Interactive Media Concepts and Trajectories by Cathy Freeman by Cathy Freeman

Interactive Media Concepts and Trajectories _ By Cathy Freeman

By Cathy Freeman M.A. Interactive Media 2010 Elon University

Table of Contents _

By Cathy Freeman

Mastering Interactive Media: A Beginner’s Guide

People, Places and Things (You Should Know About Interactive Media)

Research: The Future of Interactive Marketing

Reflections

Mastering Interactive Media

a beginner’s guide

MVP Model

(Most Valuable Protocol)    By Cathy Freeman

Technology is changing everything – from the way we work, to the way we form relationships, and  especially the way we market our products and ourselves.    A protocol is a set of standards that enables communication between two endpoints. As the tools of the  trade evolve, an established protocol like the MVP Model will help interactive media professionals  understand audience trends and ascertain profitable strategies.    The model below outlines current trends in audience analysis and interactive theory, with suggested  tools and protocols for addressing those needs.

TRENDS

PROTOCOL

Hyperconnectivity

SMS, Microblogging, Lifestreaming Tools: Ping Me, Pinger, Twitter, Lifestream.fm, FriendFeed, Strands

User-Generated Content

Wikis, Blogs, Livecasting Audio/Video Tools: Wetpaint, Socialtext, PB Works. Wordpress, Justin.tv

Social Relationships

Social Networks, Interest Networks, Bookmarks Tools: Facebook, Ning, Delicious

Two-Way Convo

Forums, Micromedia Tools: Google Answers, Mahalo, Jaiku, Yammer 4

SYNTHESIS: Past and Future – An Interactive Media Chronology   By Cathy Freeman    French historian Fernand Braudel was the first to suggest that the future can only be  forecasted by studying the things that do not change. Understanding the chronology of  interactive media is the most viable way to interpret its current trends and potential  future developments. By taking a look at history and its recurring themes, one can  propose how chronic trends will shape the future.    BEFORE THE INTERNET    The printing press was the primary format for mass communication until the  development of the telegraph from the 1830s to the 1860s. Samuel Morse (Morse Code)  was the first to secure political backing, though 62 others also claimed the invention.  His first message sent on the machine read, “what hath God wrought?” Western Union  built the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861 and all long‐distance  communication depended on the telegraph by the turn or the 20th century. In terms of  public opinion however, people feared the development of the machine and assumed  that it would mean the death of newspapers.     By the 1880s, Guglielmo Marconi used his political connections to get backing for the  radio, which he sold to General Electric in 1919. The Radio Corporation ensued, later  called NBC. Most everyone relied on the radio for information and entertainment by the  1930s, though most predictions about the enduring future for radio were negative.    Simultaneously, the telephone was developing and flourishing between the 1870s and  1930s. Invented by Europeans as early as 1849, it was officially patented in the U.S. by  Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. The American Telegraph and Telephone Company  (AT&T) established in 1885. Ironically, predictions about the future of the phone  mirrored past predictions about the radio and telegraph, and future predictions of the  Internet. People expected the telephone to increase crime and privacy issues, but also to  build closer communities and to further democracy.     Factors such as a competitive free market economy and little government regulation led  to the development of the television from the 1920s to the 1960s. Philo Taylor  Farnsworth created his first “image dissector” at only 21‐years‐old in 1927. By 1946,  8,000 U.S. homes had TV and it had eclipsed the radio by the 1950s. Future predictions  speculated that the family would not tolerate the TV for long.     All of the inventions above were possible in part to common threads of young  innovators, stable political backing and common governing bodies. These are the same  trends that allowed for the birth of the Internet.

HISTORY OF THE INTERNET    The inventions of the telegraph, radio, telephone and TV paved the way for the  explosion of the Internet beginning in the 1960s. Its early innovators included the likes  of JCR Licklider, Leonard Kleinrock, Donald Davies, Paul Baran and Lawrence Roberts.  Designs actually date back to the 1930s with Alan Turing first design of the general‐ purpose computer (ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). In the  1940s, Claude Shannon proved that Boolean algebra and logic could advance to  computer circuitry and Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley reduced the massive size of the  computer with the transistor. The integrated circuit followed in 1958.     This new creation grew in popularity much faster than anything before it. (It garnered  16 million users by 1995 and 63 million domain names by 2004).  As the Internet  continued to grow, experts predicted terrible things to come, including the loss of  paper, TV and transportation. Most predictions echoed the very same sentiments  associated with each and every prior invention.     INTERNET TIMELINE    1957‐ Eisenhower’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)  1960s‐ Ted Nelson, Douglas Engelbart created hypertext, the concept of allowing  movement from one element to another by a click or key‐press (world wide web).  Baran and Davies proposed sending blocks of data (packets) through a digital network  1965‐ Moore’s Law stated that the number of transistors per chip double and circuit’s  performance increases by 35 percent every 18 months   1969‐Steve Crocker wrote the first RFC (Requests for Comments), which is a way to  adopt new technical standards   1966‐ ARPANET (Advanced Projects Research Agency Network) was established as a  military computer network for sharing info across long distance   1969‐ ARPANET went online connecting ULCA, SRI at Stanford, the University of  California at Santa Barbara and the University of Utah   1970s‐ Microprocessor made computers much smaller  1972‐ First email by Ray Tomlinson, first to use @   1974‐ TCP/IP proposed (packet switching technology that makes Internet possible) by  Vincent Cerf and Robert Kahn  1976‐ Ethernet allowed data to be relayed across coaxial cables, emoticons develop to  account for lack in human expression   1984‐ Jon Postel introduces top level domains through Request for Comments   1980‐89‐ National Science Foundation started the Computer Science Research Network   (Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet Research Task Force)  1987‐ Compuserve developers released the GIP image (Graphics interchange format)   1988‐ IRC created for real time chat   1989‐ MP3 patented   1990‐ Tim Berners Lee invented “World wide web” with his first html source code  Early 1990s‐ Clinton administration allows government to access encrypted, private  digital info (Clipper Chip)

1991‐ Internet Service Providers became popular   1993‐ Mark Andreessen launched Mosaic, a browser later marketed by Netscape 1994‐  Secure Socket Layer introduced to transmit sensitive data, Yahoo created  1995‐ Apache released as free open source HTTP server software, first Internet phone,  Amazon, ebay, Javascript    1996‐ Flash 1.0, first web‐based email provider (Hotmail) by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack  Smith, ICQ (first global GUI‐based instant messaging client)   1997‐ RSS feeds based on XML language   1999‐ Blogger launched by Pyra Labs   2000‐ America Online acquires Time Warner   2001‐ Wikipedia launched  2003‐ iTunes launched   2004‐ Gmail announced by Google with 1GB storage   2005‐ YouTube launched     FUTURE OF THE INTERNET    The web is a technically a system of hyperlinked documents accessible online through  the use of web browsers. One use of the web is the Internet. Mike Elgan said that the  Web 3.0 “will function a little bit more like a human being. It will understand how facts  and ideas are connected.” Web 3.0 will most likely be ultra‐customized, English‐ speaking, context‐aware and considerate of all resources.     There are countless opinions about the projected future of online development. Many  see the Internet becoming a neobiological civilization with a global “godmind.” Philip  Tetlow suggests that the web is a living organism that will soon dispense with human  hosts altogether. In The Economy of Ideas, John Perry Barlow said, “…in the years to  come, most human exchange will be virtual rather than physical, consisting not of stuff  but the stuff of which dreams are made. Our future business will be conducted in a  world made more of verbs than nouns.” Alvin Toffler added in 1994, “as humankind  explores this new electronic frontier of knowledge, it must confront again the profound  questions of how to organize itself for the common good.”     Interactive Design Association (IxDA) is an example of an organization designed to do  just that—improve the human condition. Mark Rettig describes interaction design  includes strategy, experience (repeated interaction and activities in context),  interaction (interface over time), interface, information and functionality.    Analyst Adam Sarner predicted that more money will be spent on marketing to  multiple, anonymous online personas than offline marketing by the year 2015. More  and more people are expected to weave higher percentages of augmented reality into  daily life, whether it is through the use of GPS on a smartphone or through marketing  and training on Second Life.     The uses of AR are broad and vary according to user. Reed’s Law states that the utility  of large networks can scale exponentially with the size of the network, which is why

Facebook’s searchable databases that leverage the social graph make it one of the top‐ trafficked sites in the world. Online networking is said to fulfill self‐actualization needs  tied to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Due to increased accessibility of data, more and  more people will turn to virtual worlds to leverage the real world. Examples include  “mirror worlds” such as Google Earth, Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and NASA’s World  Wind. These metaverses use a virtual Earth to help users navigate the physical Earth.  One very beneficial result of the tool is the Millennium Development Goals Monitor,  which aggregates information and packages it as “global awareness” through Google  Earth. It was used to illustrate the Sudanese government’s attempt to wipe out non‐ Arab tribes in Darfur. Experts conclude that Google Earth will someday integrate with  Second Life to form a Second Earth where people can mimic their real existence with  the help of an avatar.     Today’s human‐computer interface is referred to as WIMP (windows, icons, menus,  pointing). In the future, this will change with an increased use of the mobile Internet,  embedded networked computing devices, and more flexible displays complete with  multi‐touch features.     Research shows that the most efficient human to computer imput is the spoken word  and the most effective computer to human output is text. Speech recognition’s cutting  edge research is based on subvocalization, which is the capture of nerve impulses as an  individual talks to himself without speaking. Many believe handwriting recognition to  be even more accessible than speech (Microsoft’s OneNote). Pen‐based computing is in  its early phases, but is capable of transferring written notes and playing back the audio  clips to match them.     Already popular is e‐paper machines with eletrophoretic ink, such as Amazon’s Kindle.  Wii’s detection of human movement with an accelerometer and optics is also becoming  a well‐known and recognized interface. Foldable keyboards that can be easily found  today will soon develop into mere projections of keyboards.     Also on the horizon is the use of haptics, touch output or delivery of a tactile sensation  from a device to a user. Brain‐computer interfaces in development will be able to pick  up and transmit signals from facial movements and electrical activity in the brain to  influence an avatar. Implantable medical systems could even use human body heat as  an energy source, changing life drastically for the paralyzed.     One thing is certain. As interfaces continue to grow smaller and smarter, it will be  increasingly harder to discern human from machine.    The integration of brain‐computer interfaces will undoubtedly contribute to a growing  general condition of hyperconnectivity that already exists. This “always on” mentality  appears when people engage in Internet‐based tools such as microblogging that leads to  constant lifestreaming. This is not necessarily an issue of the future, but something that  is already very present with the use of social networking tools and the blogosphere.  Currently, the highest concentrations of hyperconnected people are in the United States

and China. A continuously connected mindset has led to weakened boundaries between  personal and professional communications. Increased Blackberry and PDA use has  created issues of productivity and “time off the clock” as employees find themselves  continually replying to email around the clock.     Another negative result of hyperconnectivity is continuous partial attention, a term  coined by Linda Stone that refers to a focus on a primary task while monitoring other  background tasks. This doesn’t necessarily mean a loss of time spent building genuine  relationships, but David Weinberger has contributed continuous partial attention to a  culture of “continuous partial friendship.” Other drawbacks such as information  pollution, interruption overload and “attention economy” are predicted to emerge.     On the other hand, positive consequences include the therapeutic effect of sharing  information through online writing and the collective intelligence established from the  continual sharing and networking of knowledge.    It has been predicted that we’re moving toward a world where every object will be  tagged with an IP address in a human infrastructure networked in an “internet of  things.” Wearable computing will allow inanimate objects to track forecasts, monitor  posture and measure motion. The embedding of pervasive ubiquitous computing  devices is known as “everyware.” Everyware, otherwise known as ambient intelligence,  is a blanket of devices that can receive and send data. This appears in technologies such  as radio‐frequency identification tags (RFID), two‐dimensional bar codes, gesture and  voice recognition and GPS. Adam Greenfield predicted that everyware “will disturb  unwritten rules about workspace and homeplace, the presentation of self and the right  to privacy…” He also adds that a demand for constant identification is expected as  military and global corporations drive the research on ubiquitous computing.    FUTURE TIMELINE    2010‐2014‐ Internet redeveloped by National Science Foundation (Global Environment  for Networking Investigations) with focus on privacy, increase in content delivery, new  naming addressing and identity architecture   2010‐ Radio Frequency Identification can track anything, checkouts replaced with RFID  on all items, Interactive Guidebooks Educate using GPS  2011‐ Supercomputers with petraflop capability, Japan’s goal is close to the intelligence  capacity of humans  2012‐ Modified foods through gene research, intelligent clothing, e‐ink, e‐paper,  foldable computer displays  2015‐ Teleportation is developing, genetic profiling increasing in the hands of law  enforcement, genetic engineering modifying plants and animals to suit human needs,  human cloning, auto‐piloted vehicles, adaptable materials, customized food  2020‐ Immersive virtual reality worlds used for business, socialization and relaxation,  extensive use of robots that in turn force humans to try brain download to keep up with  AI, emotional control devices  2025‐ Power‐sources are painted on thanks to nano solar cells, TV is holographic

