New New Media

97 Pages·2014·66.999 MB·English

by  Paul Levinson

contents
Preface to Second Edition and Acknowledgments xiii
Preface to First Edition and Acknowledgments xv
CHAPTER 1 WHY "NEW NEW" MEDIA? 1
Why"New New" Rather ThanSocial Media? 2
GUidingPrinciples of New New Media 3
NewNew Media Encompass Prior NewMedia Principles 5
TheOrder and Content of the Chapters 5
Speedinthe Evolution of New New Media and Hardware 9
ThePrime Methodology: Learning by Doing 10
CHAPTER 2 FACEBOOK 13
The Irresistible Appeal of "Friends" 14
What Does Online "Friendship" Mean? 14
Fine-Tuning Online Friendship 15
The Facebook "Group" and its Evolution 16
Facebook Friends and Groups as Knowledge-Base Resources 18
Facebook Friends as Real-Time Knowledge Resources 19
Meeting Online Friends inthe RealWorld 21
Reconnecting with Oid Friends Online 22
Protection for the "Hidden Dimension": Cleaning Up Your Online Pages 23
SUbjectiveand Objective Differences Among New New Media 24
TheFacebook Timeline 26
vii
CHAPTER 3 TWITTER 29 YouTube Refutes Lewis Mumford and Turns the Videoclip
into a Transcript 57
The Epitome of Immediacy 30
Tim Russert, 195G-2008 58
Interpersonal +Mass Communication =Twitter 31
YouTube's Achilles' Heel: Copyright 58
Twitter as Smart T-Shirt or Jewelry 33
Comments as Verifiers on YouTube: The Fleetwoods 61
Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and Pawnee 34
The Pope's Channel 62
Twitter Dangers: The Congressman Who Tweeted Too Much 35
.YouTube as International Information Liberator 63
The Other Congressman Who Tweeted Too Much 36
Twitter vs. the Mullahs in Iran 37
CHAPTER 5 WIKIPEDIA 65
McLuhan as Microblogger 39
Pickles and Pericles 66
Ul
f- Inclusionists vs. Exclusionists: Battle Between Wikipedian Heroes 67 Ul
Z CHAPTER 4 YOUTUBE 41 f-
ur Z
f- ur
oZ Neutrality of Editors and Conflicts of Interest 69 f-
"Obama Girl" 42 Z
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Identity Problems 70 tJ
YouTube 2008 Presidential Primary Debates 43
All Wikipedians Are Equal, but Some Are More Equal Than Others 71
Telegenic +YouTube =Cybergenic 45
Transparency on Wikipedia Pages 73
YouTube Undeniability and Democracy 46
Wikipedia vs, Britannica 73
YouTube Usurps Television as a Herald of Public Events 47
Old vs. New New Media in Reporting the Death of Tim Russert 74
YouTube Is Not Only Omni-Accessible and Free to Viewers-
It'sAlsoFreeto Producers 48 Wikipedia Wrongly Reports the "Deaths" of Ted Kennedy
and Robert Byrd 75
Obama asthe New FORin New New Media as Well as the
New New Deal? 49 Encyclopedia or Newspaper? 76
Amateur YouTube Stars and Producers 50 Does Wikipedia Make Libraries Unnecessary? 77
Viral Videos 52
The United Kingdom vs. Wikipedia 79
Viral Videos Gone Bad 53
The YouTube Revolution in Popular Culture 54 CHAPTER 6 BLOGGING 81
Roy Orbison's Guitar 54
AThumbnail History of Electronic Writing 82
"My Guitar Gently Weeps" ThroU9h the Ages 55
Blogging About Any1hing, Forever 63
YouTube Retrieves MTV 56
Comment Moderation 84
Will YouTube Put iTunes Out of Business? 57
Commenting as the Ubiquitous Greek Chorus 85
Comments asCorrectors 86 Privacy and Location 11g
Myspace Message from Stringer Bell of TheWire 87 The Inevitability of Mobile Media 120
Changing the Words inYour Blog-After Publication 88
The Necessity ot Hardware 121
Long-Range Blogging and Linking 89
The Price of Mobility 122
Group Blogging 90
The New New Media Exile of Useless Places 123
Monetizing Your Blog 91
Smart Phones in the Car, in the Park, and in Bed 123
IsMonetization Incompatible with the Ideals of Blogging? 95
Batteries as the Weak Spot 124
Photos on Blogs and Photoblogs: Photobucket, Instagram,
iPhones, iPads, Bluetooth, and Brains 124
Flickr,Pinterest 97
Gauging New New Media Impact: Statcounter, Alexa, Klout 98
so Different Blogging Platforms 99 CHAPTER 8 SMALLER POTATOES 126
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uf-r Are Bloggers Entitled to the Same First Amendment Protection Myspace 126 Zw
Zo asOld-Media Journalists? 100 f-
o The Origins of Online "Friends" 127 oZ
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Citizen Journalists, the First Amendment, and Occupy Wall Street 102 "Cyberbullying" on Myspace 127
New New Media Provide Medicine for Cyberbullying 129
Bloggers and Lobbyists 103
Myspace as One-Stop New New Media Cafeteria 129
Anonymity in Blogging 104
Myspace Music and New New Media 130
WikiLeaks andAnonymous 106 Myspace Poetry 131
Blogging for Others 107 Digg and Reddit 132
Shouting, Paying for Diggs (and Buries) 133
Changing the World with Your Blog 109
Ron Paul vs. Barack Obama on Digg 134
ATown Supervisor and HisBlog 110
Ron Paul and the Older Media 137
flBloggersinPajamas" 110 Reddit inthe Real World and on the Big Screen 138
Further Tensions Between New New Media and Older Forms 112 Second Life 139
History and Workings of Second Life 141
The Needfor Old-Media Reporting in anAge of New New Media
Journalism 114 Second Life and Real-Life Interface 142
A Seminar in Second Life 142
