iPad Update

Apple i-Pad Testing Group - Test It and Keep It!

THE FACEBOOK GROUP IS STILL GOING! join now!

A few people have given their reactions...



As you can tell, all of the reaction posts are rather recent so anyone could still have a chance to get an iPad. It would definitely be cool to be one of the first to partake in the iPad experience.

Twit Interaction

I find it interesting people can seriously interact with their favorite stars. Not only are people tweeting their reactions but they're connecting it to the star's personally. In the tweet pic below, not only is a tweet commenting on Kell on Earth, but bashing the new show in the time slow following, SPINdustry. It must be interesting for the stars to so easily gain people's reactions to what they're doing!

Viewers Respond to Personalities

Going along with the topic of personality, I wanted to take a look at what type of personality gets the most attention from viewers. Since my last post was about Kelly Cutrone, a tough worker with an even tougher attitude, I decided to look at the rest of the Bravo blogs to see what type of personality gets the most feedback from viewers. Viewers love controversy! And love responding to it online even more!

This seasons Real Housewives of Orange County is filled with five very different personalities.
Vicki Gunvalson plays the loud, career obsessed, trash talker. Her blog for this week had 78 comments.
Alexis Bellino is new to the show. She plays the religious peacemaker who is obsessed with working out. 50 people responded to her blog.
Tamra Barney, who claims to be the “hottest housewife,” is going through a divorce this season landing her blog with 94 comments.
Gretchen Rossi still remains high with her 83 blog comments despite last season being her big moment after her fiancé died. I guess her good looks and bubbly personality keep viewers interested.

The winner of the most comment goes to the extremely loopy and absent-minded Lynne Curtin with 394. With her recent eviction viewed on last week’s episode along with her daughter calling her a “bitch” on national television, it seems as though viewers are responding to her the most.

Like I said, viewers love controversy!

Kell On Earth

A new television show has been brought to Bravo TV, so naturally this will open up communication for all those viewing, and those who just like to voice their opinions.

Kelly Cutrone, a fashion icon and the founder of the public relation firm People's Revolution made her TV on February 1, 2010. Cutrone has previously appeared on three of MTV's reality shows: True Life, The Hills, where she was the employer of Lauren Conrad, and The City, where she serves as the professional and personal mentor for a former Hills star, Whitney Port. Part of Cutrone’s edge is her no sensitivity attitude. With that in mind, the new series title, Kell On Earth, is apppropiately titled to foreshadow what is to come in the season. Kelly’s reaction to the title is, “Why did I agree to “KELL ON EARTH” as a title for our show? I mean really c’mon – it is super close to hell which only propels this whole dark side thing.”

Going along with Kelly’s hard hitting personality is her new book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside ... And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You, which was released the following day from her television premiere. Cutrone tells her disciples to "gather up your courage like an armful of free clothes at a McQueen sample sale" and "celebrate the magic inside of yourself."

Within Cutrone’s personality I expected a lot of feedback from the show’s premier. So I took to the blog’s to find out viewers first reactions.

Emm-

I have seen you many times mostly on MTV through True Life, and The Hills/City. I will say this show clears up any stereotypes about you, and lets everyone see that you are a person also, lol. That being said, I love it! I have plans to study public relations in college and the fast pace and hard work of People's Revolution really intrigues me. Never know, maybe I'll apply to be an intern someday!
Oh, and wow Serrano drug dealing was hilarious haha, he seems to be a character.

PRWatcher-

I was pleasantly surprised by the show ... more insightful and less, um, catty? than I thought it would be. I liked what you said about one aspect of a career being the process of finding out what you DON'T want to do. Most managers know not to let a bad hire drag on for too long. And probably if it weren't for the tv drama, bad hires wouldn't last too long at PR either. My motto: education is never a waste!

jcj-

I love you and your show! You truely are a wonderful role model, it's so nice to see a reality show on a a strong, career driven women and mother. You and your show is the best thing that has happen to reality tv.

Georgia Peach

I love the chaos and energy on the show. I love the fact that everyone is yelling and speaking their mind!!

Holy Grandmothers Grail

The best line EVER was~ We are not mean, but we'll say mean things to you for sure. Hahaha...I would copywrite that to the BANK!

It seem as though people seem to really love the edge that Cutrone’s brings to a place of work. Let’s see what happens throughout the season! Will one comment by Cutrone go to far and make these loyal fan bloggers haters?