2035‐ Travel turns intergalactic    2040‐ Moon base will be established with a space elevator   2045‐ The Singularity exists and robots, genetics and nanotechnology develop beyond  the ability of humans, biological life is replaced with “grey goo”  2050‐ Mars colony is established, time travel common, brain downloading practiced    STUDYING THE FUTURE    In a world of severe competition, changing technology and market convergence, past  patterns can no longer serve as an accurate prediction of the future. Forward‐thinking  organizations put in place holistic systems to anticipate the future with real‐time  recognition, collaborative innovation, trend assessment and analysis.     The object of studying the future is to enhance the probability of preferred futures. This  is obviously a challenging endeavor, with a market economy that lacks uniform  progression and a tendency for things to change environmentally before they change  socially. Those who imagine the future should use computers to analyze underlying  trend patterns, consider potential events, and choose the best opportunity to exploit  change. Organizations must learn how to practice horizon scanning, action planning,  strategic leadership and collaborative foresight to foresee the curveballs of the future.     Projects originate from an organization need for a strategic plan. It begins with a quick  assessment or scoping to state what is changing in the market and the effect on current  stakeholders. Key audiences must be identified to engage stakeholders and place  champions in important positions. Only when the scoping of an agreed project  management plan is in place should work start on the foresight program or project.     Foresight is the use of strategic thinking, action planning, networking and horizon  scanning in order to study future events. Foresight that is tactical employs short‐term  strategies to look at what can be handled with case. Foresight that is strategic tackles  significant change in a world that could plausibly happen. It is the ability to  systematically think about and develop alternative futures. Obstacles to strategic  foresight are a lack of resources and incentives, frequent career movies and the limited  attention of internal stakeholders. Remedy these challenges with reward systems and  media formats that communicate all the future has to hold.     Horizon scanning is the art of systematically exploring the external environment in  order to better understand change and identify potential opportunity and challenges  ahead. This many involve surveys, exercises or collaborative foresight. Action planning  brings to life the hard work from horizon scanning and strategic thinking as the process  of defining organizational strategy.     To develop strategic leadership, one must increase agility and resilience and learn how  to perceive signals of weakness. True leaders inspire  (encourage exploration, stimulate  self‐organization) engage (build social capital, establish learning processes), and enable  (teamwork, values, direction, accountability). Use real‐time exercises and meetings to

create daily problem solving and decision‐ making (focus groups, case study analysis,  visualization maps, experimental virtual world programs, ethnographic study, etc).     Strategic thinking is intent driven and provides a point of view about the long‐term  market or competitive position that an organization hopes to achieve over time. It takes  a systems perspective, intent focuses, and intelligent opportunism, and considers major  trends based outcomes in nine dimensions (business, economics, environment,  healthcare, industries, lifestyles, politics, society, technology).      Trends don’t exist in isolation. They are extrapolations of the past and the present with  uncertain future trajectories. This is why it is important to study them. The first step is  to assess trends by creating a large inventory with classification system and ranking  methods. After establishing a trends database and evaluating trend outcomes based on  probability, one can determine key drivers of change on an organization.     The next step is to select trends. Make an assessment of the likely impact of your  identified trends over your scanning period. Assessment of scanning hits is the first  step, where one must look for possibilities instead of answers. Trends are selected for  future research by filtering in the following manner: Tier 4 (undirected viewing‐ unselected trends), tier 3 (informal search‐ selected trends, assessment covers  timeframe, scope, impact, likelihood and urgency), tier 2 (conditioned viewing‐ more  alerts), tier 1 (formal search‐key alerts, 10‐15 issues). Countertrends (opposite trend,  wildcards (low probability, high impact event) and black swans (highly probably and  impossible to anticipate) can be found in addition to trends.     There are two ways to classify trends. A quantitative classification establishes a trends  database and evaluates individual potential outcome based on impact, signal strength,  likely public response, urgency, likelihood, speed of arrival and time frame (complete  from both external and internal perspective). A qualitative classification is a written  assessment based on relevance, controversy, credibility, and stimulus.    A trend report is more focused than a scanning hits report, with a higher relevance  rating. A strategy report coincides with an organization’s annual planning cycle and  focuses on implications of trends for organization.

SYNTHESIS: An Introduction to Interactive Media Theory   By Cathy Freeman    What is interactivity?    In keeping with the collaborative and constantly evolving nature of interactivity, there  is no single definition of the term. Essentially, it means that an audience is involved in  the process of gathering information with at least one other party. However it is  defined, in the online world, it is a beneficial way to enhance information seeking and  create higher search rankings.     As it is applied to the interaction between people and computers, interactivity can be  referred to as the user’s style of control. Leaders in the field are constantly reworking  the definition of interactivity involving the Internet. Here are a few examples:    • Steur (1992)  “the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form  and content of a mediated environment in real time.”   • Downes and McMillian  assessing interactivity means looking at message  dimensions (direction, time, place) and participant dimensions (control,  responsiveness, perceived goals). Therefore, a high‐values site offers more  control and responsiveness and a low‐values site requires navigation by  selecting buttons.   • Sproull and Kiesler (1991)  found electronic work groups are as/more  efficient that face to face work groups  • Koolstra and Bos (2009)  communication is most effective if there is a high  level of interactivity between participants. They define interactivity as “the  degree to which two or more communication parties act on each other in an  interrelated matter.” They created an interactivity checklist that includes  synchronicity, timing flexibility, control over content, number of additional  participants, physical presence of additional participants, use of sight, use of  hearing, and the use of other senses. Control is the most frequently mentioned  aspect in the characteristic checklist.   • Nathan Shedroff (1994)  the process of creating interactivity is roughly the  same across all media. It involves feedback, control, creativity and co‐creativity,  productivity, communications and adaptivity  • Lev Manovich  5 principles of new media: numerical representation (can be  manipulated mathematically), modularity (new media is made of independent  elements of pixels and code), automation, variability (can exist in infinite  versions), transcoding (culture is reshaped by computer)

What is interaction design?    Now that we have a rough understanding of interactivity, we can better understand the  field of interaction design. Bill Verplank and Bill Moggridge first proposed this term in  the late 1980s.   It has come to describe the discipline of defining behavior of products and systems of  which a user interacts. Interaction designers define behavior, define the product related  to behavior, anticipate how to use the product to affect human understanding and  explore dialogue. According to Robert Reimann, the best skill for a professional  designer is “the ability to invent and visualize a coherent solution and be able to  effectively communicate it to others.”     Interactive Design Key Aspects‐  1. Social interaction design‐ accounts for interactions among users as well as  between users and their devices  2. Affective (emotional) – need for products to convey positive emotions‐ use of  dynamic icons, animations, sound, interfaces‐ recognizes human tendency to  equate good design with quality in any product     After defining behavior, interaction designers will create a product that best suits the  needs of the user. The process looks like this:    Six Steps of Interaction Design:  1. Design research   2. Research analysis and concept generation   3. Alternative design and evaluation (crude prototypes to convey concepts and  ideas. Features and functionality are outlined in a wireframe, flow diagrams  outline logic)   4. Prototyping and usability (test role, look and feel, implementation)   5. Implementation  6. System testing     Theories of Interactivity    Extensive research is essential to the groundwork of theories, which help explain  observation. There are several ways to conduct the necessary research to understand  theories. Research can be quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative research is a  systematic scientific examination with mathematical models and specific measurement.  The most common example is that of statistics. Qualitative research is the investigation  of underlying meanings and the patterns of relationships by using ethnography, content  analysis, focus groups or case studies. A mixed‐method approach combines the two.     Before understanding the theories surrounding interactivity, it is important to  comprehend at least the major communications theories that preceded interactivity.

Communication Theories    Information Theory is a branch of electrical engineering and applied mathematics. This  field’s founder, Claude Shannon, established the source‐encoder‐channel‐decoder‐ destination pattern basic to communication. Shanon’s concepts of entropy of a random  variable, source and channel coding and establishment of fundamental natural limits on  communication are intrinsic to digital info today. Shannon’s model is based on the  statistical concept of signal transmission first emphasized by Weiner. In 1948, Weiner  published the foundational document for systems science, emphasizing the statistical  foundation of communication and the idea of feedback. This is also the same year that  Harold Lasswell defined communication theory as “who says what in which channel to  whom with what effect.”    Shannon also introduced the concepts of entropy, redundancy and noise. The more  noise in a channel, the greater the need for redundancy, which reduces entropy  (measure of the degree of randomness) of the message. The interface between two  systems is a gatekeeper point. A system is any part of an information chain that is  capable of existing in one or more states. When communication systems exist in  identical states, they are considered corresponding. When they cannot exist in identical  states, the system is non‐corresponding. Human communication systems are functional,  not structural. Communication takes place when two corresponding systems, coupled  together through one or more noncorresponding systems, assume identical states as a  result of signal transfer along a chain.     For a group to function, communication networks must be established. To study  communication activity, one must look at traffic (who does talking and how), closure  (how open the group is to outsiders) and congruence (the question of whether  members are equal participants).    Activity Theory (AT) originated as a way to access the developmental process by which  a person is shaped by and shapes experiences through actions. It is traced back to  German philosophers Kant, Hegel, Marx and Engels. Activity Theory is based on the  notion that people work to achieve ideals by taking action and transforming the social  and material world. This theory began to be implemented in research and design by  human‐computer interaction (HCI) researchers in the 1990s.     Symbolic Interactionism is a sociological perspective that studies human  implementation of the Internet and its effect on human behavior. Human interaction is  mediated by the use of symbols and signification. Symbolic interactionism assesses how  people create meaning during social interaction, and how they present and construct  the self.     Social Network Theory studies how the structure of ties influences people and  relationships. Matt Granovetter found that open networks like Facebook with weak ties  are more likely to introduce new ideas and opportunities than closed networks with

strong connections. Scale free networks exist where there are mostly weakly connected  nodes, with a few highly connected hubs.     Diffusion of innovations is a theory of how, why and at what rate new concepts and  tools are adopted and implemented. In 1962, Everett Rogers defined diffusion as “the  process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time  among the members of a social system.” Rogers research on innovation also applied to  social network theory.     In a society where mass amounts of information are spread through social networks,  memes have emerged in the form of phenomena like LOLcats. Richard Dawkins first  used this term to describe a self‐propagating unit of cultural revolution or unit of  information that is passed along to the next generation.     Online Communities Theory  Online communities are becoming very popular avenues for people to exchange  information, engage in conversation and make new friends. The online communities  theory deals with groups that communicate primarily through media. According to  Peter Kollock (1998), people who participate in online communities can be motivated  by anticipated reciprocity (expectation that one will receive useful help in return‐  interactivity of a community encourages more interactivity), increased recognition  (desire for prestige‐ privacy concerns) and sense of efficacy (sense that they have made  an effect on this environment‐ Wikipedia) sense of community (people receive direct  responses to their contributions). Not every member of an online community is active  however. According to Pareto’s Law, 20 percent of the people accomplish 80 percent of  the posting in discussion. And some people join and lurk, instead of posting.     Uses and Gratifications Theory  This theory focuses on the study of what people do with particular media and why they  do it. It addresses the way in which audiences leverage tools for personal goals and is  closely tied to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which outlines people’s basic  needs for self‐actualization, self‐esteem, love and belonging, safety and security and  physiological fulfillment. Researchers of this theory tried to understand how people’s  use of media fulfills basic human needs. In 1948, Lasswell concluded that the media  serves functions of surveillance, correlation, entertainment and cultural transmission.  In 1973, Katz, Gurevitch and Haas found that all media users have the same needs  (cognitive‐ knowledge, affective‐emotional, personal‐ confidence, social and escapist).  In 1987, Denis McQuail reasoned that people look for information, personal identity,  integration and social interaction and entertainment when using media. All of these  ideas were formed before the age of the Internet. Everything changed when users  obtained the ability to reformat the media they were absorbing.     In 1998, Jane Singer said interactive communications obscure the line between the  sender and the receiver of mediated messages. Involvement, benefits, threats,  inconvenience and isolation are all user‐oriented dimensions of interactivity that are  part of the uses and gratifications approach. Ha and James listed playfulness, choice,

connectedness, information collection and reciprocal communication as the five  dimensions of interactivity.     Knowledge Gap Theory  This theory refers to issues like the digital divide, where the gap between the  information‐rich and the information‐poor is widened due to unequal access to a new  medium and ability to use it effectively.     Social Constructionism  Social factors and the features of technology tools are intertwined. The greater the  perceived reality, the greater the likelihood that the information will be incorporated  into an individual’s world view.     Cultivation Theory  Developed by George Gerbner, this theory says that long term teachings of a common  worldview, common roles and common values are a result of exposure to media.  Cultivation yields first order beliefs (concerning real world) and second order beliefs  (extrapolation of facts).    Technological Determinism  This is the theory that technological advances are a central causal element in processes  of social change.     Diffusion of Innovations Theory  Diffusion research uses a multi‐step flow model to show the social process of how  innovations become known throughout a social system. Everett Rogers is best known  researcher in this field. The results of a Ryan and Gross study show the main elements  of diffusion to be an innovation communicated through certain channels over time  among the members of a social system. Characteristics of an innovation that affect rate  of adoption are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, and observability. The  innovation decision process has five stages: knowledge, persuasion, decision,  implementation and confirmation. It is also important to note five adopter categories:  innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.     Spiral of Science Theory  This is the idea that people’s willingness to speak out on issues is influenced largely by  their perception of the climate of opinion. It was developed by Elizabeth Noelle  Neumann in 1973. This theory posits that people form opinions about public opinion  while seeking to find out if they are in the majority.     Powerful Effects Theory   Media effects are most powerful when they reach communications participants on  multiple levels. Mendelsohn said campaigns that are successful in changing an audience  spell out campaign objectives, pinpoint the target audience, overcome indifference of  the audience to the particular issue and find relevant themes to stress.

Power Law Effect   A system drives activity to reinforce unnaturally the behavior that caused something to  be there in the first place. Power law distributions keep things with some power at the  top because they are at the top and this can drive them higher.     Agenda setting  The media we consume tell us what to think about and how to think. A frame is a  central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the  issue is through the use of selection and emphasis. It helps us understand how people  process news. In other words, the role of well‐known individuals commenting on the  issue can have a significant impact on a person’s opinion on the topic. Intermedia  agenda setting defines how media reports influence and set the agenda for other media  reports. Thus far, there is no research on online agenda setting.     Perception Theory  Perception is the process by which we interpret sensory data. Influences on perception  are structural (physical) and functional (psychological factors). Selective processes can  be thought of as four rings of defenses (selective exposure, selective attention, selective  perception and selective retention).  Decoding the process of receiving and interpreting a message   Selective perception tendency for people to be influenced by wants, attitudes, needs  and other psychological factors   Selective exposure tendency for people to expose themselves to those  communications that are in agreement with existing attitudes   Selective attention tendency for people to pay attention to part of a message that are  consonant with strongly held attitudes  Selective retention tendency for the recall of information to be influenced by wants,  needs or other psychological factors     Schema Theory  People use schemas to process news. According to Graber (1988), a schema is “a  cognitive structure consisting of organized knowledge about situations and individuals  that has been abstracted from prior experiences.” Graber found that people store  conclusions from evidence, rather than storing evidence itself.  Fiske and Kinder were the first to propose that people are cognitive misers with a  limited ability to deal with information.    Image‐Perception Theory  Linda Scott indentified three ways of thinking about pictures: as transparent  representations of reality, as conveyors of affective or emotional appeal, or as complex  combinations of symbols put together to make up rhetorical arguments. Visual tropes  are arguments presented in a figurative form in order to break through a viewer’s  skepticism or boredom (ads).

