Digital connection is to us today what the industrial revolution was to our parents. Technology, in reality, is connecting our global society faster than any manufacturing business has ever produced goods for the benefit of Main Street America. Technology jobs are becoming more and more specialized because the skills needed in the media field require marketing and computer programming skills. Programmers and innovators have to understand how media technologies like video-sharing, blogs, social media and mobile media are changing the face, as well as the pace, of this country’s corporations and its working class. If our society is going to compete globally in this fast paced industry then we at least need to begin to understand how these simple and popular technologies are being implemented personally and professionally.
Video-sharing Technology: YouTube is still the leading media technology in this category because of how easy it is to access, it is free and it is owned and supported by Google. At first, YouTube was a hub for all amateur videographers to share their work or to share the amateur antics of friends and family around them. In the past few years I have mostly accessed YouTube for its most important use as a teaching tool. The depth of information that is available at YouTube warrants it as a valid resource for finding coursework sources which is more than what Wikipedia is afforded! One unique benefit to YouTube is the number of views that it tallies. I researched Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture series on YouTube and found numerous pages of videos that I could have watched. Instead, I sorted them by Relevance and found the one that had over 15 million views and my search was done. A sample of other video-sharing sites available include more professionally marketed sites like TubeMogul, Spidvid and Wistia (Justmeans.com, 2010). Another site called Dailymotion feels like a cross between YouTube and Hulu. As with any new technology, there is a learning curve to using other sites and it will take time before other sites get the kind of attention to compete with a user-friendly and free staple like YouTube. But when considering that even a site managed my Google can be overloaded by too much traffic gives technologically savvy programmers to share in the market. Blogs: The purpose of blogs is broad. It can be a personal diary where one can post day to day events of their lives and can also go so far to push an agenda of ideas with a specific purpose in hopes to potentially reach millions of readers around the world. A well developed blog can be a regular source of reliable information for its readers. Many bloggers who love blogs and live for blogging help one another by blogging about the best blogs for their shared interests because they understand how overwhelming the blogging community might seem (Digitized.com, 2012). Two blogs that I’m growing more interested in are Mashable and Bits which are also recommended by the contributors of Digitized.com. The look and feel of
both of these blogs is clean, professional and easy to navigate. One of my more beloved blog themes is presented in a more personal, but always professional, blog by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones. He writes his Friday Cat Blog featuring his very own cats, Domino and the late Inkblot, who was truly the inspiration for the blog. As a cat lover, it can be tough to summarize their antics in an interesting enough way that would compel readers to visit again and again, but, he did and we love those cats right along with him. Therein lives the art of a writing a good blog: Pick a topic that is interesting to the author, write it in an interesting way to attract and audience, keep it simple and people will read it.
Social Media Technology: Twitter has become so much more than a place to share brief thoughts with friendly and unknown “Followers” around the world. It was incredibly impressive to see Twitter react to the situation in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, September 11, 2012. The world was getting information, opinions and analysis of the situation faster than any televised news media could ever hope to produce the news. This brief chatter carries a lot of information that might seem overwhelming to new readers, but, for those who are following credible “Tweeters” then the purpose is to stay informed of what is actually happening of interest around the globe or close to home, if desired, in a matter of minutes from all of the witnesses and supporters of any given social scenario. Newsweek decided to try and harness some of the social media attention by asking Twitter members to comment on their magazine cover about the situation in Benghazi and asked them to use the hashtag: #MuslimRage when posting their comments. What 
Newsweek may or may not have expected were the comedic Tweets that were also shared with Newsweek and the world. When just anyone is solicited to post a comment, there are no rules besides the 140 character maximum to hold a Tweeter back. Newsweek will have a lot of work ahead of them to edit the responses for a future edition of their magazine to express what people are saying about their cover and the news itself, but, this media technology provides far more responses faster than stopping people on the street to get their opinions.
