Twitter, Facebook and Google+ ...New and digital media; - impact upon ownership and control of the media institution

TWITTER:

The impact of new and digital media upon ownership and control of the media institutions (twitter)

New media theorist Turkle states that "we make our technologies, and they, intern, shape us”

Lawsuit Questions Right to Access Twitter Followers

The Twitter ownership issue gained a lot of media attention in 2011 in the wake of a lawsuit between a blog called PhoneDog and a former employee, Noah Kravitz, who tweeted on behalf of the site while he worked there and then changed his Twitter account handle and took his followers with him when he quit.
The PhoneDog legal fight at its core is about who has the right to access a particular Twitter account and maintain the relationship with the Twitter followers associated with it. In its lawsuit against Kravitz, according to a court ruling in the case, PhoneDog alleged that the password and compilation of subscribers in the Twitter account constituted "trade secrets," and that Kravitz had inflicted damages to the company's business through his unauthorized use of the account and "misappropriation of trade secrets."

While it may be unclear whether anyone "owns" a Twitter account other than Twitter itself, PhoneDog claimed that it does have an ownership interest in the Twitter account and list of followers based on Twitter giving it license to use the account. PhoneDog argued that a list of Twitter followers is similar to a list of business customers. Others have argued that social media accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are a form of intellectual property akin to proprietary business databases or customer records.

PhoneDog Case Could Set Precedent for Social Media Ownership

The case is being closely watched for many reasons, including the murky question of whether anyone besides Twitter can really have a property interest in a Twitter account.


Some people don't think so. They believe the only thing on Twitter that users really "own" is the content they post on the social messaging service, and Twitter even claims a non-exclusive right to that content in its terms of service agreement.
A New York Times story about the PhoneDog case quoted legal experts saying the case may establish legal precedents about ownership of social media accounts.
The California court hearing the case also could wind up addressing the question of how much value each Twitter follower has to companies, which could set another legal precedent. In its legal case, PhoneDog claimed each of its Twitter followers was worth $2.50 a month.

Other Twitter Ownership Cases Involving Journalists

A couple of other journalists drew attention even before the PhoneDog case for leaving employers and taking their Twitter followers with them.
Rick Sanchez had about 150,000 followers under the Twitter handle @ricksanchezcnn when he left CNN. Like Noah Kravitz, he kept his followers and simply changed his Twitter handle to delete "CNN" from it. Unlike Kravitz, Sanchez wasn't sued by his former employer.
A BBC political correspondent, Laura Kuenssberg, also drew attention when she switched employers earlier this year and took her Twitter followers with her to her new job at ITV. Like Sanchez and Kravitz, she just renamed her Twitter account.


FACEBOOK:
The impact of new and digital media upon ownership and control of the media institutions

Facebook has always been a new media institution, as the social network was originally built from scratch by Mark Zuckerberg and today Zuckerberg still sits at the top of the company. With the development and audience engagement with new media Facebook has become a very powerful company and is currently sitting at the top of the social network monopoly. As the most the popular of all the social networks Facebook has gained a lot of power and control over a lot of the internet. Websites which make use of Facebook’s ‘Like’ buttons or any form of Facebook Connect allow Facebook to track which users are browsing those websites, regardless of whether they interact with the content or not. These connections primarily appear to be a form of sharing for the user, however Facebook’s ever growing control throughout new media is raising a lot of privacy concerns.

GOOGLE+
The impact of new and digital media upon ownership and control of the media institutions

Google has also always been a new media institution, initially created as its first service, a web search engine. The growth of new media and demand for new media products such as communication and social networking has allowed Google to continue to grow into a powerful institution. Similarly to Facebook, Google’s domination over the internet gives them a lot of power. As with Facebook, using the use of ‘Like’ buttons to share content (and track our internet usage in the process), Google created their own alternative called +1 which does a similar function and became part of Google’s rival social network, Google+. Google, being most peoples default search engine, have a lot of control over the way the internet is used and consumed by audiences. Google uses the topics audiences enter into its search engine to target appropriate advertising to the user all over the internet through ‘behavioural targeting’. The power all this gives Google raises a lot of a privacy concerns for those who use it, websites such as google-watch.org have been setup to warn others of the potential privacy dangers of using the new media products.


