Online Communities – Paradise Cove

Internet Lifestyle illustrated with people doing activity in futuristic virtual world.

An online community is a community that forms on the internet. An online community is a group of people interacting, sharing, and working toward a common goal and members interact via social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. They also share in forums, e-mail groups, and even in the comments sections of blog posts and news articles. An online community can also expand out into online community games like Call of Duty or Paradise Cove. Social Media Today have a very informative article on what an online community is. Its described as many things and Elliot Volkman, co-founder and writer for Social Media Today gives a very technical description online communities. He breaks it down into roles and how people participate in online community functions. I suppose from reading the article I used to be a free member on Paradise Cove and I swiftly moved to an active lurker the a contributor and eventually a paid member!

As a longstanding member of Paradise Cove, I talk to people about the same things I would in real life and as I would on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram but its more around a specific topic, product, to offer tips, or sometimes I act as a mentor for newer players. I believe people join online communities because people at home in the offline world don’t share similar passions. So they come online to talk at length with people similar to them who “get it.”

Some people see online communities as seedy internet forums. However they are no longer primitive or explicit forums where hobbyists discuss their crafts or strange interests. Marketing teams now target online communities on Facebook, YouTube and even the game I play, Paradise Cove.  Online communities are ideal for word-of-mouth marketing campaigns and we frequently discuss products and you feel the feedback and reviews you get from your friends on the online community are valid… and of course after you buy or try it… you still have to come back and continue playing online with these people. You can connect with Facebook friends on Paradise Cove also.

The game Paradise cove has been available on the iTunes store since 2012 and I started playing the game then. The objective of the game is to design, construct, upgrade and enhance the Island. For fast development in the game, you really are required to buy ‘rubies’ to upgrade your ships and pass special quests. It has taken me until this year to get to level I am on, without bowing to the pressure of buying rubies and I am now on lv 44.

The pressure to buy started in February 2015 when I had not played on Paradise Cove for about a month. I returned to my island to find that ‘Sweetstrawberryred’, ‘Gamer189’, ‘Dndos12’ etc had attacked my cove, looted the land, and scuttled my ships. I was devastated. It sparked an anger in me that led me to enter in my iTunes password and I bought a sack of rubies worth 10.99 in real money. It meant in my online community that I could instantly repair my ships, complete a few ‘special quests’, and get this, BUILD back up on my LEVELS. I was heartbroken.

The hardest thing by far to stop doing, was paying for rubies & they constantly have these ruby sales which gets you easily addicted!!I progressed so far in my group challenges with my paradise cove friends, an I enjoyed the rush of being leagues ahead. I was bumped down to level 37 while I had a month solstice from the game. Without buying rubies or items for quests, It would have taken me a few months to level back up. I leveled back up to lv 44 in a week.

The second hardest thing for me after my month away to work back, was the respect of my craft guild buddies and my quest friends along with my Island allies. I posted a post on one of my guild pages and asked a question about one of our tasks, and no one replied to me. I felt it was because of my level and my lack of contribution. I found myself writing an apology post to my Paradise Cove community buddies for being offline so much.

Screen Shots of my Island on Paradise Cove

Overall, as much as I complained about the cost of the game, I do believe when you are in full swing, playing the game, that there is great engagement and team work involved. I really enjoy playing Paradise CoveYouTuber Rosianna Halse Rojas, gave a TED talk in Brighton about engagement and involvement on online communities and  her argument though the course of the TED talk, is that while the internet is seen as a distraction, it also gives a chance for people who would be quite introverted or even how certain people who would have just different interests can engage in an online environment and communicate through the online community or game.

The importance of Online Media Tactics for Effective Political PR campaigns that will Influence Voters between the ages of 18-25

The importance of Online Media Tactics for Effective Political PR campaigns that will Influence Voters between the ages of 18-25

Introduction

Political Public Relations communicators need to create awareness of the party and its policies and manage the relationships and the messages that they want their parties to convey. For general elections and referendums in Ireland, TD’s and political parties predominantly use traditional means of political communications and their public relations and is generally carried out by face to face house campaigning. They also use leaflets that they put in post boxes and fix posters on poles around the country. Professional communicators need to realise that publics are not that interested in the political parties themselves but instead the message that they share. It is important that we realise that the public needs to have a visual and informative image of the political party and of their policy issues which help to influence the mind of the voter.

