The
Internet has changed the way we view the world and the way we communicate.
Social media has both connected and disconnected us more than ever. Friendships and relationships have evolved
into online connections we leave messages for, rather than developing deeper
bonds by spending time together and really talking with each other. Besides
social media, the Internet has also affected how we access the news, do our
shopping and how we entertain ourselves. Technology continues to grow at a
rapid pace and will continue to change the way we communicate and live our
lives.
After reading
our assignment, Social Media and Web 2.0,
I think the media world will continue to evolve and within the next five
years we will see a more rapid growth in the amount of advertising directed at
us as more companies are watching everything we view online. There will be a decline in the amount of
people that watch news on TV because not many people will want to wait until it
comes on. We are now in an era of wanting everything instantaneously and so
news websites and applications will increase as everyone checks those instead
of watching television.
Social
networking websites will continue to expand as well and incorporate different
elements and media packages. Facebook makes it easy to sign in and “like”
different pages so you can view everything from one news feed instead of having
to go to multiple websites. This trend will continue to grow because of the
convenience of receiving all of your information from one source. The downside to this is that according to our
reading, lack of privacy will continue to increase as well because Facebook is
already monitoring everything we look at on the Internet, as well as
applications and games such as Farmville. They record everything and then use
it to direct advertising to you or to sell your information to marketing
companies.
Media
companies that will continue to flourish will be marketing companies who are
using our information to suggest products and services to us and I also think
companies like Netflix will become more popular. In the age of being busy and
the invention of DVRs, many people do not watch television shows at the times
they are playing anymore. With our busy schedules, the entertainment world is
changing so that it can be convenient to our lifestyles and be made available
for when we want it.
Overall,
regarding the future of technology and the media world, I think for us as
consumers, it is going to be about convenience. Companies know if they make it
convenient, we will use it. At the same time, they will continue to collect our
information and use it from everything from marketing to using the data for
research, such as mentioned in our text about Google being able to predict flu
outbreaks two weeks before other more traditional methods. It will be a trade
off between both positive and negative aspects.
