Case Study: Zavvi

How have online media developed?:
Zavvi started out in 1971, originally under the name of Virgin Megastores, as a part of The Virgin Group created by Richard Branson. In 2007 it was renamed Zavvi after a management buyout. In 2009 all high street stores were shut down. Zavvi got into trouble when it's main supplier, Woolworths, went into administration, and forcing Zavvi, at a later date, to go into administration itself also. The company resumed progress on their website Zavvi.com.


What has been the impact of the internet on media production?:
Zavvi's website sells many things, from albums, DVDs, and games. Basically everything the store sold, and more since the stores discontinued.

How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?:

Zavvi's website offer recommendations when going to buy an item, for example, other items by that person, or other items people bought who also bought the item in question.

They also offer customer reviews and descriptions so you know what to expect before purchasing the item.

To what extent has convergence transformed the media?:

Unlike other websites, Zavvi doesn't have a convergence link to social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

The Social Network

The Social Network.

The Social Network is a film about the setup and first 6 to 12 months of Facebook.
It starts out showing Mark Zuckerberg with his ex girlfriend who just happens to split up with him. In a rage he first blogged about her while hacking sororities photos so he could set up a website, Facesmash to make himself feel better. This rated girls against each other to see who was 'hotter'.
Seeing the success of this Zuckerberg was perused by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who wanted to set up a dating website for Harvard students knows as the Harvard connection. After the first meeting or two Zuckerberg took somewhat of the same idea and used different processes to set up 'the facebook'  a complete social network site for only people with a harvard email address.

Soon afterward, Mark approaches Eduardo and tells him of his idea for what he calls "Thefacebook", an online social networking website exclusive to Harvard University students. He explains this would let people share personal and social information securely. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing $1,000 to help start the site. They distribute the link to Eduardo's connections at the Phoenix S-K final club, and it quickly becomes popular throughout the student body. When they learn of Thefacebook, the Winklevoss twins and Narendra believe Zuckerberg had stolen their idea while stalling on their website. Tyler and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Cameron convinces them they can settle the matter as "Harvard gentlemen" without the courts. Meanwhile, Mark continues to add features like "relationship status" to the profile page, since "people don't walk around wearing signs."
At a visiting lecture by Bill Gates, fellow Harvard University student Christy Lee introduces herself and her friend Alice Cantwel to Eduardo and Mark. She asks the boys "Facebook us"; their use of this phrase impresses both of them. Christy invites them to a bar where Mark runs into Erica, who is not aware of Thefacebook because she is not a Harvard student. Mark decides to expand the site to more schools. As Thefacebook grows in popularity, they expand to other schools in the Northeastern United States, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra become angrier at seeing "their idea" advance without them. Cameron refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct. Through their father's connections they arrange a meeting with Harvard President Larry Summers, who is dismissive and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in Thefacebook website itself.
Through Christy, now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster co-founder Sean Parker. When Christy, Mark, and Eduardo meet Sean, Eduardo becomes skeptical noting Sean's problematic personal and professional history. Christy thinks Eduardo is jealous of Sean, and attempts to calm him to avoid a scene. Sean presents a vision for Facebook similar to Mark's and impresses him. In a parting comment, Sean suggests they drop the "The" from Thefacebook.
At Sean's suggestion, Mark moves the company to Palo Alto, while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support. Meanwhile in England, while competing in the Henley Royal Regatta for Harvard, the Winklevoss twins discover Facebook has expanded to a number of universities there. Cameron finally relents and they decide to sue. When Eduardo visits from New York, he is angered to find Sean is living at the house they have rented and is making business decisions for Facebook. After arguing with Mark, Eduardo freezes the company's bank account and returns to New York. Upon returning, Christy argues with Eduardo about his Facebook profile, which still lists him as "single". When Christy questions Eduardo about why he has not changed his Facebook profile, he tells her he does not know how to, further infuriating Christy because she believes he is lying. She cites his profile as evidence he cheated on her with promiscuous women in Silicon Valley and sets fire to a scarf he has given to her. While Eduardo extinguishes the fire, Mark reveals on the phone that they have secured money from an angel investor through Parker's contacts. Eduardo ends his relationship with Christy.
Eduardo soon discovers the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company from thirty-four percent to three hundredths of a percent, while maintaining the ownership percentage of all other parties. He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him. Later that night, during a party celebrating Facebook's 1 millionth member, Sean and a number of Facebook interns are arrested for possession of cocaine.
The framing device throughout the film shows Mark testifying in depositions in two lawsuits: one filed by the Winklevoss twins, and the other filed by Eduardo. In the final scene, a junior lawyer for the defense informs Mark they should settle with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's personality will make a jury highly unsympathetic. The film ends with Mark sending a friend request to Erica on Facebook, and refreshing the page every few seconds waiting for a response.

Five Big Ideas

1. By Adam.
Peering is used in the music industry online. Peering is good for new music artists as it gives them the opportunity to upload and share their music and build a fan base and try to get noticed by a record label. On the other hand however once this new music artist begins to charge for their music, peering makes it easier for the artist's fans to illegally and freely download music, which will negatively effect the music artist. 


2. Free Creativity. Free creativity is a natural and positive outcome of the free market, it basically lets artist share their artistic works through the Internet. 


Examples

Realise by Wibz

This is a screen grab from Sound Cloud where people in bands who create music individually can upload their own music to the site and then share through facebook and other social networking sights. The screen grab is from my friends profile who uploads his personal works and works the he has created at university. He then shares them with his friends and gets creative feedback from everyone. This could also act as an oppertunity for him to just send links to people in the media world or for him to be 'discovered' such as artists like Jessie J and Justin Bieber on youtube.com by uploading videos of them singing.

Example.   

A few examples for music sharing that may not come from the artist include www.spotify.com, Www.mediafire.com, www.it-leaked.com, and Napster.

3. By Rachel.

http://mediaandtheonlineage.blogspot.com/

https://hsfc.blackboard.com/webapps/login/

4. By Sarah.
Web 2.0 makes thinking globally inevitable. The internet is the 'worlds biggest coffeehouse', a virtual space in which a new blog is created every second. In this instantly global communication sphere, national and cultural boundaries are inevitably reduced.'

These images are examples of a virtual space. It is a prime example of just how many blogs are created every day. 

Twitter and Tumblr are just 2 of many popular social networking sites that contribute to global communication.

5. By Anna.
The combination of three things - technology (web 2.0), demographics (young people are described as 'digital natives' - they have grown up in a collaborative virtual world which to them is natural and instinctive) and economics (development of a global economy where business can, and must, think of its market as an international, given that traditional, national production structures have declined as we have entered the knowledge economy) - results in a perfect storm, which creates such a force that is impossible, so any media company trying to operate without web 2.0 will be like a small fishing boat n the sea during this freak meteorological occurrence.'
An example of this is stores which have online websites for example Debenhams

History of Online Age

The history of the online age. on Prezi

Chris Anderson's 'the Long Tail' theory 2006

This is a graph showing an example of the long tail theory. It is showing popularity ranking.

The green area of the graph shows mainstream product popularity when the product is first released, the yellow part shows when the product sales descend over the years. 

Link To Sally's Blog

http://mediaandtheonlineage.blogspot.com