Social Media in Areas of Entertainment - Literature review Example

Social Media in Areas of Entertainment xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Submitted SOCIAL MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT General Description According to Butler (2011), with the current increase of technology worldwide, it is quite evident that more activities are becoming technology enhanced thus easing individual workload. Today, information technology is used to transform various sectors that affect the economy such as; education, communication, agriculture, banking and finance. Evidently, social media is rapidly becoming one of today’s popular and common means of communication. Butler et al (2011) asserts that, within the media especially in the entertainment sector there has been great usage of social media. The entertainment sectors thrive mainly on customer interests, user base, connecting with customers and creating an appeal of a story line through the use of social media. CBS News (2009) maintains that, the use of social media within entertainment sector does not only give information but rather interacts with various individuals where compliments and complains are accepted to better this sector. This is important as social media ensure that communication between entertainment and potential customers is a two way thus enhanced communication (CBS News 2009). Rationale of the topic According to Gaudin (2010), the new entertainment cloud is rapidly emerging as the dominant way of content distribution so that customers have easy way of retrieving entertainment information through any kind of instrument namely; mobile phone, pad computers, television and high definition theaters. It is due to this that emerging media especially those that are social are increasingly being used for entertainment connections (Gaudin 2010). The various used social media used in entertainment are twitter, facebook and MySpace. It is for this reason that several question need to be tackled. This includes; What is social media? How do people use social media especially focusing on entertainment business? Importance of social media in entertainment business? How social media influences the entertainment area? What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media as being used in the entertainment environment? How obstacles of social media should be avoided in entertainment area? How to improve social media to help within the entertainment business? Social Media and Entertainment Area Laurie, M. (2010) maintains that, social media widely refer to the use of mobile and web based technologies where communication is turned to interactive dialogue. The best way one can define social media is through breaking the term into tow that is; social and media. Media is defined as a tool that is used for communication. It can be in form of a news paper, television and radio thus giving the definition of social media is a social instrument that enhances social interaction. Further, social media is defined as the use of various online technological tools that enables individuals to communicate effectively via internet (Laurie 2010). Within entertainment sector, social media can be communication inform of text, audio, images, podcast video and other known multimedia communication. McEwan (2011) maintains that, with the recent rapid growth in entertainment, the sector has shifted towards social media in promoting entertainment across the globe. The sector is migrating from what was known to be traditional promotion of entertainment to digitalized method usually through the use of social media. The emergence of social media offers observable advantages within the sector. The changing structure in entertainment area is calling for change in their promotion strategies so as to remain attractive within global competition. Within entertainment social media is used in; game sharing, virtual worlds as well as media and entertainment platforms such as YouTube, MySpace and Ciscos Eos (McEwan 2011). Importance of social media within entertainment area While other companies are focusing on whether to block their employees from social networking, entertainment sector is actively involved in seeing positive results from the social network websites. Wee (2009) asserts that, the sector highly believes in the power of social networking as one which is real in driving and promoting entertainment across the globe. The entertainment community views social media as an important factor which can be used in engaging quite a number of fans across the globe. It is for this reason that there is numerous increased entertainment related post on blogs not forgetting that more celebrities and stars are constantly showing up on social media (Wee 2009). According to Sameer et al (2010), entertainment uses social media awareness as a way of connecting millions of their fans across the globe especially with celebrities and stars. Through this, fans are able to interact freely thus creating a marketing advantages for the entertainment industry. The main importance of the entertainment sector to leverage in social media is to market their songs and movies so as to attract more people. Movies and songs producers invest in creating application within social media which allow fans to participate inform of feedbacks, compliments and complains (Sameer et al 2010). It is quite evident that social networks started among youngsters this makes it a more approachable way for the entertainment sector whose main target audiences are young people. The audiences of social network are today becoming more encompassed thus making a positive impact to the entertainment industry. Larissa (2010) maintains that, youngsters are able to tag their friends in videos and songs thus promoting the industry sustainability. Today, research indicate that more young people are using internet as compared to the old this is an added advantage to the industry since there is a guarantee of marketing networking which is essential for the growth of the