Newsweek may or may not have expected were the comedic Tweets that were also shared with Newsweek and the world. When just anyone is solicited to post a comment, there are no rules besides the 140 character maximum to hold a Tweeter back. Newsweek will have a lot of work ahead of them to edit the responses for a future edition of their magazine to express what people are saying about their cover and the news itself, but, this media technology provides far more responses faster than stopping people on the street to get their opinions. Mobile Technology:
In the last few years, it seemed impossible
that anyone could exist without
a cell phone. My husband managed to pull it off for several years, but, he now not only has a cell phone, he has a smartphone and isn’t afraid to use it along with all of those convenient little apps they store! In fact, he learned about most of the must-have apps because of blogs and video-sharing technology. It appears that more and more cell phone users are upgrading to smartphones at contract renewal time which is increasing the demand for more mobile apps. Yet these phones aren’t the only technology using apps. Now with tablet technology, there is even greater demand for mobile apps which will affect various industries and the lives of consumers (RapidValueSolutions.com, 2012) . Not only are tablets convenient, they are extremely practical and will be used in every doctor’s office to replace patient charts in just a few short years (Terry, 2012). But doctors and professionals are not the only ones who are going to benefit from mobile technology. People with disabilities will also be able to benefit from the advancements in mobile technology who need more readily available conveniences that provide additional assistance in day to day activities. John Moore discusses the needs of people with disabilities in Mobile Apps and Accessibility which offer screen reader software and voice over software to assist them. Two of the leading voice apps available right now, Voxer and Zello, are growing quickly in the U.S. and around the globe according to PandoDaily.com and TechCrunch.com. For the population of app users who do not have
disabilities, these apps are convenient to modify your mobile phone into a two way radio or “walkie-talkie” that live streams text messages (Hsieh, 2012). These voice over apps were first available on iPhones and Android phones but are already expanding into Facebook and Twitter so you can personalize your personal thoughts by adding the sound of a friendly voice to Followers and Friends (Inman, 2011). Currently the technology used by Apple called Siri is a prime example of how the Voxer and mobile app technology will work in the future. People will be able to speak to their phones and they will be able to find the right apps to download for their users needs and do it with a smile in their voice.
As necessary and interesting as media technologies are, there is apprehension even among those who understand technology simply because there is just too much of it to keep up with. However, in these times, there is little to no possibility of a career without some form of technological media driving multiple elements of the business. Past generations may not have needed to understand everything about building cars or to succeed in creating a good life for their families, but, anyone working in that industry today cannot escape the importance and impact of computer technology. Information is power and media technology’s growth is moving faster than any sports car with a Hemi engine.
References
Dayal, G., 2012. Comedy ensues as Twitter users hijack Newsweek’s #MuslimRage hashtag.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/muslimrage/
Digitized.com, 2012. 53 of the best tech blogs out there.
http://www.digitizd.com/2010/02/23/53-of-the-best-tech-blogs-out-there/
Fitzpatrick, J., 2009. Five best video-sharing sites.
http://lifehacker.com/5343601/five-best-video+sharing-sites
Gipko, E., 2012. Social Media is So Much More Than Likes and Followers.
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media-is-so-much-more-than-likes-and-followers/48149/
Hsieh, T., 2012. Source: Voxer approaches 70M users, encouraged by global smartphone
adoption. http://pandodaily.com/2012/07/26/voicetext-app-voxer-expands-encouraged-by-global-smartphone-adoption/
Inman New, 2011. Voxer review making Twitter feel really 2011. http://youtu.be/2q-B7TcRdJI
Justmeans.com, 2010. It's time to embrace video sharing technology.
http://www.justmeans.com/It-s-Time-Embrace-Video-Sharing-Technology/38895.html
Kerry, T., 2012. Online technologies doctors love: Age matters.
http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/mobile-wireless/online-technologies-doctors-love-age-mat/240001463
Moore, J., 2012. Mobile Apps and Accesiblity.
http://www.itbusinessnet.com/article/Mobile-Apps-and-Accessibility-2188057
Pausch, R., 2007. Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.
http://youtu.be/ji5_MqicxSo
Perez, S., 2012. Voice Chat App Voxer Gets New Competition From Zello, A (Non-Spamm)
Push-To-Talk Alternative. http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/20/voice-chat-app-voxer-gets-new-competition-from-zello-a-non-spammy-push-to-talk-alternative/
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