The target age bracket that will be focused on throughout the course of this report will be from 18-25. 120,000 voters in this age category are not registered in Ireland to vote and for the up coming referendum on same-sex marriage in May. It is that demo graph of people who are most likely to vote yes. September 2014, a Red C poll, commissioned by the NYCI, found that up to 30pc of 18-25 year olds were not listed on the electoral register. (Youth.ie, RED C Poll, 2014). RED C is the most frequently published and respected political pollster in Ireland. They publish political tracking polls for our key client The Sunday Business Post on a monthly basis, as well as conducting polls for other media sources, betting groups, political parties and candidates. (RED C Research, 2014)

With the frequency of people turning 18 in Ireland since, that statistic has a very probable possibility of being higher. This is a distinct age bracket where political parties can target effectively through use of online media along with the traditional PR tactics they currently use.

Statistics from (Digital Training Institute, 2014) show that 62% of the population aged 15 years and above are members of Facebook and just over two-thirds of these account holders use Facebook daily. With the shift to social media and online use, our political parties are falling well behind the times in terms of campaigning for support, engaging with their publics and delivering their messages. (The Journal, 2014)

Through research both primary and secondary, I have complied a summary of recommendations to show how political parties can effectively target this age bracket by using traditional & new media PR tactics. 

• A revamp of the current style of face to face canvassing to target 18-25 year olds is mandatory to re-engage with this lost target age bracket. Canvassing online can help improve the communications of a political candidates message if canvasing is provided online. 18-25 year olds are not interested in face to face canvassing and it really only works for older voters.

• By using targeted marketing on social media networks, Professional Communicators can effectively pursue un registered voters and explain to them why it is important to vote. If PR communicators fail to see this gap in their current style of communications, the figure of 120,000 unregistered voters will increase. (Personal Communication, Irish Political Communications Survey, 2015).

• Timing and scheduling online messages out on social media applications at high usage times will help disperse messages from professional communicators. Using applications like Hoot-suite will aid in this delivery as all the different social media platforms have different times and scales of usage (Digital Irish Consumer Report).

  

  

  
  

• Taking inspiration from UK and American political PR campaigns like Clinton’s digital campaign will show how effective that broadcast can be when targeting 18-25 year olds. Imparting a speech on Youtube, declaring the launch of her campaign of Twitter and her usage of Facebook, created a Media Blitz. YouTube videos can be shared freely on Facebook, Twitter, Google and other networks, and posted to blogs or websites. This might grow organic views to a level where paid ad placement isn’t needed. By harnessing your supporters, and encouraging them to share your video online, you have the ability to reach your electorate directly in their homes and on their mobile devices. 

• Youtube is also another online social media application that to date is unused by professional communicators. YouTube tutorials are increasingly popular, with 31% saying they view regularly. An issue was highlighted in the Personal Communications survey 2015 by comments left by participants. Some found it very difficult to register to vote as there was no accurate guide to follow & there was no way to apply online. Another recommendation I would have for PR communicators would be to create an online medium for people to be able to vote and to share it by targeted marketing through social media. The ease of access would greatly increase the amount of registered voters in Ireland. These new digital PR communication techniques were used recently by Hillary Clinton.