Propaganda Theory  Attitude change and theoretical thinking are rooted in propaganda theory. Harold  Laswell outlined four major goals of propaganda: mobilize hatred against the enemy,  preserve friendship of allies, preserve friendship of and procure cooperation of neutral,  and demoralize the enemy.     Propaganda vs. Persuasion   The Fine Art of Propaganda by Alfred McClung Lee (1939) summarized seven devices of  propaganda: name calling (giving an idea a negative label), glittering generality  (associating something with a virtue), transfer (carrying prestige), testimonial, plain  folks (ideas are good because they are of the people), card stacking (use of facts) and  band wagon.    Persuasion   Persuasion is an attitude change resulting from exposure to information from others.  One message is unlikely to change strongly held beliefs, so persuasion must be  accomplished through a strategy of elements. These tactics often include fear appeal. To  motivate by fear, one must communicate the magnitude of noxiousness of an event,  probability of that event’s occurrence and efficacy of a recommended response.   Learning theory (Hovland) and consistency theory are two approached to attitude  change. A combination of the two is found in the functional approach, developed by  Daniel Katz. The functional approach to attitude change insists that humans are rational  and irrational depending on the situation. An attempt to change an attitude may  backfire if not based on an understanding of the functions the attitude is serving.   Other techniques of persuasion include the use of visuals, humor, sexual appeal, and  repetition.     Media Richness Theory  The more personal a mean of communication, the more effective it will be.     Human Action Cycle Model  Humans pursue goals through a series of steps to achieve that goal through the use of  computer (form goal, sequence the tasks, execute the action sequence, perceive results,  interpret action outcomes based on expected outcomes, compare what happened with  what user wanted.)      Media Ecology  This theory addresses how media of communication effect human perception,  understanding, feeling and value and how interaction with media facilitates or impedes  chances of survival.    These various theories revolving around communication and interactivity allow some  foresight into how and why people use the Internet today. In a Web 2.0 world, users  generate their own content and publish it with the help of online collaboration  structures and syndication. As a result, whatever is most interesting to the public at

large become the most visible online. A community setting evolves into collective  intelligence where personalized data can be easily found.   In 1999, Robert Craig categorized seven traditions of communication theory.  1. Rhetorical‐ the practical art of discourse  2. Semiotic‐ communication by signs  3. Phenomenological‐ experiencing “otherness”  4. Cybernetic‐ the information systems approach  5. Sociopsychological‐ expression, interaction and influence  6. Sociocultural‐ the reflection of social order  All of these traditions can be found in the theories of interactivity that exist surrounding  the Internet today.    New Media Timeline    1969‐ARPANET, new interactive media format called videotex (foundation for new  media of the 1990s)  1970‐Alhohanet (first wireless computer networking system), IBM controls ¾ of  mainframe computer market, first use of computer terminal for writing, editing and  transmitting story to news service  1971‐ newspapers changing from mechanical to computer production systems  1975‐ Altair 8800 (first successful personal computer)   1976‐ Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak form Apple  1977‐ Apple II personal computer introduced with 4K memory (first PC to use color  graphics and floppy disks)   1978‐ IP added to TCP (transmission control protocol)   1981‐ IBM introduces first successful personal computer    1983‐ TCP and IP accepted as standard for ARPANET – beginning of Internet we know  today  1984‐ first Macintosh personal computer introduced by Apple, Internet domain name  system (DNS) established  1985‐ Windows operating system released by Microsoft, Nintendo released, online  discussion community the well begins  1988‐ Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) established  1989‐ Time Berners‐Lee writes original proposal for World Wide Web  1990‐ WWW prototype created  1991‐ few videotex journalism projects but most media companies moving to BBS or  dial‐up services   1993‐ Mosaic, first graphical Web browser released   1994‐ JPEG standard officially approved, Yahoo starts, Netscape founded, first digital  camera designed for photojournalists   1995‐ Amazon.com, spec for DVDs finalized, potential for online journalism observed  with Oklahoma City bombing   1996‐ use of instant messaging increases, Nintendo 64, Dreamweaver, Flash, Adobe  Acrobat   1997‐ 43% of U.S. households own personal computers

1998‐ American Online acquires Netscape Communications, 50% U.S. homes with  personal computers, Drudge breaks news with Clinton/Lewinsky, more than 80% of  U.S. online consumers trust online news as much as they trust other news  1999‐ Final Cut Pro, Craigslist, Blogger, U.S. Dept. of Commerce begins tracking Internet  sales (calls e‐commerce a major indicator of nation’s economic health), Online News  Association established   2000‐ 1,200 North American daily newspapers have launched online services,  Wikipedia, iPod  2002‐ Second Life, Friendster  2003‐ MySpace, Skype, iTunes, Furl social bookmarking, growing power of blogs  2004‐ Google releases social networking service, Facebook, podcasts, Mozilla Firefox,  Internet has become major source of news in America, Online Publishers Association  announces that content surpassed communications to become leading online activity   2005‐ Google Earth, unique visitors to newspaper Web sites represented on average  one‐third (46 million) all Internet users in course of month  2006‐ Twitter, Google acquires YouTube‐ online only presidential debate, Kindle

SYNTHESIS: Reaching Interactive Media Audiences  By Cathy Freeman    Spreadable Media    Viral media is the concept of distributing content through informal or ad hoc networks  of consumers. It is a blurry term that refers to media that can imbed itself in pop culture  with hidden agendas. The ideological code injected into viral media is referred to as  memes, which compose culture as genes form to compose genetics.    As a unit of information in the mind, memes are characterized by fidelity (the ability to  retain content as they pass from mind to mind), fecundity (the power to induce copies),  and longevity (the increased chance of being copied). They do not self‐replicate and rely  on others to pass along information.     Unfortunately, the notion of viral media fails to consider everyday transformation and  repurposing of ideas, which is the natural process of communication. Communities  reinvent ideas to fulfill specific purposes. By basing a term in biology, it is incapable of  adapting to a complex system of social, technological, textual and economic relations.  Human choice and medium are two factors that greatly effect memetics. Though it is an  important movement away from push‐based communication to a pull‐based model of  stickiness, viral media and memetics do not necessarily focus on participation and  interactivity that is capable today.     A spreadable model assumes that the repurposing and transformation of media content  adds value, allowing media content to be localized to diverse contexts of use. It  emphasizes consumer activity. Grant McCracken defines consumers as “multipliers”  who shape the circulation of media content. Multipliers are also called “lead users”  because they enable user innovation and identify new markets.     Spreadability depends on a diversified user experience. It tracks the migration of  individual consumers within a site and maps the flow of ideas through social networks.     To make media spreadable, companies should first figure out what existing  communities are most likely to use their products and what they are doing with it. From  there, they should identify basic needs of that community and develop informational  resources to support them. In this process, it is important to understand the concept of  the moral economy.     The moral economy is the set of social norms and mutual understandings that make it  possible for two parties to do business with each other. The measure of a moral  economy is the degree to which participants trust each other to hold up their end of an  agreement. Discussions of viral media or spreadable media point to places where a new  moral economy may be emerging.

Another important community concept is the gift economy, which states that people do  things for one another out of a spirit of building something between them. In this  scenario, online success is based on the build‐up of good will that companies can  convert into economic transactions through other channels, for example, Facebook  gifts. The circulation of these gifts is socially rather than economically motivated.  Symbolic goods stop circulating when they take on such economic value that there is no  longer an incentive to give them to someone else of where their exchange fails to serve  social goals within a particular community. In other words, symbolic goods cease their  movement when they assume too much or too little worth. The fantasies of a  commodity culture are those of transformation while those a gift economy are often  deeply nostalgic.     These ideas of social interaction reflect changes that are happening in communities as a  result of online development. Spreadable media is possible because individuals are now  more empowered with new capacities and desires for social interaction. Individuals  have multiple interests and therefore engage with multiple different affinity spaces.  These are a few of the social structures that reflect different kinds of communities  today:    • Pools: People have loose associations with each other, but a strong association  with a common endeavor or with the values of the community. (brand  communities, political organizations)  • Webs: Webs are organized through individual social connections, so the ties with  each member are stronger and they operate in a decentralized manner.   • Hubs: Individuals form loose social associations around a central figure (fan  clubs)     Content is spread based not on an individual evaluation of worth, but on a perceived  social value within a community or group. That is why it is important to understand  what kinds of communities exist and why. When content or advertising spreads, it is  because the community has embraced it as a resource for expressing its shared beliefs  or pursuing its mutual interests.     Corporations cannot artificially build communities around their brands and products  but rather must allow their brands to be taken up by pre‐existing communities by  creating content that supports and sustains expressive appropriation. Text will not  become a part of popular culture unless consumers embrace it as a vehicle for  expression their own meanings. To understand that statement in a gift economy, it is at  that moment when the commodity becomes a gift and its worth is recognized.     Videos will not become popular unless consumers can participate in the production of  meaning in order to communicate something that matters to other members of their  community. Fiske’s notion of the producerly introduces the general principle for  transforming cultural commodities into cultural resources: open, loose ends and gaps  that allow the viewer to introduce their own background and experiences. The loss of  the producer’s control over meaning is a precondition for the video’s circulation.

Parody and humor that uses shock are also two characteristics that facilitate the spread  of videos. Parody must provide different levels of engagement and some level of  ambiguity or confusion that encourages people to seek further information (Burger  King’s Subservient Chicken is a good example of a partial work).     This is an important part of any ad campaign because marketers will take a closer look  at online video in 2009. 72% of U.S. Internet users watch video clips monthly, making it  more popular than blogging or social networks. Effective video‐sharing sites must  contain flash player technology that enables instant viewing in the browser,  uploadability that allows file‐sharing and embedded code that allows users to post clips.     In conclusion, spreadable media is good for active commitment from the audience,  online word‐of‐mouth, audience empowerment, highly interconnected audiences and  the ability to communicate with audiences where they already are and in a way that  they value.     Sampling Audiences Approaches    Because communities are constantly changing, continuous testing is important. Also  important is the study of other’s work, or competitive benchmarking. Thought leaders  in the field of interactive communications include Steve Rubel, Seth Godin, Brian Solis,  Henry Jenkins, Cindy Chastain, Dana Chisnell and Ross Mayfield. All of these experts  have audience theories that are worth considering.    The Power Law of Participation    • The majority of users will not have a high level of engagement within a given  group, but patterns have emerged where low threshold participation amounts to  collective intelligence and high engagement provides a different form of  collaborative intelligence.   • Chris Anderson’s Long Tail examples have focused on models of consumption,  not production, where intelligence is largely artificial. We network not only to  connect, but to leverage the social network as a filter to fend off information  overload.   • The byproduct of use is a cornucopia of the commons, where the act of using the  database adds value to it. As users engage in low threshold participation, we gain  a form of collective intelligence.     RF Intent Index (Ruder Finn)    • Underscores the emerging trend that people’s online behavior is better  explained and understood by similarities in intent rather than by demographic  differences between them  • “The way the Internet has allowed us to share knowledge laterally instead of up  the chain of command requires a new way of thinking about our online  communications. The Intent Index underscores the importance of knowing what

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people seek, and how we, as communicators, can intersect with what they’re  looking for.” Michael Schubert, CIO of digital strategy, Ruder Finn   Based on a study that asked participants how frequently they go online for 295  different reasons  o More than twice as many people go online to socialize (81%) than do  business (39%) or shop (31%)  o 71% of people go online just to become part of a community

Understanding your audience begins by analyzing information you already have. This  includes visitor loyalty, bounce rate, recency, location, search terms, keywords and  traffic source. To find more data, communicators can use polls, focus groups, surveys,  interviews, ethnographic research, on site user features and audience feedback (emails,  blog links etc.). Focus groups are often of use when deciding on the look and feel of a  site of product because they gather good data on emotive issues. Unfortunately, they do  not test what users are actually doing.  Web analytics offer a view of what happens  when people visit Web sites or use online services. They provide insights into personas,  such as activity cycles for different groups of users’ information seeking behavior.     Personas are also important to consider when analyzing audiences. Personas are the  archetypal representations or audience segments or user types, that describe user  characteristics that lead to different collections of needs and behaviors. Personas are  popularly used techniques for communicating insights, in addition to mental models  and experience lifecycles. A mental model aligns design strategy with human behavior  and provides an excellent way of understanding how users approached the content for  which a product is designed. Experience lifecycle is a generic term that represents the  start to finish series of interactions a customer has with an organization. For example,  Lego uses an experience wheel that depicts the end‐to‐end experience of a frequent  flyer.     In conclusion, communicators can aggregate and synthesize user research of different  shapes and sizes to form audience segmentations that encapsulate sets of  characteristics, needs and behaviors.     Web Analytics    Web analytics is the process of studying data to understand the influence and potential  impact of your communication. There are two kinds of methods used. On‐site analytics  refers to assessment of visitors; activities on a site, including assessing which landing  page is most likely to drive a purchase or response. Off‐site analytics is the  measurement of a site’s potential audience, share and buzz.     Terminology  • Hit‐ request for a file from the server (available only in log analysis)  • Page view‐ request for a file whose type is defined as a page in log analysis   • Visit/session‐ series of requests from the same uniquely identified client with a  set timeout

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First visit/session‐ visit from a visitor with no previous visits  Visitor/unique visitor/unique user‐ uniquely identified client generating  requests on the web server or log analysis or viewing pages with a defined time  period. A unique visitor counts once within the timescale.  Repeat visitor‐ visitor that has made at least one previous visit   New visitor‐ visitor with no previous visits  Impression‐ each time an ad loads on a user’s screen  Singletons‐ number of visits where only a single page is viewed  Bounce rate‐ percentage of visits where the visitor enters and exists at the same  page without visiting any pages on the site in between   % exit‐ percentage of users who exit from a page  Visibility time‐ the time a single page is viewed  Session duration‐ average amount of time that visitors spend on the site each  time they visit  Page view duration‐ average amount of time visitors spend on each page of the  site  Page depth/page views per session‐ average number of page views a visitor  consumers before ending the session  Frequency/session per unique‐ how often visitors come to a site  Click path‐ sequence of hyperlinks one of more website visitors follows on a  given site

Main industry bodies tied to web analytics include Jicwebs, ABCe, WAA and the IAB.  Only one web analytics tool is needed per website. When starting a data reconciliation  project for web analytics tools, keep in mind the following things:    • Web Logs vs. Javascript driven tools  o Web logs deal with effective and extensive filtering of robots and data  caching. Without extensive custom coding weblogs are clueless about rich  media experiences  o Some browsers have Javascript turned off and will have their data  missing from tag based files  • First and Third Party Cookies   o Demand first party cookies  o Use Javascript tag based solutions. In case of web log files the server at  least collects the mimimum data without much work because its built into  web servers.  • Incorrectly implemented tags  • Incompletely implemented tags  o Implement all tools on same pages  • Check definitions of key metrics  • Sessionization  o Sessions are important because they essentially measure the metric of  visit or visitors   o Check the max session timeout settings between the tools  • URL parameter configuration

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o Teach your web analytics tools which parameters to use and which to  ignore  o Tag campaigns correctly and configure web analytics tool correctly to  ensure your campaigns are reported correctly, referrers are reported  correctly and revenue and conversions are attributed correctly   Data Sampling  o At Source: A typical strategy from the paid web analytics vendor is not to  collect all data, because the bill is based on page views you send over.  This leads to a data reconciliation issue  o Run Time: All the data is collected but when reports are run, it will be  sampled to make it run fast. This is a better strategy.  o Data sampling can impact the key performance indicators you are using,  meaning that all/non/some of the data will not reconcile   Tag Order  o Switch the order of tags if a heavy tag is slowing speed.

