Has FaceBook changed the world?

Arab Spring 

December 2010

-Tunisia-Ben Ali

- Dictator 

- Police state 

- Press censorship 

- Corruption 

Mohamed Buazizi- He burnt himself outside the town hall in Tunisia because no one was listening to him. He police refused to write a report about what happened to him. So he burnt himself outside the town hall, no media, no press came to record what has happening to him, what he was doing. The incident was not on TV, but ordinary people of the society become citizen journalists and recorded what was happening. They made videos viral about what was happening, they posted it up everywhere by use of internet. 

Azyz Amami- "the reason why i hate myself so much is because i have no right". They could not give their view about something or they couldn't give opinions about something because they didn't have the right to. He later then says that "you can't live if your afraid. 

Sleem and Azyz then thought it was not fair on what happened to their best friend, Mohamed. So they decide to protest, in the protest no media was involved because they will all scared of the Ruler, Ben Ali. 

- Everything was recorded on mobile phones and shared around the whole world. 

- Went viral

- Then got picked up by Al Jazeera news channel 

- 6th January, Sleem and Azyz were arrested

- 150 people were already dead in the protest. 

- 15th January Ben Ali gave an lecture about censorship and demoracy. 

- He used the old traditional media to get his lecture out, he used TV.

Another protest then took place again in front of the place where Sleem and Azyz were arrested.  They tried making this protest a big one, so protesters hacked the the unions websites and sent off a message to everyone about the protest. 

- People were getting warning signals on Twitter and Facebook of which route to take.

- Their was live mobile streaming, which shows how immediate the internet is.

- Ben Ali could not do anything about things going viral because the internet does not have a central tube, it cannot be censored. 

- At the time quarter of people in Tunisia had home broadband and 90% of them had a mobile phone. 

Ben Ali ruled for 24 years and it only took 28days for him to come from dictatorship to pluralism and democracy. 

My  view: I personally don't think that there would be revolution without Facebook because people will not be able to raise their voices about what is happening around the world. It will always be the government who will make the decisions and face the negatives of it. A new world will not be created, the government will always be dictating. Facebook allows millions of people to give their views about small issues and things which take place, so i think without Facebook there will be no revolution.

Egypt
- Vodafone was switched off by the government, so that no one can have access to the internet. 
- This also stopped people from having updates about what was happening. 
- This was a very intelligent move which the government took, as they know that by closing Vodafone network, people would not be able to communicate, this is the reason why then decided to walk out of their houses and get on the streets to find out what was happening. People started protesting again when they left their houses, not only a few people came out, hundreds of people came out. 

YouTube revenues may rise by 50% to $5.6bn

YouTube's advertising revenue is going to rise up by more than 50% to $5.6bn in 2013. A report was generated which conforms the treat posed by the internet to traditional TV ads. The report by eMarketer claims that YouTube has become such a draw for advertisers that it will account for 11% of advertising revenues at Google. The eMarketer estimate tops previous predictions. In May, Morgan Stanley predicted that YouTube's gross revenues would reach $4bn in 2013. Google has not revealed YouTube's earnings, but eMarketer research suggests that the search engine got a bargain when it paid $1.65bn for the site in 2006. However, YouTube does not keep all the advertising revenue and must pay a share to advertising partners and providers of content. Google's public statistics for YouTube include the fact that the service attracts 1 billion people watching more than 6bn hours of video a month, with 80% of its traffic coming from outside the US, and 40% of its viewing time happening on mobile devices. Advertisers are keen to buy slots on YouTube because of its young audience, who prefer to watch TV programmes through their computers, tablets and mobile phones rather than conventional televisions.

My view: I personally think that this is so true that Youtube's revenue would rise because due to them being very successful in the market. The reason why the advertising companies are rising their prices is because so many young people use it through their smartphones, tablets, computers rather than the old traditional way, Television. The advertising companies are very smart they know they will generate really good revenue from whatever they are advertising because more than 1 billion users visit Youtube each month, over 6 billion hours of videos are watched each month, 100 hours of videos are uploaded on Youtube every minute. 

Instagram takes on Twitter with new private messages feature

instagram have made their competition more hard because they are now trying to compete with Twitter by introducing private messages that allow users to send to groups of up to 15 people. Kevin Systrom, the chief executive of Instagram, described the new Instagram Direct feature as "a simple way to send photos and videos to your friends". Instagram users can access this newest feature by downloading the latest version of the app from either the Apple Appstore of Android Play Store.Users will be able to send images privately to a maximum of 15 people. Systrom said there was a limit because "it's not about spamming people that you know" but rather "sharing moments with friends."Although users will be able to receive direct messages from people they don't follow, these will appear in a "pending requests" section, where users can choose whether or not to accept images.This is Instagram's first major announcement since they introduced a 15-second video feature, which also aimed to increase the amount of time users spend with the app. Systrom said that Instagram now has 150 million users and called the app "super addictive" with "more than half of our users on Instagram daily" Snapchat lets users send images or video that expire after 10 seconds, and claims it has 5 million active daily users. Messages are deleted shortly after the recipient has seen the image. Whatsapp is a much more basic service that allows users to create individual and group conversations with anybody who has the app – users sent an average of 15bn messages every day in November.

My view- In my opinion I think that the advancements in new/digital media has allowed social networking sites to do such things or to introduce things like this. This fulfils the desire of the audience and it would allow instagram to attract more active users. This would make instagram much more popular and it would allow them to generate more revenue. I think the reason why instagram did this was because the want to keep their active users satisfied with the services they are offering. This would also allow them to compete with one of the biggest market leaders, Snapchat.

The Sun attracts 117,000 paying subscribers to its Sun+ digital service

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/06/sun-paying-subscribers-paywall

The Sun newspaper has attracted 117,000 paying subscribers to its £2-a-week digital service. News UK's tabloid UK's biggest selling paper, reached 100,000 digital subscribers in four months – it took stablemates the Times and Sunday Times a year to reach the same level of paying customers after their online content went behind a paywall in 2010. The Sun needed to attract more than 350,000 paying subscribers to Sun+. The reason why they need to attract 350,000 users is because they will cover their loss, which they made in online advertising. The editor of the Sun, David Dinsmore Said that The Sun was not looking to target overseas users like the Daily Mail. "In reality our marketplace is very much the UK at the moment, we have 60 million people here to focus on," he said. "We are in the process of hiring a social media team, we have been remiss [in this area] in the past. It has been an ad hoc affair. We are a product across all platforms and it is key to have that social-media marketing opportunity.

