Wiki-Wiki

Wikinomics, not to be confused with Thuganomics (WWE’s John Cena), is a term used to describe information sharing. What do I mean by information sharing? The information sharing of anything, but it is shared through the internet. Examples of Wikinomics are WikiPedia, Pinterest, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and the list goes on and on.

The whole point of information sharing across the internet, or the various sites listed above, so people can give feedback. People who view certain things will be able to give their own opinion, and they will be able to come up with their own assumptions as to whether a product is good or not. It is also ‘Mass Collaboration’. You have so many people commenting and reading about something that it is an online community.

Possibly the most used site for sharing is…..YouTube. YouTube is used for uploading videos to the world. Some people have their own shows on YouTube. Others use it to view videos in their spare time. I have a video discussing Wikinomics. Through my blog, and through the video, here are two ways Wikinomics is being used.

Another way Wikinomic is used is through social media. I mentioned Facebook and Myspace, but I almost forgot about one, Twitter. In the next video, you may notice it is from a popular show, the Celebrity Apprentice. In the episode, the celebrities are giving a presentation about a new Buick automobile. Not only are they presenting to a live audience, but it is being shown on Buick’s Twitter feed. The celebrities then take questions from people in the audience, as well as on Twitter. So information is not only being shared in person, but across the internet medium.

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1389848

On my Facebook right now, at 11:18 pm, there is a video ESPN posted, and it has nearly 1,000 comments already. The mass collaboration gives us a forum to read and to comment on. These are the different tools we have at our disposal to make decisions on. That is what I take away after doing the reading. 

Digital Age

In today’s world, we live in the era of iTunes. This site, application, place, etc. gives us a platform to download music legally and at a cheap price. iTunes is where the Digital Music age has taken us.

After every American Idol performance, Ryan Seacrest will announce that all the performances will be available on iTunes. When John Cena is running down to the ring on a WWE-televised event, an advertisement will pop up in the corner of the screen. The advertisement says you can download John Cena’s theme song at iTunes.

Twelve years ago, Napster was where the digital music age kicked off. However, Napster was illegally downloading and sharing music. In Lehman’s terms, Napster was not paying any artist for their songs being shared or downloaded, unlike iTunes which will charge people $1.99 for a song or video.

The band, Metallica, sued Napster in 2001, which in the fall of 2001, Napster was forced to shutdown. It was a victory for Metallica, who was at the front of not being paid for their music being shared.

After Napster, you had your Kazaa, Bearshare, and other music-download websites that eventually got the boot like Napster. iTunes offers the same thing Napster did, but it’s legal. iTunes is convenient. If you have an IPhone, then you more than likely have an iTunes application on the phone. We have a store in our own phone.

iTunes is here to stay. Until some other company comes along and really competes against them, they will dominate the music-industry as far as sales. CDs are fading out. No one wants to pay $15 for a CD anymore. You can get an entire album on iTunes for $10-$13. You can buy songs individually, so you don’t have to deal with the songs you don’t want. Like I said before, iTunes is convenient for us the consumer.

The only question left is what’s next for the music industry? How long will the artists stay with iTunes? My answer: As long as they’re getting paid for their music, iTunes will stick around for a long time.