Slides used in the MAC309 session this semester

1. Ownership, concentration, convergence Google? MAC309 1

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9. megamedia– concerns for culture – concerns for news - search Recent trend: megamedia fewer and fewer corporations owning more and more media outlets (i.e. concentration) through merger, hostile acquisition, strategic partnership owning across platform; across places; across news/entertainment divide corporations that do more than just produce media 9

10. megamedia– concerns for culture – concerns for news - search 10

11. megamedia– concerns for culture – concerns for news - search Economics of megamedia Media is a ‘public good’, experiences and ‘economy of scale’ Consuming media does not make it unavailable to others Privileges firms with available capital Urges firms to seek bigger audiences 11

12. megamedia– concerns for culture – concerns for news - search Economics of megamedia Media is a ‘public good’, experiences and ‘economy of scale’ Integration, on vertical and horizontal dimensions Vertical: owning steps along the production process Horizontal: owning multiple outlets for product 12

13. 13 Vertical integration Production Distribution Horizontal integration Publishing Radio Television Press Consumption

14. megamedia– concerns for culture – concerns for news - search 20th Century Fox Fox Searchlight Fox Television Studios Blue Sky Studios Sky (+) Fox FX Sky 1, 2, 3 Sky Movies 14 Vertical: film production (egThe Simpsons Movie) Harper Collins The Sun MySpace IGN STAR

15. megamedia– concerns for culture – concerns for news - search 20th Century Fox Fox Searchlight Fox Television Studios Blue Sky Studios Sky (+) Fox FX Sky 1, 2, 3 Sky Movies 15 Horizontal: film production (egThe Simpsons Movie) Harper Collins The Sun MySpace IGN STAR

16. megamedia–concerns for culture– concerns for news - search Implications of media concentration? Homogenisation of content? Incessant cross-promotion? 16

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18. megamedia–concerns for culture– concerns for news - search Implications of media concentration? Homogenisationof content? Incessant cross-promotion? Huge cost of entry for independents, new creators, smaller interests? Bottom-line trumps creativity? Loss of local character of media? 18

19. megamedia– concerns for culture–concerns for news - convergence Implications of media concentration? Homogenisation of content? Incessant cross-promotion? Huge cost of entry for independents, new creators, smaller interests? Bottom-line trumps creativity? Loss of local character of media? Fewer sources of information? Take safe political positions… or agenda-driven ones? Unlikely to report fairly on their own public impact 19

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21. megamedia– concerns for culture–concerns for news - search Implications of media concentration? Homogenisation of content? Incessant cross-promotion? Huge cost of entry for independents, new creators, smaller interests? Bottom-line trumps creativity? Loss of local character of media? Fewer sources of information? Take safe political positions… or agenda-driven ones? unlikely to report fairly on their own public impact… or on the political situations that benefit them or on the problems of corporate capitalism? Lobbying power, international influence 21

22. Searching for answers 22

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24. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Google 1998: search engine launched 2004: public stock offering 2006: ‘google’ added to the OED 24 <link>

25. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy 25 <link>

26. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy 26 <link>

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36. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Is the search industry concentrated? 36 <link>

37. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Is the search industry concentrated? 37 <link>

38. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Is the search industry concentrated? Dominated by a few firms Capital intensive to compete Overwhelmingly supported by ad revenue Companies are expanding well beyond search and access Overwhelmingly American 38

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40. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Is our use of the web dominated by these providers? 40

41. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Does concentration matter here? Traditional media business: 2 commodities - Providecontent to audience - Provideaudienceto advertiser Tendency to want to shape content to serve most viewers 41

42. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Does concentration matter here? Traditional media business: 2 commodities - Providecontent to audience - Provideaudienceto advertiser Tendency to want to shape content to serve most viewers Search: provide platform for every user to find exactly what they want Generally less interested in the content More important to be comprehensive and satisfying Automation of search removes some human involvement 42

43. Search? SEO? Spam?

44. concentrated search– the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy What explains the corporate presence in our top searches? Google’s ‘PageRank’ algorithm? Search results based on incoming links, not just content Wisdom of the crowd? Popularity contest? Self-affirming, high-ranked links stay high? Corporate power over content production, search merely delivers? Do the structures of ‘information access’ shape our engagement with that information? 44

45. concentrated search –the pull of advertising– platform lock-in - privacy Does the dependence on ad revenue affect search? DoubleClick: serves up banner ads to web pages AdSense: matches ads to webpage content AdWords: matches ads to search terms Sponsored and affiliated links 45

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49. concentrated search – the pull of advertising –platform lock-in- privacy Are there new implications of concentration in search? Established firms curtail innovation? Lobbying power? Platform lock-in? Search (+ advertising) + applications Ad revenue makes it desirable to keep users coming back Google apps feed users back to search engine 49

50. concentrated search – the pull of advertising –platform lock-in- privacy Search (+ advertising) + applications Ad revenue makes it desirable to keep users coming back Google apps feed users back to search engine 50

51. concentrated search – the pull of advertising –platform lock-in- privacy Search (+ advertising) + applications Ad revenue makes it desirable to keep users coming back Google apps feed users back to search engine Steet View Latitude Android Wave Buzz Voice Gmail News Reader Maps Earth Android YouTube Groups Docs Calendar Books Scholar Chrome OS Goggles Checkout Shopping Images Desktop Video Sketch UP Picassa Orkut Talk Blogger Chrome Desktop 51

52. concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy Are there new implications of concentration in search? Established firm curtails innovation? Lobbying power? Platform lock-in? Information privacy? Google saves search queries Uses Gmail and Deja as consumer data Maps, Street View, Latitude… 52

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60. http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/01/10/google-street-view-fails-wins-wtfs/

61. Latitude http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k Check out Aka Aki too: http://www.aka-aki.com/ 61

62. Other stuff Google book deal? Behaviourial advertising