News UK revealed some details of the subscriber base of Sun+. The biggest single group (30%) are 25 to 34, which Katie Vanneck-Smith, chief marketing officer at News UK, said "blows out the myth young people won't pay for [digital] content". Almost half (47%) of sign-ups for the paid service are via mobile. The Suns Subscribers are split between 60/40. 60 Males and 40 females. Sun+ subscribers are split 60/40 between men and women, although this is expected to balance out to an extent once the football promotion slows down, and there is a "slight" London bias to sign ups, with the capital's denizens considered to be early adopters.

My view: From my prospective i think that The Sun will cover all their loss with the money from their new subscribers. If they carry on setting targets and achieving them targets then they will beat other newspapers online. They will also need to take in consideration that they need something on their online content which will attract the females, as they have more of a male audience because of the football. So if they have something on their for females, it would balance out the the number.

How Apple Maps won on UK iPhones over Google Maps

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/26/apple-maps-europe-google #

Apple's Maps app for the iPhone is getting millions of users as soon as it became available; enough, according to ComScore, for Google to lose 23m users in the US.
Apple Maps became the default on the iPhone - and most people don't change defaults. On the iPhone, in addition, it's particularly hard to do so without "jailbreaking" the device; though on a standard phone one can use different mapping apps, any geographic link in an email or calendar appointment will open in Apple's app.Google lost some many users because Apple beat their map, people find Apple maps much more advanced and easy to understand. The reason why Apple won is because its more attractive and they make it look more professional. 

My view: I knew this was going to come as the recent update in the software has made significant improvement. It has eased the use of the software, which generally attracts a mass users. The reason why i think Google lost users was because there maps are old tradition, which doesn't make it look professional. Apple have got an much better professional map, which attracts the audience to use it. The reason why i think Apple have an much professional map is because of the improvements made to the software.

The Virtual Revolution episode 2

The virtual revolution part 2

Notes:
-The web is shifting power.
-Twitter was developed in San Frisco in 2006.
-Iran June 2009- presidential election - Protesters tweeted everything which happened to get the information out to the world about what was happening because any media institution who tried recording what was happening got arrested.
-First 18 days 2 million tweets send out of Iran
Wikileaks- Allowed people to anonymously blow their whistle on the government.

Quotes:
Dr Aleks Krotoski- "A quoter of out planets population is connected to the internet"
Jeff Bezos- "Its driven transparency is driving the perfection"
Stephen Fry- "it is a hugely powerful tool for the state, it controls us and knows about us"
Vint Cerf- "No body has power to turn the internet on or off"
Clay Shinky- "If you want to participate, you have the mean to participate"

New/digital media

 The developments of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

A pluralist prospective would argue that the audience have much more control over the internet because of the advancements made in new/digital media. They would argue that the audience are the producers and we don’t have to rely on big conglomerates to give us the information, as we are producing it and getting it from ordinary people.  The advancements in new/digital media has made ordinary people active consumers, as they are producing their own content. “The internet is an empowering tool” (Al Gore), he quotes that the internet is an empowering tool, as it is allowing normal people to create content, which could be accessed by anyone around the world. One example of ordinary people being producers and how it helped spot out the wrong is the Rodney King case. A normal citizen recorded the incident on his mobile phone camera and published it everywhere, available for the audience. People who do such things are referred to citizen journalists, as they are giving out the important information for free. This shows that the new/digital media has gone much more advanced as it is letting normal people do such things.

On the other hand a Marxists would argue that even though ordinary people are creating the content, who is getting the money for it? At the end of the day it is the multi money making conglomerates that are getting all the revenue created from the content which is produced by ordinary people.  So they would argue that producing all the content and giving it out, but not getting any revenue from it means you are still not in control over the internet. It will still be the big media institutions who will be getting all the revenue. One of the biggest media institution, News Corporation still charge for the online content because they know that people would still buy it even though they charge £8.67 each month. Why do they pay for the content when they know that they could get the information from other sources, the reason why they pay for it is because they trust the source. “A  minority of media producers always serve a majority of consumers” ( Pareto’s Law) The reason why this would support a Marxists prospective is because it says a small amount of media producers always serve the big amount of consumers. So it suggests that it is still the media producers/ institutions that are still in charge of what to be shown to the audience. This connotes that a Marxists would strongly disagree with the point that the audience have much more power over the internet.

To tackle the Marxists argument another pluralists prospective would argue the audience are in power over the internet because that’s the reason why YouTube is so successful today.  The reason why YouTube is so successful today is because of (UGC) user generated content.  Ordinary people are creating content and posting it up on YouTube, which allows them to get views and generate money. One example of UGC is SourceFed which is a YouTube channel.  They post up 5 videos about the main news of the day, but they would make it much more simply and smaller so that the young age can enjoy it. This is a perfect example for UGC because its ordinary people creating this and they are giving the news out for free. This also suggests that new/digital media allow them to do this, which means the advancements in new and digital media has given power to the audience. “The internet has given readers much more power, the world is changing and newspapers have to adapt” (Rupert Murdoch) Him as a multi billionaire has quoted that the world is changing. The reason why he says newspapers have to adapt is because things like SourceFed are giving out news for free, which means people won’t buy newspapers. That’s why he says the worlds changing newspapers have adapt.

A Marxists would strongly disagree with the fact that the audience have power over the internet because the media institutions just “inject the audience with the information” (hypodermic needle) they don’t allow the audience to give their opinion they just inject them with all the information they have. They don’t even allow the audience to think. The people who decide what information has to be shown are gatekeepers. They are the ones who make the decision on whether something should be shown to the audience or not. Marxists say that they are still in control in terms of production.  