Usability    Interactive media must be extremely useable. To measure usability, a validation or  verification test is usually conducted late in the development cycle. A matrix test design  allows you to test a product across a range of roles according to different variables.     In the interactive media planning stages, the following points should be addressed: site  purpose and goals, constraints, target audience, site architecture, audience’s tasks, and  content.    Effective interfaces do not concern the user with the inner workings of the system. Be  concerned with the user’s productivity and time. Wasting a user’s time will make the  user leave.     When designing an interactive site, programming a tagging system will make the site  more searchable and useable. Tags can be any term that is usefully associated with the  resource. A tag provides metadata about the resource. Geotagging refers to adding  geographic tags that locate resources in a particular place.    Metadata is the structured information that describes, explains, locates or otherwise  makes it easier to retrieve, use or manage and information resource. It is essentially the  data about data elements. Meta elements are programming instructions used to embed  structured information in digital communication.     Folksonomies are the user‐generated keywords that ensue from collaborative tagging.  Joshua Schachter, the creator of Del.icio.us. was the first to popularize collaborative  tagging.     User‐center design (UCD) is an approach to design where the end user is placed at the  heart of the design and development process. The key principal is integrating users that

represent the profiles of the target user groups into the development process. Research  carried out by Noam Tractinsky among others has shown that more aesthetically  pleasing an item is the more usable people will believe it to be. Also, if a user’s  experience makes you feel good you are more likely to use it again.    Here is an outline of the process:    Step 1: Define target audience  • User personas make it easier for design and development teams to understand  user needs by creating tangible descriptions of real people.   Step 2: User Task Analysis  • Task analysis is the identification and thorough understanding of end users’  goals and tasks  Step 3: Create a prototype  • Define how the system will work from the user interface perspective and test on  real users  Step 4: Test prototypes with real users  • User small groups of no more than five from each target user profile  Step 5: Beta release  • A beta version is released to a restricted number of users for evaluation  Step 6: Ongoing Evaluation   • Testing can be done with focus groups, eye‐tracking, heat maps, Morae (the  recorder, remote viewer and manager)    Unfortunately, statistics and trends cannot explain why users behave in the way they do  and what impressions they pick up from the site during their visit. To truly test  interactive media, usability testing methods must include alternative user‐testing  techniques (enabled browsing, open‐ended questions, etc)    Search Engine Optimization     SEO involves attracting visitors and links from other sites. Here are a few SEO tactics:  • Page Title  o Also referred to as the title tag, the page title should be unique for each  page of the site  • Meta Description  o The meta description tag gives both search engines and visitors who  person searches on the search engine an idea of what the web page is  about  • URL Structure  o Create a URL structure that is friendly to search engines  • Website Navigation  o The use of site maps both HTML and XML help the spiders crawl the  website easily and index it  • Unique Content  o Content must be informative and elicit action

•

• • •

Anchor Text  o Anchor texts are links that direct visitors to the internal pages of the  website or to an external page  Heading Tags  o Represent the heading of the content of the webpage  Alt Tag Optimization  o Use alt tags for images  Robots.txt. File  o A Robots.txt. prohibits robots from crawling a particular page based on  the nature and content of information that is available. This file must be  placed in the root directory of the site and also be named as robots.txt.

Audience    The four factors that promote audience engagement (usability) are self‐evidence, speed,  feedback and accuracy.     The key characteristics to address: physical demographics, cultural demographics,  computer experience, findability, computer equipment profile, frequency of visits,  location of access, competing sites, internal vs. external audience and design  expectations

People, Places and Things you should know about interactive media_

Top 10 Interactive Media Resources Compiled by Cathy Freeman

Forrester Forrester Research is a market research company that provides information  about technology’s impact on consumers and businesses. It is a leader in  forward‐thinking research and industry projections. Learn more about Forrester  at http://www.forrester.com/rb/research or follow the Forrester Blog for  Interactive Marketing Professionals at http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/.  This is a unique blog that excels in interactive media analysis.

10,000 words 10,000 words, found at http://10000words.net/, was one of the first blogs to  address the future of journalism in the context of technological advances.  Content is broken into the following categories: maps, flash, video, photos, site  management, audio, citizen journalism, blogging, news on the news, social  networking, mobile, database, radio, wiki and design. It gives journalists and  web aficionados practical tips on how to best incorporate multimedia into their  work.

Tech Crunch Tech Crunch is a very popular blog founded in 2005 that profiles new products  and companies. It is known for having breaking information and unique content  before it is widely available and can be found at http://www.techcrunch.com/.

Mashable Located at http://mashable.com, Mashable is one of the largest blogs on the  Internet, with a reported 7+ million pageviews each month. It features  constantly updated news regarding social networks, startups, applications and  more and countless instructional lists.

Twitter Twitter is a quickly‐growing free micro‐blogging service that allows users to  submit real‐time communication in 140 characters field called “tweets.” It is a  choose to “follow” an individual when they select to receive their updates on a  mini‐feed. Twitter is accessed at www.twitter.com.

Technorati Technorati (http://technorati.com) is a search engine used for browsing blogs. It  indexes more than 112 million blogs and 250 million pieces of tagged social  media. The tags help categorize the search results, which are listed with most  recent posts first. It is an excellent tool for finding in‐depth on‐going  conversations related to particular industries such as technology or  entertainment.

Media Bistro This website, found at www.mediabistro.com, is a gathering place for journalists  and media professionals who are eager to learn about available job  opportunities, events, forums and educational courses. It provides an industry‐ specific community, relevant news updates, instructional tips and even help for  freelancers.

Alexa Alexa Internet provides a database at www.alexa.com that ranks web traffic  based on an algorithm and data from users of the Alexa toolbar. It provides  timely information and statistics about websites and their content. The lower the  Alexa ranking, the higher the traffic and the more effective the web content.

Innovative Interactivity Innovative Interactivity (http://www.innovativeinteractivity.com) is a website  devoted to interactive multimedia. Users can browse news, advice, competition  info, tips and examples. The site focuses on new and unique perspective and  techniques.

10. iMedia

Connection

iMedia Connection (http://www.imediaconnection.com) covers interactive  marketing news and features. Users learn about industry news, media and  consumer strategies, research and metrics and job opportunities through this  online marketing‐related community.

Top 10 Interactive Media Thinkers Compiled by Cathy Freeman

Marc Andreessen (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/marc‐andreessen)  Entrepreneur, blogger and software engineer Marc Andreessen is best known as  the co‐author of Mosaic, the first widely‐used web browser. Andreessen also  founded the Netscape Navigator Corporation and the social networking site  Ning. He now serves as an investor and advisor for many successful startups  including Twitter and Digg.

Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/)  Godin popularized and predicted the concept of permission marketing. He was  one of the first authors and media professionals to say that marketers must  show more genuine respect to consumers instead of abusing interruption sales  techniques because he predicted the Internet’s ability to help consumers gain  power. In “permission marketing,” businesses must provide value and control to  consumers and eventually gain permission to submit marketing message. Godin  is the author of 11 books and recently launched a community website called  Squidoo that allows users to create pages for subjects of interest.

Brian Storm (http://mediastorm.org/)  Storm is the president of MediaStorm, a multimedia studio noted for its quality  production and innovative business model where some stories are sold to news  usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social  documentary projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation,  audio and video for distribution across multiple media.

Mark Luckie (http://www.getluckie.net)  Luckie was one of the first print journalists to write about the future of  journalism in the context of technology in his blog 10,000 words. The blog’s  mission statement is,” to help usher in a new era in journalism by using and  sharing innovative multimedia and online tools.” Luckie’s forward‐thinking  insight into multimedia and passion for education make him a thought leader in  the realm of interactivity.

Kevin Roberts (http://saatchikevin.com)  Roberts is probably best known for his role as the Chief Executive Officer  Worldwide of mega advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. He is the author of  “The Lovemarks Effect” and “Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands” and

invented the innovative idea behind the books. He refers to “lovemarks” as  brands that operate with mystery, sensuality and intimacy and states that  successful brands have to garner more than respect – they need love. He tells  brands how to earn loyal followers forever by paying attention to the attraction  economy.

Tim Berners-Lee (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners‐Lee/)   Berners‐Lee is a British engineer and computer scientist who is responsible for  inventing the World Wide Web in 1989. He is now the director of the World  Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which was formed to oversee the continued  development of the web. He is also a director of the World Wide Web  Foundation, launched in 2009 to fund and coordinate efforts to further the  potential of the web to benefit humanity.

Jakob Nielson (http://www.useit.com)

Nielson is responsible for developing user interface improvements and invented  several usability methods. His namesake law, Nielsen’s Law, states that any  network connections increase 50 percent every year (doubling every 21  months). He holds 79 United States patents, predominantly regarding ways to  make the Internet easier to use. His five quality components of usability goals  are learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors and satisfaction.

Chris Anderson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Anderson_(writer)  Editor‐in‐Chief of Wired magazine, Anderson is well known for his concept of the  long tail that describes the niche strategy of selling small quantities of hard‐to‐ find items to many customers instead of selling only large quantities of popular  items.

Brian Solis (http://www.briansolis.com)   Solis paved the way as a thought leader for social media with his information  visualization The Conversation Prism that graphically represents current  opportunities for online dialogue. He is a published author and an avid speaker  on the topic of new marketing and engagement.

10.Josh

Bernoff (http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/josh_bernoff)

Bernoff is currently the Senior Vice President of Idea Development for Forester  Research and an expert in social technology strategy. He is also the co‐author of  the book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.

Top 10 Interactive Media Readings Compiled by Cathy Freeman

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies  Written by authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Groundswell is a bestselling  book based on data from Forrester Research regarding social technology. It  outlines case studies, new tools and an innovative social technographics profile  that is useful in determining new media strategies based on an audience’s  technical adeptness.  http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/

The Information Design Handbook This is a comprehensive guide to information graphics written by Jenn and Ken  Visocky O’ Grady. It features design guidelines, case studies, color palettes and  troubleshooting tips. The Information Design Handbook celebrates graphics that  are examples of good communication and esthetics, and reveals the thought  processes and design skills behind them.

The Age of Engage This book by Denise Shiffman is informative for both specialists and beginners. It  explains new Internet terms and clearly describes an innovative strategy that  covers venture, value, voice, verifiable, vicinity and vehicle. According to  Shiffman, marketers have to learn how to embrace user‐generated content as  well as participate in and influence the conversations that consumers generate.

The New Language of Marketing 2.0

ANGELS stands for analyze market understanding, nail the relevant strategy, go  to market plan, energize the channel, leads and revenue and scream. This book  by Sandy Carter uses that acronym to address trends of globalization, segmented  customers, corporate responsibility, technology advances and accelerated  change.

The Elements of User Experience

The Elements of User Experience: User Centered Design for the Web by Jesse  James Garrett features clear explanations and illustrations of usability. It gives  an overview of web development from strategy to visual design, with a focus on  user experience.

Reinventing Interactive and Direct Marketing

This book by Stan Rapp introduces a new paradigm called iDirect, or the modern  day growth at the intersection of digital technology and digital marketing. Rapp  joins with experts from the Direct Marketing Association to outline a winning  digital marketing plan. This collection of essays shows media professionals how  to maximize digital ROI with new iDirect and iBranding imperatives.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR The Internet and social networks have changed the way businesses  communicate with markets. This book by David Meerman Scott outlines the use  of Web‐based communication tools like blogs, forums, wikis, audio, Web sites,  podcasting, video, social networks and search engine marketing. It gives new  rules for the use of news releases and other traditional marketing methods. Most  importantly, this book describes how to reach an online audience through goal  setting and thought leadership and how to thoroughly understand how web  content influences buyers.

Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands Emotion is an opportunity to connect with consumers. According to author  Kevin Roberts, lovemarks are the future of brands because everyone wants to  embrace emotion. Lovemarks involve customers, show passion, accept  responsibility and celebrate loyalty. The new consumer is no longer willing to  passively accept whatever comes their way from producers. Mystery, sensuality  and intimacy separate lovemarks from brands and the attraction economy is  interactive, personal and intimate.

Designing for the Digital Age This book by Kim Goodwin is a great resource for human‐centered designers. It  covers all elements of digital design such as project management, team building,  user research, industrial design, consensus‐building, interaction framework,  data analysis, collaboration, visual design and more. It is truly a comprehensive  guide to great design for both beginners and skilled designers.

10.

Socialnomics The idea behind Erik Qualman’s book Socialnomics is that social media and  instant communications are changing the face of business forever. Qualman  offers a new look at the impact of social networks on business and addresses the  future of marketing as businesses must now choose to speak directly to  consumers in two‐way dialogue.

Top 10 Interactive Media Issues Compiled by Cathy Freeman 1.

Privacy Growing risks such as spyware, phishing, cookies and digital photography are  contributing to online privacy threats. As more people provide personal  information such as photos to public networks such as Facebook, privacy will  become even harder to maintain online.

Hyperconnectivity Constant access to social networks and real‐time news is creating an “always on”  mentality where users find it difficult to separate their digital and non‐digital  personas. Hyperconnectivity generates a need to be connected at all times to  online information.

Security Internet security involves the protection of a computer’s Internet account and  files from intrusion. Anytime a computer connects to a network and exchanges  information, there is a security risk. Basic security measures include password  protection and data backup.