Further information...  matthewsmedia.wordpress.com/.../case-study-new-media-impact-on-institution-ownership-and-control/

Has new and digital media had an impact upon ownership and control of the media institution(s) involved in your case study area? Explain in detail any impact and what exactly has changed.

The impact of New and digital media has meant that people are give the freedom of speech and choice; however, ownership and control of media institutions have changed this over the last few years, as there have been restictions on content, user generated content and information...

Previously, when social networking launched, there were no age restrictions, no control nor regulation. However, since then all social networking sites have imposed policies (influences from the state + Ofcom)

Social networking - Age restrictions:
Facebook - 13 years of age
Twitter - Twitter's privacy polict states that you should be 13 years old to join.
Google+ 18 years of age
Control + regulation -




ISSUE + DEBATE:: Should social networking sites be cencored?

Censorship is needed as a networking site is not used by a particular age group. It is widely used by under-age (18) people. Language should be censored; personal information should not be accessed by others; people also give extremist religious views on these sites.

Censorship can only block the screen of your website, not your mind. The tedious legal social exercise of putting a check on social networking sites is ultimately going to block only what users see, not what they think. We should not make it a public issue.

I think social networking sites are the medium of freedom of expression. If we talk about its misuse, I think, users must have media literacy and real sense for proper utilisation. Only the user can decide advisable excessive ways.

Censorship on social networking sites is notessential! Everyone has a right to express one’s views. It’s freedom of speaking and censorship can’t come there. Myquestion to Kapil Sibal is how can one censor people’sminds?

When anything exceeds limits, there should be some regulations. However, censorship of social networking sites is not an ideal solution. Users today misuse these sites. Young people chat, share videos and waste their time.

A social networking site represents a sample population. If someone maligns a person, there will be supporters of the victim reporting the abuses too. The service providers have to removequestionable materials.

There should be no censorship for social networking websites. Through this medium, I can be in touch with friends, with whom personal communication is difficult. I can share memorable moments with them.

Institution:

Privacy/regulation polies ...

Further reading on cencorship and regulation
http://lirne.net/resources/netknowledge/meier.pdf

http://www.kentlaw.edu/perritt/courses/seminar/papers%202009%20fall/Jerry%20clark%20final%20Copyright,%20Ownership,%20and%20Control%20of%20User-Generated%20Content%20on%20Social%20Media%20Websites.pdf

Step three:

Write here what your case study will involve.  Remember it should be about the impact of new and digital media on.......

My case study will involve a detailed investigation on: The Impact of New and Digital Media on Social Netwoking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter and Google+.

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Explain why you have chosen this topic and why you think this will be a rich area for study.

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The reason why I have chosen this topic is because it is interesting to see how the developments of new technology can affect or has affected social networking sites over the last few years.

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Identify at least three media texts/ products that you will use as your primary sources of evidence to demonstrate the impact of new and digital media in your topic area.  

Three texts that I will be using as my primary sources of evidence:

*Twitter

*Facebook

*Google plus

References too...

*Myspace

*(Bebo - how new and digital media has lead to the death of Bebo)

_________________________________________________

Text

Facebook

Platform:

E-media

Year of production:

Launched in February 2004, As of January 2012, Facebook has more than 800 million active users

______________________________________________

Text:

Twitter

Platform:

E-media

Year of production:

Created in March 2006, but was launched in July that year. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 300 million users as of 2011, generating over 300 million tweets and handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day -

_____________________________________________

Text:

Google+ (operated by google Inc)

Platform:

E-media

Year of production:

Launched on June 28, 2011- 90 million users

________________________________________

Text:

Myspace

Platform:

E-media

Year of production:

(RESEARCH)

____________________

Text:

Bebo

Platform:

E-media

Year of production

Launched in July 2005 - 1.1. million users

_________________________

Global Village

Global Village is a term closely associated with Marshall McLuhan

Because of globalisation, we now live in a ubiquitous "Global Village" as we've been disconnected from the empircal world, into a new world of technology!

Theories...