 The advancements in new/digital media let the Arab communicate with each other so that could receive freedom. Arab spring is a perfect example for pluralists as you could argue that it let them raise their voice. People in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya are now able to see who they actually are, and they can identify their personal identity. If the new and digital media did not allow people in them countries connect then they would have been all unemployed, they would have no right, they would have been controlled by the government throughout their life. The internet let them raise their voice and let them stand out and speak for themselves.

According to a Marxists perspective the audience do not have power over the internet. This is because in reality shows such as Big Brother, individuals are in control by the surveillance cameras. Highlighting they do not have full control of their behaviour. This establishes that the audience have less power in terms of consumption and productions. They camera is controlling all the individuals on the show, which means that they are in less power of themselves. This means that the internet has not given full control of itself to the audience.

I believe that audience have much more power over the internet, due to UGC and citizen journalists. Ordinary people are creating their own content which they then distribute around the whole of social networking sites. They have the power to produce something and then the power to make it viral. Even though it doesn’t get them any money, I still strongly believe that the audience are controlling the internet. We don’t have to wait for media institutions to feed us the news because we as ordinary people are creating the news. “The internet is the most important medium of the twentieth century” (Briggs and Burke) they believe that the internet is a part of everyone’s life in today’s generation. 

PlayStation 4 queues begin to form ahead of Friday's UK launch

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/27/playstation-4-queues-friday-uk-launch-sony-ps4-lounge-london

People in Britain have so much eager to get their hands on the new Playstation 4. They have already started queueing in central London, 2 days before its official launch. Friday was the day when it was the day when it is officially going to be on sale. Sony have announced that people who have no pre-ordered the console, will be able to get one at midnight launch event in Convent Garden. People started pre-ordering them in August. Customers who are queueing for their consoles will be able to watch a performance by the rapper Tinie Tempah and will be given pizza and energy drinks to keep them awake. Sony's UK & Ireland managing director, Fergal Gara, said:"We really wanted to offer some way for people to buy on launch day, and this is a fantastic opportunity for anyone that hasn't already pre-ordered to get their hands on a PS4 on day one. "The excitement in the run-up to our UK launch has been phenomenal, and we want to thank gamers for their support by giving them the chance to take a PS4 home at the earliest opportunity.The new console launches across the UK on November 29, priced at £349, with over 400 stores hosting special midnight openings on 28 November.

Key facts/ statistics
The PS4 is billed as being 10 times faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation 3, which was released in 2006. It has a Blu-Ray/DVD optical drive, digital video recording, 8GB DDR5 RAM, an 8 core single-chip x86 AMD Jaguar CPU, AMD Radeon graphics core next engine GPU, 500GB removable hard drive and internal power supply.

My view: I believe that Sony will still be making a vital amount of money due to the success of the consoles made in the past. The fact that people who have not pre-ordered, already started queueing up two days before the launch, shows that it will be a big success. Even though people now days are much more in too smartphones, I believe that this game console would still be a big success and Sony will generate a really good amount of money from it. I think the reason why Sony have launched the console in the end of December is because they know it's christmas and they will get loads of sales. Sony will sell a big amount of consoles to people as they will buy them for presents and for themselves.

Weekly story

Instagram arrives on Windows Phone (and yes, you CAN take photos)

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/20/instagram-windows-phone-photos-videos.

150m people use instagram to share photos from their iphone and Andriod phone. Now people are going to share photos from the Windows Phone. People are saying that you cannot take photos in the app and post them up and a spokesperson told Business Insider that "You can add photos from your camera roll, but taking a photo with the in-app camera is not a capability as of now". People are confused and are saying that if they bring the app to window phones then why don't it allow us to take photos and record videos in the app. As on the Windows Phone store listing for the app, one of the feature bullet points is "Video recording with breathtaking cinematic stabilization". A feature that does appear to be missing in the actual app, although there's a greyed-out (and thus unresponsive) video button on the capture screen.

"We wanted to make Instagram available to people with Windows Phones as quickly as possible, so we focused on creating an awesome experience with Instagram’s core features," explains the official Instagram blog post announcing the app's launch. "We’re not finished, and our team will continue developing the Windows Phone app to keep releasing features and bringing you the best Instagram possible." Ensuring the support website and app store listing maintain a consistent (not to mention correct) line would be a good start.

My view: I think Facebook just rushed an launched whatever was ready by then. I also think that loads of people are upset now and are not happy with what they have received from the app and are not satisfied. I think Facebook would eventually loose loads of users now from Facebook and Instagram. Facebook should have waited till the app was complete then they should have launched it. I think Facebook should give away something to its users or they should come up with a new invention which will satisfy the users and they keep on using the apps. This is the thing which might keep their users still using their apps.

Weekly story

Tim Berners-Lee: Online surveillance undermines confidence in internet

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/22/tim-berners-lee-online-surveillance-internet-wikipedia-encrypting-spying

Online surveillance is undermining people's confidence in the internet. Sir Tim Berners-Lee predicts that its outcome will be to enshrine users' rights in the longer term. Mr Lee says that one of the most encouraging findings of this years web index is how the web and social media are increasingly making people to orgainse, take action and try to expose the wrongdoing in the world. Some governments are threatened by this, and a growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy"Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, said that as a result of the revelations about surveillance, the collaborative online encyclopaedia will begin encrypting communications with its users all over the world so that people cannot be spied on as they access information.Encrypting connections to Wikipedia should make it impossible for surveillance systems to monitor what people are looking up or editing by tapping connections, although it might be possible if the user's computer has been compromised.Berners-Lee said that the focus of what "freedom" means online had shifted in the past two years, from questions of sites being censored, to fears about governments pulling the plug on connectivity, to new ones about silent surveillance.

My view: I think Mr Lee is right that the web this year has taken action in exposing the wrongdoing and growing surveillance has threatened the future democracy. If this carry's on then they would be able to have a really good world where no one is harming each other. It would offer people to have their own rights, people would be able to raise there voice. The government will not be able to do anything about it. As the government are already threatened.