Open Access Open access is something that must be consciously maintained online. Open  access is the availability of digital information that is free of charge and  restrictions. It removes price and permission barriers so that people of varying  socioeconomic, religious and ethnic backgrounds can have access to the same  information and educational resources on the Internet.

Intellectual Property With prevalent conflicts such as illegal downloading and file sharing, intellectual  property rights are on the forefront of online media topics. Intellectual property  (IP) refers to the legal rights that exist over creations and intangible assets such  as music, design, phrases, fonts or literature. Types of intellectual property  include copyrights, trademarks and patents. Creative work needs to be legally  protected to prevent it from being reused illegally by other parties that are  seeking economic gain.

Credibility When dealing with other people and sources online, credibility is always a point  of concern. Anyone can create a blog or anonymous avatar with little  accountability or truth. All sources and individuals must be scrutinized before  they can be trusted. This is especially true with online transactions.

The Digital Divide The Digital Divide refers to the imbalance between individuals with  technological access and those without it. The concept holds that those with  access to resources like computers and the Internet will in turn be able to  succeed more readily and those without it will fall further behind. Public policy  makers and scholars are attempting to lessen the damage of the Digital Divide  with initiatives like One Laptop per Child that is designed to offer low‐cost  laptops to children in poverty‐stricken areas.

Natural vs. Virtual Worlds With the advent of transformative virtual worlds like Second Life and World of  Warcraft, boundaries between online worlds and “real” worlds are blurring. A  virtual world is defined as a computer‐based simulated environment where  users interact via avatars, but in many worlds, virtual elements intermingle with  non‐virtual. For example, items can be bought and sold in Second Life with real  dollars (represented as Linden dollars). The amount of time spent in online  worlds will certainly have a significant effect in off‐line realities, relationships  and behaviors.

Citizen Journalism Citizen journalism, or the expectation that the public has an active role in news  production, is becoming the norm. With the spread of tools like smart phones,  more news organizations are turning to citizens to provide grassroots news  content. In the future, media professionals will need to pay attention to the  public’s newly formed expectation of two‐way media dialogues.

10.User

Control

Marketers and media organizations are losing their once controlled messaging,  as consumers find a voice of their own. Interactivity relinquishes control to the  user, so they can absorb information and make choices at their leisure. Because  of this, messages now need to be super‐targeted to the right audience.

Top 10 Interactive Media Theories Compiled by Cathy Freeman

Social Network Theory   Social network theory views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. The  theory’s central idea states that open networks provide weak ties that are more  likely to introduce opportunity rather than closed networks with strong  connections. (http://www.istheory.yorku.ca/socialnetworktheory.htm)

Online Communities Theory

This theory addresses why people communicate in virtual online communities. It  lists anticipated reciprocity, increased recognition, sense of efficacy and sense of  community as motivating factors for online involvement.

Uses/Gratifications Theory   This approach focuses on how and why people interact with particular media to  meet their needs. It is closely tied to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and  focuses more on the consumer than the message at hand. Media needs can be  cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative or escapist. Uses and  Gratifications Theory is one of the most relevant concepts to interactivity  because it assumes that audience members are active and in consuming media.    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications_theory)

Knowledge Gap Theory   As more people turn to technological tools for communication and educational  purposes, a divide will widen between those with access to technology and those  without. Knowledge Gap Theory proposes that with each new medium, the gap  between the information‐rich and information‐poor widens because of  differences in access to the new medium and the individuals’ capacity to use it  effectively. (http://www.slideshare.net/preciousssa/the‐knowledge‐gap)

Symbolic Interactionism This sociological perspective investigates how people create meaning during  social interaction and in turn present and construct the self. One of the  perspective’s central ideas is that human behavior is based on how people define  specific situations. Symbolic Interactionism has three basic premises that state  that, “human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe  to those things,” “the meaning of such things is derived from the social  interaction that one has with others and the society,” and “these meanings are

handled in and modified through an interpretive process used by the person in  dealing with the things he encounters.” Herbert Blumer coined this theory in  1969.

Spiral of Silence   This theory asserts that individuals are less likely to vocalize an opinion if they  feel they are in the minority. The silence springs from fear or isolation or  disapproval from the majority opinion. Mass media plays a dangerous role in  this process as it portrays the perceived public opinion. The Internet has the  potential to break down the spiral of silence as individuals find solace in online  groups.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence)

Powerful Effects Theory The powerful effects concept asserts that successful campaigns have clear  objectives, pinpointed audiences, and relevant themes. They also work to  overcome audience indifferences. Media effects are most powerful when they  reach consumers on multiple levels and different interactive levels must be used  to reach users and reinforce messages.

Social Constructionism Social Constructionism assumes that social factors and technology are  intertwined and people attempt to construct a subjective reality based on  information from objective and symbolic reality. Information used to construct a  subjective reality is evaluated in terms of its perceived reality. The greater the  perceived reality, the greater the likelihood that the information will be  incorporated into an individual’s worldview.

Technological Determinism This concept states that technological advances are a central causal element in  processes of social change. In other words, technology affects habits and  perception.

10.Diffusion

of Innovations Theory

Diffusion occurs when an innovation is communicated through certain channels  over time and among the members of a social system. This theory holds that  innovations are adopted based on relative advantage, compatibility, complexity  and observability. Diffusion research uses a multi‐step flow model to show the  social process of how innovations become known throughout a social system.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations)

Top 10 Info Visualizations Compiled by Cathy Freeman

The Conversation Prism This graphic charts online conversations between individuals and networks of  the social web. Created by Brian Solis in 2008, this visualization shows where  people are converging online centered on topics such as photography, video and  wikis. http://www.briansolis.com/2009/03/conversation‐prism‐v20/

Twitterverse Twitterverse charts the complex and evolving sphere of applications and tools  that work with Twitter. It was released in June 2009 in response to the  Conversation Prism to keep track of the results of Twitter’s booming popularity.  http://www.twitterverse.com/

Media Diet Pyramid

This pyramid visualization was created by Wired Magazine to represent average  amount of time spent consuming media. Considering the statistic that the  average American spends roughly nine hours daily consuming media, the Media  Diet suggests an appropriate allotment of that time.                http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/magazine/17‐08/by_media_diet

Web Trends Map The Web Trends Map is a yearly publication by iA Inc. that maps the 333 most  influential web domains and the 111 most influential Internet users onto the  Tokyo Metro map. Domains are carefully selected by the iA research team and  each domain is evaluated based on traffic, revenue, age and the company that  owns it. The iA design team assigns these selected domains to individual stations  on the Tokyo Metro map in ways that complement the characters of each  domain. http://informationarchitects.jp/web‐trend‐map‐4‐final‐beta/

Internet Memes Timeline This interactive timeline tracks the Internet’s most popular memes in  chronological order. Built from Wikipedia and Memelabs, the timeline is open for  users to add to and edit. http://www.dipity.com/tatercakes/Internet_Memes/

New York Times Visualization Lab NYTimes.com users who visit the Visualization Lab can visualize data sets  provided by Times editors and share those visualization with others. The lab, a  version of IBM’s Many Eyes, is specially designed for The New York Times.  Visitors can also browse impressive visualization produced by the Times. This  tool is impressive because it demonstrates a significant value given to audience  input. http://assets1.manyeyes.nytimes.com/visualizations?viewtype=list

DiggLabs Digg Labs provides a broader and deeper view of Digg, which is a social news  website designed to help people share Internet content. It offers tens of  thousands of visualizations of URLs activity to browse and then view deeper  content. http://labs.digg.com/

Google Motion Chart Google Motion Chart is a dynamic chart used to explore indicators over time. The  chart is rendered within the browser using Flash and requires one column  detailing time and two columns of numeric values.  http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/documentation/gallery/motionchart .html

Fusion Charts Fusion Charts help you create interactive Flash charts for web and desktop  applications. It offers more than 45 types of 2D and 3D charts including line,  area, bar, column, pie, donut, combination, scatter, bubble, and scroll charts.   http://www.fusioncharts.com/

10.Information

Visualization Manifesto

The Information Visualization Manifesto is a comprehensive list of 10 key rules  about information visualization created by Manuel Lima.  http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?p=644

Research

The Future of Interactive Marketing: A Trend Report By Cathy Freeman

Executive Summary    Interactive marketing produces two‐way dialogue between consumers and marketers  through the use of technological tools like blogs, wikis, email, list servs, virtual reality,  social media and the Internet.     Despite rapidly evolving technology, marketing strategy will be unsuccessful in the  future unless it taps into consumers’ basic human needs for conversation, intimacy,  personalization and control.     The future of interactive marketing strategy will account for the loss of humanity that  can result from impersonal technological development, greed and mass marketing.  Recent phenomena such as social media and microblogging will assist marketers in  finding genuine voice and authentic conversation.     In the future, effective marketing will follow seven trends to become real‐time,  emotional, screen‐based, value‐added, user‐centered, social and mobile assets to willing  consumers.

Definitions and Key Terms    Interactive Marketing‐ Interactive marketing is an on‐going conversation that allows  consumers to interact with marketers in a meaningful attempt to share present and  future preferences and in return receive something of worth. Marketers retain  consumers’ personal tastes and later offer pertinent value to the customer. Interactive  marketing usually involves tools such as multimedia technology, the Internet, social  media communities, virtual reality kiosks, point‐of‐purchase displays or any device that  allows the user to generate content in a two‐way dialogue with brands or marketers.     Social Media Optimization (SMO) SMO is a technique for generating publicity  through social media and networking sites. Methods include adding RSS feeds, blogs,  images, video and other interactive elements in hopes of generating brand awareness  and ongoing dialogue with current and potential customers. The process of spreading  content through “word of mouth” sharing is referred to as viral marketing. Information  becomes viral when it is bookmarked and shared through social sites. SMO is an  important part of online reputation management (ORM).     Search Engine Marketing (SEM) SEM promotes sites by increasing visibility in search  engine result pages (SERP). SEM includes use of paid placement, contextual advertising  and paid inclusion. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the science of using key words  and phrases in online content to ensure that a search engine finds a site in results  determined by its algorithm.     Wiki‐ A wiki is a website that allows for collaborative editing and content creation. The  most notable example of a wiki is the community encyclopedia Wikipedia that lets  anyone make entires and edits.    Widget‐ Widget is short for “window gadget.” It describes the small application of some  sort of data visualization. Examples include desktop calendars, calculators, or text  boxes.     Microblogging‐ Microblogging is a real‐time form of multimedia blogging where users  send brief and often frequent updates through E‐mail, text messaging, instant  messaging or microblogging services such as Twitter.     Key Terms: blogosphere, podcast, wiki, viral media, video, RSS feed, long tail, email  marketing, online forum, meta elements, widget, proximity, hyperconnectivity

Introduction    Before the advent of the Internet, marketers relied on traditional non‐targeted media  such as newspapers, TV, magazines and direct mail. Messages were carefully crafted by  communications professionals and directed to the masses in hopes of gaining attention  and possibly inciting action. They were almost always one‐directional because  organizations and marketers held tightly to the control of their product and brand.  Effective marketing relied on strong relationships with the media, interruption tactics  and traditional advertising.    In a short time, the Internet has drastically affected all prior notions of marketing  strategy.  In his book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott said,  “Forced to compete with new marketing on the Web that is centered on interaction,  information, education and choice, advertisers can no longer break through with  dumbed‐down broadcasts about their wonderful products. Instead of one‐way  interruption, Web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the precise  moment that a buyer needs it” (Scott 2008). The Internet medium has permanently  changed the relationship between marketer and consumer as interactivity allows for  two‐directional conversations.     In 2009, there are approximately 1,668,870,408 Internet users in the world (Internet  World Stats 2009). In the United States, the average American spends at least 12 hours  online every week (Forrester 2009). Surprisingly, the average time spent online has not  increased in the past year as it has in years past. Forrester analyst Jackie Anderson  accounts for this change by explaining that people have changed the way they use the  Internet. “Engagement with the online channel has deepened,” she said. “Web users are  becoming savvier and better multitaskers. Many know exactly where they want to go  when they log in” (Forrester 2009).     What is increasing is participation in outlets such as social networks and online  communities. In the past year, Americans have tripled the amount of time spent at  social networking and blog sites. A 2009 study released by The Nielsen Company  reports that 17 percent of all time spent on the Internet in August 2009 was spent at  social networking sites. This figure is an increase from a total of 6 percent in August  2008 (Nielsen Wire 2009).     Vice president of media and agency insights for Nielsen’s online division, Jon Gibs,  suggests that this growth exhibits a major change in the Internet’s function. “While  video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online  consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s  growth,” Gibs said (Nielsen Wire 2009).     As the function of the Internet becomes more social and therefore horizontal in terms of  information‐gathering, marketers are loosing the ability to control what is being said  and demonstrated regarding branding. In today’s hyperconnected culture, marketers

have to find customers where they enjoy spending time online and speak to them  through meaningful two‐way conversation. As users take a more targeted and  purposeful approach to the Internet, marketers must parallel this behavior in order to  maintain genuine conversation with consumers and influence behavior.     Forrester Research found in 2009 that overall advertising budgets are declining as  marketers take this more targeted and direct approach. Dollars are moving away from  traditional media towards interactive tools that are far less expensive (Forrester 2009).                                                   The chart above shows Forrester’s forecast for interactive marketing spending through  the year 2014. It projects future increases in spending in mobile marketing, social  media, email marketing, display advertising and search marketing and an estimate of  $55 billion spent in interactive marketing in the year 2014 (Forrester 2009). According  to this data, interactive marketing will expand steadily in coming years.    As it expands, interactive marketing will need to become more real‐time, emotional,  screen‐based, value‐added, user‐centered, social and mobile in order to accommodate  the technological and emotion needs of this digital era. The body of this research will  outline those seven trends of the future.