  In April 2015 she launched her political PR campaign via Social media. There was no press conference or media gathering and it was announced by one tweet and a Youtube video. The massive social media blitz sparked a huge response for Clinton and set her campaign off to a great start. The Americans have realized that social media has quickly become one of the most prominent ways for politicians to connect and engage with the public. Clinton and other candidates are now going beyond the ‘traditional’ channels of Facebook and Twitter, to others, such as Snapchat and Periscope, as they seek for broader ways to engage with voters. (The Journal, 2015)

• Measurement of the effectiveness of a Political PR campaign can be measured more effectively online. While there is no effective way of measuring the ROI of a poster campaign, there is with video – YouTube campaigns can also be tweaked within minutes ensuring you get the most out of the budget. Imagine being able to change where your poster appears at the click of a button, based off real-time data of how many people are looking at it where it is now. While there’s still a place for traditional forms of advertising, video commercials will be more effective in terms of being eco-friendly, cost efficient and in targeting a candidate’s electorate.

  Professional communicators can show results by adapting to online methods as they can gauge their measurement. Youtube videos will show how many views and also leave spaces for comments, which provides a facility where members of the public can respond back with comments. Video ads can be distributed through specific filters allowing refined audience targeting and video will attract 3 times more inbound links than posts with plain text. (Viddyad, 2014). Its important to deliver a message and give people the opportunity to communicate back. The public information model from Grunig and Hunts 4 models of communications, is currently the preferred method of communication for Political communicators. PR practitioners need to adjust to the two way symmetrical model and use two – way communication styles. This will enable professional political communicators to negotiate with publics, resolve conflict and promote mutual understanding and respect between the political party, member, representative or message to its publics. There is a high level of activism on social media and its users like to contribute. Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

Reference Section

Primary Research:

Online Survey 2015

1. Personal Communication, Irish Political Communications Survey, 2015, Results on request.

Secondary Research:

1. RED C Poll on Youth.ie: http://www.youth.ie/nyci/RedCNYCI-poll-30-young-people-aged-18-25-not-registered-vote
2. Digital Training Institute: http://www.digitaltraininginstitute.ie/social-media-trends-in-ireland-may-2014/
3. Red C Research: http://www.redcresearch.ie/polling#sthash.8WMjaVsz.dpuf
4. Video Blog: http://blog.viddyad.com/2014/04/28/case-study-irish-political-marketing/

Books Referenced:

1. Ronald D Smith, 2013.Strategic Planning fro Public Relations. Routledge.

2. Ellen Grunig, 2003. Public Relations a Practical Approach. Gil & Macmillan

Reports Referenced:

1. Shane O Leary, Irish Digital Consumer Report 2014

Print Media to Online Media

Print media will never be completely replaced in favour of online media. While cyber cultures, online media and social media usage are on a constant rise and will continue to rise, there will still be a strong value held in print Media.

As you all probably know, Johannes Gutenberg invented a mechanical moveable type printing  which started the Printing Revolution and was widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. The revert to online media is another revolution that will work along side and in conjunction with the print media.

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Print media will always have advantages over its online counterpart and visa versa. Forbes outlines 7 reasons why print media will not stop in favour of print media. They are tangibility, credibility, branding, target marketing, engagement, less print adverts and QR codes. I have listed out my thoughts on each reason they proposed.

1. Tangibility – Print is physical and can last and reside in houses, stores, or offices until they are discarded by you. Internet posts, adverts, articles can disappear into cyber space with a click of a button with out your control. But this is based on a person not discarding it and throwing it away or misplacing it. It is possible that you could hold a higher advantage of online news as it could remain online for years and you can always print from online.
2. Credibility – People can see printed sources as a more legit pice of information rather than what they read on the internet. With pop ups, spam mail, spam adverts and viruses that can be accidentally clicked on & downloaded while browsing on the internet, people will always be safer with a print source as there is no imminent danger in a print version. Saying that though, people now prefer hearing more than one version of a story or article and use online means to do this. Less and fewer people buy different types of papers to compare the same story.
3. Branding – creating an aesthetic awareness of your brand, Forbes say is stronger in a physical seance. I agree as a graphic designer, but it does not mean that you can’t create a visually appealing version for online purposes that can be shared among the vastly growing social media population.
4. Target Marketing – Forbes say that you can place adverts in speciality magazines, newspapers, newsletters that will relate and appeal to a specific target market that can be harder to appeal to online. I disagree as most print outlets now have an online sources where the same strategy can apply and with data analytics and you can target specific groups online too.
5. More Engaging – Forbes say that print media is more engaging and Iagree to a certain extent. People only spend roughly 5-15 seconds skimming online articles and engage less than what they would reading a printed article. A study shows that people read digital screen text 20% – 30% slower than printed paper. (Alshaali & Varshney, 2005). However I do think its important to remember that Articles in a print publication are limited in the type of assets they can incorporate. For example, print media can only include a photo (and the inclusion of a photo is usually dependent on space) and occasionally QR codes, aside from text. With online features, you have ability to share other assets you have created, such as slide shows and videos, making your client and their product or service that much more attractive to potential consumers.
6. Less Print Ads – As more and more businesses are turning to online advertising, publications are now less crowded on print media and it can essentially strengthen your print advert and some newspaper editors and magazine editors now charge less for advertising space. From experience this is not common to all media print outlets, some actually charge more for space as there not getting the same volume of business.
7. QR Codes – QR codes have bridged the gap between print and online media. A QR code can make the way you read your print media interactive, which gives you the best of both worlds. It does bridge the gap Forbes, but its doesn’t completely fill the void. In 10 years time the majority of online content will be video.