To check out the blogs for yourself go HERE

TEST OUT THE NEW iPAD

January 27, 2010 marked the announcement of Apple’s “most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” The technological creation that Apple was referencing in their advertisement was their newest device, the iPad, starting at $499. The tablet computer fills the void between the iPhone and laptop to essentially make a large iTouch. The iPad comes with a 9.7 inch screen available in 16GB and 64 GB versions. The screen size is designed to make it ideal to watch video, read newspapers and browse online. The Apple iPad has up to 10 hours of battery life and Wi-Fi capability. Apple is yet to announce a mobile contract to somehow connect to the device.
There was and continues to be much hype around Apple’s latest creation. The New York Times immediately signed on with Apple to create exclusive content, including articles with a newspaper look and play-in-page video in order to be part of the commotion. The iPad is sure to be in the hands of every Mac lover’s hands when the times comes… and now it can be in yours too

FOR FREE.

All you need is a facebook account.

The group titled “iPad research center- rest and keep it” explains that, “because of the big hyper around the iPad, several companies are giving away iPads for review purposes as soon as they are available.” All you have to do is become a fan to complete the first step of the process! And also advertise to your friends as per request of the group web page.

The people behind this one of a kind offer is a marketing research company that is looking for people to rest products. They claim to constantly want to improve products to bring continuous satisfaction to costumers.

The group goes onto explain that they looking for 10,000 lucky testers who are willing to examine the new Apple iPad. The testers will then luckily be allowed to keep the iPad for participating in the program.

Unfortunately, it might a little late to take action in this limited time offer. By the time I saw the group there were 327,711 fans but there still might a chance.

The group also makes it a point to clarify that the Facebook Page is not affiliated with Apple Inc.

Seems as though marketing companies are opening the lines of communication to their audiences. By allowing fans of the device to test the product they are able to respond with their responses. This idea is a perfect way to gain an insight on how audiences will be using technology.

Mobile Behaviors as a Result of Personality Traits

The 25-item Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory along with the 60-item NEO FFI Personality Inventory measured participants’ level of agreement and assessed participants’ evaluative attitudes toward themselves. The information they found amongst the 200 university student participants (146 females, 54 males) resulted in “evidence for high levels of communication technology use and indications of some addictive tendencies.” Their three indicators of addiction included withdrawal, loss of control, and salience. These indicators gauged the response to not engaging in technological contact, to engaging more than necessary, and to discover the activity behind the behavior. Through the exploration of areas of academic, social, family, and personal experience, the article also explained the research they found based off the participants personality types. When it came to disagreeable individuals, they reportedly spent increased time on phone calls. Those with lower self-esteem were reported to spend increased time using instant messaging (IM). Extraverted and neurotic individuals reported to having spent increased time text messaging. Other personal traits used to predict mobile phone behavior included extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and individual difference variable of self-esteem.
I would agree with the article’s study that states how certain personalities are more prone to different mobile phone behaviors. From personal experiences I know which of my friends are more likely to call me, or text me, or IM me if they would like to get in contact with me. For them personally, I believe it is more of a convenience form of communication and less of being part of their addictive personality.
As for the “results found evidence for high levels of communication technology use and indications of some addictive tendencies,” I have to respond by saying; well naturally people have become addicted. This class alone has me checking my e-mail, elms, blogs, and twitter account twenty six times a day. When other classes are factored in an addictive nature is what becomes natural. We have to keep up with our classes and also our family and friends. We need constant social interaction as well as interaction with our teachers and classmates to keep up with assignments.
Whether or not there is “a reliance on technology to validate social connection,” which “may have psychological implications, including developing technological addictions withdrawal,” there is also a need to constantly be communicating through technology.
For a large majority I do agree with the articles claims to certain personalities being addicted. I also cannot deny checking my phone for texts or missed calls in the morning.

Virtual Classroom

Technological audiences are now being moved into the classroom. Today's lesson has been a perfect example.