RealTime Communication    An asset of the Internet is that users can access current information and conversations  happening in real‐time. Instant messaging and microblogging services like Twitter are  examples of popular real‐time information‐sharing tools.     Vice President of Dynamic Web Strategies, Edwin Jeffords, points to the need for real‐ time feedback for brand‐risk management and authentic conversation.     “The biggest trend I see in marketing from a web perspective is the conversion  from static data to real time results. A search on the web using Google, Yahoo,  MSN, etc. will provide you with a list of links from sites that have at some point  been crawled by the search engine spiders. A person can publish a blog or a new  website, and it may not get crawled by the search engine for weeks. What the  web is moving toward is real‐time search results. Take Twitter for example, all  the data you tweet is stored on the Twitter servers. Therefore, when a search is  performed, the results appear and are 100 percent current or real‐time. If I  posted on a blog somewhere, it may be 3 weeks before it appears in a search  result on a search engine.”    A recent Cision Executive White Paper titled, “Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web: What You  Need to Know Today and Tomorrow About the New Environment,” also illuminates the  reliance on real‐time results monitoring in the future. Web 2.0 analytics already  measure aspects of social media conversations beyond basic traffic like average time  spent on a site, comments and on‐topic replies, inbound links, and discussion thread  size. The white paper states that Web 3.0 will usher in real‐time reporting on topics like  positive‐to‐negative qualitative measures of tone and prominence in news articles. The  new semantic nature of the web will rank the influence of organizations and individuals  where they reside with more automation. Therefore, ROI will be available in real‐time  when it used to take weeks to be processed by a human (Cision 2008).     With real‐time feedback, there is also an opportunity to complete more customer  service in a timely matter and therefore satisfy more customers. Jeffords suggests using  Twitter as the new focus group, risk management platform and customer service  channel for marketers. “Marketers are finding new ways to leverage the simplicity of  microblogging for huge return on their investment,” he said.     Jeffords referenced Southwest Airlines as a good example of marketing success  using microblogging. “There are three full‐time employees for Southwest who  tweet on a daily basis as a customer service channel. They speak directly to the  customers having issues, all in a public timeline. They may direct someone on  how to claim lost luggage, notify followers of special deals or just answer  questions regarding new routes. This not only creates a positive brand  experience for the customer, but it attracts the hyperconnected customers that  are the target demographic of so many marketers.”

Though he agrees with using the strategies outlined above, he reinforces the  importance of maintaining a human element. “I think that the less a marketer tries to  actually market with those tactics, the more successful they will be,” he said. “An open  and public conversation shows true human interaction. Less marketing and more  humanity sells on the web.”     Real‐time results will “sell” in marketing because they provide convenience and instant  (or close to instant) gratification. Anything that can boast to offer both of these assets  will be a popular item in the future.

Emotional Connection

Whether based in love, hate, humor or pity, human relationships revolve around  emotion. It is the primary motivator of behavior. With increasing noise in all media  channels, audiences are unlikely to act unless the message at hand has deeply resonated  with at least one emotion.     Kevin Roberts, CEO worldwide of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi and author of  Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands, describes lovemarks as organizations that are  willing to embrace emotion and develop relationships. Lovemarks excel on mystery,  sensuality and intimacy, much like any relationship. (Roberts 2006). The basic idea is  that companies in the future will need to represent passion and involve customers in  great stories.     According to Roberts, “Everyone in business is experiencing the impact of the  consumer revolution, The idea of lovemarks was inspired by the desire to  respond to this radical shift in what consumers need and desire. The new  consumer is no longer willing to passively accept whatever comes their way  from producers. Welcome to the challenge of the attraction economy‐ the ability  to entertain, satisfy and surprise consumers across the wide range of their taste  and passions (Roberts 9).     The attraction economy is a fundamental element in the future of interactive marketing.  Attraction is emotion with a purpose and it requires personal attention, interactivity,  engagement and respect, just as love between two human beings would require.  Roberts outlines seven important elements in the attraction economy: (Roberts 37)    1. Surprise‐ Surprise attracts delight and therefore prompts continual innovation  on the part of the marketer.  2. Empathy‐ This concept is based on the idea that “like attracts like” and is  demonstrated in Amazon’s personalized recommendation system. Visitors are  given suggestions for future purchases based on prior purchases.   3. Sense Appeal‐ Emotional connections must be made through the senses.  4. Design‐ Effective design skills are essential to attracting potential customers.

5. Interactivity‐ Users who can interact personally with a brand are more likely to  commit to it. Attraction is a two‐way process and people in the future will expect  to be able to interact directly with brands.  6. Entertainment‐ This is where the power of the story comes in. Marketers who  can create a story that help an audience member get “lost” in the narrative are  more likely to establish a genuine connection.   7. Music‐ Music effects mood and emotion quickly. Used in an appropriate way, it  can instantly draw an audience.    If marketing messages can incorporate the majority of these attraction‐based  objectives, they will be successful. The key is to provide unique content with every  product and message in order to maintain the number one item on Roberts’ must‐have  list – surprise.

ScreenBased Storytelling     The easiest way to evoke emotion is through the art of storytelling. A great story plants  the audience inside the situation at hand, with real emotions and consequences at stake.  It resonates with viewers because it creates a circumstance that is universally  identifiable.     In Roberts’ scenario of the future built on lovemarks, stories and screen images are the  language of marketing.     Roberts says, “Great stories are great connectors. They bring together everything  that makes us restless, passionate, inquisitive, complex human beings that we  are. With stories we can attract people through those ah ha moments, where  complicated or unfamiliar ideas suddenly come into focus through their  connection with the familiar or the fabulous” (Roberts 266).     In generations past, stories were communicated around campfires or through novels  and magazines. As technologies evolve and more people seek information solely  through digital means, storytelling methods will move from passive print to compelling  interactive screen‐based narratives. Futurist Ben Hourahine of Leo Burnett predicts  what he calls an “explosion of screen‐based media with more screens on the sides of  buses, in petrol stations, supermarkets, the home and in the pocket.” Hourahine also  expects more broadcast screens in 2010 (Hourahine 2009).     Roberts describes this transition as SISOMO, or screen transformation through sight,  sound and motion. It is the livelihood of the attraction economy and fulfills the demand  for real‐time emotionally compelling stories that intersect with technology (Roberts  2006).     First and foremost, SISOMO is highly interactive. One interactive SISOMO of the future  will be found in interactive signage that becomes active when people nearby turn on

Bluetooth to accept a message. The user can send a text message to a code found on the  site or visit the mobile URL on the sign (Dushinski 2008).     For example, Spectacolor HD is the first digital billboard in New York City’s Times  Sqaure that shows advertising spots, streaming news, live HD broadcasts and an audio  channel received via mobile phone. Advertisers will have access to Bluetooth  downloads, interactive games and content sent from short code and free WiFi. It is an  innovative technology that lets thousands of New Yorkers in the vicinity have unique  experiences with the interactive billboard.     The recent and fast‐paced success of free online video provider Hulu.com is another  example of gravitation to the screen. In its first 18 months, Hulu attracted 38 million  users, more than the combined subscriber base of the U.S.’s two leading cable  companies.     When asked about the future, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar predicts that video and media will  finally be “what you want, when you want, how you want it.” He says that customers  will be served in the end with more power from relevant advertising, real‐time results  and greater transparency. He also believes the power of screen to dominate media,  saying that mobile will eventually be a “very big part of the future of media.”    Tom Kennedy, former managing editor of multimedia for the WashingtonPost.com and  director of photography for National Geographic uses his experience to predict that the  future of media and marketing will be heavily based on entertainment and virtual  reality. “Journalism is going to have to be presented like a video game,” Kennedy said.  “It will allow people to have augmented reality experiences that will put them in deeper  richer aspects of a story.”    Whether it is through a mobile device, interactive display, YouTube video, or podcast on  an iPod, the public will be captivated by good stories presented in entertaining screen  format.

Valueadded Content

The interruption‐based strategy of pop‐up ads and quickie commercials during a  primetime television show are not a valuable part of future marketing strategy. Before  the Internet, advertising techniques were designed to reach mass markets by  interrupting the audience and announcing messages to the lowest‐common  denominator (Scott 2009).     Today and in the future, successful marketing will be based on opt‐in services and  permission only. By targeting an audience and learning about its specific desires  through genuine conversation, marketers can provide value to consumers instead of  unwanted disruption. The primary tactic is to provide a resource that improves the life  of the customer.

In his book, The Next Evolution of Marketing, Bob Gilbreath says, “Marketers  who provide meaningful connections help to forge an important bond between  their brands and their potential customers, going beyond providing incentives  and information to create a significant value‐added relationship with their target  consumers. When successfully executed, meaningful connections take the  product, service or brand to a higher emotional level, tying the brand to  something that is of deeper importance in the consumer’s mind, usually through  good old‐fashioned entertainment, by creating a unique experience, by providing  a creative outlet, or by building or enhancing a bond of friendship with another  person or group of like‐minded individuals (Gilbreath 82).

Gilbreath’s description of value closely echoes Kevin Roberts outline of the attraction  economy. It also similar to Seth Godin’s case for opt‐in marketing in his book  Permission Marketing, published ahead of its time more than 10 years ago. Permission  marketing is a collaborative activity where the marketer helps the consumer to buy and  the consumer helps the marketer to sell.       Godin said, “…one of interactivity’s immediate implications for business is that  margins are going to get hammered and customer loyalty will be harder to come  by. But interactivity can also empower a business to engage its customers in  individual dialogues, developing relationships with each of them that grow  stronger with time. Not only can this strategy shield a business from being  commoditized, it can also provide a valuable service to consumers—a service,  moreover, that might easily be worth more than access to the latest, most  accurate price comparisons on a commodity product (Godin 1999).     Brands that exhibit genuine interest and concern in the well being of their customer  and even potential customer will be most successful. This trend ushers in a new sense  of corporate responsibility that will leave the public with the expectation that  companies will not only do what is right for the world, but also for each individual.

Usercentered Control

Marketing is no longer about the quick sale. It is about developing relationships and  providing unparalleled customer service that positions brands more as caring, sensible  humans. To be user‐centered, marketing must offer control, valuable information,  community and a rich user‐centered experience, complete with the opportunity to  dialogue through user‐generated content. When the public can see that a company has  relinquished the reins of control, it can establish a sense of trust for the brand and its  products.     User‐centered information, according to director of branding and marketing strategy  for Lenovo Mark McNeilley, starts with knowing your target customer. “It’s about  knowing what is relevant to them,” McNeilley said. “Depending on what category you

are in. Though for any person or company, you have to be more authentic now and have  a dialogue. The new formula is to spend a lot on creative and just let the reach happen.  It’s about better and better creative.”    Interest networks, especially those that revolve around a lot of user input, are good  opportunities to target audiences with similar thoughts and preferences.     In the words of Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, “It’s not about the Internet. It’s about the  customer. The Internet is just a means, it’s just a tool to deliver a much better customer  experience.” After developing a career at Amazon, Kilar designed Hulu as a free service  aligned with the movement towards more user‐centered media. To illustrate his  reasoning, Kilar points out that,“95% of all songs downloaded in 2008 were not paid for  and more video has been uploaded to YouTube in the past 2 months than if ABC, NBC,  and CBS had been airing new content every day, all day, year‐round, since 1948.”    As consumers become more resourceful through each other and the Internet, marketers  and corporations will face the facts that users are in the driver’s seat for good. Denise  Shiffman defined marketing 2.0 in her book The Age of Engage as the “open,  collaborative, social, virtual, user‐generated and mobile environment of the Live Web”  (Shiffman 23). All of these characteristics describe the user, not the marketer or  corporation. People are collaborative, social, creative and naturally on‐the‐go and  marketers will need to adapt to today’s evolving user instead of struggling to demand  order and control.

Social Relationships

Social media networking is becoming a fixture in the modern world of marketing. It  reinvigorates a portion of human identity that delights in personal attention,  community and conversation.     Social networks provide a revolutionary ease for engaging very specific audiences all in  one place. Potential customers can be targeted based on information provided willingly  and openly on public sites. Also, marketers are able to engage in interactive  conversations with users for the first time, generating more enthusiastic and energized  customers. Becoming an active part of an already ongoing dialogue is an effective way  to reach audience members where they enjoy spending time.    Dynamic Web Strategies Vice President Edwin Jeffords encourages marketers to  embrace social media tools. “Social networking is nothing more than a 21st century  version of ‘word of mouth advertising,” he said. “And with sites like Facebook offering  access to 300 plus million users, a marketer would be foolish to ignore it.” Jeffords  shared these current pertinent Facebook statistics:             General Growth:          More than 300 million active users

50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day           The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older             User Engagement:          Average user has 130 friends on the site           More than 8 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)           More than 45 million status updates each day           More than 10 million users become fans of Pages each day             Applications:          More than 2 billion photos uploaded to the site each month           More than 14 million videos uploaded each month           More than 2 billion pieces of content shared each week           More than 3 million events created each month           More than 45 million active user groups exist on the site    The term groundswell, described by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff in the book  Groundswell, represents a social trend in which people use technologies to get the  things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like  corporations. The social technographics profile dissects technology consumers into  categories based on participation in groundswell activities. Instead of describing  consumers solely based on age, gender or race, online participants can be described as  creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators or inactives (Bernoff 2008). Targeted  messages should reflect how audience members fit into these categories. Messages and  tactics are useless without some insight into ongoing consumer conversations and  aptitudes.     In December 2008, Forrester Research found that most marketers surveyed were  already using social technologies. Of those, 95 percent were planning to increase or at  least maintain their investments, despite the current recession. Forrester also found  that 43 percent of these companies had marketing budgets of at least $10 million  (Bernoff 2008). Josh Bernoff adds, “Social networking spending was increasing.  Blogging spending was up. User‐generated content spending was on the rise. Why?  Because social applications work, and they’re far cheaper than most other forms of  marketing” (Bernoff 2008).

Mobile Markets

If marketing messages were a cup of coffee, they will be coming in a Venti‐sized to‐go  cup. Instead of sticking to the communal office coffee pot, messages will follow  consumers wherever they go, much like the omnipresent Starbucks’ empire found on  every street corner. To create relationships with people, marketers and their messages  have to be found where consumers are.

There is no electronic device more personal and omnipresent than the cell phone. The  number of cell phones worldwide is larger than the number of households with Internet  connections or even TVs. This ubiquitous lifeline stays in most people’s pockets or  purses because it is the most convenient method for sending and receiving information  at the drop of a hat.    Now and in the future, a cell phone is no longer just a way to call home. It is a GPS  system, a music library, an Internet browser, a digital camera, a movie screen and a file  cabinet for any and every application. Due to the localized, personal and constant  opportunity provided by the mobile market, mobile marketing will become an integral  part of the mobile landscape.     According to Kim Dushinski, author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook, “Mobile is the  most global marketing tool and the most local at the same time. While more than 3  billion people worldwide have mobile access, many of these people with cell phones  still don’t have desktop Internet access, TV or even newspapers” (Dushinski 8). As of  2008, more than 250 million of the 303 million residents in the U.S. have a cell phone  (Dushinski 6).     In addition to its growing prevalence worldwide, mobile phones are being used more  often for online search. Comscore reported last year that 20.8 million U.S. and 4.5  million European mobile subscribers accessed mobile searches during June. This figure  was an increase of 68 and 38 percent compared to June 2007 (Comscore 2008). In the  chart below (left) you can see the 2007 data with Europe at the top of the chart in blue  and on the right the 2008 data with the U.S. in orage making a clear jump in mobile  search.

