Remember the movie, Minority Report? The one with Tom Cruise in it?
Remember the scene where he was an agent searching for clues on this murder, and he was using this computer interface that looked so ultra cool in 2002?
Let me refresh your memory:
Well girls and boys, that technology is now here.
And it has been created by MIT. More details here.
I believe that is the future of the Internet. Driven by creativity, popular culture, brilliant ideas of movie makers, writers and producers alike and realized by techies. There's no limit to where technology can take us.
Did you turn off your lights on Earth Hour this year?
I'm sure at least 50% of us did. Even if we didn't, most people knew about Earth Hour. Organized by the WWF, Earth Hour was initiated in 2007 in Australia when 2.2million people switched off their lights to make a stand on climate change. In 2008, it went global.
Earth Hour 2011 Official Video
So how did people all across the globe find out about it? Technology had a big part to play in this highly successful marketing campaign. Aside from using traditional media like print and broadcast, it also harnessed the power of viral marketing.
Creating a good marketing campaign that goes viral is the dream, the grand masterpiece of any marketer's career. In the internet age, viral marketing is made easier; sharing a video from Youtube on your Facebook is a prime example of viral marketing. It breaks through the constraints of communication in time, distance, speed, bandwidth. Information can be viewed at any time, from anywhere in the world at a faster speed (depending on internet connection of course).
Earth Hour makes use of humour to make their message go viral. Take a look at one of their ads created for 2010's Earth Hour:
Does that not at least put a smile on your face?
Web surfers would not hesitate to share such a cute play on pop culture with their friends. With technology, it facilitates personal communication since information can easily be shared through email, blogs and social networking sites. Earth Hour leverages on such technology to spread the word about their campaign and improve communication to their target audience.
In this day and age, the internet has become part of our everyday lives. Not only does it appeal to our personal identity, it also plays on the fact that we feel a need to belong to a community. WWF understands this and thus makes use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube and blogs to reach out to its massive audience.
I'm sure you use at least one of the above sites to keep in contact with friends or just for entertainment. You can become a fan of Earth Hour on Facebook, follow its tweets on Twitter, request to be friends on MySpace, view photos of the event on Flickr, watch how different nations celebrated Earth Hour on its YouTube channel and subscribe to the RSS feed of its blog so that every update gets delivered right to your inbox. By entering the spaces of the public and championing a worthy cause that employs good humour, WWF is ensuring the success of its computer-mediated communication.
Though it is hardly a revolutionary breakthrough use of technology in communication, Earth Hour does it well and with class, and they deserve a pat on the back for making such excellent use of technology in mass communication.
A very illuminating story from Mashable on a survey done by the Oriella PR agency in 2010 showed how exactly the Internet was affecting traditional journalism, right from the horse's mouth.
Many of these journalists believe that much revenue from the advertisers were lost and over half of them feared that traditional journalism might be taken off the market altogether.
However, there are alternative views. Chris Ahearn, President of Thomas Reuters, believes that the Internet will in fact help journalism instead of kill it.
Also, there is the issue of citizen journalism. But what exactly is it?
No doubt citizen journalism wields great power especially if the blogger has a large number of followers. An angry opinion leader can spark off an angry mob, and an angry mob is not what any organization, government or society wants.
Ultimately, citizen journalism will not take over professional journalism, because citizen journalism is generated by the layman and the layman sees what he wants to see. Journalists, however, are trained to analyze and see the bigger picture. They synthesize information from all around to provide us with a well-rounded and hopefully unbiased story. This is what citizen journalism generally lacks.
Also, citizen journalism tends to be more biased because it is not run through an editorial team before it gets published, therefore it is not held accountable to the public. Can we take such sources seriously, even if the citizen journalist in question does try to hold up journalistic integrity? I'd still take my chances with my local and international news agencies any day.
There has been much talk about how the Internet is supposed to help bring politics to a whole new level. There has been many compelling evidence for this argument as well, but is the Internet really helping politics?
In the context of the US, I would suppose so; after all, Obama leveraged the power of social media and Internet to win votes and much-needed funds for campaigning.
Even his inauguration was viewed by millions around the world. People no longer had to stay glued to their TV sets to watch it. Now news is about what you want, when you want it, and we are pickier about our choices than ever before.
But what about locally? With the upcoming elections, all the different political parties in Singapore are turning to the Internet for a leg-up. Since the opposition parties do not get enough attention from the mainstream media, they try to use websites, social networking and so on to get their point across.
Though it may help to increase awareness, sometimes this awareness backfires.
Let's look at Tin Pei Ling.
She's the youngest MP candidate introduced by the PAP this year, and she has been the brunt of ridicule on the Internet ever since. Even though the Internet can raise awareness, it can also raise awareness of the wrong issues.