Research about the Sun

The Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
The Sun has the ninth-largest circulation of any newspaper in the world and the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. It had an average daily circulation of 2,409,811 copies in January 2013.Between January and June 2012 the paper had an average daily readership of approximately 7.3 million, with approximately 34% of those falling into the ABC1 demographic and 64% in the C2DE demographic. The average age of a Sun reader is 45 and approximately 45% of readers are women. The sun are charging £8.67 for online subscription every month. This is a rolling contract for the next 12 months if an customer joins. Once a member buys the membership then he has unlimited access to everything in the Sun newspaper. They have access to all the content which is available online.

Plan for the question

Why and with what success are traditional media institution adopting to the challenge posted by new/digital media?

*They know its successful
* They will always make money
* What challenges is new and digital media creating?
* Who are the traditional media institution?
* Why are they so successful?-because they have been there for time, they know how it all operates.

The reason why they are adopting themselves with the new and digital challenge is because They know they will still be successful and if they do not adopt it then they will be in a loss.

If they don't adopt themselves then other big media institutions will take over. They will be the market leaders, so that's why it is important for them to face all the challenges.

Paragraph 1: Talk about Companies already being successful. What makes them successful?

Paragraph 2: Who are the traditional media institutions? 

Paragraph 3: What challenges are new and digital media creating. 

Paragraph 4: How are they facing the challenges? 

conclusion: Are they still successful and is it because of them facing the situation? 

Weekly story

China drives smartphone growth - and low prices - as Android dominates

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/14/china-smartphone-android-google-iphone

Summery: The number of smartphone owners is increasing in China. People are buying low-end Andriod phones because they don't have Google services on them. Gartner has for the first time lifted the lid on the gigantic growth in sales of Android phones which don't run Google services in China - so-called "AOSP" (Android Open Source Platform) handsets, which use local app stores and do not count towards "activations" measured by Google, nor hook into Google services. Sales in China are nearly doubling, increasing to 84.1m in the third quarter of 2013. From 42.3m sales increased to 84.1m. China have priced the smartphones from $150 to $300. They connect to dozens of app stores, or are sold through companies such as Xiaomi or Tencent. China is the world's largest smartphone consumer, with sales there reaching roughly 85m in the third quarter, and 1.1 billion people having mobile phones. Chinese consumers are also eager purchases of phones, with a Umeng Analytics study recently finding that 90% replaced their phone at least once every 15 months.

Key statistics: * Chinese market made an smartphones with outwith Google services with it. 

* From 42.3m sales increased to 84.1m.

* Price range $150 to $300

My view: I personally think that this phone is a very big success because of the facts which are shown to us. The main reason why it is free is because it is a smartphone and it is cheap. Smartphones are not really cheap and most people get them because they are not cheap, but as this one is very cheap loads of people would buy it. Statistics show that 84.1m smartphones were sold when Chine launched this Android without Google Services on it. 

It know has a wide range of competitors and as people are liking the product, to stay at the top of the market, they are now going to have to introduce other products which fulfill their customers needs. 

weekly story

London to get its own domain name in 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/15/london-domain-name-2014-businesses

London is going to become the first city in the world to have a own domain name. London has been awarded the right to its own top level domain (TLD) name by ICANN, the US-based organisation which oversees the internet. Businesses, individuals and other organisations will put down London in their web addresses. This is going to take place from Spring 2014. "Adopting the .london suffix will enable organisations to more closely associate themselves with our great city’s powerful global brand," says mayor Boris Johnson. "This is also an excellent opportunity to expand London’s digital presence, which in turn is set to generate funds to invest back into the city." The London domain will be operated by a new subsidiary of London & Partners, the capital's official promotional organisation, called Dot London Domains Limited, and London-based Minds + Machines will be providing registry services.

My view: I think that this is a really good opportunity for businesses in London to stand out and become famous. They would also be able to associate themselves with the city's powerful global brand as Boris Johnson says. It gives a big oppertunnity for businesses to represent themselves as London companies which would make them much more popular, just because of the London in there web address. 

W.W.W: I think there is fair amount of summery given of the story which would help me revise for my exams. I have done everything which i am meant to do for every story, so i have given a title , i have given a link of the source, i have given an image, i have given an summery of the story, i have given statistics from the story and i have finally given my view.  So i have done everything which i was told to do for each story. I think i have covered most aspects of media in my stories.

E.B.I: I need to start given more of the statistics of the stories. I need to start give much more diverse range of information on my view and what i think about the story. I need to start highlighting any important information likes quotes, media terminology, and all other things which i find important because this will then help me later on when revising for my exam, it will make it much easier to revise from. I think i have decent amount of research, but it could be much better quality. My analysis could be in much more depth for both the summery of the story and my view on thew story.  I just need to start finding stories which relate to news as we are studying about the news.
11/11/2013: Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps

11/11/2013: Instagram acts after BBC finds site users are advertising illegal drugs

4/11/2013: Apple's iPad slips to lowest share ever as Samsung chases

1/11/2013: Nexus 5: Google launches Android 'Kitkat' smartphone

20/10/2013: Argos Launches £99 table to compete with Tesco Hudl

13/10/2013: Asda offer 3D printing in store

6/10/2013 : A14 to become Britains first internet connected road

29/09/2013: Afghans tap into Twitter and Facebook as youth find their voice

22/09/2013: YouTube apps to allow 'short period' video downloads for offline viewing

16/09/2013: Nintendo's 2DS looks like a winner

Usvsth3m

1)

2) The reason why this website is a good idea for newspapers in the digital age is because its generating lots of audience to take part in the quiz and share if they are hated by the Daily Mail. Another reason why they are trying something interactive is because newspapers are dying and they are trying to engage the audience in other forms. The reason why this website will succeed is because many people are online and they would want to have a go out it because they would want to find out if they are hated by the Daily Mail or not. this would also allow them to increase the number of users visiting their website, which is beneficial to them. They also give a chance to the users who take part in the questionnaire to post up the score on social networking site which would influence others to take part in it as well.

3) I think it would be really useful for The Daily Mail to allow people who try out there quiz to post up there views on the main page of the quiz, so this influences others to do it.

