Communications and Media

Initially mediarelied fundamentally upon print and analogbroadcastmodels, like the televisionand the radio (Lane, 2007). This was the story in the 1980s. However, for the last couple of decades, media, along with all other industries, have seen arapidtransformation (Hanson, 2008). A paradigm shift transforming into media which is based upon the use of digital computers, cellular technology and facilitated by independent  universal platforms such as theInternet.

1. Perhaps the best metaphor for the changes brought about by new media is the development of smart phones, such as the iPhone and Verizons Droid. Discuss some of the ways in which these new devices are transforming traditional media and the culturalsocietal implications of those changes. Dont overlook their other function mp3 players.

Impact of Cellular Media

New media, a term mostly used to define the evolution of digital,computerized andornetworkedinformationandcommunicationtechnologies (Hanson, 2008). Most of the technologies which come under the umbrella of new media are digital, often having characteristics of beingmoderated, interactive andneutral.

BlackBerry was launched in 1999 as a two-way pager. By the year 2002, the BlackBerry Smartphone debuted. It actually combined the function of a mobile phone with e-mail, text messaging and Web browsing besides the features such as an address book and a calendar, making it an indispensable assistant to tech savvy business executives.

With the passage of time, when BlackBerry was becoming common, a significant group of people started getting addicted to it. BlackBerry became more of a need for every cell phone user than of business users only.

The advent of the iPhone in 2007 turned the market equilibrium quickly towards the Apple device, along with crisp quality, colorful graphics and an easy-to-use touch screen, iPhone had it all. Not to mention the multiple capabilities of the smart phones, that are emerging and still being upgraded to higher standards.

The built-in mp3 player, huge storage, processing speeds and the ability of running a huge number of applications on a single handy device are an edge which overwhelms the benefits of the traditional PC even.

Smart phones of today are the devices which have really change the traditional way of doing things. They have truly transformed the way we think about the mobile phone and especially the one such iPhone, has forced competitors in the hardware, software and mobile operator space to raise efforts and bringing efficiency and performance at an affordable cost to be used by masses.
 It has also forced a wave of innovation, which has had a social impact on majority of the cultures. People now interact with one device to interact with the whole world. The world is getting smaller and the tones of information in our pocket through the emergence of this new media (Lane, 2007).

4. Increasingly, advertisers are concerned about clutter and the diminishing attention we pay to advertising. These are examples of new methods of grabbing our attention. Discuss their effectiveness and the significance of the problems facing the advertising industry.

Diminishing Effects of Advertising Clutter
Over the past few years, the boom in the electronic media industry has witnessed many startups and a big change in the advertising industry as well (Hanson, 2008). Companies now fight for the time slots on the most watched TV channels andor most visited sites. Despite the potential revenues, to the hosts of such advertisements, the viewers have now been bombarded by so many ads that they seldom pay attention to any of them.

 Thus, the average viewer or web-surfer is indifferent to many of the ads targeted towards him and the advertisement expenditure seems not to justify its return. To counter this, and for some business, to gain market awareness and customers eyes on them, the ads have been constantly changing to become more of a sexually explicit show rather than a depiction of productservice attributes. The inclusion of such characteristics, though works out in most cases, is a proof of the ailing advertisement industry saturated with a number substitutes, fighting for the market share and their lack of creativity to attract customer by the product.

Further, researchers and media analyst still argue about the effectiveness of the clutter of ads and sexually explicit techniques to get the viewers attraction. The question remains to be decided, the density of ads is increasing day by day and the marginal benefit or the effectiveness of these ads, despite the explicit content, is diminishing (Hanson, 2008).

6. at the moment, we are in what may be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The subject is extremely complex and difficult to explain, and many people, even if they are directly affected, are reluctant to pay attention to detailed analyses of the problem.Do the commercial news media have a responsibility to provide in-depth information and analysis on such subjectseven if audiences demonstrate, through their choices, that they prefer more entertaining and dramatic news What are the implications of your answer

Commercial Media on Socio-Economic Front

In general, the most important source of information for many individuals in an economy is the media, particularly commercial media (Lane, 2007).  While we have often blamed the media for creating some biases in information however, little analysis has been done to analyse the mechanisms of information provision through the media, and the likelihood of any bias that results from the intentional plans of the media organizations.

Media has in fact, a far greater role to play in the economy especially at times when information affecting all the stake holders is critical, such as in case of economic slowdown, a series of expected downsizing rounds or about a potential threat to the country.

The communications media have an extraordinary ability to raise public understanding of issues if they actually aim to do so. Despite having the power to influence general opinion, the commercial media should comply with the moral obligation of keeping the people informed and giving them unbiased information when necessary, for the good of all. A problem in this situation, however, may arise when the commercial media has to consider its sources of revenue. Of course none of the economic agents will want the common man to know the mess they have made up or the devastating consequences of what is being done. We always take the basic assumption, as coined by Adam Smith that everyone tends to maximize their own utilityprofitbenefit.

This leads to a conflict of interest between the commercial media and the stakeholders of a country.

Conclusion
Thus finally we would say that dissemination of information on the required level to build an economy in the time available to us is not likely to realize unless the communications media can raise public understanding to the point where people will support these changes (Lane, 2007). We are facing a unique situation that is totally different from any of the other that our modern civilization has faced before.