Instead of going after her policies, or what she can contribute to the society, netizens are vicious in their personal attacks on this candidate. They misuse the Internet to expose trivial details about her, and the entire debate disintegrates into childish name-calling and malicious remarks.
I am sure the with the upcoming general elections, the entire point of discussing politics on the Internet is to facilitate understanding, to weigh the pros and cons of each candidate and each political party before casting a rational vote. Unfortunately, political discussion on the Internet has been reduced to mud-slinging.
Because this is controversial, and it is also interesting, it captures the majority's attention. People may not actively go out and source for objective material about the important things that matter - the polices, what each political party stands for and their plans for our future.
Let's not let the loudest voice on the Internet prevail; don't let it drown out the more important things at hand. Remember that with the Internet, the information is there at your feet, just waiting to be discovered.
Marketing is a huge part of business, and everyone has an online presence these days. So how do you keep your customer engaged and coming back for more? You certainly can't rely on a traditional web page with just text and links, can you? You have to use multimedia.
According to wikipedia, multimedia is media and content that uses different combinations of content forms, like text, audio, video, images, animation and interactivity.
But how do you integrate multimedia and marketing?
Most importantly, it has to be of a certain quality. You wouldn't want to stumble across a multimedia corporate website that looks like one of those bastardized MySpace profile page with too much animated glitter, awful music and jarring videos right?
Multimedia is extremely useful, but what content should you put up? If it does not further your company vision, increase brand awareness, engage customers or sell a product, then why put it up at all?
Are you using an Android phone? Well be afraid, be very afraid! The next time you go app-shopping on the Android marketplace, don't download just any app, for they might contain malware!
You don't exactly want to open an app containing a trojan, do you?
Worms, viruses, trojans, spyware, and even phishing can not only target your computer, but they also are quickly invading the smartphone platform. eWeek reports that most smartphone users aren't too careful when it comes to their mobile devices, downloading at whim and not evaluating the sources stringently. If we are careful when it comes to our PCs, we should do the same with our mobile devices too. You don't want to receive a phone bill costing thousands just because a malware is texting premium rate numbers, right?
So far, Google has responded pretty well by removing these malicious apps from the Android marketplace after being informed by bloggers at Android Police. Google also remotely removed apps from user's devices, which is honestly quite creepy because it's a huge invasion of privacy, even if it's to fix a security threat.
However, the worst isn't over yet. The security app released by Google has been duplicated by hackers and there are malicious apps in the Android marketplace masquerading as the Google security app.
Of course, not all hope is lost, and you shouldn't be too hasty to throw your Android device down the chute just yet. PC Mag has a few tips on how to protect your android phone.
CNET also gives a useful overview on top apps to secure your Android device.
Part of the reason why Android is facing this problem is because they believe in open source developing, and therefore there is no gatekeeping for apps put up for download. Open source breeds progress? Well maybe, but it's also an open playground for viruses and security threats. My iPhone and iPad have no fear (for now) because of its relatively closed system of developers, even though its millions of users are a huge temptation for malware producers. I'll take Apple over Android any day.
Personally, I've had some experience with video editing, so let me share with you some of the videos I have done as well as some tips to making better videos.
How to make a good video:
Tell a story
Use a software you are comfortable with
If you don't know how to use the software, search for tutorials on YouTube
Use music
Don't use complicated transitions like the ripple effect (Fading to and from black is your best bet)
Don't use too many effects
Choose a good place to host your video
Here's example of what you can do with just an iPhone and iMovie:
This is a short clip made to introduce a business plan for a spa facility.
Of all the video editing software available, my personal favorite is still Final Cut Pro. Obviously if you don't want to buy it (or pirate it), the next best thing would be iMovie. No, Windows Movie Maker doesn't cut it because videos produced on it usually look amateur. In iMovie, it is relatively simple to edit, trim clips, add music, voiceovers, credits and smooth transitions without much effort at all.
Another thing to keep in mind is the material you are using in the videos - are they all original content? If you use copyrighted music like I did, YouTube tends to flag it and take it down. So to get around it, just host it on another video sharing site like Vimeo. Avoid sites like Tudou, Youku and Xtube, because they are better known for hosting either undesirable videos or copyrighted materials like full movies, so it indirectly associates your video with their negative image.
Other than that, go out and shoot some footage with your cameras and have some fun with the videos you can come up with!
And if you don't actually have a camera with video recording capabilities, fret not. You can make an equally compelling video with still pictures and extremely creepy music.
Watch at your own peril. Don't say you haven't been warned!
*Disclaimer: All videos in this post were shot and edited by me. Still images and music may have copyright issues.