I think Daily Mail should give out free gifts to the people who try the quiz out because this is going to be one way for them to attract the attention of people.

I think they need to start advertising more because most people don't know about this and the place which i think they should advertise the most is on Facebook because they would find a mass audience from it.

Weekly Story

Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps

Facebook are see a decrease in daily users, specifically among teens". In other words, teenagers are still on Facebook; they're just not using it as much as they did. It was a landmark statement, since teens are the demographic who often point the rest of us towards the next big thing. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat and Kakao are making Facebook victim of its own success. Young people who use to use Facebook are now using other exciting apps on their phones such as Whatsapp.

WhatsApp is now the most popular messaging app in the UK and on half the country's iPhones, according to Mobile Marketing Magazine, has more than 350 million monthly active users globally. That makes it the biggest messaging app in the world by users, with even more active users than than social media darling Twitter, which counts 218 million. About 90% of the population of Brazil uses messaging apps, three-quarters of Russians, and half of Britons, according to mobile consultancy Tyntec. WhatsApp alone is on more than 95% of all smartphones in Spain.

Top messenger apps
WhatsApp
Started in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo staff, this smartphone messaging system handles more than 10 billion messages a day and is reckoned to have more than 250m users worldwide. One of the most popular paid-for apps on any platform, and a threat to telecoms companies which charge for texts.

Snapchat
Allows users to send "view once'"photos, specifying how long the photo will remain on the recipient's device. "Snap an ugly selfie or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend (or maybe a few). They'll receive it, laugh, and then the snap disappears," says Snapchat. The company is valued at $800m and users send 350m messages per day, up from 200m in June.

WeChat
The Chinese social media app, which handles voice messages, snapshots and emoticons, has more than 200m subscribers. The vast majority of users are in China, though it also has subscribers in the US and UK. It is being tipped as the first Chinese social media application with the potential to go global.

KakaoTalk
A Korean messaging app with more than 90m users that generated $42m of revenues in 2012, ending the year with users sending 4.8bn messages a day. The company recently launched KakaoHome in its home country: a similar app that provides "a customised home screen experience on your smartphone" with widgets, notifications and deeper integration of the main messaging service.

My view: I personally think that this is really true that Facebook is losing loads of users because of other fun apps. Things like Snapchat are seeing a growth. They are becoming much more popular because of the fun they offer. Facebook is just getting boring because there are other apps which are much more interactive and you get to interact with them. 

Weekly Story

Instagram acts after BBC finds site users are advertising illegal drugs

The photo sharing service Instagram has taken steps to block certain hashtags because users are trying to sale illegal drugs via its users. Millions of people use Instagram now because that is a social networking site where they post and comment on photographs and videos. The BBC have found out that people are trying to sell illegal drugs, they found out that people are advertising their sales. Most of the drugs appear to be taken place in the US according to the BBCTrending. One ad posted below an image of bags of marijuana said: "Just getting a few packs ready for tomorrow morning … Place your order today, it gets shipped out at 8am tomorrow." Another photo displayed a selection of pills with the caption: "$2 a pop for xans, $10 a pop for roxys " – a reference to Xanax, a psychoactive anxiety treatment, and Roxicodone, an opiate used to treat pain. The BBC reported that many deals were finalised via instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Kik, allowing messages to be kept private.

My view: 

I think this is a very bad influence on the young people who are using Instagram and I think that Instagram should act ASAP! because they don't want the young users to see the images because it could be very harmful to them. Instagram could also be in a risk of closing the whole network down. Facebook need to block these kinds of users from not using Instagram because it could get worse if they do not act to it. 

The Great Leveling

Virtual Revaluation BBC
This is a documentary on how the internet is used by everyone around the world, if it is not a places yet, it is getting there. There is a presenter who interviews very big people and takes their views on the internet. She interviews Bill Gate and he says that "how mankind communicate" here he is trying to say that the internet is the way how people communicate with each other. Then she interviews Sir Tim Berneis Lee, he is the inventor of the web. He thought of this idea and then gave it away for free because he thought it would change the world. He could have made unlimited amount of money from it because he invented something which is used by 2 billion people everyday. Later on in the documentary Al Gore says that "the internet is a empowering tool". The internet gives us an chance to challenge the authority. 

The internet allows people to post, publish, and give out any information for free, globally. Statistics show that 5 million people use the internet every month just in the UK and 40% of the men from that 5 million use the internet for pornography. 45 million people use wifi around the world every month. The well is something which created all the social networking sites. The well took everyone online. £1 billion is spent on the internet every week in the UK. 5 million are on dating websites. 18 million read blogs.

When people are on the web the government create their own rules and regulations because there is no one else in charge. August 6th 1991 was when the first website was launched. in 1993 Microsoft created internet explorer. Just before 1995's there was a source called Napstar who use to give out music out illegally because they thought it should be free. They got shut down in 2001 because they were illegal. 1/5 of contenet online now is created by user generated people, ordinary people. 

Quotes 
Andrew Keen says that the internet "is how power works" 
Aleks Krotoski "the web is inviting society 
Jimmy Wales-co producer of Wikipedia "the web is worried about the future"

There are 130 million blogs, and 90% of the peoples blogs are dominant. ebay has 20 million visitors a week. 

Weekly story

Apple's iPad slips to lowest share ever as Samsung chases
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/31/apple-ipad-samsung-android-ipad-air

Apple Ipad shares have slipped to less than 30%, this is the lowest since the launch in 2010. They are allowing Samsung to catch up with them. They moved the ipad event to November which has then let other companies to make and launch there tablets such as Samsung, Asus, Levono, and Acer. This has pushed the Apples tablet market to below 30%. Apple saw a very large drop in there tablet market and the other companies saw a very large growth in their company. To catch up Apple are going to move back to their old products with cheap prices so that they can sell well and catch back up. Fact show that tablet are still growing and they have increased by 34.8% in the third quarter of 2013. They have also worked out that in the last quarter of the year tablets sales are going to increase even more because of the Christmas gift period.

Key statistics:
Apple have decreased in the tablet shares market by 30%.
Other rivals are seeing a big increase in their company.
Tablet business is still growing and would increase even more by end of 2013.