Old Media and New New Media Symbiosis: Easter Eggs for Lost and
Fnnge 116 Kenny HUbble, Second Life Astronomer 144
Sex in Second Life 145
"Lost" inSecond life 146
CHAPTER 7
FOURSQUARE AND HARDWARE
118 POdcasting 148
Foursquare and iPhone 118 How Is a Podcast Made? 149
Blueprint for a Podcast 149
Check-Ins andTruths 119
Podcast Storage and Distribution: Players, iTunes, and RSS Feeds 150
.•_---------
-----------~
Case Study of Podcast Success: Grammar Girl 152
Podcasts on Smart Phones and in Cars 152
Podiobooks 153
Podcasts and Copyright: Podsafe Music 153
Advertising on Podcasts 154
Live Streaming 157
Webinars and the Move to Vidcasts 159
Why You Need This New Edition
CHAPTER 9 THE DARK SIDE OF NEW NEW
The blindingly fast pace of media evolution mandated this second edition of New New
MEDIA 161
Media. Since the first edition was published three years ago, Myspace has shrunk to a
tenth of its size, Facebook has blossomed to nearing abillion users, and Foursquare and
Pre-New New Media Abuses: BUllying, Flaming, and Trolling 162
Reddithavecome on strong.
Online Gossiping and Cyberbullying 164 And these new new media, along with stalwarts Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia,
(J) havehadgame-changing newconsequences. TheTeaParty,theArabSpring,and Occupy
>-
z Cyberstalking 166 Wall Street were all made possible in one way or another by new new media, and the
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>- way they empower consumers of information to become producers. Further, as the use
oZ Tweeting and Terrorism 166
ofsmart phones and tablets has skyrocketed, the ability to write, take photographs, and
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make videos and send them out tothe world isnow literally in almost everyone's hands.
The Craigslist Bank Heist 168
This revolution in communication encompasses all levels of society. The president
Spam 169 of the United States and the pope now tweet, as does the person sitting next to you on
atrain or standing in back of you in a supermarket line. Four billion videos are viewed
Old Media Overreaction to N N
daily on YouTube, and these include not only Justin Bieber's, but the family's next door,
ew ew Abuses: The Library vs. the Blogger 170
and ifthat family happened to be baby Charlie's from "Charlie bit my finger, again,"
that neighbor's video would have been viewed more than 427 million times since itwas
CHAPTER 10
POLITICS AND NEW NEW uploaded in 2007. New new media empower people in all things, trivial and profound.
MEDIA 172
Barack Obama, New New Media, and the 2008 Election 172
Acknowledgments
New New Media VPAnnouncement Misstep 173
Inauguration and After on the Internet 174 People have become the ultimate knowledge resource in this new new media world. You
The President and the BlackBerry 175 can ask aquestion on Facebook or Twitter and often get an answer within seconds. 1was
fortunate to have many sources of knowledge in preparing the first edition-you can see
Off and Running 176
them in the Preface to the First Edition, which follows-and I thank them here again.
The Tea Party and Twitter in2010 177 Inaddition, forthisnew edition, Ithank ScottSandridge, SteveThompson. TedOIbkkala,
and Joe Vito Moubry, whom I've never met, but who provided valuable leads toinforma-
The Arab SPring and M d'
e 'a Determinism 178 tion, from their vantage points on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks also toJonathan Sanders,
my coUeague at the time at Fordham University, for being the first tocall my attention to
Occupy Wall Street and the R
esurgence of Direct Democracy the use of new new media in Russia's "White Revolution" in the Summer of 2011.
179
The U.S, Election of 2012 182 I also thank my editor, Melissa Mashburn, and her assistant, Megan Hermida, for
their hard work on this second edition. Special thanks, as well, to Abinaya Rajendran,
project manager at Integra Software Services, and Christine Clark, copy editor, for their
Bibliography 183 SUperbwork.
1ndex 212
My wife Tina Vozick continued as an invaluable asset in all aspects of this book,
About the Author
223 from alerting me to important new new media developments in the news to detailed
diSCUSsionof the themes of this book to carefully reading the first and other drafts. Tina's
xiii
workonWikipedia,whereshe's made more than 23,000 edits to various articles, was
onceagainindispensableinmyrevisionofthe"Wikipedla" chapter. Our children, Simon preface to first edition
and Molly-now joined by their spouses Sarah Seltzer and Carlos Godoy-were also
constantsourcesofinspirationand information.
and acknowledgments
*.*'"
Enjoythissnapshot ofnew new media in early2012. If the past three years have
beenanymeasure,itwillalreadybeasnapshot ofthe pastbythe timeyou read this, but
CIl enoughwillendure intothe futureto be recognizableand, one hopes, ofvalue as you
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Z makeyourwayinthisworldalmostdailyunder newcreation.