Hegemony
"Gramsci used the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one social class over others"

"This represents not only political and economic control, but also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those who are subordinated by it accept it as 'common sense' and 'natural'"

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism10.html

Hegemony refers to the winning of popular consent by the ruling group largely through media representations of the world and its social institutions, such as education, work and the family.

http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/understanding-ideology/

Marxism

"Marxist theorists tend to emphasize the role of the mass media in the reproduction of the status quo, in contrast to liberal pluralists who emphasize the role of the media in promoting freedom of speech"

"Marxists view capitalist society as being one of class domination; the media are seen as part of an ideological arena in which various class views are fought out, although within the context of the dominance of certain classes; ultimate control is increasingly concentrated in monopoly capital"

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism10.html

Pluralism
"A pluralistic media -- marked by a variety of outlets with diverse ownership and viewpoints, independence and transparency -- is generally believed to contribute to a press that honors the ideals of democracy and reflects diversity within society."

http://ijnet.org/community/groups/10189/media-pluralism-divisive-or-democratic
Cultural Imperialism "accused western powers (mainly the United States and Britain) of maintaining an imbalance in the flow of information from the First World to the Third World. This western dominance of indigenous cultures was a form of ‘coca-colonialism’ designed to maintain western power, prevent development, exploit resources – generally to ‘McDominate’ "

http://www.britishcouncil.org/history-why-cultural-imperialism.htm

Post-colonialism

"Post-colonialism" loosely designates a set of theoretical approaches which focus on the direct effects and aftermaths of colonization"

"Post-colonialism forms a composite but powerful intellectual and critical movement which renews the perception and understanding of modern history, cultural studies, literary criticism, and political economy."

http://www.semioticon.com/virtuals/postcol.htm

Globalisation

"Technological, political, and economic changes which they believe make the world
function in a different way from the way it did twenty or thirty years ago"

"Computers, cell phones, and internet have brought about major changes in world communication. Not only is it easier to communicate across the globe, but countries and regions without access to this new technology are excluded from world developments"

"Over the last thirty years some countries have not only successfully adapted to globalization but they have become the key drivers of the process. The United States, Western Europe and Japan are today the key beneficiaries and leaders of the globalised world. Their historical status as colonial powers, with industrialized societies gave them a significant edge"

http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/development/globalisation.html

Quotes and theories (outline)

Quotes/ and Theoies

Hegemony

"All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values." McLuhan
The media is drip-feeding us ideologies which favour only the interest the ruling-class.

Globalisation

"The Global Village" McLuhan

" Globalisation has been largely driven by the needs of the developed world." Grieco & Holmes 

'''Globalisation' is often portrayed as a positive force which is unifying widely different societies, integrating them into a 'global village' and enriching all in the process."

New Media

“The medium is the message.” McLuhan

"Alone Together" Turkle

Pluralism

“Pluralism pervades our lives. We find ourselves in a world in which there is a plurality of different ethical, philosophical, religious and cultural beliefs.” Baghramian & Ingram

Cultural imperialism

"Western nations dominate the media around the world which in return effects on third world culture by imposing on them western views and therefore destroying narrative culture." Schiller

Other theories

‘PP’ argument – ‘’the internet allows a flourishing of hundreds of opinions’’

Katz and Blumer – Audience gratification theory

Katz and Blumer say that the media allows one to "select, accomodate and reject" by which they can select ideas, challenge, or even reject ideologies that they wish not to be manipulated by.

The media allows you to:

·         Escape

·         To interact (social interaction point for discussion and debate)

·         Inform, educate and entertain

Marxism:

The media drip-feeds audience’s hegemonic ideologies that will help the bourgeoisie to maintain their status quo –

Liberal pluralism:

The media maximises autonomy and freedom

‘Utilitarianism’ (the greatest good of the greatest number) the media might maximises one’s happiness, allowing them to become autonomous individuals (however, too much freedom may be a dangerous thing) – Cencorship and regulation

iPads and Kindles force newspapers further away from print (Print in decline as a result of the impact of new and digital media)

A million iPads and Kindles may have been unwrapped on Sunday – according to tentative analyst estimates – an influx of portable technology that is expected to hasten a decline in the already faltering sales of printed newspapers, adding pressure on traditional business models that have traditionally supported so many titles around the country.

Publishers, preparing for the handheld arrivals, took the chance to break with a tradition that dates back to 1912, when publishers agreed not to produce Christmas Day papers to give paperboys, among others, a day off. For the first time in its 190-year history the Sunday Times published a digital-only edition on 25 December – with the normally paid for product given away in the hope of luring sought after digital subscribers.