industry. Also, this is very essential in that all designed demographic groups are considered (Verleye 2009). Social media influences within the entertainment area Clearly, social networking has been creating potentially transformational influence within the entertainment area. Research indicates that at least two thirds of the global population visits social media such as facebook, twitter and YouTube for entertainment purposes daily. The rapid growth in popularity of social media networks have increased the time people are spending online. Celebs and movie stars are able to share and interact with their fans that are considered to be the main influence of social media within the entertainment segment. Research further indicates that the total amount of time spent online globally is like to increase more as many individuals use internet in their day to day transactions. According to Sameer et al (2010), within the entertainment sector, social media is observed to have positive influences. For instance, celebrities and movies stars constantly use social media campaigns to drive fans avidity and growth. This growth and fans avidity is very important in that entertainment sector is able to market its product and establish a strong consumer background. According to Gaudin (2010), it is also evident that there has been rapid growth in value addition to brand within the entertainment environment which has been created by constant use of social media. The sector have been able to come up with effective integration of their marketing strategies through social media enabling it to be very much competitive especially in the current state where the world is recovering from the recent global recession. The sector is considered to be the main revenue contributor in many countries a fact that have been contributed by constant use of social media networks (McEwan 2011). Advantages and disadvantages of social media as being used in the entertainment environment In recent times, social media has become ever-present and vital for social networking and content sharing for all kinds of industries with the entertainment being a consumer of a relatively large chunk. However, the new development also threatens the industry with challenges and disadvantages in equal measure. The advantages include, amongst others: Marketing communications and user interaction Over the recent years, the entertainment industry has used the social media networks for marketing communications which has the aim of getting into contact with the target audience and building up communication channel between the company and the user (Rudloff & Frey, 2010). Social media is now implemented on the now known user-generated content a factor of Web 2.0 which enables consumers to develop, change and comment on web content. On this platform, not only is it possible to pass on information but also to receive feedback so that market research and brand management can be done. Video producers use this quite often, when they blog clips and video information before its release. The content gets peer review and attracts comments which may be of use to the producer since the interaction is almost unlimited for a two-way communication channel. The entertainment industry has a lot to do with events for instance launching, awards, and performance. On the social media platform, the events are advertised and invitations sent. The interactive platform enables acceptance to attend the event, after which event photos and videos are posted, and with the cycle, the customers become social marketers. Low cost variety With the 2008 great recession, companies coped in many ways while some fell off unable to thrive in the economic times. One way was to cut traditional advertising expenses, which diverted huge investments into social media. The entertainment industry has been one of the biggest media space buyers and has over the time continued to reap the benefits of interactive and creative marketing and publicity. Social media growth daily offers the entertainment tenable cost cutting opportunities. Low cost social media and digital distribution are enabling musicians to participate commercially from more remote locations outside the core centers. As such they only have to move when it’s necessary. Social media also has variety of options such as wikis, social bookmarking, social news, networking, podcasts, message boards, chat rooms, blogging and photo and video sharing. Social media allows the entertainment industry to get rapid exposure through a wide community with diversity of demographics. In a study, 81% of all marketers indicated exposure as the number-one advantage (Stelzner 2009). Within some 8 months, Technotati, a blog specialist search engine had registered a raise of almost 50 million blogs. In 2010, there were more than 700 billion videos being watched and shared on YouTube with Facebook and Tweeter having a record more than 800 million and more than 105 million registered users respectively. In addition, more than 50% of active users on Facebook log on in any given day, with every average user having 130 friends (FaceBook 2011). The media also presents the entertainment industry with an already segmented market since users are organized into groups or vested interests in which they are blogging and share their information within all different kinds of social network about certain topics (Rudloff & Frey 2010). The use of social media challenges the entertainment industry with some disadvantages. While there is massive potential in raising profile and desirability of content, considerable risks are also involved. Blind authorship and lack of source citation These two have a risk of amounting to intellectual property rights and defamation. The interactive nature of the media allows space for intellectual rights and copyrights violations due to the uncontrolled use and reference of online content. In addition, this may lead to viral social disadvantage which finds fuel in the fact that there is no personal contact between the communicating