According to early estimates by Nielsen Mobile and eMarketer, the U.S. mobile  advertising market is expected to grow from $806 million in 2007 to $3.6 billion in  2010. This includes features like mobile messaging, display and search advertising.    The opportunities for the mobile market do not end with mobile browsing and  advertising. Mobile devices are ideal tools to use to execute proximity marketing, or the  distribution of localized marketing information. Using Bluetooth systems, companies  can automatically send messages within a certain distance up to 30 feet (Dushinski  2008).    Bluetooth and other forms of proximity marketing are generally used with technically  savvy audiences who voluntarily opt in for location‐based marketing content  (Dushinski 2008). In the future, marketers will most likely employ things like 2D bar  codes, image recognition and mobile sticky notes to target mobile subscribers.     Two‐dimensional bar codes allow mobile phone users to photograph or scan items with  their actual phone. The bar code reader software links mobile browsers to specific  mobile sites that was programmed into the bar code. It can also send a text message to a  user or contact information directly to an address book on the mobile device (Dushinski  2008).     Image recognition requires a user to capture a picture of an image and send to an image  recognition company using email or short code. The information regarding the image is  then send directly back to the phone (Dushinski 2008). Similarly, AT announcements  are opt‐in services that allow users to send text messages to the service that  automatically locates the user. The message is then sent to all of the user’s friends who  are signed up with the same service, or any friends of friends who are nearby  (Dushinski 2008).     In the same category of community‐building, mobile sticky notes provide users with the  tool to write mobile reviews to share with other users at reviews sites such as Socialite.  Restaurants have the opportunity to create a channel and then advertise their mobile  reviews (Dushinski 2008).     Pew Internet’s most recent survey, titled The Future of the Internet III, invited  technology experts and social analysts to produce predictive statements tied to  compelling considerations for the year 2010.     Survey participants were asked to respond to the following scenario:    “The mobile phone is the primary connection tool for most people in the world.  In 2020, while "one laptop per child" and other initiatives to bring networked  digital communications to everyone are successful on many levels, the mobile  phone—now with significant computing power—is the primary Internet  connection and the only one for a majority of the people across the world,  providing information in a portable, well‐connected form at a relatively low

price. Telephony is offered under a set of universal standards and protocols  accepted by most operators internationally, making for reasonably effortless  movement from one part of the world to another. At this point, the "bottom"  three‐quarters of the world's population account for at least 50% of all people  with Internet access—up from 30% in 2007.”

From the respondents, 81% mostly disagreed, while only 19% mostly disagreed. The  general consensus being that mobile Internet devices will increase in popularity  worldwide due to factors like cost‐efficiency (Pew Internet 2008).     Because these future concepts of stories are far from prevalent, they will require a  significant amount of public education. Marketers must be very clear about how what  users can do with their mobile devices and any and all costs that might be involved in  the transaction.

Conclusion

The future of interactive marketing signifies the end of mass marketing and the rise of  the individual. It appeals to niche markets through targeted audiences found through  defined online networks. It also signifies the beginning of user control as two‐way  dialogue gives consumers more power than ever before.     If it can develop a user‐friendly interface, the mobile market is the most significant  marketing trend of the future. If it can become more intuitive, the services available  through opt‐in will satisfy users needs for proximity, intimacy and convenience. Mobile  marketing would greatly change the face of marketing all together and make a global  impact due to the mobile web’s worldwide presence.     Social tools may not look like Facebook and Twitter in the future, but they will serve the  same community function and vocal outlet. The popularity of these websites will most  likely diminish in the future, but online social networking is here to stay, so marketers  will need to get involved as soon as possible.     To embrace social media is to embrace humanity, the “bigger picture” trend taking  place in the future of marketing and media. Impersonal corporate speak is being  replaced by a demand for genuine, honest and human interaction that more closely  resembles beating hearts than hungry salespeople.

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Dushinski, K. (2008). The Mobile Marketing Handbook: A Step‐by‐Step Guide to  Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns. Medfor, NJ: Cyberage Books.     Dushinski outlines the use of new tools like Bluetooth marketing, interactive signage,

2D barcodes, image recognition and AT announcements in the context of new  marketing strategies.

Godin, S. (1999). Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends  Into Customers. New York: Simon & Schuster.       Permission marketing is a collaborative activity where the marketer helps the       consumer to buy and the consumer helps the marketer to sell.    Greitzer, Matt (2008, January 18). MediaPost Publications Search Marketing  Strategies For The Next Decade. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&ar t_aid=74591    This blog discusses the future of search marketing strategy, specifically search‐ focused content strategies.   IAB ‐ Dedicated to the Continued Growth of the Interactive Advertising Marketplace.  (n.d.). Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.iab.net/.    This website gives insights from industry leaders regarding the future landscape  of interactive advertising, interactive advertising news and campaign resources.   Jones, G. R. (n.d.). Interactive Marketing Trends. Retrieved September 16, 2009, from  http://interactivemarketingtrends.blogspot.com/.    This blog expounds on the importance of interactivity in future marketing trends  and discusses how to incorporate technology in global branding strategies.   McMahan, C., Hovland, R., & McMillan, S. (2009). Online Marketing Communications:  Exploring Online Consumer Behavior by Examining Gender Differences and  Interactivity within Internet Advertising. Journal of Interactive Advertising,  10(1).    To explore gender differences in Internet advertising, this study analyzes gender  in relation to interactivity. Specifically, assessments of commercial Web sites  help clarify the role of gender for online consumer behavior, its effect on  interactivity and advertising effectiveness, and the implications for online  marketing communications. This exploration relies on dimensions of consumers'  online behavior and consumers' beliefs about the interactive communication  environment in relation to three types of features: human‐to‐human, human‐to‐ computer, and human‐to‐content. The investigation of gender differences in  Internet advertising uses both computer observations with screen‐capturing  software and a survey. The study subjects are college‐aged students, or

Generation Y, a group of consumers who tend to go online in great numbers,  have considerable spending power, and are computer savvy.  Prediction and Reactions | Pew Internet & American Life Project . (n.d.). Retrieved  October 1, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/The‐Future‐ of‐the‐Internet‐III/4‐Scenario‐1‐The‐Evolution‐of‐Mobile‐Internet‐ Communications/1‐Prediction‐and‐Reactions.aspx?r=1           Survey participants were asked to respond to the following scenario: “The mobile  phone is the primary connection tool for most people in the world. In 2020,  while "one laptop per child" and other initiatives to bring networked digital  communications to everyone are successful on many levels, the mobile phone— now with significant computing power—is the primary Internet connection and  the only one for a majority of the people across the world, providing information  in a portable, well‐connected form at a relatively low price. Telephony is offered  under a set of universal standards and protocols accepted by most operators  internationally, making for reasonably effortless movement from one part of the  world to another. At this point, the "bottom" three‐quarters of the world's  population account for at least 50% of all people with Internet access—up from  30% in 2007.”   Ramsey, G. (n.d.). Digital Marketing Analysis Channel. Retrieved September 16, 2009,  from http://brandedcontent.adage.com/mic/emarketer/     This article uses charts to show total media advertising spending growth and  U.S. online advertising spending growth. It then makes seven predictions for  future spending trends.   Razorfish: Digital Outlook Report 2009. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2009, from  www.digitalbuzzblog.com/razorfish‐digital‐outlook‐report‐09/     This special report gives insight into future trends in social influence marketing,  mobile marketing, media convergence, email marketing and social media  measurement.   Roberts, K. (2005). Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands. New York: powerHouse  Books.              Emotion is an opportunity to connect with consumers. According to Roberts,  lovemarks are the future of brands because people everywhere want to  embrace emotion. Lovemarks involve customers, show passion, accept  responsibility and celebrate loyalty.

Roberts, K. (2006). The Lovemarks Effect: Winning in the Consumer Revolution. New  York: powerHouse Books.            The new consumer is no longer willing to passively accept whatever comes their  way from producers. Mystery, sensuality and intimacy separate lovemarks from  brands. The attraction economy is interactive, personal and intimate.  Schmitt, G. (2009, May). Mobile Marketing: Is 'App‐vertising' the Answer?.  Advertising Age. Retrieved September 18, 2009, from  http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=136622     "App‐vertising" is a new name for an emerging mix of branded mobile  applications and in‐application advertising that is poised to deliver on the  promise of mobile marketing. This article outlines case studies of successful  applications.   Shiffman, D. (2008). The Age of Engage: Reinventing Marketing for Today's  Connected, Collaborative, and Hyperinteractive Culture. Ladera Ranch, CA: Hunt  Street Press.           Marketing 2.0 is defined by the open, collaborative, social, virtual, user‐ generated, mobile environment of the Live Web. The Live Web is more about  connecting people, but enabling them to create and participate in the  conversation. Marketers are learning how to embrace UGC, as well as participate  in and influence the conversation consumers generate.  Scott, D. M. (2008). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases,  Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly.  New York, NY: Wiley.     The Internet and social networks have changed the way businesses  communicate with markets. This book outlines the use of Web‐based  communication tools like blogs, forums, wikis, audio, Web sites, podcasting,  video, social networks and search engine marketing. It gives new rules for the  use of news releases and other traditional marketing methods. Most importantly,  this book describes how to reach an online audience through goal setting and  thought leadership and how to thoroughly understand how web content  influences buyers.   Social Networking and Blog Sites Capture More Internet Time and Advertising. (n.d.).       Retrieved October 1, 2009, from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire      Americans have nearly tripled the amount of time they spend at social

networking and blog sites such as Facebook and MySpace from a year ago,  according to a new report from The Nielsen Company. In August 2009, 17  percent of all time spent on the Internet was at social networking sites, up from  6 percent in August 2008.    Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web.  Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media, Inc.    This book explores conversation marketing and online reputation tactics with  microblogging, influential video and podcasting.

World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats. (n.d.). Retrieved  October 1, 2009, from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm        Internet World Stats is an international website that features up to date world  Internet usage, population statistics and Internet market research data for more  than 233 individual countries and world regions.  Zeng, F., Huang, L., & Dou, W. (2009). Social Factors in User Perceptions and      Responses to Advertising in Online Social Networking Communities. Journal of  Interactive Advertising, 10(1).    With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook,  online social networking communities now occupy the center stage of e‐ commerce. Yet these online social networking communities must balance the  trade‐off between advertising revenue and user experience. Drawing on the  sociology and advertising literature, this study investigates the impacts of social  identity and group norms on community users' group intentions to accept  advertising in online social networking communities. By outlining how this type  of group intention could influence community members' perceptions and value  judgments of such advertising, this study delineates possible mechanisms by  which community members may respond positively to community advertising.  Implications for the prospect of advertising in online social networking  communities are discussed

Reflections

to read more, check out my blog at http://cathyfreeman.wordpress.com

Take Down the ‘Do Not Touch’ Sign  By Cathy Freeman  September 2009

The next time you walk into a Hard Rock, you might not see a “do not touch” sign next  to the pricy one‐of‐a‐kind memorabilia. In fact, you’re more likely to see a sign that  reads, “touch me please.”    The Hard Rock Café Las Vegas unveiled a new 18 by 4 foot interactive touch wall  yesterday that will change the way the iconic restaurant displays its authentic  collections. Using hand gestures and multi‐touch technology, guests can walk straight  up the wall and explore images and videos at their leisure. Up to six users can expand  their own collections simultaneously on the Rock Wall’s multi‐user interface.    This innovative multimedia technology, created by Technomedia Systems and Obscura  Digital, will most likely become a more common sight in restaurants and commercial  centers in years to come.    The restaurant is also using Microsoft Surface, a digital surface that lets users find and  alter content with the touch of a hand across a horizontal table‐like surface. Surface  enables instant transfer of information between phones and cameras to a screen that is  easily manipulated and shared between multiple viewers.    Guests at Hard Rock can use the surface to locate Hard Rock Cafes around the world,  browse images inside and outside the buildings and zoom in further to explore  collections.    The movement to large multi‐user touch technology will mark a major change in the  way people gather, view and share digital content.    Panasonic’s Digital Wall is another example of this larger than life touch display. It lets  users drag files, watch TV, and upload photos to a screen twice the size of a normal 110‐ inch display. What’s more is that the wall can be transformed by digital wallpapers that  can coincide with your own tastes. This is customization at its finest.      This technology is not new by any means, but marketers should be examining its  immense potential in the future marketing world. Imagine sending an email to a  potential customer who can open your message on a wall‐sized screen in order to view  your product in all of its glory. Buyers can touch the object, change its colors, customize  it or test‐drive it. Entire catalogs can be viewable in this expansive digital format. This  could be the future of the store front or the window display. Customers can browse  through virtual racks and buy at the wave of the hand.    Like any other user face or developing technology, its success lies in its potential to  satisfy customers’ basic tactile needs and this prototype is a great option for users to  interact with each other while assembling information in a natural and intuitive way.

