Culture

This Week’s Buzz within the Digital Space (May 3rd-7th)

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The iNews

As usual, Apple was a dominant source of news this week. The company announced that they had reached and surpassed their 1M iPads sold milestone‘all within a month of their product launch. Now the question, since all the early adopters have adopted, who will be buying their product next month?

Apple also released more information about their anticipated iAd platform, a service which will allow brands to engage their consumers on Apple products while also surrendering their creative over to Apple designers. The company reported an entry fee of at least $1M for advertisers who want to be involved when the new platform roles out.  Marketers must weigh the hefty price tag against the positive PR that will surround being an innovative company who advertises on the new technology.

Furthermore, these iAds will be built to support HTML5, and so, the Adobe versus Apple saga continues.  Since Steve Jobs’ letter last week which sought to explain the company’s many reasons for not supporting Adobe Flash on their products, the media has been buzzing about the transition from the Flash platform to more ‘open’? alternatives.

Online Privacy

Outside Cupertino, there’s other buzz to be heard. There was much discussion this week on legislation that could significantly impact marketers’ use of consumer data online. As the Internet continues to make privacy scarce, lawmakers are attempting to secure users’ identifying information’including their IP numbers which facilitate behavioral targeting. This could have implications on how marketers’ deliver personalized advertisements.

ROFLcon II

And digital happenings IRL! The Internet gathered in person last week at MIT for two action-packed days of panels, lectures and keynotes on the ever evolving role of Internet memes and the larger influence of Interent culture in today’s world. And of course, there was a little time for chatroulette bingo. What did we learn from two days of rolling-on-the-floor laughing? Internet culture, however loosely defined, is becoming an increasingly powerful influence on the mainstream. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Debate among yourselves within the comments section below, or within the comments on the next cat youtube video that goes viral.

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