Boxing Day publication, for dailies like the Guardian, has also become a necessity – to ensure digital editions for new Kindle and iPad owners to read. The result is that what was a traditionally quiet period for news has become a critical moment to showcase new work, at a time when an industry already riven by the phone-hacking scandal and under judicial examination, is facing what can be described as an existential crisis.

Fifty years ago two national dailies – the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express – sold more than 4m copies each; today the bestselling Sun sells 2.6m. In the last year alone, printed sales declined by 10% for daily broadsheets and by 5% for daily tabloids – and when the News of the World stopped printing last July 600,000 copy sales simply disappeared.

The knock-on impact of the decline has been a push for digital readers that have seen newspapers like the Daily Mail win 5m unique visitors a day – compared with its printed sale of 2m – but struggle to generate revenues to match. The Mail generated £16m from its website last year, out of £608m overall.

Some specialist titles, such as the Financial Times, are managing the transition well – it has 260,000 digital subscribers – up 40% this year – compared with 337,000 buyers of the printed product, where sales are down by 12%. Digital subscribers generate £180 a year and the paper, priced at £2.50 on the newsstand on a weekday, is profitable.

John Ridding, the managing director, says that 30% of the FT's revenues come from digital sales and that "within two or three years" digital readers and revenues will account for more than those from the printed business. During a typical week the number of people signing on digitally is "five to 10 times" what it was a year earlier, as the newspaper looks to a future beyond print.

Others, though, are under pressure. Local newspapers have been hit particularly hard, with 31 titles closing in the last year. Most of those shutting are freesheets – with titles distibuted in Yeovil, Scarborough and Harlow lost. Historic paid for titles have seen their frequency cut: the Liverpool Daily Post is to go weekly in print in the new year, after sales dropped as low as 6,500. Its website, however, will update in real time. Daily titles in Birmingham and Bath have also gone the same way in recent years – while pre-tax profits at Johnston Press, the owner of the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, fell from £131.5m five years ago to £16m last year.

Roger Parry, chair of Johnston Press since 2009, believes the party has been over for several years, since Craigslist and Google began to take classified advertising away from local press.

"I think the future is for local multimedia companies which focus on signing up 50% plus of the households in their area on some form of subscription – that's what happens in Scandinavia," he says. For journalists there will have to be a shift from acting as "print writers to multimedia curators. There will be more content created by local people. The National Union of Journalists will hate this but it is fact of life."

With the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, wanting to license local television stations in 20 cities, that gives local media a new way to reach audiences, although some – such as Witney TV in Oxfordshire – have already made a start with a daily offering of local video news. David Cameron, the local MP, regularly appears, but the site is staffed by volunteers, and its content limited – underlining how tough the digital economics are.

There are commercial pressures in national media too. Although the tabloid media have faced criticism at the Leveson inquiry, not least from the likes of Hugh Grant or Steve Coogan, popular titles remain in fair commercial health. Trinity Mirror's stable of nationals – the Daily and Sunday Mirror, the People, and the Record titles in Scotland – will earn about £70m this year, although they made £86m the year before. The profit margin at the Daily Mail hovers at around 10%.

The challenge for the popular press is retaining printed sales – but the financial pressure is acute elsewhere. Three of the traditional broadsheets – the Independent, the Times and the Guardian – all lose money in a market where five titles compete for 1.3 million print buyers. Their readers are more likely to make the digital transition too, leaving newspapers no option but to embrace new forms of reporting – such as the live blog – and seed content at digital hubs, such as Facebook.

The Guardian may generate £40m in digital revenues from its largely free offerings, but some of that comes from its dating sites. The Times titles have gone for a low price subscription model, which has attracted 111,000 takers, but which generates £11m a year against an editorial budget estimated at £100m.
Some, like Paul Zwillenberg, from Boston Consulting Group, says serious newspapers "will have to cut their cloth because there will be a smaller pool of revenue and profit". But he acknowledges that by pursuing different business models, they may increase their chances of success. The result, though, is that was once an industry of one business model: a printed product sold on the newstand is fracturing into very different types of mainly digital content companies.