During the course of this semester I’ve learned just how drastically the media landscape has changed in the last few years. The Internet has completely redefined how we display, view and exchange information. Everyone has the potential to be a journalist in today’s world. With the increased availability to cheap cameras, still and video, content can be quickly and cheaply made. Almost everyone has Internet access, and this access provides the opportunity for everyone to share their content.
The most important information I gained from this course is how to get noticed if I have something worthwhile to share. We started ‘beat blogs’ to get the ball rolling on a subject of our choice (New England Patriots, obviously). Several sites like Tumblr and Blogspot allow for the easy creation of blogs. I love football, and especially the Patriots. I watch every game the Patriots play, but I don’t have enough time to watch every other game each weekend. So I’ve learned to ‘write about what I do best (Patriots) and then link to the rest.’ Hopefully if I link to enough websites and other blogs, they will link back and drive traffic to my site.
Also, using social networking tools is a great way to promote yourself, your site or your company. Facebook and Twitter have applications that allow you to group yourself with others who have similar interests. So, if I join a Facebook group dedicated to Patriots fans, then I can send a message to all of them with a link to my blog, creating further traffic for myself. Twitter has a similar application in which people can view what is ‘trending’. This displays what topics are being discussed the most on Twitter. By self-promoting and becoming a ‘trend’, you can further awareness for yourself.
This course was great for someone like me whose goal is to create video content for a living. I’m constantly making commercials and short skits, but I usually just post them on Youtube and forget about them. Now I plan on making a small site for my videos and I know how to promote them with the free tools available on the Internet.