UJ A new book is sometimes an expression of ideas that its author has been thinking
::; PAUL LEVINSON about, researching, and developing for decades. Other books arejust the opposite-
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NEW YORK CITY an embodiment of insights that came to the author just before writing the book and
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.;.J: MAy2012 drove the writing ofevery page. Given that some ofthe media considered in New New
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z Media-such asYouTube and Twitter-did not evenexistin 2004, this book isclearlya
'o" recentinspiration. Butthe themes addressed inNew New Media-most importantly, the
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impact ofmedia that make all ofus producers aswell asconsumers ofnews, opinion,
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beenwith us formillennia.
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The notion of new new media first occurred to me late in the Summer of 2007.
it
Inthose days, I was Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies
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c, atFordham University, where 1 still enjoy being a professor, and LanceStrate wasmy
AssociateChair forgraduate studies. Lanceand Iwere discussing whyour department's
coursesin "new media" were suffering from lowenrollments, and itdawned on me that
these courses, despite their appellation, were focused on topics that were old: how to
useHTML,the general impact ofthe Web and email, and so forth.These subjects were
"new"in the mid-1990s. In contrast, in the summer of2007, students and people at
largewere eager to talk about blogging, Facebook, and YouTube,and we had noticed
manyastudent loggingon toasocialmedium during classesinthe prior Spring and Fall
semesters. Isaid to Lancethat weshould begin offeringcourses in new new media. The
followingSpring, I taught a graduate course that examined how the 2008 presidential
campaigninAmericawasbeing fueledbyblogging,Facebook, and YouTube.
LanceStrateplayed another formativerolein this book. Inthe Fallof2007, he gave
myname to Aron Keesbury, an acquisitions editor who was looking fornew books for
CQPress.Ipitched severalbooks toAwn, and heseizedon New New Media. Isent hima
provisionaltableofcontents, and,although wewerenotabletocornetomutuallyagreeable
Contractualterms, Aron deserves credit forseeingthe need forthis book and thanks for
providingstimulating conversationsabout itstopics.
Inthe same week that Imet Awn, Charles Stenn came to Fordham University to
Videotapeme,aUday, forthe Mass Media Revolution multimedia textbook he waswriting
andproducing forPearsonbooks. Severalmonths later, Chuck suggested that hiseditor,
jeanne Zalesky,might be interested inNew New Media.
jeanne hasbeen an idealeditor. Anauthor writesabook, andaneditor commends it
toapublisher and, in tum, guides the publisher incommending the book to the world.
jeanne's spirited and savvychampioning ofNew New Media has been invaluable in the
publication of this book. Thanks as well to Danielle Urban of Elm Street Publishing
Servicesforfineproject management.
In my dual capacity as author and professor, every book that I write-s-even my
sciencefiction-iS to some degree indebted to the inspiration ofmystudents, now and
xv
over the years, tothe questions they asked and the stimulus they provided. But New New
Media isespecially aproduct ofthe undergraduate classes 1taught at Fairleigh Dickinson
University in the 1970s and 1980s, the graduate classes I taught at the New School
forSocial Research and forthe Connected Education Online Program in the 1980s and CHAPTER.
1990s and, most significantly, the undergraduate and graduate courses Ihave been
teaching at Fordham University the past decade. Icannot possibly thank every student
by name. But two in particular-Mike Plugh and Yulia Golobokova-made contribu-
(J) tions sovaluable that their names not onlyappear here inmy acknowledgments but also
f- inthe pages ofthe book. Why "New New"
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::;; Thanks, aswell, to several practitioners of new new media who provided valuable
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o insights and infonnation-Bama Donovan, Emon Hassan, Ken Hudson, and Mark Molaro.
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--' One ofthe themes ofNew New Media that Ihave been exploring for years is how Media?
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o digital and mobile communication have been blending business and personal, family life.
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Mywife,TinaVozick, hasbeen anindispensable discussant and reader ofthis book prior
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-c to publication-in [act, the only reader of the complete book prior to its reaching my
o editor's desk-and her work onWikipedia wasespecially helpful to me in the writing of
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« that chapter. Our children, Simon and Molly, now adults, have also been a continuing
uor resource. Simon introduced me to Facebook in 2004, and Molly was the one who first
i£ alerted me to the degree to which people her age, in their early 205, watch television
ur online.
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Tha.twas several.ye~rsago, and New New Media is a snapshot and analysis of the / THE VERY LAST THING I WROTE FOR THE FIRST EDITION OF
extraordmary revolution m communication, and thus our lives that has occurred since New New Media, inJune 2009, was the following:
then and.isstill occurring almost daily. Consider, forexample,' that just about a month
Here isa timeline ofsome of the major clashes of new media wHhdictatorial governments
agothe first tweet wassent fromanastronaut in outer space..
in the20th and 21st centuries:
PAUL LEVINSON
1942--43: The White Rose uses photocopying totellthetruth to Germans about the Nazi
NEW YORK CITY
government. fails todislodge the Nazis.
JULY2009
1979: Audio cassettes ofAyatollah Khomeini distributed inIran. Succeeds infomenting
successful revolution against Shah.
19805: Samizdat video in the Soviet Union criticizes Soviet government. May have
helped pave the way for Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost, and end of
Soviet rule.
1989: Email gets word out to the world about Tiananmen Square protests. Fails to
dislodge Chinese government.
2001: Cellphones help mobilize peaceful opposition to President Estrada in
Philippines. The Second People Power Revolution succeeds.
