New Media Literacy: the ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication.
New Media: Innovation, Community, and Dissidence
The last decade has been marked by significant transformations in the way communication is forged by institutions and individuals. This course focused on the theoretical premises of such trends and movements, the fashion by which they utilize media trends, their patterns and content. Readings and class discussions examined the categorical definitions of radical, independent, alternative, social, network and user-produced media and their contextualization within local, global and hybrid locales. From the use of video-sharing portals for self-memorialization and historicization to major public events (e.g., Twitter during and after the 2009 Iranian Presidential elections) to the utilization of microblogging both as commodification and subversion to authority, the course explored how new media technology can be perceived/appropriated as simultaneously hegemonic and counter hegemonic.
The final project was a multi-media opportunity to dive-deeply into a particular area of social media that applied to each student’s academic and professional goals. In addition to a final research paper, each student participated as a Wikipedia Editor and launched a new Wikipedia Article in support of their findings. I choose to study “The Future of Marketing” and how its role is adapting to the new Connected Consumer and her Digital cross-platform decision-making journey.
The Future of Marketing to Digital Omnivores is Human to Human
As computers move toward cognitive perception and brands take on more human traits that resonate with connected consumers, the future of marketing demands a new strategic framework, a new lens on our role. Ironically, the profession built on identifying consumer needs is the group that needs an update. The future marketing executive must understand the tenets of Design Thinking (a human-centered design ethos), the sophistication of individual neurological information processing while comfortably collaborating with her stakeholders to define social intelligence and inspire action. The future marketing manager needs the strategic training of a business consultant, a passionate curiosity of human behavior, the ability to articulate compelling stories all while systematically approaching technology as the common thread. The future of marketing lies at the intersection of emotional enchantment and the global democratization of relationships. Within a culture of customer-centricity, marketing is posed to be the social architect within organizations, the advocate for the consumer and the champion of the brand. The steward of the brand promise within the conversation prism of the present; we are all marketers now.
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