Today’s online Wimba virtual classroom explored the definition of a "hybrid" or "blended" course, which is what we are engaged in as students and teachers of JOUR289I. Some teachers may believe that posting a Power Point or notes on elms makes them a hybrid class. However, they are still not meeting the standards of what a hybrid class truly is. Putting information online to supplement learning that was taught inside the classroom on the outside the classroom does not suddenly make the teacher eligible to say they are teaching a blended course.
A hybrid course can be defined as are a combination of online and classroom instruction. But also, a combination of presence, learning online, distance learning is what makes up a true hybrid course. One part of a hybrid course includes to face-to-face learning at a specific place and time. Limited interaction is also a part of creating a hybrid class. Finally, “supplement learning” or online learning is essential to create a blended class. The mix of online and offline learned are essential to a hybrid course.
All three examples are what we engage in for Technology 3.0. We have a designated class location where we meet twice a week at a specific time, assignments are posted online along with articles to read and respond to, and just recently we have had a virtual class to all interact together. The virtual classroom took technology to a new level where without everyone being together we could meet online to write to each other, speak to each other, and video chat with each other if some one was brave enough. The virtual classroom allowed people to raise their hands and response to polls similarly to the regular classroom. This hybrid class uses technology to enhance learning beyond interactivity. As we learned in the virtual classroom, synchronous and asynchronous forms of communication also lead to a hybrid course. In class, where there is synchronous communication, everyone is talking together. Someone might be asked to explain something but feel shy and under pressure. Writing a comment on elms of posting an assignment is considered asynchronous form of communication where not everyone is physically present.
This course definitely goes along with my “technological audiences” topic. While I mainly focus on entertainment or celebrities responding to and interacting with fans, this course is the teacher’s way to respond and interact with students. While blogs provide opportunities for online communication for stars and fans, blogs are also being used to allow us to give our feedback and suggestions for the JOUR289I course.

The Deal with “Deal or No Deal”

Howie Mandell seems to be lonely on the Deal or No Deal stage lately.

Deal or No Deal has come up with an interesting way to involve their audiences … and save money in this economy. When the show debuted, the game was played with up to 26 cases along with 26 models standing along side those cases wearing identical dresses and heels. The players choose a case to knock an amount of money off the board. Recent shows have led to a more audience interactive game show. Models in matching dresses no longer accompany cases, but instead audience members accompany the cases. Where the models usually stand, potential contestants stand in their place holding the cases waiting to become eligible to play the game. So while the network, NBC, is saving money, audiences are also given the opportunity to become more involved in the game show. Other ways for the audience to be involved in the game show is when the inevitable “deal or no deal” question arrives. Audience members are allowed to scream out what they encourage the contestant to decide on. This new interactive way will help fans get more involved and may even result in increased show ratings, which had dropped prior to the show’s change up.

For more information on the show and/ or other shows on NBC check out the website: http://www.nbc.com/Deal_or_No_Deal/

CNN too

When Jamie McIntyre came to JOUR289I class on Thursday, something he said made my ears perk up. He made a reference to Rick Sanchez’s attempt to involve audiences making him another person to realize the audience’s impact. I further researched the topic and found this blurb on Sanchez’s blog.

“Rick's List is not a CNN newscast...it's YOUR newscast! Every day from 3:00 to 5:00 PM ET, Rick Sanchez presents two audience-driven, interactive hours of the day's news and smart conversation. Want to get involved? Sure you do! So get online. Now!”

the blog also stated,”Now let's hear from you!”


What would this form of blogging mean to newscast? As entertainment television blogs allows fans ands tars to communicate about episodes and events, world news would be another level of involving fans. Technological audiences will expand from sharing opinions to sharing facts and informative information.

This also makes me wonder, what other well known newscasters will begin to open such an access to audiences?

Other outlets for communication to Sanchez include his Facebook and Twitter account. Both are easily accessed through clicking on them from his blog.

Ellen on Idol

Ellen Degeneres goes to her Twitter to announce her debut on American Idol in attempts to advise her audiences to watch!

“MTV Networks wants your voice!”

On February 4, 2010 7:01:09 PM, I check my e-mail. A subject in my inbox reads, “MTV Networks wants your voice!” The e-mail reads…

“Hi MTV Fan,



Join the exclusive MTV Networks MyVoice Community today!


As part of this community, you'll be invited to participate in online surveys and discussions several times a month where you'll be asked your opinion on a variety of topics, so we can find out more about you and your needs.
HOW TO JOIN?



It's simple...click the link below and complete a short registration survey to
become a member of the MY VOICE community.

JOIN MY VOICE



https://www.myvoice.mtvn.com/S.aspx?s=2&r=4lhqsFRiTUuqkRRVx8foGg&a=156&fromdetect=1

WHY JOIN?


As a member of MyVoice you'll get...


• exclusive sneak peeks at shows before they air

• access to not-yet-released online game
• chances to enter contests run by MTV Networks

• opportunities to share your opinions and experiences to help us relate to you

• results from studies you've participated in



Have your voice heard with MY VOICE!