2009: Twitter and YouTube get word out to the world about Iranian opposition to
reported election outcome. Result: notyet clear asofthis writing.
What is clear today-almost three years later, at the beginning of 2012-is that
although the Green Revolution in Iran has not yet succeeded there, it has burst forth in
the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements in the United States ofAmerica and
around the world. These are expressions ofdirect democracy, a form ofgovernment that
began inAncient Athens, wassoon supplanted by the empires ofAlexander the Great and
Rome,and that has not been seen inmany places since then. Instead, the democratic soci-
etiesofthe world-in the United States, Europe, and, increasingly in the 20th century, in
other parts ofthe world-have been indirect or representative democracies, with elected than flesh-and-blood-are one of the primary components of new new media, and will
officials expressing, inprinciple, the will of the people. receive considerable attention in this book.
These representative democracies have been facilitated by what we today call «old But older media-whether just plain "new" such as Amazon and iTunes, or just
media"-first, the printing press, and then, inthe 20th century, radio and then television, plain "old" such as broadcasting and print-have significant social components as well.
the media ofbroadcasting. In these older media, which in the case ofradio and television People always talk about the books they read, the music they listen to, the movies and
still hold almost asstrong aposition today as in the past, afew people at the top-e-editors, television shows they see. Indeed, this often is done totally offline. Ifnot social com- s
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producers, or what are known in media theory as"gatekeepers"-make aUthe decisions ponents of these older media, what are bookstore reading groups and watercooler talk ur
about what information, news, and entertainment appear on their pages, airways, and about political candidates seen on television? Even conversing with a friend about what :2
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screens. Their audiences-including us-can thus easily receive and consume informa- you're watching on television or reading in a newspaper is an example of the intrinsic ur
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tion, but nor publish it. social quality of media. To communicate, in other words, even to receive information
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. In contr~st, the most recent, current media of the 21st century allow consumers one-way from a page or ascreen, is to socialize. ur
toJust aseasily produce and disseminate as receive and consume information. But this Sothe social aspect ofnew new media, though crucial, and in much greater evidence Z
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is ~or tr.ue.ofall information on the Web. The New York Times website is as subject than the social aspect ofolder media, isnot unique enough in new new media towarrant
to us editorial control as the physical newspaper. Even Amazon and tIunes work With our use of the terms "social media" and "new new media" interchangeably. In addition, CWfJ
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publishers.,not c.onsumers, forthe sources of most of their books and music, although other primary elements ofnew new media-such astheconsumer becoming aproducer- D-
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theeasewith which authors candirectly publish abook asaKindle edition isbeginning can easily be practiced by one person working alone, not socially, forexample, writing a
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tochang~that. Buton Facebook or Twitter, on YouTube or Coogle-. on Wikipedia ora blog post or recording avideo. 0:
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blog,which anyone cancreate, the reader and the publisher are often the same person- Itisfartoo latetochange the "socialmedia" appellation that wehear daily, incessantly,
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aconsume.r/p.roducer who now nurnbers 'In the luIgh hundreds of mi'lli,ons around the inthe older mass media todescribe YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Butwe can try fora oZ
world. This ISwhy Icallthese media notjust "new" but "new new" media to distinguish more discerning terminology inthis book.
New ::>
the.lack .ofpower that new media such asAmazon and iTunes and The York Times C!)
onhne giveto producers versus the enormous power that "new di ". 1d'
F b k . new me ta, me u mg
ace 00 .Twitter, and YouTube, put Ineveryone's hands.
Guiding Principles of New New Media
ermenTtheacfeeruvrearlyotnheemaes opfrotdhuiscesreconddedd"ition of New New. Med'ta I,Show thiISempow-
s an isserrunaton of Information is continuing to Butwhat are the distinguishing characteristics ofthese media-the common denominators
change the ways all of us live w k d I h
only Occupy W IIS b' I or ,an pay, T e change ignited and facilitates not ofFacebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, blogging, and the other media addressed in
a treet, ut aso the Tea Pt'
thisbook-that set them allapart, indifferent but overlapping ways, from older media?
the political spectrum in the United St t ~ry-m ~any ways at the opposite end of
a Every Consumer Is a Producer: This is the central, underlying characteristic shared
dissatisfaction with representative ove es- e~ause ~.eTea P~ny s~ems from the same
can giveeveryone am h dir rn~ent, Inadigital age In which new new media by all new new media. Anyone reading a blog can start a blog nearly instantly. A blog
uc more irect VOlC. d .. b
pertains not only to pelitic b Is em ectstons a out society. And the change on MSNBC.com or on NYTimes.com is an example not of new new media but of new
s, lit a a to how we 1" dail U ' media. MSNBC's blogs are on the Web, which makes them new media. But their readers
world, where the restaurants' hi h . .lYeour atyves In the real offline
wham wesocialize-who "fallInw" IC ' we are dInmg can be known by everyone W'Ith at most have a secondary, indirect impact on the words in the blog-i-they may be able
.Instantly and wherever we anodwshusmsome wayon Faceb00k.Twiu'er, Foursquare- tocomment on the blog, but they cannot alter ablog post or create a new post or create
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and offline lives become that it t e n~aybe..Indeed, so integrared have our online a new blog on MSNBC.col11. In contrast, a blog you create allows you to amend and
Wherever we may be wh,ether1 rnIa' kes Increa,smgly Iess sense to even use those terms. remove any post, to create new ones, and to decide whether or not comments will be
, on me or offline wh th . .
the real world or about someth' . ' e el tweetmg about our actions in allowed-in other words, the blogger has allthe powers ofthe traditional publisher over
. Ing weJust encoum d I' ,
media world inwhich both thed' . I ere on me, we mhabit a new new her or his blog. In the case of Wikipedia, not only do reader/editors have the power to
Iglta and physical areclose at hand. edit the articles at any lime, they, in fact, do this all the time.