While I believe one will never completely rule out the other, print media will suffer scale wise within the next 20 years and we will see a shift to small-scale distributions of papers, and magazines. Promotions media will always remain, but there will also be a majority shift towards online.

For campaigns, events, PR, Design ETC, the medium you use will be heavily reliant on your target market. The Social Media Examiner have listed the Future trends of Social Media. Blastmedia have listed out the benefits of using online media which is worth a read as they give a different perspective than that of Forbes.

Our society has gone through a weird, unremarked transition: we’ve gone from regarding the Net as something exotic to something that we take for granted as a utilitarian necessity, like mains electricity or running water.

I came accross a TED conversation ‘Is there a future left for Print media?’ by Naomi Zuiverloon. Her conversation provoked many interesting responses which are interesting to read and consider. If you have the time, their is a series of 12 Talkds about  Our Digital lives on TED. The two I thought were most interesting were Johanna Blakley on Social media and the end of gender and Clay Shirky on How cognitive surplus will change the world.

Journeyman Pictures created this 8 min snippet of a film about print media vs online media. The full film is available to rent on their website.

As always, thank you for reading my blog but for now ….

Hackers and Crackers

Hackers…..

Hackers modify & add code – so when the code they edit changes, it does something entirely different than what it did before. Many people ‘hack’ their own systems to alter or change how their systems work, or hire hackers to do if for them.

Anonymous are a group of hackers you may know already. Most recently, Anonymous released a video and a statement via twitter condemning the attack on Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people including 8 journalists, were murdered.

The video messages they posted had a powerful announcement from Anonymous:

“We, Anonymous around the world, have decided to declare war on you, the terrorists” and promises to avenge the killings by shutting down your accounts on all social networks.”

On January 12, they brought down one of the Jihadists’ websites. However, critics of the action warned that taking down extremists’ websites would make them harder to monitor.

Wednesday the 5th of March, technology giants Apple and Google announced that a ‘Freak Attack’ left millions of users vulnerable to hackers, which they are working hard at the moment to fix. Software makers use US software makers to use weaker security in encryption programs sold overseas due to the USA’s national security concerns. Read the article on The Guardian website for more information about this potentially massive problem. Site’s like Groupon, Khol and American Express were affected and vulnerable since Tuesday the 4th of March 2015.

Dan Goodin, security editor at Ars Technica writes about the dangers of this ‘Freak Attack‘ and what it means for us and our privacy.

Crackers….. 

A cracker is seen as the more malicious of the two. Crackers break into someone else’s computer system or network. They intentionally bypass passwords, licences and computers and breach security. Obviously, the activities of most Crackers are considered illegal. This website gives an informative account of crackers and what they do that s illegal if you want to know more about Crackers. Fear not, you can protect yourself against being cracked or being hacked by following a few simple steps. It may not protect you fully, but it will at least make it hard for them!!!