Latest Media Trends

As more people are turning to online media, media practitioners are embracing new forms of media publishing to convey their message. Advertisers are moving from traditional media like newspapers, radio and television, to alternative media. Mobile phones and the internet are key forms of new media being used today.

Firstly, new forms of blogs like moblogs and vlogs are emerging. Moblogs are mobile blogs consisting of published blog entries using cell phones (Wikipedia, 2008). One of the most discussed new media is podcasting. Torrone (2005) defines podcasting as a new way to deliver online media. Selected audio or video files are uploaded onto the internet and available for download through web feeds (Wikipedia, 2008).

Another interesting addition to the trends is consumer-generated media, also known as user-generated content. Wikipedia (2008) defines it as “a reference to posts made by consumers within online venues such as internet forums, blogs, wikis, discussion lists and etc”. Some of the widely known consumer-generated media are Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and Flickr. These forms of media are popularly used to spread information which is unavailable in traditional media.

Predictions of new media trends that could transform the media industry were made on Toostep. Mobile Live Video will be available soon. This feature enables users to stream live video from anywhere in the world without having to open their notebooks. Micro-blogging is also slowly being introduced to people. Audio and video functions will be included, allowing users to post short video messages while forming their own personalized social network (Ashok, 2008). This feature is similar to that of Seesmic.

References:

Ashok, P 2008, ‘New Media Trends and 2008 Predictions: What's Coming’, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://toostep.com/trends/new_media_trends_and_2008_predictions_whats_coming>.

Torrone, P 2005, ‘What is podcasting’, O’Reilly - Digital Media, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/07/20/WhatIsPodcasting.html>.

Marcom Interactive 2008, Modern Media, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://www.marcominteractive.com/about/index.htm>.

Wikipedia 2008, Consumer Generated Media, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_generated_media>.

Wikipedia 2008, Moblog, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moblog>.

Wikipedia 2008, Podcast, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast>.