Butthat is not the only defining characteristic ofnew new media. Other character-
istics indude the following:
Why "New N "
, ew Ratherthan "Social" Med' ? You Get What You Don't Pay For: New new media are always free to the consumer
la. and sometimes to the producer. Amazon and iTunes therefore again are examples not
h'lller, Facebook, andYouTube
"newnewmedia" todescribe themare rdegulharlcyalled "socialmedia," sowhy use the term of new new media but new media, because the books and other items on Amazon,
Th' an Ot er media '. and the songs on iTunes, are for sale. [n contrast, avideo with a song on the new new
emedia that allowCons weexamme Inthis book'l
Ear·more mteractive than older~moob~n ~eproducers are undoubtedly 'social and medium YouTube is free. Bloghost sites such asBlogspot and Word press are free to the
about what we do and think b'onel~\Va~media such as teleVision. We tweet not' only blogs' producers. Wikipedia relies on funding drives (much like the Public Broadcasting
mayor maynot already know'anui't aso I.n respoose to the tweets of others whom we SerVice)and is freeto its readers/editors (who are often one and the same). Twitter relies
meorm person "F' d" ' OnVenture capital and advertising, and is free to its reader/writer users. Facebook has
. flen s -much more likely digital
extensive advertising, has become apublicly owned corporation, and is free to its users. New New Media Ultimately Beyond the User's Control: But new new media do require
YouTube not only runs ads on itssite, but also offers revenue-sharing options to anyone underlying platforms beyond the control of their consumer/producers-whether
who uploads a video that does not infringe on someone else's copyright-the same Facebook mechanics, blogging systems, You'Iube formats, Wikipedia editing procedures,
Google AdSense system available to bloggers on any site-and YouTube is free to both and the like--even though the ratio of user input toafixed system ismuch more in favor
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viewers and uploaders ofvideos. of the user in new new media than in infrastructures such as Google and Yahoo. When 0W:
Traditional broadcast media have always been and continue to be free, having this the new new medium is operating well (no glitches) and as expected (no changes from f«D--
significant characteristic in common with new new media, and making them more akin the last time we used it), we tend to forget that the medium isunder someone else's con-
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1O new new media than Amazon and i'Iunes, which charge their customers. Cable tele- trol. But as soon as a medium changes any aspect of its interface, as Facebook has done w
vision, however, on which traditional broadcast television is now available, charges its several times ayear, we become aware that we are not in charge, and painfully aware if I
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customers. Traditional print media alsocharge-even though they, like broadcast media, wedo not like the change. The same occurs when amedium ceases operation (asVox did uo,
alsorelyon advertising-and some ofthem, such as TheNew York Tunes, have adopted a in 2010), or when it ispurchased by another organization that puts the acquired medium
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paywallmodel fortheir online services (readers have to pay), with mixed results. out of business. (Google purchased Aardvark, the question-and-answer medium, in Z
0~c' Compennveand Mutually Catalytic: As I detailed in Human Replay: A Theory oj the 2010, and shelved it in 2011.) WfZo-
u:;r; Evolution ojMedia (Levinson, 1979;see also The SoJtEdge,Levinson, 1997), media com- o
pete with one another for our time and patronage and live or die much as do living o
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ur organisms inthe Darwinian biological world. But as in the natural world, where organ- New New Media Encompass Prior 0<
Z;: isms live in symbtouc relationships-bees feed on plants and pollinate them, and we New Media Principles 0W:
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w enjoy the flowers and the honey-media in general, and new new media in particular,
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>- n~t onlycompete with one another but also work toeach other's benefit. A post on ablog One of the defining characteristics of even the oldest new media-what has been clear W
I;: WIth a~embedded Yo.uTubevideo can be automatically sent to Twitter, which generates since they arose over a decade ago in the midM1990s-is that people can use, enjoy, and I
f-
aone-hoe message WIththe blog's title, first line, and link, which in tum can be set to
benefit from them on the user's rather than the medium's timetable, once the content has
show up on Facebook and Linkedln, and via widgets or special applications on other been posted online. This provided and still offers abig advantage over having towait for
blogs. Each ofthese ~ew new media supports the others, even as itcompetes with all the the delivery ofyour morning newspaper, for aradio station to play your favorite song, or
o~h~rsf~rour auennon, Further, new new media are similarly competitive and syner- forthe weekly broadcast ofaseries you like on television. Those "media by appointment"
gISt1~~tholder media. Bloggers take readers away from books and viewers away from were and are characteristic of all old media, and the freeing of users from some of this
tele.Vlslon,but can wri~e.books and appear on television themselves, or at the very least appointment bondage by TiVo and DVR represents asignificant step in the evolution of
review bo~ks and television shows on their blogs. And newly created media can also spur
television from old to new medium.
