Week 3 Reading

The chapter Buying into American Idol was interesting, covering many aspects of how new forms of TV such as reality television and the networks have an ongoing and more direct relationship with the viewers. The chapter discusses the issues that the show faced in its earlier seasons, as well as how companies capitalize on its success with newer and bold marketing strategies.

Coca cola is one company that caught my interest. Coke is one of the most recognized brands in the entire world. The reason for this is due to the fact Coke has one of the largest advertisement budgets of any company out there. This is due to the fact that Coke does not only consider itself as a soda bottler, but also an entertainment company. The company invests a great deal of money in TV and movies. They do this in order for the public to be used to seeing the Coke logo everywhere. When they see the logo in partnership with a sports brand or TV show it usually puts a positive spin of Coke’s image. I through my personal experience can say that I have seen a lot of Coke advertisements in conjunction with other entertainment companies. I have seen it at the movies, during the Super Bowl and during the Olympics. This is a clever marketing strategy because it works in my own experience. I myself have in a way not only seen Coca cola as a soda but also as an all American brand.

This sort of nostalgia I have for the brand is exactly what the company is hoping for. From there they can gain customers who have a loyalty to the brand and will most likely buy any Coke product that comes out. I find it very interesting how Coke was able to diversify its brand form being just a soda drink to a world recognizable brand.

American Idol from the start was a hit. It gave the viewers a new and interactive way to watch the TV by calling in and voting for your favorite contestant. This new formula for TV sparked a new type of viewership in which people would debate with their friends and family about the show. But problems for the show soon arose. One of which is the accusation that the voting process is fraudulent and that FOX in the end controls the outcome. This outraged many hardcore fans and as such grass root campaigns started taking place that aimed to get back at the producers. In season six, a campaign took place to vote for the worst of the contestants. As a result, Sanjay Malaker made it to 7^th place. This is only one example of the drama that American Idol has caused over the last few years.

There have been many other controversies, such as with last year’s winner and runner up. Many people, myself included, thought that Adam Lambert was going to win. He had “winner” written all over him but in the season finale he lost to his fellow contestant and friend Chris Allan. Some say he lost because FOX did not want to have a gay American Idol. That is a distinct possibility of which the truth may never come out. Only time will tell.

In the book The Language of New Media the definition, history and observations of a screen where discussed. A screen is actual not only a great invention of the 20^th century but also an object of great philosophical importance. This is because a screen is a two dimensional item that inhabits our own physical space, but yet it acts like a window to another reality all together in which anything can happen.

The inventions of the screen started in the military when the U.S. first developed radar. This was a huge step technologically because before this all tactical information could be a few hours or even a few days old by the time it reached a commander. The radar screen was the first type of tactical intelligence that allowed for it to be read and sent to the commanding officer in real time. This became a huge advantage for those who possessed this technology. And because of the screen now, we are able to see and hear thing that we would have not been able to otherwise.

The online massive multiplayer game Second Life has a lot of great and interesting actives and games to play on it. There are many great pros to this game. The first of which is a customizable avatar. An avatar can be made to look any way a user wants. It can look exactly like the user or not at all. It can be customized in every aspect form its hair to its shoes.

The Second life online universe is huge with many different places for a player to go and things to do. Players can even buy property and build their own houses to their exact specification. Players can decide what kind of furniture they want inside their houses or the type of counter tops they want in the kitchen. This extreme customizable world is great because a player can make it exactly to their liking. Avatars can even have their own custom design outfits for certain occasions. Going to a swanky party put your avatar in a tuxedo or just have it wearing a t-shirt and shorts it is all up to the user.

I discovered that even real life companies have gotten into Second Life creating virtual products and making money off them. People can go into business for themselves on second life and if they are successful enough with their online money accounts they actually can make real world money.

Second life also has certain aspects that make it difficult to use. First it requires certain system requirements that were not fulfilled on my laptop as a result I had to play the game off my desktop. Another aspect of the game I had problems with was the navigation throughout the online world. The world of Second Life is extremely large and as a result I did not know where to go or how to start playing. Second life should have a list of things to do online for new users. That way the users becomes acquainted with the game play and have an idea of what they can do in the game before they get frustrated enough to quit. After playing the game for some time I can say that I defiantly still do not know all about what one can do on Second life.

In the end the game Second Life is an interesting take on how to create a virtual world that not only mimics the real one, but also improves it by allowing one’s avatar to do things that they would not have been able to if it were real life, such as flying. Continued success of this game will depend on the creators allowing new content in order to grow the world and make it greater.