My view: my view is that Apple need to chase up its rivals otherwise they would fall behind and won''t be the market leaders anymore. They need to fulfill the customers needs so that customers are happy with where they are buying their products from. If Apple do not catch up with their rivals then, they would see a great fall in their business which would affect the whole company. Apple need to think of an innovative way to gain more sales and people buying more shares.

Weekly story

Nexus 5: Google launches Android 'Kitkat' smartphone

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/31/google-nexus-5-android-kitkat-smartphone

Google announced the release of the  Nexus 5 that comes running the next iteration of Android 4.4 “Kitkat”. It is going to be with a 5in full HD screen and high-end specifications. The starting price of the Nexus 5 is going to be £299.
Based on the underlying hardware of one of LG’s current Android smartphones, the LG G2, the Nexus 5 features, a top-of-the-line 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16 or 32GB of built-in storage, which should perform well for both multi-tasking and graphically intensive gaming. The Nexus 5 also features an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 1.3-megapixel camera on the front for video chatting, as well as wireless charging and Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 for communication.
"The advanced new lens on Nexus 5 captures more light for brighter night and sharper action shots. And with optical image stabilisation, you no longer have to worry about shaky hands and blurry pictures," Google said. The Nexus 5 is going to compete with the Samsung S4 and the Apple 5s which are the most selling phones at the moment.

My view: I think that people who really like Google and Anroid would try this phone out. The phone has got realy nice features to it which means it might be popular. I think the smartphone business is really going great and people are loving what they are getting from the customers. This means that they phone will sell and will have a wide audience. In the market i think the Nexus 5 would be in very tough competition with loads of competitors such as Apple, Samsung, HTC, and Sony because they are also phone producers and also well known in the market. 

The Times

Digital subscriptions to the Times and Sunday Times top 150,000

This article is about how 'The Times' and 'Sunday Times' have topped 150,000 digital subscription and therefore in total they have 350,000 subscribers to print and online editors. Notably, News UK stated that this includes 200,000 who receive a daily newspaper on subscription the 150,000 figure  have grown 20% since February, when 12,000 people had signed up. Furthermore, according to the company, the digital subscribers for The Times Newspaper now makes up 25% of the paper's total paid-for-sale. Subscribers to the the print and digital editions also contribute to half of it's sale.

News UK stated that the print subscribers to both of the papers have grown since July 2010 because of the pay wall. 

Agree: 

Steveattufnell

18 October 2013 12:47am

Because The Times is a very good newspaper, free of an overtly biased political agenda and employing Columnists and leader writers from across the political spectrum. In my opinion it is the best newspaper in Britain, by a mile. All in all easily worth £4 a week (The Sunday Times website is a bit of a mess, but it too is a good read.)

I agree with this comment because he is saying that the newspaper is worth giving money to because of the content they provide. I think people should pay because they provide good amount of content for everyone reading their newspaper.

RationalArgument

17 October 2013 9:39pm

The Guardian probably will need a paywall eventually, but being one of the last ones to change is actually a good strategy as it will allow them to build a big market share of readers before they start charging"

I agree with this comment because he is trying to say that it is a good way of making money and getting more people to read their newspaper, he is also saying that the Guardian should start charging as well.

focsle185

"Paying for any online journalism is 'borg' like. If I wanted to limit myself to one type of view possibly a good idea. As it is the internet provides a fertile platform for discovering news from many sources. I prefer to use my own filter than that proscribed and provided to me by the self appointed types at the times and ST"#

The reason why i agree with this comment is because he is trying to say that by paying to one news corp, you will just be getting information from one journalist rather than getting it from loads on the internet.



EMComments ryeats

17 October 2013 11:35pm


Why should journalism, which costs money to do properly, be free?" Why should any business believe that, just because it is expensive to produce its product, anyone will be wiling to pay (much) for it?"Does the Guardian earn anything from me?" Yes, but not very much. Page impressions to pay (just like old-style display advertising) just not nearly so well

The reaason why i agree with this comment is because i believe news shouldn't be free because journalist would be losing money and what is the point of them becoming a journalist. There would be less jobs if everyone starts providing news sources themselves. 

Disagree: 

cheetah43

18 October 2013 4:59am

150,000 subscribers to online papers! Laughable. And they lured the first 120,000 at £2/week. Since then they doubled the subscription rate to £4/week. All in all, they are claiming annual revenue from the online papers of £30m. So what is there to boast about when their journalists are addressing only 150,000 people on the WWW enjoyed my hundreds of millions?

I disagree with this comment because by having a pay-wall companies can generate loads of revenue from it which would help the company and other people because it would provide more jobs for people. It could also increase more subscribers because they are getting in a new and triditional way rather than going to the shop and buying a newspaper.

FatFrank

17 October 2013 8:09pm

The paywall is too restrictive. The Times loses the marketing benefit of giving away a few articles a month (like the FT) and showing a bit of ankle. Are they also hidden from Google, as per Rupert's instructions? Let people see a bit for free and they might be more likely to pay. The digital Times is largely invisible to non-subscribers.

The reason why I disagree with this comment is because pay-wall gives the option to the consumer that do they want to pay or not, if they do then they would get the news, if not then no one would give them the news for free.

Yossarian02

17 October 2013 10:12pm

I subscribed and then pulled out when I got really bored with the content, and pissed off with the heavy censorship that applies to posters.

I disagree with this comment because he is just trying to use the company, he paid them then he pulled himself out after he got the news and after he got bored with it. No one should ever do that because then the customers who want to subscribe would not and the company would lose money.



lawsonrob printerink

19 October 2013 12:56pm

No we won't. Paywalls are already coming down. It was a bad idea that they tried for the second time and it's failing again. Personally, I like the Telegraph paywall. View the site in a incognito window and it works perfectly

I dont think that pay-walls would come off because the generate loads of money and that't how jobs are created by journalist writing and giving out news. 