David and the My Voice Team”

This e-mail is a perfect example of technological audiences. E-mail is aware of who is making them the money! Their fans! So they want viewers to be involved in telling them what they want and what they love. MTV is opening up to audiences through e-mail to communicate. MTV even adds incentives for audiences to join through allowing them access to exclusive offers. Filling out the survey results in MTV customizing, “the activities we ask you to participate in.” This is all part of the bandwagon of entertainment reaching out to audiences in efforts to here their voices.

E-mail if your interested yourself! support@myvoice.mtvn.com

The Beginning of Blogs... and reality TV

As the always-buzzing media circus continues to grow, one might wonder how it all began… What celebrity was first to publically address their fans? What television program first began having “after show” specials where viewers could asks the stars personal questions? What producers first decided that incorporating audiences into the show would lead to increased popularity? Or essentially, who created the process of conveying technical information through writing, speech, and other media to a their audiences?
Debuting in 1948, Candid Camera was actually the first television show to include their audiences. Now, American television is at a point where audiences essentially become the stars. From that, the cycle continues.
The 1940’s also included talent searches such as Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and the Miss America Pageant, which boosted the contenders into celebrity status in the nation. The show that dominated them all and changed reality television forever debuted in 1992. MTV debuted their new series, The Real World, which continues to air years later. The Real World opened the door to other reality series such as Survivor and American Idol. Along with American Idol came another entertainment concept involving the audience. The show aimed to discover the best singer in America through a series of nation-wide auditions. The innovative idea was viewer voting to determine the winner. Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, and Kris Allen have become the shows winners by gaining audience votes through telephone and SMS Text voting.

Discovering the foundation of where all technological audiences began is comparable to finding a needle in a haystack. However, I can attempt to find the beginning information. In 2006 Twitter formed another communication outlet for stars to immediately address the public and media. Jack Dorsey, Chairman, Evan Williams, CEO, and Biz Stone, Creative Director created the mobile social network service that has become the fiftieth most popular websites worldwide.

I also found this article extremely informative to explain and define blogging terms! http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/the-beginning-of-blogs-and-blogging-518717.html


So, it is not really a question of who began the whole process, but more of where will it go next? … we shall see!

Endless Entertainment

The entertainment phenomenon is highly addictive and cannot be avoided.

Producers, celebrities and TV stars understand more and more about where their popularity comes from. If you don’t know where it is coming from, the answer is you, the viewers. Audiences are interacting with the shows more than ever through texting to vote for their favorite character or attending the reunion specials as an audience member. Blogs, fan sites, and website groups make it clear that audiences want a personal relationship with the shows they watch and the characters that are on it. With this in mind, producers and stars are giving audiences more opportunities to do so through a more personal look as to what really went down and maybe even a look into the star’s homes.

Think about it, American Idol bases their show around the audiences voting through text messages or phone calls; all forms of the audience interacting with the use of technology. Bravo TV has most of their stars keep a weekly blog where they can address what is said about them in the media as well as their reaction to the previous episode. They have a section at the top bar of the website for viewers to immediately see (http://www.bravotv.com/blogs.)

MTV encourages viewers to log onto their website at the end up episodes to “here from that cast and crew” about what they thought of the episode’s events. They offer endless behind the scene clips and deleted scenes for those to log onto the website. Inside e-mail alerts are also offered for for audiences to information about television shows and the stars that are on them the second the information is released.



Audiences are very much following along with what the shows advise them to do. Their comments and opinions are posted all over the blogs, Facebook groups, fan sites, etc. Viewers have not only formed connection to communicate with the show, but also with other fans. The communication between the television shows and its audiences is not just limited to that, but not audiences can interact with each other as well. Endless groups and websites can be found where viewers discuss their favorite cast member for example.

Not only television networks are utilizing their popularity by creating an interface with the audience. Other celebrities look to their website, the media, or Twitter to address audiences. Through the use of Twitter they can plug information on where their next event is or clarify a rumor that was written in a magazine. They use the media outlet to communicate with viewers because they are aware that they are listening, reading, and waiting for more information on their favorite stars.

For my blog I will take an in depth look at the interface between television and social networks. My blogs will be up to date information of the recent media news and how the audience takes part in the topic. In terms of each topic I’ll answer the questions:

What are audiences talking about?
How does the audience influence show?
How is the show responding to comments?
Do stars respond?
Any other informative or fun stories will be added as well.