I think that the Internet has a very big impact on the journalism industry indeed. In the past whereby news are delivered in the form of print using cheap inexpensive paper so as to make it easy to carry around and dispose of when we are done.


However, we now live in an age of mobility. As we move around our daily lives, we are accompanied by devices that was once only a figment of our imagination. Cell phones that integrate functions such as photo taking, personal organizer, movie player, internet browser and much more in a single device. Such an example could be Apple's iphone.


Devices are getting smaller in size and yet hold more functions that their own stand alone counterparts. Hence it is no wonder people consider lugging a stack of news print around a burden now. It makes more sense to be able to read our news on these devices. Hence news companies like The Straits Times in Singapore has given readers an option to subscribe to their digital version of the newspaper instead.

However, in a bid to retain readers to their print version of the newspaper. The print version cost 50% cheaper as you can see from the subscription costs below.


I believe the reason for doing so is simply advertising. We are able to enjoy cheap newspaper in the past because of advertisers buying ad space in the newspaper itself. Costs will vary depending on the size of the ad but this is an effective tool for advertising as many people are interested in the news. And by integrating advertisements into the newspaper, it is a sure way of getting people to view them.

Compared to the online version, space for advertisement are much more limited. People want to view just the news on their mobile devices and do not want their screen to be clogged up by ads. That is why I believe that it is only natural that the digital version costs more to subscribe to. This is how a digital version of The Straits Times looked like.


There is another option for users though, there is a summarized version of the newspaper online. This version comes with its price though, ads will appear in various part of the screen and the story will come with minimal details. A good way if you just want a quick version of the happenings around us but unfortunately one does not get much details from this. A nice marketing technique to entice readers to buy the newspaper if they want the full story.

So what impact does all this have on the journalism industry. Firstly, advertisers will definitely be affected due to limited space for advertisements now. Secondly, marketers who develop advertisements now not only have a limited space to work with, but they have to capture the audience in a digital format as well. However, what use to be a static advertisement can now be modified with animations and other effects to better capture the audience's attention. As for reporters, they used to have a dateline to meet, since a newspaper will go to print at a certain timing and all news stories for that day are expected to be in before that dateline. However, for the digital version, news can be uploaded the moment they are completed. As you can see from the picture of the iphone above, below each article is the time by which they are uploaded. I believe this is more flexible for reporters compared to the past. And important stories do not have to wait for the next day to get printed but can go online the moment it is ready.

And how does all these affects the jobs in the industry? I guess the main impact will be on marketers, they have to be more versatile and adopt whatever multimedia tools they have at their disposal. Reporters may be able to enjoy greater freedom but it will still depend on the editors when it comes to datelines. I don't think that much people will be lay off, just that they have to be responsive and be adaptable to changing times, moving from print to digital.

Frankly speaking this is a very tough entry to write. I do not care much about politics and I do not really follow up on any political campaign. The only thing that I would only look at are usually just the results of the election. So for this week's blog discussion, I shall try my best to write about the topic. So why is internet becoming so important when it comes to political campaigning? We must understand that we are now living in a modern age filled with technology. Young adults are living in a wired world with high technology gadgets at their disposal. Young people are staring at their screens more than ever and we have to take note of these changes in order to grab their attention. The old method of campaigning may be good but there is a better way of doing so now.
"Email campaigners are responsible for planning, writing, and executing grassroots campaigns to advance the President's agenda for change. Campaigns will primarily be driven through email and web tools and use fundraising, citizen advocacy, and local organizing to achieve our goals."


This is a very powerful video and it shows us all that not only official videos from the campaigner itself but what others can do to either help your cause.

So far we have all seen the power of the internet and how it can helps to give one a huge advantage in political campaigning, especially in the case of Barack Obama. But what limitations or negative aspects can the internet bring?

Well, when it comes to user generated videos, it is no doubt that spoofs will make their way onto the internet. And what impression do these videos leave on the voters? Entertaining no doubt, but what do you think?

Internet is a very powerful tool and have very great effect indeed. As quoted from the Spiderman movie, "With great power, comes great responsibility." The internet can promote one's cause, but it can also be used smear one's campaign. We have no control over the million of users of the internet and each of them have their own opinion on a subject. Thus people so many people together on a social network page may not be such a good idea as well.

And lastly, we must not forget that the use of internet in political campaigning is mainly target at the younger generation. And the older generation still prefer the traditional way of doing things and also they are not quite adaptive to all these new technology have to offer. Therefore, the internet is there for us to use, but how will we use it, is the main question...

I think multimedia play an important role when it comes to marketing. And what better way to really showcase the the wonders of multimedia than the marketing of video games. As we all know, the video gaming industry is a very huge industry indeed. Before a game is actually released in the market, various forms of multimedia on the game will be available first.

Forms of multimedia include text such as game reviews, interview with the producers and description of the game itself; still images which is very common in the form of screen shots and images from the game itself; videos in the form of gameplay movies or trailers of the game; interactivity is also involved in some cases whereby demo of the game are available to allow consumers to try it for themselves first hand.

For the purpose of this entry, I shall be focusing on World of Warcraft and the multimedia used in its marketing communication. An example of text multimedia use for the marketing of this game include reviews such as the one you see below. (Do note that it is only part of the full review and the full version can be found here)


Reviews are commonly done either by professional video games critics especially before the actual released date of the game. However, after a game is being released, users have also added their own reviews to express what they feel about the game. Reviews are important when it comes to marketing as a bad review can really affect the sales of the game drastically.

The next multimedia commonly use are still images. For the gaming world, this are know are screen shots. These screen shots paint a beautiful image of the virtual world of the game and also serve to display the capabilities of the graphics involved. Below are some examples of screenshots from the World Of Warcraft.


Gamers are very particular when it comes to graphics of a game and many feel that it is through the graphics that the game can engage us. I in particular are also very picky when it comes to graphics and I use this as a first impression of the game. If the screenshots are not able to catch my attention, chances are that I will not even check out the game.

When people are showing initial interest in the game, they might search for gameplay movies or trailers of the game to find out exactly how the game play is like. Videos are wonderful form of multimedia that can show how a game is played and hence will be part of any video game marketing campaign. This is an example from the World of Warcraft.

As you can see, videos server to either show functions of the game or how a game is being played. These videos have to be developed well as many use such videos as a deciding factor in purchasing a game. Hence video also an important multimedia tool use for marketing of a game.