Mobile Much?  By Cathy Freeman  September 2009

“Just text me when you get there.”    “I’ll send you all a Facebook message with the directions to the restaurant.”    “IM me when the layout is finished.”    If you listen closely, these online meeting places are becoming a stronger element of our  every day conversations. As I plunge deeper into my research of the future interactive  world, it is impossible to ignore the weight of mobile marketing and evolving interfaces  for the spreading of information. Before you craft messages and designs for an  audience, you have to find out where the conversation is in the first place.    There is no electronic device more personal and omnipresent than the cell phone. The  number of cell phones worldwide is larger than the number of households with Internet  connections or even TVs. If you need to contact someone or find a piece of information  at the drop of a hat, the ever‐present lifeline in your pocket or purse is more convenient  than any other outlet out there. It’s not just a way to call home anymore. These days, it’s  a GPS system, a music library, an Internet browser, a digital camera, a movie screen and  a file cabinet for every app under the sun.    To keep up, mobile marketing will have to become an understood part of the mobile  landscape. According to early estimates by Nielsen Mobile and eMarketer, the U.S.  mobile advertising market is expected to grow from $806 million in 2007 to $3.6 billion  in 2010. This includes features like mobile messaging, display and search advertising.    Obviously, the localized, personal and constant opportunity of the mobile market  cannot be ignored – but there is a lot of work to be done. It needs to be intuitive, user‐ friendly and consistent. Practically every age in the social technographic spectrum is  using a cell phone, but they’re not all comfortable with the Internet, and they’re  especially not comfortable with tiny buttons and bite‐sized font (is anyone?)    You can only sell an innovative shiny product for so long before people have to come to  grips with usability in every day life. People will always favor what is simple and  predictable. The Internet, especially the mobile market, is about convenience and speed.  It’s about making life EASIER. The key here is to address need, not force life to be any  more complicated.    Get connected. Here are some good resources on the topic:  http://www.10000words.net/labels/mobile.html  http://www.mobilemarketinghandbook.com/  http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/  http://www.mobilemarketer.com/

I’d Like Google on the Side, Thanks  By Cathy Freeman  September 2009

The next time you Google a new car or search to see if your roommate’s bug is  contagious, you might find an entire community waiting to swap stories with you.    This week, Google released the Google Sidewiki, an add‐on for Firefox and Internet  Explorer that allows anyone to comment on the sidebar of any Web site.    I know what you’re thinking. In such an open forum, there’s bound to be a lot of useless  information. Google is tackling this issue with the use of algorithms to keep the most  relevant entries at the top of the page. It also takes into account your previous entries  and any feedback from other users. Keep in mind that any comment you make will be  applied to any site where that same text excerpt can be found.    This add‐on is by no means a new discovery, but it could produce major waves with the  weight of Google behind it. The potential to make the browser double as a social  network for information sharing is making quite a few people feel anxious, especially  bloggers who could end up loosing traffic.    In response to this concern, a Google spokesperson said “Google Sidewiki’s features  complement those of existing commenting systems, and provide a way for users to  share helpful information with others for sites that don’t already have commenting in  place. The increasing number of sites that enable commenting shows that there is  genuine demand for allowing users to engage with sites more deeply and to contribute  to the Web.”    On the other hand, Google also plans to find relevant blog posts and other sources that  relate to pages so that users can find helpful information more quickly. This could in  turn help to drive traffic to hard‐working bloggers. Only time will tell.    If it takes off, it will definitely foreshadow a heightened value of collaboration and  interactivity on the web.    Do you foresee Google Sidewiki transforming the nature of the search engine? Learn  more from Google’s official blog here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help‐ and‐learn‐from‐others‐as‐you.html.

Usercentered Design with Room for Cream  By Cathy Freeman  October 2009

I don’t think a week passes that I don’t spend at least one night at my local Barnes and  Noble. It’s something about the coffee aromas and mere presence of volumes and  volumes of information at my fingertips. It’s the tangible hardcopy of my dear friend  and confidant Google (even if it is a meager microcosm). I will always love the smell and  feel of books. Always. (sorry, Google, I love you too).    As I sit here, perched once again with my beloved MacBook Pro and café Americano, I  am surprised by just how many people frequent Barnes and Noble on a Friday night. It  was sheer luck that I snatched the one and only remaining comfy chair in the entire  building.    What is going on here? What makes people put on pants and find their cars keys and  fight the traffic to sit Indian‐style under the fluorescent lights of a mega bookstore? Is it  something in the Starbucks? (I realize I just dropped a lot of brand names in succession  but I promise I am not getting paid…you would believe me if you could see my car.)    I think the answers to these questions are important to the future of interactivity,  marketing, the Internet – all of it.    People are attracted to bookstores like Barnes and Noble because that is where they  find control, valuable information, community, and a rich user‐centered experience.    No one monitors how long you’ve been reading a book before you pay for it. You can sit  there all day long and read three books and leave without paying a dime—and many  people do. No one makes you download the trial version of your manual or self‐help  book before you take if off the shelf. And certainly no one pops out of the bookcase with  an annoying flashy advertisement.    This model works because it offers the consumer a user‐centered experience, complete  with tasty coffee, comfy chairs and most of the conveniences of home (minus the PJ’s). It  offers a lot for a little in return. And it works because people really appreciate it.    So here’s my point. If you want to be effective in wooing consumers online, look and see  what works in the “real world.” Your first goal should be to find what would satiate  your consumer’s intrinsic need for things like control, personalization, convenience and  community online. This goal has to trump your personal agenda to sell or market  whatever your latest and brightest idea may be.    “If you build it, they will come,” is dead and gone.

New Nielsen Study: Social Network Use Triples  By Cathy Freeman  September 2009

Good news for online advertisers everywhere. In the past year, Americans have tripled  the amount of time spent at social networking and blog sites.    A study recently released from The Nielsen Company reports that 17 percent of all time  spent on the Internet in August 2009 was spent at social networking sites. This figure is  up from a total of 6 percent in August 2008.    Vice president of media and agency insights for Nielsen’s online division, Jon Gibs  suggests that this growth exhibits a major change in the Internet’s function. “While  video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online  consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s  growth,” Gibs said.    The chart, provided by The Nielsen Company, shows that despite a general decrease in  online ad spending, money spent in social media advertising is climbing.    According to Nielsen, online ad spending on social networks and blogs was estimated at  $108 million for August 2009, a 119 percent increase over figures for August 2008.    Why are these numbers continuing to rise? It’s simple. Social networks provide a  revolutionary ease for engaging with very specific audiences.     Potential customers  can be targeted down  to their very most  “private” pieces of  information because  people are now  willingly providing  this information  openly on public sites.    Most importantly,  marketers are able to  engage in interactive  conversations with  users for the first  time, generating more  enthusiastic and energized customers.     Becoming an active part of the dialogue is THE most effective way to reach audience  members. To do this, you have to be present where your market enjoys spending time,

and you have to talk to them in the same way they would enjoy talking to a best friend,  high school crush or co‐worker. Because let’s face it, not many people enjoy talking to  marketers.    What’s your take on social network advertising? How does your time spent on social  networks in the month of September compare to time spent in September 2008? Check  out Nielsen’s blog for more information about the study.        Top 10 Reasons Why We Will Love Google Wave  By Cathy Freeman  October 2009

In case you haven’t heard, Google sent invitations to a privileged 100,000 users to test a  beta version of the new Google wave this week. Since most of us can’t get our hands on  it (unless you’re one of those people buying invites off eBay), it’s hard for us to fathom  the mega‐watt shared desktop that is the Wave.    So I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 reasons why we should anxiously await our turn at  the Wave.    1.  No more keeping up with multiple usernames, avatars, sites and passwords. Wave is  a combination of all your e‐mail, instant messaging, blog, wiki, multimedia management  and document sharing – all in one consolidated web‐based application.    2. We can enjoy what we love about IM without feeling like we’re 15 years old. Wave  can be a real‐time conversation where any user can see what is being said instantly –  even as it is being typed.    3. Hopefully we’ll suffer through fewer long‐winded mid‐day meetings around the  conference table. The Wave offers real‐time collaborative document editing and sharing  between users. We’re talking collective intelligence at a whole new level. This could  completely change the way businesses function, or the way journalists gather and  create content in the future.    4. No longer will you have to resend emails because you forgot to attach a document  (the very reason you sent the email in the first place). Users can drag and drop files  inside the wave and everyone participating will have instant access to any added media.  People (well, Google people at least) are positioning Wave as the email of the 21st  century.    5. The Wave functions like a fast‐paced wiki, where anyone can edit anything at  anytime. Users can add, correct and change information throughout the entire wave to  present collaborative data. The playback function lets you read through every comment  made on a wave.

6. Gamers and app addicts won’t be left out. Developers can build their own  applications into the wave, including complex games and bots.    7. Wave conversations can be embedded on any blog or Web site for easy public  publishing online.    8. It is open source, allowing for better innovation and adoption by developers.    9. Not to worry, Wave autocorrects spelling and provides automatic language  translations.    10. This doesn’t have to replace your blog. Add a wave to your posts to show readers  what you’ve been working on with others or to allow others to get involved in a  conversation with you.  This will eventually increase participation in your blogging.    Though Wave won’t be available to the public until the end of the year, I’m curious what  you’re thinking about it. Would it be a helpful way to increase productivity in your daily  life? Is it too much?

3 Ways to Increase Interactivity in TV and Film  By Cathy Freeman  October 2009

Ok, coach potatoes – you can run but you can’t hide. TV and film are on the fast track to  interactivity.    3 Ways to Increase Interactivity in TV/Film    • Let life imitate art (or vice versa)  o It’s important to stay grounded in current social and online media trends.  Encourage viewers to become content producers in a way never before  thought possible.  o Example: For those of you who watched The Office wedding last night,  you might have noticed the “You Tube” scene at the end of the show. The  wedding party very closely imitates a popular wedding video where the  attendants dance down the aisle. Michael Scott even goes so far as to say  “Did you see this on You Tube?” (It has received more than 24 million hits  already). Did I mention that you can watch the show for free on the NBC  Web site?  • Use mobile interactive TV services  o Engage audiences with text voting and polling, live chats, quizzes,  contests and games that involve viewers through mobile devices.

•

o Example: NetInformer partnered with WB20 to launch a text message TV  contest where viewers who watched King of the Hill were prompted to  play an interactive quiz via text for a chance to win $50.000. Each  participant also received a mobile coupon for a free candy bar, which  20% of participants chose to download. 43% of participants also opted‐in  for future WB20 offers.  Create online demand  o By putting power in the hands of the audience, you are instantly making  them feel more invested in the film (and therefore more likely to  purchase tickets, DVDs, etc).  o Example: It’s not my favorite film genre, but the latest low‐budget  independent film Paranormal Activity is using a very unique marketing  campaign by encouraging people to go online to “demand” a nationwide  release for the movie. Paramount has promised to release it if it receives  one million demands, giving it the tagline “the first ever major film  release decided by you.” Site visitors can retweet, share or link the  information and even buy tickets in advance (it’s already a trending topic  on Twitter.

I Saw the Sign (Data Visualization Tools)  By Cathy Freeman  October 2009

Good design starts with comprehensible data visualization. As Ken O’Grady put it in his  latest book, The Information Design Handbook, the best information design goes  unnoticed by the viewer because it conveys information quickly and effectively.    Graphs and charts are frequently used to visualize information, but design tactics are  not what they used to be. These diagrams are no longer just simple 2D images with  linear narratives. Along with increased interactivity in media, information designers are  forced to think harder about effective design and engagement strategies to reach highly  active audiences with increasingly short attention spans.    Though I can’t help you pinpoint your data, purpose, strategy and audience, I have  compiled a quick list of easy tools you can use to illustrate your information in a more  dynamic way.    http://creately.com/    Creately will not only lets you create anything from a concept map to an office network  diagram with quick templates, but it lets you collaborate with your team using things  like post‐it notes and built‐in commenting. Oh yeah, and it’s free.

http://www.lovelycharts.com/    This free online diagramming tool lets you easily drag and drop to create flow charts,  sitemaps, business process modeling notation, wireframes and organization charts. The  pro version will cost you but you’ll get import your own symbols and export to JPG or  PNG formats.    http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=91610    Google Spreadsheets let you create and insert charts that can easily show motion and  progress over time.    http://www.fusioncharts.com    It’s not free, but they do offer a complimentary trial. It makes up for it with what it  offers in interactivity and integration.    Do you have any favorites you would like to add to the list?

The Future of Media as Told by Hulu CEO Jason Kilar  By Cathy Freeman  October 2009

I had the opportunity to attend an interesting lecture last night by Jason Kilar, CEO of  Hulu and fellow UNC j‐school alum (go heels).    If you’re not familiar with it (and you should be), Hulu.com brings together video from  more than 230 content partners, including FOX, NBC Universal, ABC and Comedy  Central.    This content is then made available at our every beck and call – for free. Since its  inception in early 2007, Hulu has welcomed more than 38 million users and joined  hands with 250 Fortune 500 advertisers. It is the second most popular video site on the  Internet (behind YouTube, the mega‐giant).    If you think that sounds like drastic growth, here’s the reality laid out by Kilar:  ‐       95% of all songs downloaded last year were not paid for  ‐       More video has been uploaded to YouTube in the last 2 months than if ABC, NBC,  and CBS had been airing new content 24/7/365 since 1948 (when ABC began)  ‐       In 18 months, Hulu attracted more users (38 million to be exact) than the combined  subscriber base of the nation’s two leading cable companies    The average person would point to the advent of the Internet for these surprising  statistics. In Kilar’s words, “It’s not about the Internet. It’s about the customer. The

Internet is just a means. It’s just a tool to deliver a much better customer experience.” At  the core, this is about convenience and user satisfaction. “In the end, customers are  going to be served and be served very well,” Kilar said.    So what does that mean for the future of the media? Here’s what Kilar says we can look  forward to:  ‐       Media will be what you want, when you want, how you want it  ‐       It will be in real‐time (no more waiting for yesterday’s news)  ‐       It will be transparent and held accountable  ‐       It will give power and participation to the people (more interactivity!)  ‐       It will offer advertising that is actually relevant to its users and works well for  marketers    It’s looking pretty good don’t you think? Is there anything you would add to this list?  Here’s a better question. How are we as communicators going to execute all of the  above in conjunction with emerging technology?

Solis’ Social Marketing Compass Helps Brands Find True North  By Cathy Freeman  October 2009

OK, to those 50 (or so) percent who are not  thinking before they tweet, take a second  to look at the pretty picture to the right.    From the great makers of the Conversation  Prism, Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas of  JESS3, comes the brand new Social  Marketing Compass.    This brightly colored information  visualization illustrates how to cultivate a  brand based on key emotions, channels,  platforms and players.    According to Solis, the Social Marketing  Compass points a brand in a physical and  experiential direction to genuinely and  effectively connect with customers, peers,  and influencers, where they interact and  seek guidance online.

In a technological era where tools are continually changing, we really cannot afford to  voyage into the wilderness that is social marketing without at least a road map and  compass at our side.    Media noise online and off is only going to get louder and some people will choose to  combat it with a megaphone and good old‐fashioned hollering (as we call it here in the  South).    But—you and I are part of a very small and very smart few who know that the best  remedy for noise is hanging on to what is constantly good and true. Honesty. Empathy.  Sincerity. Are you with me? It’s a return to these virtues that should be the new building  blocks for marketing. I think Solis is right on target with his very reminiscent model of  the moral compass.