImages, 2009


Moblogs

Description- A moblog is an online journal comprised of content from mobile phones. The word “moblog” comes from “weblog,” but with an emphasis on mobility.
Moblog is a vibrant and active community of people from all around the world posting content from their phones to the web. It is a community of artists such as Girls Aloud, Ronan Keating and Maximo Park and their fans, all sharing media from their mobile phones. It is a community of activists such as Greenpeace, Actionaid and Comic Relief talking to the world through their mobile phones. Moblog is a provider of mobile blogging technology, as well as a community site of people blogging with their mobile phones. Some of the clients who use the services of moblogs are Oxfam, Universal Music, Sony Ericsson and Channel 4. Moblogs provide people with the technology and a core audience for any sort of campaign. (Darren, 2007)


Benefits- It has no applications for customers to download images appear in less than 1 minute and it is also fast to set up. Moblog audience can engage directly with their campaign or brand by sending content via their moblog. This enables you to communicate with an existing audience at Moblog or directly with those who have joined your moblog.

For instance, according to Alfie (2007), Brando World have commisioned Moblog to create several promotional Moblogs for their client, Sony Ericsson which created positive reinforcement for Sony Ericsson. Running as competitions, the best entrants win prizes such as top of the range Sony Ericsson mobile phones and trips to London to attend cinema premieres. "Moblogging competitions have been an indispensable tool on several Sony Ericsson campaigns, allowing us to reach a wide variety of people on a more personal level. These competitions have also helped introduce our brand messages and products to a new audience", Fran Matthews, Sony Ericsson Account Manager.



Snapshot of one of the movies done via moblogs using Sony Ericsson phones.

Source: GoogleImages, 2009.

As we can see, new media technologies like moblogs has helped industries and business grow and developed well when new trends are used especially in terms of advertising. This new trend advertises and promotes new technology and new models of Sony Ericsson phones in this case which has helped the company benefit in terms of being more recognized and in terms of gaining profit.

Downsides-According to Connected Learning (2009) dedicated moblogs are starting to lose their edge as other services like Blogger and Flickr integrate the ability to upload content from mobile devices. Another serious issue with moblogs according to NetFamily News (2007)is privacy invasion they can represent (with schools and sports clubs worldwide developing anti-picture-phone policies to protect kids.



Blogger.com logo



Flickr logo

Source: GoogleImages, 2009.

References

Alfie 2008, Mobile blogging for brands and business, viewed 10 June 2009,
<http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:zwdF8wemvg8J:moblogtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/promoblogs.pdf+cases+with+moblogs&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=my>

Connected Learning 2009,Choosing an Online Presence, viewed 13 June 2009,
<http://clcommunity.wikispaces.com/choosinganonlinepresence>

Darren 2007, What are Photoblogs and MoBlogs?, viewed 11 June 2009,
<http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/photoblogs/introduction_to_photoblogs_and_moblogs.php>

Net Family News 2007, Picture phones & 'moblogs', viewed 12 June 2009,
<http://www.netfamilynews.org/nl040423.html>