Comments on the news story

Angry Birds Go! will be fully free-to-play for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

I think that Anita has made a really good that Angry Birds would be much more successful than Mario Kart because it is played by a much younger demographic. The reason for this because it is Angry Bird is free on Android. This could also appeal to a wide range of audience because it is free and who doesn't like free things. Now most of tablets are owned by Google which means it would have Android on them which means Angry Bird would be free and would be played by some many people. 

BBC to create CBeebies Land

I think this is a really interesting story which Samuel has found because it involves billions of pounds of investment. I think they are making a really good decision and the investment is going to be really successful as millions of children watch Cbeebies everyday and to keep them happy their parents would take them to the resort as well if it was their.

20 best Android apps this week

I agree with the point Gagan's made that the audience should be able to give their opinion about the game. The game would be really successful because it is free on Android and it would have a wide range of younger demographic playing the game.

Web 2.0 articles

Six questions about the media and participation

The professor at Loughborough  University claims that the advent of social media has brought a much broader media revolution. He says that before the media use to be controlled by specific people but now that happen anymore, everyone has power of the media. He says that online blogs and forums give an opportunities to ordinary people to give their views about the people in power. Everything which happens online is done by ordinary people, which people could have access to it anytime, anywhere. It is all created by user generated content and there are much more citizen journalists out there. Everything on the internet do not depend on editors or gatekeepers, its all user generated content.
The new technology could be dangerous for everyone because its not controlled by one person, its not being under the control of a gatekeeper. The impact of it depends on who uses it. He says that the most richest money making online corporations are Google and Facebook. Loads of people are debating that will media 2.0 save democracy. The professor himself thinks that it is good to debate about this because he believes everything has changed.

Key information:
* Everything has changed because of the new technology
* Ordinary people are in control of the internet
* There are no more editors or gatekeepers in control
* People get to say their view on internet to millions on people
* Google and Facebook are the most money making corporation online
* People make their own videos which could be accessed everywhere around the world
* Much more user generated content on the internet

Participation debates

One of the most biggest debates at the moment is that has Web 2.0 and the explosion in social networking really opened the opportunity for democracy? Democracy is simple a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in the decision making. The way that this relates to the debate is because people are now getting the chance to give their equal say online. People are debating that will this change the democracy because then everyone will be able to give their say as social networking lets them. Before people had to do loads of things to give their view, but the new media revolution has given the opportunity to people who use to be the audience of the internet the right to give their views globally through social networking site.
Some commentators have claimed that the uprisings in Egypt and Libya couldn't have happened without the use of Twitter and Facebook.  The internet has empowered its user by giving them instant access to news from a wide range of sources.  The questions which are raising is that is traditional journalism dead? Is citizen journalism the future?

Key information:
* Most of the news before being aired on News channels is on social networking sites because of      citizen journalism, people are providing eyewitness of the incident taking place.
* Are normal people empowered fully with the internet?

precipitation or hegemony? 

Nick Lacey explored the issue that has Web 2.0 been really democratised our access to the media and has it switched the power from producers to the audience. She says that Web 2.0 allows the audience to become producers of media texts, they can use blogs, YouTube channels and other aspects of the internet to do so. People these days do not need to rely on professional organisations to act as the gatekeepers. Most people find this very beneficial because know they don't have to pay for certain things which they use to because they are relying on thousands of individuals to do so.

Key information:
* No more gatekeepers
* Audience's have become producers
* Individuals relying on individuals

Weekly story...

Argos Launches £99 table to compete with Tesco Hudl


http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/15/argos-mytablet-android-tablet-hudl-kindle-nexus-7

Argos have launched their own Tablet called My Tablet, they have kept it for a very low price of just £99 only. They started selling it from the 16th October and it is in full competition with loads of other tablets such as Google's £199 Nexus 7, Amazon's £99 kindle Fire, Tesco's £119 Hudl. Compared with the recent launch of the Tesco Hudl, My Tablet has very low advancements than the Hudl for example it has half of the storage battery life, it has low resolution screen. Argos's tablet has full access to Google's Play Store and to the 850,000 Android apps. The tablet sale has increased since the last half of the year and it is still taken in consideration that it will accelerate even more in Christmas. Argos's My Tablet is available in two colors pink and silver.

Key statistics:
* First half of 2013 6m tablets were sold in the UK
* Nearly 230m to be sold in 2013
* 75% of the UK's population is still without one
* Tablet devices are overtaking the PC sales

My view:
I personally believe that as results are showing that 6m tablets sold just within the first half of the year then Argos's My Tablet will be very successful. I think they have given it a very good price to compete with the Tesco Hudl, but the functions could have been better and more advanced. overall i still think that My Tablet would bring a good amount of extra revenue for the business and it will carry on selling because the demand of tablets have increased.

Weekly story...

Asda offer 3D printing in store

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/10/asda-3d-printing

Asda are trailing a new in store 3D printing service for customers, this service would allow the customers to scan and replicate anything in ceramic. This service is going to be launched on the 15th October in the company's York store. If this trail goes successful, then Asda are going to launch in out in all of their stores in the nation. It takes 2 minutes to scan the whole surface of the object. Anything could be scanned and then it could be made into models. They could get models with any color they like. 

Once the model has been scanned in the system, it would then be sent off to the specialist 3D printer, so that it could be recreated in ceramic. The prices start up from £40 and would be ready for next weeks shopping and they would be ready in store for pick up. Asda say that they should be popular for cake toppers. 

No statistics 

My view: I personally think that most people in today's time would not be interested in this because people don't waste money just like this. Unless people who are interested in models and want something like that as their display in their home, then they might buy it, but i think that this concept of gaining extra revenue would not work for Asda. People would not be interested to just give a way money like that, unless they get something interesting. 

Citizen journalist

News stories:
There is a lot of impact on news stories because of the rise of UGC and because of citizen journalism. The impact of new stories is that in today's developed generation and due to all the development in new and digital media ordinary people are posting up videos of the news and creating debates about the new news. Ordinary people are giving the news out for free to the world out here. Most of the news is spread across the social networking site, any news stories which is released or takes place would straight be on social networking site. It's done by ordinary people they like to spread the news out to everyone. If a news is recorded by someone and is posted up at the time, they are referred to citizen journalists. The reason they are called this is because they are ordinary people, they record a piece of news and they would put it on social media and everywhere else so that others can see.

