Everywhere you look now new media is present. The real world and the online world are no longer clearly two different things. Just think of the reaction of someone saying “I don’t have any social media”. Just take a look at how many people are using these sites. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
New media is as popular as national TV news. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_as_a_news_source Whether it is through a twitter feed from Fox of CNN or their Instagram accounts or even the aging facebook feed this is where the future of news is. It is tailored and targeted to the recipient. Growing up as a military brat on Navy bases I remember when CNN went twenty four hours and it was on in every facility that had a TV. Now that is common for national news networks. What will be normal in five years?
There is nothing inherently bad about this. Pertinent information can be delivered to affected individuals faster than ever. This will save lives and, I really hope, lead to a more informed voting population here in the US. Just always be aware of where what you are reading came from and verify information from more than one credible source.
Here is the really tricky one advertising. In recent history we have had advertising revolutions. Once long ago a company would flat out tell you why their product was the best. They were hilariously blatant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i8857WvWyQ Could you imagine a new car commercial like this one. Today commercials are designed very meticulously to have a style and voice associated with the brand and to elicit an emotional response.
But here is where the new media advertising is so different. It is data. Every person online is categorized and quantified. What you like and follow will determine who is going to advertise to you. Searching for the right audience to advertise to isn’t anything new. You aren’t going to see vegan foods advertised during a NASCAR event. However it has never been so accurate. https://awario.com/blog/how-social-networks-influence-74-of-shoppers-for-their-purchasing-decisions-today/. Try getting onto a public computer at the library, it’s free, and see how different the ads will be.
One of the best things about the rise in companies using new media is that the average person has a direct line to the company. Your online complaint or compliment, tagged and seen by the company in question, has huge potential for the company. This means that they are much more likely to respond in a way that will help the consumer as opposed to a private phone call, for reference unnamed big cable company https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYUvpYE99vg. Putting them on public display in today’s internet landscape gives them a chance to look like they care and makes poor service a PR nightmare. Overall this is, in my opinion, a positive step for consumer protection.
A whole new industry has sprung up around social media. Digital Communications Professionals are now a thing, heck you can get a job doing it in the DoD. Fifteen years ago if you told someone you wanted to start a company handling social media accounts for businesses and that you would make millions doing it, well we would have questioned your sanity. Today that is a good career. There is great care and planning going into what is going online. Year long campaigns are planned to look like grassroots movements. Strategically timed and placed ads that get spread by the target audience to more of the target audience are a regular thing. In depth research is put into the content and timing of the posts. They track every detail of when, where, and how it was spread making ever more potent ads.
The take away I intended here is that this is a new era of ads. Just like when print media, radio, and TV came into being a lot of experimentation happened. New laws came into place to stop deceptive advertising and new laws will soon happen again. You need to know these things to be aware of what you are seeing and the effect it may have on you or your loved ones.
Remeber the Tea Party, that seemingly patriotic group named after the Boston Tea Party. They were a grassroots movement right? Nope, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-unwitting-tea-party-20140523-story.html. Many folks were duped into helping the very people that only had their own interest in mind.
Photo credit https://www.buzzbizz.biz/digital-marketing/social-media-campaign/social-media-logo-collage/
Popeye The Deadlift Man 