older media tochange.A "to"n a[tprnrivacy aIterati'ons were instituted by Facebook due LO New new media give their users the same control over when and where to get text,
Google-, commented New Movement Media (Bodnar, 201l),
sound, and audiovisual content as provided by new media. Indeed, new new media
More than Search Engines and E l G l d snm '
mal. oog e an sirrular search engines and email continue all the advantages that new media have over old media. But new new media do
systems are the nervous systems fth W b h
ExpIcrer, FH' efox Choroeme and oth eo, t eonline equivalents of Microsoft Internet more. Unlike new media, where the user has to wait for the content to be produced by
the Internet E "I d ' . er systems on our computers that we use to traverse someone else-whether abook written by someone else that has tobe ordered or down-
. mal an searchmg are es . 1
new media themselves. Web-based m senna to new new media, but they are not new loaded on Amazon, whether asong written and recorded by someone else that has to be
new new media but s' 'I I k oney systems such as PayPal also can be crucial to downloaded on Hunes-the true or fully empowered new new media user also has the
urn ar ywar asthei .
in their own right Alth h G rservice systems rather than as new new media Option of producing content, and consuming content produced by hundreds of millions
, aug oogle and Pa P I f
operation of their email s h' . Y a are ree-and users can customize the of other new new media consumer/producers. This constitutes a de facto worldwide
, earc mg and in th f P
these systems cannot be fu d uallv e case a ayPal, banking procedures- community ofconsumer/producers that did not exist with older media.
n amenra y created'l h
way that readers can be WI,'t d di or even tailored by their users in t e
ers an e itors of Wiki d'
on their Facebook Timelines d d id 1 ipe ia or can choose what to put
,an eci e what v . I I f
and potemial Facebook reader I h arymg eve 0 access to give current The Order and Content of the Chapters
s. nt esame way Ith h
Yahoo message boards the mod f 'a DUg group members can write to
, erators a these g h I
over the discussions with th roups avecomplete, old-media contra The order of the chapters in the first edition of New New Media, completed in]une 2009,
, e power to remove . h
as Google's AdSense can play s 'f' . any given message. Applications suc provides a snapshot of the comparative importance and impact of the new new media
pec, 'c supportmg I f
of AdSense, earning money fr bl ro es ,or new new media-in the case back then:
vaIu'eand lmpact ofthose apphom . ogsfand YouT ubeVIdeos--and we will examine the
T . callons or the new d' , L Why "New New" Media'
wmer/Facebook_like system new me lathey support. Google+ 1Sa
'III 'oranew new med' h' 2, Blogging
W1 ook at itaswellinthis book. lUmt at lSoperated by Google, and we 3, YouTube
"You'Iube" (2005) moved from the third to the fourth chapter in this book, holding
4, Wikipedia steady at #3 in Alexa, even though it has become far more significant in the world at
5, Digg large than it was in 2009. It is in fourth place in this edition of New New Media only
6, MySpace because Facebook and Twitter have become even more important. With more than three
[j)
7, Facebook billion videos viewed daily at the end of2011-in contrast to 1.2 billion a day as ofJune a:
w
8. Twitter 2009-YouTube isarguably bigger than Facebook and Twitter together. But it isbigger f-
0.
9, Second Life in adifferent way-videos engage the viewer in amanner that isvery different from the <t:
Io
10, Podcasung written word-and Iplace it as the third leg of the overarching triad of new new media
11, The Dark Side ofNew New Media W
that are changing our world. I
12, New New Media and the Election of2008 "Wikipedia," moving from chapter 4 to 5, but up from #8 to #6 in Alexa ranking, fu-,
o
13. Hardware opened online shop in January 2001, which makes it the oldest specific new new
f-
medium considered in this book. Like You'Iube, Wikipedia has increased in importance Z
Alexa,a freeonline servicethat ranks specific Web media with an algorithm that takes W
and usage since 2009, and was placed a bit further back in this edition of New New f-
into aCCOUnlnumber of visitors, links on other websites, and so forth, had the following Media only because of the more extraordinary growth of Facebook, Twitter, and Zo
o
ranking inDecember 2008 fornew new media examined inthe firstedition of this book:
You'Tube. But Wikipedia is unique among new new media in ways that reach beyond o
YouTube #3, Facebook #5, Myspace #7, Wikipedia #8, Digg #294, Twitter #669, and its age and number of users: (1) First, although bloggmg competes with older media Z<t:
Second Life#3354 (Yahoowas ranked #1, and Google #2),
such as newspapers, and YouTube with television, the new new medium of Wikipedia a:
The order ofchapters inthis second edition ofNew New Media, completed in early w
is a head-on challenge to one of the most venerable media in the past few hundred o
2012, isastory of how dramatically and quickly the different new new media themselves a:
years: the encyclopedia. As a repository of authoritative information, an encyclopedia o
have comparatively evolved in under three years. Other than this opening chapter, no such as the Britannica operates (now online only) as the epitome of an expert-driven, w
chapter inthis edition isin the same place as in the firstedition. Further, some chapters I
top-down, vetted media system. In contrast, Wikipedia isliterally written by its readers f-
havebeen removed asstandalone chapters and compressed, and others---new chapters-
(100,000 reader/writers out of 365 million readers who could be reader/writers if they
havebeen added. The new chapter order and reasons forthese changes are as follows:
wished, in 2012; see Wikipedia, 2012, for current statistics). (2) Although Wikipedia's
"Facebook" (born in 2004) isthe subject of the second chapter in this new edition
