Offensive Gregg’s logo debacle: what are the lessons for other retailers?

Title: Offensive Gregg’s logo debacle: what are the lessons for other retailers?

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/aug/20/offensive-greggs-logo-lessons-retailers

This article is about how; a botched version (as shown above) of the Greggs logo had appeared. In this article shows how Greggs manage to rectify the situation by playfully offering Google a bribe in order to correct the mistake. Also there are several paragraphs on how it became viral, being pro-active and reinstalling trust in the customers.

In my opinion, this article shows how two different producers were able to use social media to resolve a problem.  The article gives tips which assist small businesses

Microsoft 'in talks to buy Minecraft creator for $2bn'

Title: Microsoft 'in talks to buy Minecraft creator for $2bn'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11086117/Microsoft-in-talks-to-buy-Minecraft-creator-for-2bn.html

This article is very short, but it explains a lot about how Microsoft is rumoured to be negotiating the purchase of Mine craft for more than $2billion. There is a bit of background given on the creator of Mine craft previously working for the British game maker king digital entertainment. There is a brief on the concept of Mine craft.

Fact:

-Microsoft is in talks to buy the Swedish company behind the hit video game Mine craft for more than $2bn (£1.2bn)

-Mine craft, which has sold more than 50m copies since its release five years ago, an exclusive title on its Xbox gaming system.

-The Japanese company revealed last month that it has sold 10m PS4s globally, while Microsoft said in April that it had sold 5m units of its Xbox One console worldwide.

-Mine craft earned Mojang more than $100m in profits last year 

The Emma Watson nude photos hoax shames our ‘news’ culture.

Title: The Emma Watson nude photos hoax shames our ‘news’ culture.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/24/emma-watson-nude-pictures-hoax-news-culture 

The article begins stating “The internet is eating itself” with addressing the reader about Emma Watson’s speech about feminism which was to the United Nations; this had then gone viral after a threat of her nudes that were taken from the recent iCloud hacked images. They were threatened to be revealed on 4chan. Further on the article goes on to inform the reader about how there is confusion in the actual source of the threat, as well as the validity of the images and whether they are real or fake. A question was raised whether it was actually a PR stunt, as it did make her feminism video more popular. As we go on to read they make it evident that the global news agenda is regularly held hostage by a group of tech-savvy idiots and that these “arseholes” are swarming our cultural coverage and news agenda. The article ends with “we risk merely shifting from the agenda of elite editors to that of elite trolls”

Ø  On Tuesday, President Obama set out his reasons for beginning what could become another prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

Ø  In the UK, Ed Miliband set out his party’s vision for next year’s election and beyond.

In my opinion, this article picks up on a lot of significant points that reflect the transition of culture in the last 10 years. The fact that newer forms of media have emerged and developed our methods of voicing our opinions, making the media more pluralistic and not a simple model of absorbing information we are fed. The article highlights how we have become so addicted to the media that we believe almost anything we read online that it can cause a global news frenzy that becomes viral instantaneously.

Essay Feedback

Mr Bush Feedback 

WWW- some good examples, well researched/revised 

EBI - Needs to be stronger on audience empowerment- give more examples of UGC etc

Learner response

Personally, I was able to include a few examples such as the Snowdon case, where the NSA was revealed to have been hacking in to Google's servers and monitoring us to prevent crimes happening in the first place and the inclusion of major institutions like Disney and News corp. i was also able to incorporate media theories like dependency theory and media theorists like Pareto and Andre Keen. Although I was able to argue the audiences not being empowered but being puppets of major institutions, I wasn't able to effectively argue how audiences were empowered by new developments in the media, as well as give more examples of User generated content along with explaining what they are.

Audiences are empowered by developments in digital media with the introduction of new platforms of user generated content. the first example of user generated content are blogs, These are platforms to which audiences are able to express their views and ideologies on topics that they can choose, without being censored by major institutions, like News Corp. Furthermore their are the social networks which are User-generated content, like Twitter, where the users are able to present their view on and social, political, cultural or controversial affairs. Twitter is a social media platform with approximatly 232 million users worldwide, that have the ability to send out their perspective to the world via tweets. This gives audiences a voice that cannot be controlled by a major institution. For example Google monitoring g-mail users emails in order to find any incriminating evidence for the authorities, in turn violating privacy. Facebook is also another platform to which audiences are able to voice their opinions, as they can comment and like on different pages.  

Privacy technology everyone can use would make us all more secure.

Title: Privacy technology everyone can use would make us all more secure.

This article is about internet privacy and the introduction of a new app called simply secure. The article explains the problems with privacy, like getting hacked and losing all personal information to hackers and having it used against you. Then it explains how the app will protect all information will be protected.

Ø  From the Snowden revelations to the daily parade of internet security horrors around the world

Ø  Syrian and Egyptian checkpoints where your Facebook logins are required in order to weigh your political allegiances (sometimes with fatal consequences) 

Personally, the topic of privacy is very controversial in modern times due to the Snowden revelations, the apple icloud incident and the general uncertainty in using the internet makes it harder for them to use. This article to some extent is like ray of hope for internet users as they may be able to keep their internet history. 

iOS 8 causes bandwidth spikes nationwide, despite slow uptake.

Title: iOS 8 causes bandwidth spikes nationwide, despite slow uptake.

This article is about how the iOS 8 update for apple products had created a spike in internet gigabits as soon it was released. Also, the article goes over the size of the download not coping on devices with a memory of lower than 2GB. The iOS 8 update has not been as downloaded as the previous 5 updates.

Ø  iOS 8 updates peaked at 70 gigabits a second – 60% increase from the previous day

Ø  The size of the download for iPad users peaked at 2 GB.

Ø  The iOS 8 uptake is slower than iOS 7

Ø  Only 6.6% are using the new operating system, compared to the 15.5% who were using iOS 7 the same period after launch

In my opinion, I believe that the USP for apple’s software is failing to match the aesthetic pleasures of owning the latest iphone, even though iPhones are popular, there operating systems cannot stand a chance against the operating systems of Android. 

Facebook wants to be better at putting breaking new in your feed

Title: Facebook wants to be better at putting breaking new in your feed

This article is about the changes that Facebook is making in its news feeds in order to make Breaking news appear more frequently and at the right time of when it’s initially relevant, rather than present it when it’s no longer in the news.  They as a company want to give breaking news more priority. For example the protests in the US city Ferguson, after the fatal shooting of Michel Brown by police were a massive trending topic on Twitter but not as evident on Facebook. With Facebook’s filtration of news feeds has sparked controversy, for example the manipulation of 700,000 users news feeds. Also, Facebook has also been accused of deliberately running down “organic reach” in order to make more page owners pay for ads. 

Ø  In August 2013, Facebook announced that when its average user logs in, there are 1,500 potential stories that they could see in its news feed, with its algorithm about 300 of them.

Ø  Facebook manipulated 700,000 users news feeds.     

In my opinion, this is a very important thing to do on Facebook’s part to actually take a lead amongst social network sites like Twitter. Facebook has already added the trending charts to Facebook however; personally I don’t believe that it’s as effective as Twitter, nowadays Facebook is simply used to watch vines and look at memes.