Fourth presentation introducing the Postmodern Media topic for the Contemporary Media Issues section of the A2 exam.

1. Contemporary Media Issues Introduction to Section B of the Exam Part Four

4. The cultural shift created by Web 2.0 is economic as well as creative… John Hartley (2007), in his book ‘Creative Industries’ describes the move from a ‘demand-led’ market to a ‘social network’ market. Hartley describes these changes as a shift to ‘ long-tail economics’ . This idea came suggests that businesses are increasingly realising that the best way to make money is to sell less of more , to create more niche markets, to diversify. This becomes the long tail theory of media production - the spread of small chunks of media content at the opposite end of the body to the head, which is where the big institutions make hugely popular media products like The Dark Knight (2008) or the final of the X Factor in 2009 .

6. Most viewed?

7. Most money? More than 4.7 million copies of Modern Warfare 2, the sixth instalment in the hugely popular Call of Duty franchise, were sold on the first day alone, raking in £186 million in the US and Britain combined. Modern Warfare 2’s first day sales dwarf the best ever opening weekend takings for a film - the $158.4 million earned by The Dark Knight , which hit cinemas last July. The game has outperformed it’s nearest rival, Grand Theft Auto IV, which sold 3.6 million copies on the first day of its release in April 2008.

10. Long Tail Economics

11. Long Tail Economics

12. Describing the implications of this long tail of media distribution, Hartley suggests that the liberating potential of Web 2.0 might be as important as the emergence of mass literacy in the 17 th century or the introduction of mass public schooling a century ago. So this part of your exam is about exploring theories like postmodernism, universal digital literacy, Web 2.0 and the We-media phenomenon - 'one minute you're a fan, the next you're signing autographs'...

13. We-media phenomenon… Magibon

14. Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned…The new electronic independence re-creates the world in the image of a global village . Marshall McLuhan (1964) The world is fragmenting into niche audiences on a global scale.

15. How are ‘we-media’ stars examples of the ‘global village’? Most watched TV show in the UK in 2009 Britain’s Got Talent Final 68% audience share – 18.2 million viewers 120 million views on YouTube

19. Who owns Web 2.0? Google began in January 1996, as a research project by Larry Page, who was soon joined by Sergey Brin, when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in California. In 2000, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords. The ads were text-based to maintain an uncluttered look and to maximize page loading speed. Keywords were sold based on a combination of price bid and clickthroughs, with bidding starting at 0.5 cents per click (about 2p). In late 2006, Google bought the online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion.

20. Who owns Web 2.0? In 2006, Google and News Corporation entered into a $900 million agreement to provide search and advertising on the popular social networking site, MySpace . News Corporation is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. It bought MySpace in July 2005 for $580 million. MySpace was the most popular social networking site in June 2006, however it was overtaken internationally by its main competitor, Facebook, in April 2008.

21. Last.fm is a UK-based Internet radio and music community website, founded in 2002. It has 30 million active users based in over 200 countries. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired it for £140m. Who owns Web 2.0? CBS Interactive is an American company and division of the CBS Corporation . CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television, with most of its operations in the United States. It owns familiar web brands CNET, mp3.com, download.com amongst others.

23. Corporate America wants to know what 18-24 year olds think is ‘cool’ because they are the prime targets for advertisers. And sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook can sell the information they learn about you to advertisers. The principal value of ‘social networking’ sites for corporate America is surveillance. Toby Miller (2008)