Blog 6

Convergence culture is when cultures begin to come together. For example technological, industrial, cultural, and social changes have all been linked together in some way or another. The power of participation is greatly appreciated when talking about convergence culture. 

Creative  engagement is something that is offered to consumers in order to make them want to participate or engage themselves in the things they enjoy. Television shows such as American Idol and the Voice use this in almost every episode allowing people to call in and vote on their favorite singer to win a competition. Creative engagement is also a very powerful tool because it gives consumers a voice and allows them to feel as if they can make a difference. It is so powerful in fact, that more people engaged themselves in voting for American Idol last year than voted for the presidential election. This may be inaccurate because of the number of times one person can vote, but it is still a powerful statistic.

Blog 5

• LONG TAIL
• Online business model
• Selling large amounts of more obscure items to many people (e.g. Amazon, Netflix, HD Jukebox)
• Small number of items, big impact (few large cities vs. several small ones)
• Characteristics
• High number of goods
• Low cost of reaching markets
• Ease of finding niche products
• Flattening of the demand curve for mainstream hits

Tailoring to personal tastes and a wide variety of people. 
Cross subsidies is something that I get sucked into all too often, for example a free cell phone is offered online, but it comes with a contract that you have to pay a monthly bill on.

• What’s free: any product that entices you to pay for something else.
• Free to whom: everyone willing to pay eventually, one way or another
• E.g. games, phone contracts, Amazon Prime, infomercials w/ shipping and handling

I agree most with Reed's Law, this law is also known as web 2.0 and deals with social media. Social media is becoming more and more relevant to all ages in both professional and non-professional aspects. The ages of people actively using social media websites range from 9-90. With that being said there are all sorts of information and entertainment that appeals to almost any type of person at any age. Social media is 100% online wether it is accessed on a person's cell phone or computer, making the vast information accessible in an instant. People used to get their information from newspapers, but that is slowly changing due to the inexpensive cost and how many people are able to be reached by social media in a much faster way. Five years from now, I predict that nothing will change, unless social media somehow finds a way to become even more progressive.

Why do people blog? There are many reasons why people blog, this reading showed that there are 5 major reasons why people blog: documenting ones life, providing commentary and opinions, expressing emotions, articulating ideas, and forming and maintaing community forums. There is no right or wrong way to blog. Blogging has several different uses from politics, to keeping up with family or friends, to expressing yourself in a journalistic way. Blogging is interesting because there are no set rules. A person can make their blog as interesting or as boring as they please; its their blog. Everyone has their own personal codes of ethics dictating what gets put in their blog and what stays out. Blogs can be interesting and helpful, but they can also be hurtful to certain people as I found in the reading. One guy advertised his blog url to the public and then ended up hurting one of his friends feelings because he used a personal example and a friends actual name. Eventually the blogger realized what he had done and took down his blog as well as his advertisement. One must be careful when blogging or putting anything on the internet for that matter because it is all traced back to a persons online identity. I think blogging is a great way for people to be themselves and stay connected.