readers daily write new articles (a total of 20 million in 283 different language editions
ofNewNewMedia, moving from 7to 2in chapter order (but because both editions have
independently written worldwide as of 2012) on a wide variety of topics, most of the
the introductory chapter as 1,Facebook has really moved from 6 to 1),and from #5 to
writing on Wikipedia isediting-correcting, expanding, tightening-of previously writ-
#2 InAlexa ranking asofDecember 2011, (Google as awhole moved up from #2 to#1
ten articles. This vetting by the world at large is another one of the prime principles of
~nAlexa,and Yahoo dropped from #1 to#5.) Atthe time the original edition was written
new new media. (3) Wikipedia isalso the most consistent in its denial of the old-media,
m 2009, Facebook had just pulled ahead of Myspace in number of users, but the two
professionally produced method ofgenerating articles. Although reader/editors work in a
~~re pretty much the same in terms of impact on the world. Today, in 2012, Facebook
loose hierarchy, with some editors having more power than Others, there are few articles
ISInanew new media class ofitsown. With more than 800 million active users as ofJuly
u.s, on Wikipedta in which even the newest reader/editor can have no input. In contrast,
201l, 4.27 billion dollars a year revenue in 2011 (lbillion of which was profit),
many of the videos on YouTube are professionally produced, and traditional press media
and a highly successful, award-winning movie (The Social Network) released in 2010
such as The NewYork Times publish blogs daily and more often,
about itscreation and development, Facebook towers over allother social media and has
In "Blogging" (1997 or earlier), formerly the second chapter in the book, now the
become, a\on~ wi.thTwitter and YouTube, all but synonymous with social media (i.e.,
sixth, we examine the first new new medium that isnot a specific system but ageneral,
new ~ew media) m the public mind. Further, Facebook more than any social medium
new kind of writing and publishing. It also is the oldest new new medium-the only
ha~finely atlu~ed, defined, and refined the notion ofan online "Friend" and its relation
one that harks back to the 1990s. Its mechanisms, the ways it empowers the writer,
to !OI-personfriends, and continues to do so with all manner of tinkering and changes
are a blueprint for all subsequent new new media, which in one way or another can all
on amost amonthly basis "Frie d h' ". . .
orlh'15b00k. . n s 'P m new new media IS one of the central themes be seen as derived from blogging. This is the reason blogging was put at the front of
the first edition of this book. Its movement further into the book reflects, again, not a
't'eTrWl3'ue1r("2006),the edighthchapter in the original edition of this book jumps to
diminishing of its importance, but the greater rate of growth of Facebook, Twitter, and
chap In tie current e ition d ha d '
han 300 'll' f' an s soare from.#669 to #10 In Alexa, At more YouTube. More than 165 million blogs were active in 2011, up from 130 million in
t16 b'll' rru Ionh'users as0 2011,eistsisI than halfthe user-size of Facebook but with 2008. Blogging-written and video-also brings to the fore the questlon of what and
. I Ion searc quenes aday on the Web- . '
Twitter isinmany ways)' t . searches forsomethmg that was tweeted- who is ajournalist, and therefore entitled to First Amendment protections. Ifwe agree
us aspromment asF b k d·
because it provides easy access I ace 00 ,an 10some ways more important, with Marshall McLuhan that "the medium isthe message," then the practice of reporting
to tle tweets of friend II . . ..
and celebrities. Google. lau h d . s as we as prommem polmclans the news makes the practltioner ajournalist, whatever the specific medium ofexpression,
, nc e 10June 2011 b G I h
Facebook (extensive prafl'les) d T . Y oog e, as characteristics of bod.' be itpaper press, broadcast television, blog, or video streaming and upload to YouTube.
an wmer (ease of .. .h
more likeT\vitler, and willb d' d ' posnng Wll and without links), butlS Such issues have relevance to the role of new new media in Occupy Wall Slreet.
e lSCUsse 111the Twllter chapter.
"Foursquare" (2009), currently ranking #782 in Alexa, makes its premiere appear- which can be considered an acoustic or audio form of blogging, was accorded its own
ance in this second edition of NewNew Media as chapter 7, with 10 million users in chapter-IO-in the firstedition. Since 2009, however, audio podcasts have increasingly
2011. Asa"locaucn-based" medium, in which users let their "Friends" know where they given way to videos or vidcasts, for dissemination on You'Iube or other video new new w
a:
areby "checking in"from the store, restaurant, movie, or even street comer they may be media sites. The many qualities that podcasting and vidcastmg have in common will be «
:;:
standing on, Foursquare can beseen as an offshoot of the "I'm at Tony's Pizza" aspect discussed in the YouTube chapter. The uniquely acoustic elements ofpodcasung will be o
ofTwitter-or the use ofTwitter to tell the world nothing more interesting than where assessed in the "Smaller Potatoes" chapter. a«:
you are. But because Foursquare is devoted exclusively to announcing your location The general position ofboth the original and current editions ofthis book isthat new I
o
in the real world, it represents the most evolved form of digitaVreal-world integration, new media provide significant, often revolutionary, benefits to the burgeoning number of z
-c
in contrast LO Twitter, which consists mostly of digital-only or digital-about-digital or people inthe world who employ these media forwork, play, and education. Butnew new «
digital-about-other-media communication. Further, Foursquare is the first and thus far media, likeallhuman tools, can alsobeput topersonally and socially destructive purposes, o
w
only major new new medium to require a smart phone or tablet such as an iPad-you including criminal and lethal actions. These range from new, digital renditions of long- ::!'
