Amrit's MEST3 Exam Blog

Snapchat 'will be bigger than Twitter, Yahoo and AOL with advertisers' https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/26/snapchat-will-be-bigger-than-twitter-yahoo-and-aol-with-advertisers Summary: "Messaging app forecast to attract revenues of $3bn a year by 2019 by attracting hard-to-reach youth market" That bullish forecast is based on advertisers targeting the youth audience that the disappearing photo app has seemingly cornered Key facts/ statistics: Forecast to bring in revenues of more than $3bn (£2.4bn) a year before the end of 2019. . More than half (51%) of video users on Snapchat are under 24, compared with 23% for Facebook and 17% for Google’s YouTube, according to Ampere Analysis. Brands are also keen to see a true rival emerge to challenge Facebook and Google, which have recently come in for  heavy criticism for their advertising practices . The two web giants currently account for 58% of the $141bn global mobile ad market. “You often hear a...

Instagram introduces two-factor authentication https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/24/instagram-two-factor-authentication-turn-on-protect-accounts-password-phishing Summary: "Security feature enabled for all users to help protect accounts from being compromised by password reuse and phishing"  Instagram has now become one  of the latest social network to enable two-factor authentication (feature that protects accounts from being compromised due to password reuse or phishing) where users can use a 6 digit code to protect their account by simply turning the setting on. This therefore protects them from being hacked by attackers who have managed to steal credentials . Key Facts/ Statistics:  Instagram joins Facebook, Twitter, Google and many others in offering some form of two-factor verification all the methods are slightly different: Twitter requires logging in to be approved by opening the app on a trusted device, and Google uses an ope...

(1588)  Factsheet research:             file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/113%20TV%20&%20social%20media.pdf social media and tv 113 ·          Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are having a big impact on the way audiences consume and relate to television programmes, especially in the reality TV genre. ·          Viewers are increasingly turning to social media to enhance their viewing by sharing the experience with other users via phenomena such as the “tweetalong” or “live-blogging” ·          Social media is also an important way for shows to market themselves and build an audience in the face of increased competition. ·          (2) Far from bringing in a radical change to the way we watch TV, social media could be said to build on exis...

Spotify to restrict some music to paying subscribers only Summary:  50m users who currently listen for free will not be able to access the latest releases from some top flight artists Until now, all music on the service has been available to both free and paid users but Spotify has now agreed with multiple major record labels to restrict some of the biggest new releases to members of its premium tier only,  according to the Financial Times . Key facts/ statistics: 50m paying subscribers and another 50m free users y restricting some music from free users Spotify stands to gain a reduction in royalty fees paid to the labels per stream, and a chance at exclusive releases from artists like Kanye West, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, all of whom have restricted new albums to the paid tier of competing services such as Apple Music and Tidal Taylor Swift took the decision to pull her songs from Spotify,  she wrote that  “music is art, and art is important an...

Head of Google Europe apologises over ads on extremist content Summary: " Matt Brittin says company ‘needs to do more’ but declines to say whether it will actively seek out inappropriate material"  Google’s European chief has publicly apologised after online adverts for major brands  appeared next to extremist material , but declined to say whether the company would begin actively seeking out such content and taking action against it. Almost monotising hate itself. Causing many brands to withdraw from these adverts as not to be assossiated with such a thing.  Key facts/ statistics: “I want to start by saying sorry to the brands affected by this. I take the issue very seriously and I apologise in the instances where that may have happened.” Brittin told an  audience of advertising industry figures  that the company would improve its ad placement system, which has seen ads attached to videos by extremists, including hate preachers and the former Ku Klu...

01 - Evaluate how the two trailers use the narrative technique of enigma to encourage the target audience to watch the films. (8 marks)  Both trailers use the narrative technique of enigma (Bartes) to encourage the target audience – 15 to 24 year olds for product one and a similar audience for product 2 – to watch the films. One way in which the technique of enigma is created is through the usage of sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic. In product one there is much greater use of diegetic dialogue which creates enigma as it opens with a questioning dialogue of “what happens next?” with a fair amount of lighting, the audience can see action and put together the dialogue which works towards a disequilibrium (Todorov) where no resolution is being given, as the dialogue evokes many questions within the audience but the screen always fades to black before the answer is revealed. Thus encouraging audiences to watch the movie to have these enigmas answered and see what new equil...

Windows 10 users complain about intrusive new OneDrive adverts https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/10/windows-10-users-complain-new-microsoft-subscription-onedrive-adverts Summary: " Microsoft tries to sell cloud service OneDrive subscriptions with new ad within Windows 10’s File Explorer, to the annoyance of customers"  Users are now complaining about the adverts for their OneDrive Cloud service directly into the files explorer. Even though users are said they can opt out of receiving the advert. This isn't the first time microsoft has done something has done this, it was also a feature of windows 7&8 and was forced to  pay out compensation  over automatic Windows 10 installs and even attempted to  pay people to use its Edge browser  instead of Google’s Chrome or Mozilla’s Firefox. Now permitting advertisement in the disguise of tips  Key statistics/ facts: A Microsoft spokesperson  told the Verge  that users ...

Tim Berners-Lee calls for tighter regulation of online political advertising https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/11/tim-berners-lee-online-political-advertising-regulation Summary: " Inventor of the worldwide web described in an open letter how it has become a sophisticated and targeted industry, drawing on huge pools of personal data"  He wrote his open letter expressing the unethical nature of 'internet blind spot(s)' in regards to political campaigning on the internet becoming an almost 'targeted and sophisticated industry' especially due to the targeted political ads online. Unethical due to the fact that voters are sometimes pointed towards fake news sites that can discourage them to vote.  All due to a lack of regulation and the loss of control over our own personal data and spread of misinformation online. This also allows the government to track our behavior much more easily, more so in repressive government settings.  Key fact...

September - March  Week 1: Weekly New/Digital Media (1)   :  Facebook and Twitter join coalition to improve social media newsgathering              Weekly New/Digital Media (2)   :  Instagram unveils tool to allow users to filter abusive comments Week 2: Weekly New/Digital Media (3)   :  WhatsApp threatened with legal action over Facebook data sharing deal              Weekly New/Digital Media (4)   :  Request shows and rehabilitation: How prison radio changes the lives of inmates Week 3: Weekly New/Digital Media (5)   :  Daily Mail publisher turns to price rise to counter advertising slump              Weekly New/Digital Media (6)   :  Are mobiles changing how we shop? Week 4: Weekly New/Digital Media (7)   :  Pixel is a direct challenge to Apple – and a referendum on Google      ...