Twitter is a free, real time, short messaging, social networking site launched in 2006. It involves micro blogging which is where users post updates of what they are doing at that current time, in no more than 140 characters. Users can send and receive updates even if they aren’t at a computer through SMS, email or applications such as twitterific (a client used on Iphones and the Ipod touch). Users can also view other peoples tweets on their phones.
Twitter is used for many different reasons. The main reason that twitter is used (or so it says on the homepage of its website) is to keep in contact with friends, family and co-workers to find out exactly what it is they are up to. However it can also be used in a professional manner, in which contacts can be found in order to discuss different topics, of similar professions. Twitter is also used by ‘celebrities’ or of people on their behalf to talk about what they are doing at the moment. For example, Britney Spears has a Twitter account. According to one newspaper article in the New York Times, Twitter is also used by terrorists to coordinate their movements, activities and attacks.
Tweets have to be 140 characters or less. In order to add more context to the tweets, Twitter uses hashtagging. Hashtags are basically a way of adding additional context and metadata to tweets. They are similar to tags on Flickr etc. however they are inline with your tweet – added on to the end of it. They are created by simply prefixing a hash symbol (#) to a word.
There are also different ways of just viewing peoples tweets, for example by then use of Twittervision. Twittervision is a real time geographical visualisation of posts to twitter. It is basically a picture of the world (powered by Google). Once someone, somewhere in the world, posts a tweet, their location and their tweet will appear on the map, with an arrow pointing to that location. It can be zoomed right out to the whole world or zoomed right in and you can see what street the person is posting from. Twittervision can also be seen in a 3D version where you can see the world as a globe as opposed to the original view which is a flat version of the world. As well as being available online, it is also available as an application on Iphones and the Ipod touch.
Twitter also has a ranking system. It seems that there are few versions of this ranking system. One of the ones that I found was a website called twitterholic. On this website, is a list of the 100 best ‘twitterholics’ according to followers. Currently Barack Obamas page is leading with 108,840 followers.
Bit Torrent
Bit Torrent
Bit Torrent is a protocol used for transferring files. It is a peer to peer (p2p) file sharing system which means that users connect directly to one another in order to transfer portions of the file. It is used to distribute large amounts of data. Bit torrent can be used to share any number of different types of files including music, games, pictures etc.
How Bit Torrent Works
A file is originally distributed by one person, who we call the ’seed’. Once this file has been uploaded, users can browse the web to find the bit the torrent file that they are interested in. These users then download the torrent file and open it with a bit torrent client. The purpose of the torrent client is to connect to the torrent file and any other ‘peer’ who is using it. More than one person currently transferring pieces of the file is called a swarm. If only the seed has the file or parts of it, then the client will connect directly to that torrent file. If there is a swarm, then the client will take parts of the file from multiple peers.
How Bit Torrent Works
The reason that bit torrent is used more often instead of the normal client-server model (where the file is taken directly from the seed and not from other peers), is because it reduces bandwidth. Because the peers are downloading from each other, as well as the seed, the bandwidth is spread out over all peers currently downloading that file. This means that you are more likely to be able to download larger files as often in the client-server model, servers were disinclined to share large files.
Examples of Bit Torrent programs: Bittorrent, SimpleBT, ABC etc.
Outsourcing – The World is Flat
Outsourcing
Outsourcing – This is when a company uses sources from outside of the business to undertake functions that used to be done internally by a section of the business itself.
Outsourcing is a process that is contracted between the business and the supplier which outlines the agreement of their services.
There are many reasons for a firm to consider outsourcing. Perhaps the most common of these is to save money. Outsourcing saves money because wages abroad, in developing countries, are considerably less than that in the UK or other industrialised countries. Other reasons include; gaining knowledge from other sources, improving quality and saving time.
Issues with Outsourcing
Some of the main problems with outsourcing include:
Quality Control
A major problem that can arise when outsourcing is the quality of service that is provided. There are different quality control methods within different countries, and therefore the quality of the product or service may be lower. In developing countries, suppliers may not be of the same standard as they are in industrialised countries and therefore this can create a lower quality end product.
A way of ensuring that quality is of the same standard as it was before outsourcing, the business can create a service level agreement (SLA) contract which defines what quality should be in place.
Language
Another issue with outsourcing can be the language barrier. This problem can be increased when there are also culture issues, when outsourcing to countries who have opposite cultures to ours.
Qualifications of the outsourced workforce
When outsourcing, it is possible that the new staff that are employed have fewer qualifications than those before them.
Social Responsibility
Outsourcing can be seen as socially irresponsible as some people believe, that as outsourcing is often done in low-income communities, the companies are exploiting lower paid workers.
Thomas L Friedman – The World is Flat
‘The World is Flat’, is a book written by Thomas L Friedman. The basic message of the book is that all companies have equall oportunities due to flatteners. These flatteners have ‘levelled the playing field’. In all, there are 10 flatterners, one of which is outsourcing.
According to Friedman, outsourcing has helped flatten the world, because it has enabled companies to subcontract to areas that have the most efficient and cost effective way.
Venues
I have chosen venue from my three options because I feel it has the least going for it on the internet.
A venue is: The site of the meeting or event.
The music industry are concerned with specific types of venues known as music venues. Venues can vary in size, from really tiny to incredibly huge. Venues also vary in type for example, they may be outside, such as the Milton Keynes Bowl. A venue may also have other functions. Some may normally be pubs, nightclubs, parks, or even ice rinks. Venues can be either permanent or temporary. An arena, for example, is a permanent venue whereas a festival site tends to be temporary.
The people within the music industry that are involved in venues include:
- Venue owners
- Employees of the venue (those in charge with organising an event)
- Tour managers (who book the venue)
- Artists (who also might book the venue)
- Ticket sellers (online or box office)
Mapping Online Music
Artists and Repertoire.
I found a lot of sites that define A&R reps, and quite a few A&R companies such as www.caragon.com. This website in particular was for people to find information about the company.
I also found a site called Artist&Repertoire.co.uk, which is the website of a company called A&R Management. They use their website to promote their artists, gigs, merchandise. Another website I found was for Mud duck Music, called E.A.R (Electronic Artists and Repertoire), which is for the online promotion of artists. People can go online and sign up to become an A&R rep for the website (unpaid). Every month they feature a new artist and E.A.R members log on and evaluate a sample of the artist. After reviewing the evaluations, the founding members or E.A.R decide how they want to proceed with the artist.
Tour Manager
The websites that I found in relation to Tour Managers were, in general, ‘how to be a tour manager’. A good example of this is the website www.tourconcepts.com.
Venue
The only websites that I could find were either venue websites or ticket websites. Venue websites often have a page within their website where you are able to buy tickets for gigs at their venue. There are also ticket websites that sell tickets for most venues as opposed to getting them from the venue themselves. Examples of these types of websites are ticketmaster and see tickets.
Conclusion
Whilst I think that the A & R section would be the most interesting to look at, I think that I will choose venue because the only sites that I could find are venues own websites. Whereas I found more varieties of websites in the A & R category.
This is my first post
She said don’t, don’t let it go to your head
Boys like you are dime a dozen
You’re a touch overrated.