cannot "check in"[rom adesktop oreven alaptop-which underscores itsconnection to practiced bad behavior, such ascyberbullying and cyberstalking. tothestraightforward use :;:
w
physical placeand travelthrough the realworld. The cutting-edge hardware ofnew new ofsocial media forfacilitation ofcrimes, including robbery and murder. We explore some z
media-iPhones, BlackBerrys,Androids, iPads, Kindles, and so forrh-s-were assessed in ofthese abuses and crimes, aswell aspossible remedies that arise from new new media, in :;:
w
their 0\10.'11chapter 13inthe firstedition ofNew New Media, but will here be examined in chapter 9, 'The Dark Side of New New Media." We also examine some uses of new new z
the Foursquare chapter. media, such asWikileaks, which are deemed by some to be desuucuve to society but by uo,
"SmallerPotatoes" is the title of chapter 8 of this edition of New New Media, and others tobebona fideexpressions ofthe press, protected by the First Amendment. z
o
itis not the name of any new new media system. Rather, we consider in this chapter The first edition of this book wasconceived in the Fall of2007, when the campaign f=
several new new media that have diminished in importance since the first edition, but that elected Barack Obama president ofthe United States was already underway. Obama :J
.o.J
still warrant analysis in this book. Myspace (2003) now serves as a textbook example, at the time was called the first "cybergenic" president (Saffo, 2008; see also Levinson, >
literally, of the decline and fall of a new new medium in our still nascent new new quoted in Zurawik, 2008), but since then the knack of using new new media has been w
mediaage.Myspace had the greatest number ofvisitors to social media sites from 2005 learned by all political persuasions in the United States and the world at large. The
through the beginning of 2008, and had Itsown chapter 6 in the first edition of this concluding chapter of this new edition-chapter 10, "Politics and New New Media"-
book, ahead of Facebook. But Myspace had already dropped below Facebook by the examines the use of new new media by the Tea Party, Republican as well asDemocratic
timethe firstedition ofNew New Media was published in2009, and ithas since dropped candidates inthe American election campaigns of2012, and what in the long run may be
to 30 million users (from #5 to #138 in Alexa rank), and now functions primarily ~s even more important: Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and the resurgence ofdirect
amusi~ site. W.ewilllook at the reasons for Myspace's decline-selling for 35 million democracy around the world. We also continue to discuss in this chapter the role of the
dollars 1020ll m contrast tothe billions ofdollars Facebook isexpected to raise in 2012 First Amendment in protecting new new media journalists and their coverage ofOccupy
frompublic investors-and compare Myspace toother music sites such as Reverbnation Wall Street events.
and Soundcloud, Digg (2004) had its own chapter 5in the first edition of this book-
ahead ofboth Myspace and Facebook-with some 236 million visitors in 2008 and a
top 20Alex.ar~nkin~ at the height ofitsinfluence inthe us.2008 presidential election.
Speed in the Evolution of New New Media
As anewssite lt1whlc~ users votestories up and down ("digg"and "bury") with the most
successful stones gelllng on the Digg front page, Digg represented and still represents and Hardware
another w.ayinwhich consumers (readers) arebecoming producers (editors) in the new
new media a~e. But fora V~rietyofreasons that we will explore, Digg fell to 50 million The sheer speed in the evolution of new new media is evident in the previously noted
usersa year m2011, dipping below its long-standing rival Reddit, which has played a shifts in importance and existence of new new media systems and sites. YouTube and
significaru rolel~thedissemination ofinformation about Occupy Wall Street and which Twitter, which played such an important role in the U.S. presidential election in 2008,
we als·o look at m this chaprer. (0Igghad already fallen to #294 on Alexa'by the end given the relative lack of use of these media by the McCain campaign in contrast to
af2008, and IScurrently up to #194 ith R ddi Obama's.did not even exist in the election of 2004. The role they will play in the 2012
(2003),the system 1.0 Wh.ich people 'Iwit b e idt surpassing it at #114.) Second Life election is therefore not predictable except in the very general sense that they will have
socialactivitiesviath . pay, uyan sell products, and engage in online
major, likely decisive, impact-with tweets heralding breaking political news; YouTube
.. hanavatars,wasnot too largeeven in2009(#3354 inAlexa) when it
wasgiven ItSown c apter 9inthis book and' h ' bringing video coverage [or first sight and review 24 hours a day; and Facebook,
online Cm-world") at th b '. ' 1t ad more than 82,000 concurrent users
e egmrung of that yea S d L·' , blogging, Wikipedia, and the rest providing context and elaboration ofrapidly changing
users began dropping th t d b r. econ ires number of concurren.t
a year an y 2010 d . Stones and events.
able for2011 as ofthis writi B. average 54,000, with no figures avail-
g But the evolution of new new media is happening so fast that the constellation of
Liferemains the best examlplln .ftil ItsAllex~ranking has risen to #2608, and Second
e 0 camp ere immerst . d·· the media themselves will change between the time Iam writing this second edition of
sense at the oppOSiteend ofth rSlon tn a Igltal realm. It is in that
enewnew media s f New New Media and the time you are reading it. Myspace faded from the central picture
pectrum rom Foursquare. Podcasting,