Logging On: The Virtual Workforce

In Medias Res was asked "What workforce trends is the industry experiencing?"

Now, we've been talking about the growth in online and social media weekly. But I guess, there's nothing really wrong with emphasizing our point, yet again.

The media industry does more than hiring actors and actresses. Whereas making it big in the 1980's meant moving to New York City or Hollywood, today- all you need to do to get out there is stay creative and online.

Mark Zuckerberg can tell you that, too. The Facebook team has to put a lot of work into their online community.

It's not just social media companies that need to focus. Virtually all parts of the media industry need a media workforce- a focus on their online community.

Today, companies in the media industry focus on their online communities- consuming and sharing the work that theses companies make available online (whether it's Hulu or YouTube videos or articles from the Huffington Post). And this community needs to be moderated and kept up with- it isn't enough that major newspapers and networks get online. They need to have a lot of effort focused on online traffic, the feedback issued by users, keeping the site clean and spam-free (hopefully), and coming up with new ideas and new discussions. In doing that, customer loyalty is being fostered- or at the very least, the online audience will grace the companies with a "bookmark" by saving their page on their computer.

The online newspaper is a different product than what we get delivered to our doorstep periodically. A level of interaction is brought in- just check out Newsmap, a site that gives readers access to top stories based on how much attention is given to the headlines in each country. The online reformation has created different jobs and has made media giants

Can Netflix Change the Media Industry, or Will It Stay In a Funk?

In Medias Res was asked this week: in what areas of the media industry are there opportunities for innovation?

Reed Hastings, CEO and entrepreneur of Netflix gives good advice about being an entrepreneur in the media industry. He also gives good tips and his visions for Netflix, which leaves way to improvement within the media industry. When asked his advice on becoming a successful entrepreneur he remarked, “creating freedom and responsibility” in the work place. One example of freedom and responsibility is having no vacation policy. If you work for Netflix, you don’t have a set amount of days you can take off for vacation according to Reed Hastings. Yet freedom and responsibility aren’t the only improvements being made within Netflix and the media industry. Reed Hastings has some visions that could change the online streaming of TV and movies forever.

Entrepreneurs have taken over the media industry. A rise in the use of social networking, Facebook, Twitter, and Google +, but social media isn’t the only sub-industry that has effective entrepreneurs. Netflix’s Reed Hastings has two visions for Netflix. Netflix is taking advantage of the fact that the internet has evolved our culture. He plans to “change the online experience” because of the fact that internet has gone from dial up to fiber. This one single changed has allowed Netflix to work faster and be able to stream more videos, thus making the online experience much more enjoyable, and Reed Hastings point of taking advantage of the internet as a success.

Reed Hastings has also said that he would like to take the mobile market and go global with Netflix as his second vision. According to Forbes.com, “there are 5 billion people on mobile.” With the 5 billion projected people on mobile as Netflix’s audience, Reed Hastings says, “His dream is to see Netflix rolled out across the globe, in the process of becoming the world’s best entertainment distribution platform.” With both of these projected goals, Mr. Hastings wants to basically take over the world with internet and mobile domination of entertainment.

Social Networking FTW

This week, In Medias Res was asked, “What is the competitive landscape of the media industry in the US?” and we will be answering this question specifically in terms of popular social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, as they have been utilized most by other businesses implementing social media as a tool to further themselves.

That's because even established companies (Google, Time Warner Inc., Disney, etc.) seem to be rethinking their business models to incorporate websites, mobile functions, and social networking sites in order to make their products more accessible.

But what is the social media medium doing to the competitive landscape exactly?

The company’s branding, or the way it gets is name out, is done through the outreach it has online. The top social networking companies are as follows:

Facebook (700 mil. monthly viewers)

Twitter (200 mil. monthly viewers)

LinkedIn (100 mil. monthly viewers)

MySpace (80.5 mil. monthly viewers)

Ning (60 mil. monthly viewers)

Google Plus+ (32 mil. monthly viewers)

The viewership alone should not be telling of the competitive landscape of social networking sites in the media industry. It also depends how these web sites are used by other companies- outside advertising being how a lot of them make money. According to USAToday, Facebook, specifically, stands out as a promoter of small businesses, making coupons, special offers, and more available to followers/users.