An example of an citizen journalism is the Rodney King incident which was recorded by an ordinary man and he then spread the whole story to everyone around the world. The man is know known as a citizen journalist as he gave out an very hurt touching news to everyone. An example of UGC is the channel on YouTube, Sourcefed. This is a channel in YouTube who provide news every single day and they won't just posts the news up, but they would make it enjoyable for the audience to watch. They keep each video very short because the longer it is the boring it is. The development in the new and digital media is giving a lot of power to ordinary people to do whatever they like on the internet.

Ordinary people can do whatever they like on the internet post videos, debate about things. The media lets the people out there spread things on social networking site which young people can adapt very quickly. The reason why they adapt more through the social networking site is because it gives them the power to contribute in the story which is taking part. They have the power to fight against and for the news which is taking place.

News agenda is what is news and if it would be shown as a piece of news. News is taken in consideration if it is a serious news, and if they want to get the news out to the audience. The impact of citizen journalist on news agenda could be a lot because most of the news would be posted by the ordinary people. So even before the news agenda is made the news would be already out their by ordinary people.

A14 to become Britains first internet connected road

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/02/super-highway-a14-internet-connected-road

The highway which is very busy at most times because it goes to Birmingham, A14 would be Britains first road to be connected with the internet. Networks of sensors will be placed along a 50 miles stretch of the A14, in a collaboration between BT, the department for transport and the Cambridge star up Neul. This would create a smart road which can monitor traffic, by sending signals to peoples mobile phones when they are driving on the A14.
This new technology could even pave the way for government to automatically control the car speeds.
The watch dog Ofcom also said that this could be used to directly communicate directly with the cars, directing them with diverted routes so they can avoid congestion and also monitor there speed.
Computers would be essentially be able to overdrive the driver, imposing maximum speed on the vehicle by controlling the breaks and the engine.

Satistics: The highway agency are proposing to spend £1.5 billion so that they can improve the A14, all of that could be paid off by toll. As they are going to charge lorries £3 when the use that route.

My view: I think this is a really good idea because it would cause less traffic problems and it would allow people to get quicker to their destination. I also think that it would stop accidents from occurring on busy occasions. I think this would then lead Britian to improve all his highways and it would have better impact of it, it would also be a very good thing for everyone.  

Weekly story...

Afghans tap into Twitter and Facebook as youth find their voice 

There are a few Facebook users in Afghanistan, but now the social media has let the people raise self-expression. Young people have raised their voice for the crucial presidential election due in 2014. In summer a sexual harassment film went viral which was made by a college student who is only 17 years old. There was loads of debates going around, people were posting things on Facebook about the film and how women are ignited heated. They have had debates  with the 17 year old as well to bring out the point. They think the internet is changing everything and that's what has made this boy make that film. stats show that the 17 year old boy is one of the 7.7% of the population of 31 million who has access to the internet.

Statistics:

 2.4 afghans or 7.7% of the population of 31 million have online access through their computers or smartphones. 

74% of them 2.4 afghans use social networking site 

There has been a significant advancement since 2002 

My view: 

I personally think that it is a really good thing that they advancements have improved, but there could be danger of this as the internet has good and bad effects of it. The internet could ruin loads of people life's as it has negative effects as well. 

Citizen journalists

Rodney king:

This was an incident which took place on March 3rd 1991. Rodney King was being beaten by 5 Los Angeles police officers because he was taking drugs. The 5 officers surrounded him in an residential area and hit him as much as they could. The officers struck him 52-56 times with the rod, one officer kicked him 6 times and the other hit him 1 time. A resident in a nearby area videotaped the police officers beating Rodney King. The guys name that videotaped the police officers was George Holliday. He is know known as a citizen journalist because he videotaped the incident without anyone knowing. Four of the officers were charged in the Los Angeles court. 

The reason why it was significant is because it changed peoples views on the police force. The people started questioning themselves that is the police really protecting them or are they not? In some ways it creates that terrifying thought that the police is not protecting them. The relation to the citizen journalists is that the beating was shot by an ordinary man looking out of his window.

7/7 Bombing:

                                       

7th July 2005 London bombings (known as 7/7 bombings) It was a series of co-originated suicide attacks. It targeted civilians by using the London transport system during the the morning rush hour time, when everyone are trying to get to their places. There were four terrorists who took the advantage of the rush hour and placed four bombs, three of them were on the London underground trains and later on of them exploded on the double-decter bus in Tavistock Square. Due to the bombing 52 London civilians were killed and over 700 and more were injured. The Bombs were packed up in rucksacks and left on the locations. This relates to citizen journalism because it was recorded on a mobile phone. 

Mumbai Terroists attacks

                                         
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were twelve co-ordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, which is India's largest city where most people live. One of the attackers who was caught confessed that the attacks were supported by the pakistan ISI. The attacks began on Wednesday 26th November and lasted until Saturday 29th November 2008. 164 people were killed and 308 were wounded. This related to citizen journalist because the fact that is was recorded on tape by the people in the hotel. 

Asian Tsunami:

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday 26th December 2004. The resulting tsunami was given various names such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Africa tsunami, Indonesian tsunami and boxing day tsunami. The earthquake was caused when the Indian plate was deducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean. 230,000 people were killed in 14 countries. This related to citizen journalism because it was recorded on tape by loads of people who were there at the time. 

Virginia Tech Shooting 

The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16th 2007. It took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. 32 people killed and 17 wounded in two separate attacks, in- between 2 hours apart. The massacre is the deadlliest shooting incident by a single gunman in the U.S. history. This relates to citizen journalism because this video is made by the person who committed the murders. 

Hudson River: 

                                    

US Airways flight 1549 was a flight from LAguadia Airport in New York City to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina. On January 15th 2009 the Airbus A320-214 flying this route struck a flock of Canada Geese during its initial climb out, the plane lost engine power and had to land in the Hudson River. This relates to citizen jounalism because the whole incident was recorded on tape.