The Second Media Age - Essay Example

WHEN BEING FAMOUS BECOMES EASIER WITH COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY Introduction The nature of presenting one's self to others has caused too much stresson the lives of many talented people before the years when internet connections as well as social sites have not been introduced to the human society yet. Many talented and well skilled individuals did not know how they would be able to showcase what they want the people to see about them and what they have to offer to the world, as a result, many among them end frustrated and stuck with the lives that they think they have been accustomed to live with.(Oakes, 2004, p.45) This particular fact leads to the massive changes in society when the internet was finally introduced to the world. Little was it known that the existence of the internet would pave the way towards a more developed society with well-satisfied individuals who are able to showcase who they are and gain higher satisfaction with their lives. (Sullivan, 2009, Internet) The Internet has practically become an effective tool of building self-esteem among people who needed to have the attention that they think they deserve and be able to gain satisfaction from life, no matter how ordinary it was. The internet was able to present a whole new world of opportunities to individuals who are specifically concerned of how they are recognized by the world. How was it possible for the internet to provide this particular source of personal self-esteem through social sites such as youtube, multiply.com, Friendster, facebook and so on and so forth The discussion that follows herein shall give a proper presentation as to how the Internet has become a proper channel of inspiration and the host of modern technology's capability to make ordinary people's lives somewhat extraordinary and more fulfilling in many ways (Buzzard, p.206). To start with, a discussion on broadcasting and how it is applied in the field of internet procedures of showcasing the people's talents over the web shall be presented in the section that follows. What is broadcasting Broadcasting is the basic process of presenting "something or anything" to the public through the use of modern media tools. This could either be through audio materials, television, or other means that simply aim to present someone's capabilities to the public in an aim to inform, to entertain or to simply present something to the viewing and listening public. Before, the word broadcasting has been noted to be used only by professional network operators around the world alone. It was not that easy for anyone to simply penetrate this kind of broadcasting. The basic idea is that, for someone to be able to present himself or herself in videos through television or even through audio tools such as the radio, that individual should be able to pass some personal criteria requirements for the network owners to agree to the showing or showcasing of the said individual's talents to be presented to the public. (Hills, 2001, p. 122) However, gone are the days when people used to fall in line just to be able to get one elusive spot on television and radio networks to be able to show who they are. Gone are the days when people who are less fortunate and have the lesser financial source to spend end up in their homes frustrated over having the chance to present themselves to the public. With the introduction of the internet to the human society, it could not be denied that these worries on the part of those who really want to share their talents to the world were eased. How Through the emergence of web broadcasting (Morris, 1996, p.43). This procedure of web hosting on the major social websites that are allowing people to connect to each other provides a wide storage system which is called "memory" through the use of the internet for those who aim to become members of the said sites. Likely this large memory storage is dedicated to photos, music or audio files as well as videos that the part-owners of the site, who are the users, might one to show or share with their network of friends (De Vuas, 2002, p.43). This has been the birth of modern broadcasting. How does it work and how does it provide a larger array of choice for one to be famous or at least be known to others simply to show their network connections what they got The following section shall present this particular fact and the instance to which it affects the lives of the people who have opted to use the internet and social network connections for personal broadcasting purposes. The Collaboration of Network Communication and Broadcasting Networking, as the word itself suggests, is the process of connecting to particular colleagues or group that are within a specific location. With the internet, networking is considered to take a larger scope of application that provides a major consideration on what could be later on used for public presentation (Porter, 1997, p.54). The creation of social sites have created a great chance for ordinary individuals to find the most important resources that they need to showcase to their network of friends or connections the numerous things that they could do. Some do the presentations for exposure, while some simply want to express themselves. The presentations could either be video or audio-based. The important thing is that the presentations are personalized, unedited which makes them somewhat more appealing to the public. The indicative ways by which the people are most likely affected by this process has created fuzz over the internet making social sites such as myspace and facebook among the most sought after domains for showcasing such presentations. Youtube is another website which welcomes almost everyone who wants to post their videos online. Likely, these presentations range from all kinds and all genres of video that simply aim to entertain as well as inform. Making it good through the aid of the internet has become a particular trend among talented individuals especially during the times when people already become well known due to the existence of these networking sites. How Internet Aids One to be Famous One of the people in the music industry who have been made famous through internet network broadcasting is that of Colbie Caillat. She was indeed blessed though to be born to a father who is the producer of certain music albums in the late 80's and early 90's. However, she did not use this blessing to go through the wide-ranged world of entertainment. Instead, she utilized the internet to show the world her real talents. Her debut video on her MySpace account was that of her personally written song "bubbly" which practically turned heads and ears in the internet. Ever since she started posting videos of her singing and her guitar playing, viewers began to love her and some even grabbed that video to present it to a larger network of viewers through youtube. She became the favourite in the internet for quite some time, generating at least 20,000 hits over the net per day, before she was actually given the break to become a real star and have her first released and paid singing album. Yes, it was that easy, that "free", and that effective for Colbie Caillat to use the internet and make use of it as the stepping stone towards a lifelong career that presents her to the world as a very talented singer and song writer. Conclusion Through the discussion presented herein, it could be noticed how the different options offered through the internet has likely made a great breakthrough in making it possible for ordinary people to find the best ways available to showcase what they have to the world. With the use of modern network broadcasting as aided by the internet, not only talented people, but instead, just anybody could now set up an attractive and interesting domain of presentations of videos and audio files that could become a sure hit for the surfers of the internet all over the world. Yes, being famous in the internet is easy, cheap, and fast especially through the help of the social sites and presentation sites like that of youtube and MySpace. With this understood, it is then agreeable to say that the current media systems is more open and more welcoming to everyone wanting to broadcast themselves to the world. References: Colbie Caillat. Checkout Colbie on Myspace's Music Feed Interview . http://www.colbiecaillatmusic.com/home.aspx. (September 18, 2009). Merrill Morris and Christine Ogan, Indiana University. The Internet as Mass Medium. Journal of Communication, Winter 1996. Matthew Hills. (2001). Virtually Out there: Strategies, tactics and affective spaces in online fandom. Technospaces: Inside the New Media. Karen Buzzard. Net Ratings: Defining a new medium by the old, measuring internet audiences. David De Vaus. (2002). Surveys in Social Research 5th Edition (Social Research Today). Routledge; 5 edition. Elizabeth H. Oakes. (2004). Social Science Resources in the Electronic Age. Greenwood Press. David Porter. (1997). Internet Culture. Routledge; 1 edition. Andrew Sullivan. "Video power: the potent new political force", The Sunday Times, 2007-02-04. (September 16, 2009) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/andrew_sullivan/article1321781.ece. "Without a hostile videocam and the blogosphere, Allen would have cruised on to victory. But the damning video found its way to YouTube, and then it was carried by the TV networks, and before long Allen's attempt at re-election hit a brick wall. Read More