The newer of these social networks, Google Plus+, has tried to revolutionize social networking accessibility by having "friend circles" and allowing Google hangouts (or video chats) for large groups of people. As a user of both Facebook and Google Plus+, I find Google Plus+ to be more fun and creative to use. But ol' reliable (Facebook!) is what seems to draw me in- simply because it seems like everyone uses it! It's hard to compare social networking sites when Facebook and, as of late, Twitter seem to be much more mainstream than the rest.

While Facebook is used by a lot of small businesses, Twitter is being utilized by some very smart companies, too. The online retailer, Zappos, and Comcast are using Twitter to further public relations and advertise their company.

When you get down to it, these popular social networks offer many different things: LinkedIn, specifically, serves as a way to distribute your resume to potential employers. All these unique groups come with downsides to them too: MySpace has a lot of spam and an outdated look to what used to be a site meant for artists to share their work and music; Facebook used to spam their users' in-boxes and many people are dissatisfied with the changing formats; Google Plus+ is very exclusive and you can't make an account without being invited by a current user. As for Ning, and other popular social networking sites like Hi-5, -they simply have not established themselves enough to make as much of a mark as Facebook and Twitter.

It would be interesting to fast-forward 5 years and see what we're still into. I don't know if Facebook will stay on top- or if a completely different player will take us by storm. So far, the competitive landscape of the media industry- as far as social media goes, is such that it is dominated by Facebook and Twitter, with some other competitors fighting for third place.

Differentiation Between Facebook and Google+

Different media companies are like any other company in that they are always fighting to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Companies want to detract as many consumers from their competitors as possible. This is done through differentiation. A current important struggle between two media companies is occurring when Google launched its Google+ to directly compete with Facebook. I will be focusing on the difference between Facebook and Google+ as opposed to Google as a whole. This article gives a good idea of the differences.

For the social media world, companies try to differentiate themselves in a number of ways such features unique to a company or number of users. Examples of ways that they differentiate themselves is that Facebook has hundreds of millions of users and google+ has many new features that Facebook does not. One of the key features that Google+ has is that it lets users create groups among their friends to create privacy. This is different from Facebook where everything you post is visible to all your friends. While Google+ is still in its experimenting phase, we can see it as being major competition in the near and long term future.

Ethical Issues in Media

The media industry with its various branching industries faces a good chunk of ethical issues. The advertising industry itself brings most of these issues. And then we have the social media companies such as Facebook which are also the most controversial. Other sub-industries of media raise some ethical issues but are not as influential. In my opinion, the publishing industries are the least controversial if not at all.

One of the most controversial ethical issues in the advertisement industry is the use of sexual imagery in some ads –a term referred to as “sex sells”. Many people consider this tactic unethical and misleading. For example, Apple –one of the most successful/popular company selling electronic products– uses a shadow of a naked woman and a playboy-bunny earpiece wire as a marketing strategy to attract more customers to buy their products. This may be considered offensive to parents who are concerned about their child seeing such images.

Another method advertisement companies often use carry discriminatory messages and may cause prejudice for some people. For example, many consider Fair & Lovely –a company selling skin clarity products – TV commercials racist. This is due to the fact that they assume that women are happier with lighter skin.

Operators of TV broadcasting sometimes display pornographic images or reality TV shows that portray a message that is supposed to be directed only for a certain audience of certain age. No parent would want their child watching 18+ rated movies for the sexual and psychological implications it causes. They would want to make sure that their child is having a healthy childhood. Reality shows mess with people’s minds the most. Since viewers think they’re “real”, their message is going to be the most influential. Therefore, reality show producers should be very careful when choosing their theme point –in which unfortunately they’re not. Shows like the Bachelor influence what people think of relationships and how men treat women and so on.

With social media comes a whole stack of issues related to ethics; from hacking to abusing to privacy concerns. Many facebook users deactivated their accounts due to other people stalking their profiles which gave them a sense of insecurity. You might think social media networks are harmless, but they cause levels of harm from simple such as losing your privacy to criminal such as child abuse, rape and murder. To illustrate, there’s a story that Oprah thought was of major importance where a 14-year-old child called Kristin was raped by a 27-yer-old man and then committed suicide all resulting from social networking dangers.

Most newspapers carry only ethical messages and are of highest ethical standards amongst other forms of

media. In fact, their only relation to ethical issues is discussing them and raising more awareness to prevent and/or reduce them.