parties. Lack of source citation reduces the credibility of information exchanged. Where it is a matter of P.R, the companies have no control of the information once it is released. Bloggers and often dig exposing any inconsistencies in the information and the spread is beyond targeted areas. Presentation of opinion as fact Over the social media, users in the interactive systems do post their opinions on various topics. These opinions can be interpreted as facts by others who look into the blogs. Greatest risk is when the user participation and social marketing is encouraged. There is no control of comments indicating that some may be negative thus adversely affect rating and desirability. The range of market reached by a favorable comment is equally affective as that reached by an unfavorable comment. Disgruntled customers may use the interactive channels to announce their dissatisfaction, ruining and weakening the corporate, product or individual identity (Rudloff & Frey 2010). This has been witnessed on artists and their material, which has lowered their desirability when a third party makes any intentional false communication, harming another party or inducing hostile or rebel opinions or feelings. In the converged world of tomorrow, content and access will no longer be in short supply. Opportunities for consumers to access and manipulate content will not only be abundant but overflowing (Price Water House Coopers 2006). Obstacles of social media should be avoided in entertainment area Success in social media marketing is faced with numerous obstacles and challenges. Though many organizations are inclined to taking up the new trend, very few are maximizing on the benefits and potential offered by social media platform. The obstacles include the challenge of being relevant on a daily changing platform, lack of clear understanding of the media and adaptive monitoring means, invasion of privacy and related litigation concerns, and a general lack of control beyond the marketers’ final upload click. Whatever happens beyond is left to the interaction of the online content viewers. The obstacles mainly revolve around the market structure and control issues. The marketers should strategize to adjust to community conversation dynamics. Depending on targeted segments, the brands and content released should be found to speak the community’s or particular segment’s language and tone. As such, there is trust and fun is created, and there is no dissatisfaction which often will be seed to generate unfavorable reactions in the public. All these sum up into the concept of strategic social media marketing, where the marketers do create and implement strategies. Overall personal brands should be managed strategically using consistent social media tactic, staying committed to the brand’s values throughout media channels and brand image to maintain a positive reputation (Barker 2011). This is to counter celebrity and content image ambiguity on the side of the consumer which happens when the image is not in line with the brand identity. To avoid related litigation concerns in endorsements it is always safe to ensure that the relationship between the parties is fully disclosed. Improving social media to help within the entertainment business Evidently, the use of social media has been important in entertainment. However, there are several areas that need to be adjusted so as to improve the use of social media in transforming the entertainment environment (Kaya et al 2010). The above discussed disadvantages can be adjusted accordingly so as to ensure that there is maximum improvement within this environment. The following ways are significant in ensuring that there is improvement within entertainment; Success in social media entertainment should be carried out in such a way that obstacles such as complexity, relevance and creativity are overcome. Therefore, the entertainment industry should always ensure it adapts an approach that will be of best practice to generate friendly customer interactions (Meadows-Klue, Danny 2008). Compared on how entertainment is carried out on TV, radio and newspaper, the industry should realize that social media is also an important tool for marketing. Therefore, Facebook, You Tube and twitter which the industry should widely use to promote its music and video should be geared towards connecting and engaging with consumers. It is for this reason that this industry management should think of establishing mutual relationship between social media and their customers (Jarson 2009). The industry should ensure that it comes up with policies which will ensure that music and movies are copyrighted to protect their production from being pirated. Creation of policies requires adverse taking up action. By so doing, it is quite evident that social media and entertainment will continue to grow to higher scales thus making the industry more productive especially in global economy (Deckers & Lacy 2011). Conclusion It is quite evidence that social media serves as an important tool of promoting the entertainment area. Over the recent years the entertainment sector has been improved gradually due to the use of social networks marketing whereby millions of fan across the globe are able to communicate and share. It is therefore important for the entertainment sector to ensure that it redefined the above named disadvantage so as to suit them especially in these competitive business environments. Government should ensure that any information, video, music and movie shared in social media networks are copyrighted to protect the sector from collapsing thus improving this industry performance. References Barker, J. 2011. Developing and Managing Personal Brands:Strategies in Marketing, Public Relations, and Entertainment. San Luis Obispo: California Polytechnic State University,. Bateman, P., Pike, J., and Butler, B. 2011. To disclose or not: publicness in social networking sites. Information Technology & People, 24(1), 78-100. 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