Why Sky and My Space are new family members

ITV bought the Friends Reunited website and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (owner of Sky, Fox, 20th Century Fox, The Sun, The Times, the list goes on) bought My Space, among countless other popular websites. If you want to know why, this article gives just one reason - advertising revenue. It's expected that the amount of money spent on Internet advertising will exceed that spent on news press advertising during this year. So you can see why traditional media companies want to get in on the internet act.

How to get a record deal in the new media age

Tooting resident Sandi Thom just signed with major record company RCA/SonyBMG. She didn't play dive bars for years on end, waiting for an A&R man to stumble in and be blown away by her. She didn't send a demo to hundreds of record companies in the hope that one might get listened to. She didn't audition for Louis Walsh type managers in dance studios around the country. Nor did she go on Pop Idol or X-Factor. To be honest I don't know if she did any of these things or not, however I do know that none of them led to her getting a record contract. What did get her signed was the massive popularity of concerts held in her living room and seen by people all over the world through her webcasts. Yet another way that the internet is changing the workings of the media - see also Arctic Monkey's fastest selling album. Do you think this makes getting signed easier? Is the consumer truly becoming the producer? Check out Sandi's site (link in title of post) to find out more.

Internet, Social Networking, Teens - How Worried Should We Be?

This is a recurring debate in relation to new media technology - will they have a negative effect on us? In particular, will they have a negative impact on children and teenagers - who are traditionally the first to adopt new technologies. This article discusses one area concern - social networking sites like Bebo. It's feared that they may share too much personal information with strangers etc.