Understanding Contemporary Media (Research Paper Sample)

UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY MEDIA By (Name) The Name of the Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State The Date Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Background PAGEREF _Toc451370860 \h 2 The reason for Benson's assertion PAGEREF _Toc451370861 \h 3 The role of individuals in social networking PAGEREF _Toc451370862 \h 3 Re-packaging of content PAGEREF _Toc451370863 \h 4 Current interests and future career plans PAGEREF _Toc451370864 \h 4 Report elements significant to interests and career aspirations PAGEREF _Toc451370865 \h 5 Website management PAGEREF _Toc451370866 \h 5 Innovation PAGEREF _Toc451370867 \h 6 Leadership in Media companies PAGEREF _Toc451370868 \h 6 Importance of the elements PAGEREF _Toc451370869 \h 7 The one key element: Leadership PAGEREF _Toc451370870 \h 9 Background There are several reasons for Benson's assertion that the leaked document stands out as one of the key documents of the current media age (Benton, 2014). However, to foster a better understanding of the general reason as to why the assertion was made it is vital to provide a quick recap of the document. The document that Benson is referring to accrues any one with the simplest of interests in contemporary media a vital glimpse concerning behind the scenes occurrences of a well-known media brand (Aziz et al., 2015). As derived from the document, the New York Times seems to be caught in internal struggles meant to help it respond better to increasing competition echelons as well as current market disruptions (Benton, 2014). As Abbruzzese (2014) opines, these struggles as revealed by the document not only entails leadership issues as depicted by the rise of Dean Baquet to power but also incorporates remarkable strategies that the company intends to implement in order to meet the rising industry standards (Hill, 2014). In summary also, the document highlights the challenges that the company faces in its efforts to interact with its intended audience through internet based strategies and seems to advocate for an almost complete overhaul if not an introduction of customer satisfaction and reach strategies. As Bhroin (2015) opines, the document captures the pressures faced by the New York Times as entrenched in the need to alter its current business model by combining modern habits as exhibited by its target audience and incorporating technological innovations so that the company can have a chance against its increasingly inventive competitors (Curran, 2010). The reason for Benson's assertion The most conspicuous reason that explains why Benson made the aforementioned assertion is that the leaked document both helps project the increasing digital media disruptions and also provides useful strategies that can be used by media companies in this present age to enact a position of market authority even in the midst of such turbulent times and technology oriented competitors (Aziz et al., 2015). His reason for the aforementioned assertion is entrenched in the points discussed below. The role of individuals in social networking Studies indicate that contemporary media companies must emphatically consider the fact that since time immemorial the media industry has been built, evolved, and sustained on the shoulders of individual work (Abbruzzese, 2014). Concurring with the argument, Hayles (2012) opines that one of the reasons why the New York Times has been unable to cope with the rising levels of competition emanating from concurrent technological evolutions is that the company never cultivated a culture that recognizes and makes use of individual talent. Despite having to do so in the past, the document reveals self advertising efforts of a few of their staff who engaged the social media and harvested enormous success while promoting their own books (Palter, 2014). This reinforces the assertion that the individual talent is key for companies that intend to use the social media platform effectively because the platform relies mainly on human interactions and connections (Palter, 2014). Consequently, it is notable that amidst the prevailing levels of competition companies in the media industry can gain a foothold in the market by recognizing and leaning on the shoulders of such individual talents (Papattha et al., 2015). As Mussenden (2014) opines the deployment of this strategy means that contemporary media companies must be able to harness the power of the internet as a platform by focusing on developing potential individual talents to manage social media networks on behalf of the firms. Re-packaging of content As the document reveals, the New York Times purposes to use the strategy of content repackaging in order to increase its level of clientele reach (Mcdowell, 2015, p. 147). This as Lichterman (2015) puts it emanates from the fact that technological disruptions have erupted in the contemporary media market due to technological advancements those present industry players with a larger market. However, this market can only be reached by means of content repackaging. Commenting on the need for repackaging, Ingram (2014) asserts that it gives companies the ability to target and reach another segment of readers who are not interested in current news but need to access past information either for personal interest of educational purposes. It is thus important to acknowledge and applaud the plans made by the New York Times to repackage their online archives in a manner that gives folks who look for such information the advantage of finding them easily using key words (Kastelle et al., 2013). Current interests and future career plans I am currently interested in the effectiveness of social media in the contemporary media industry which is a concept I am currently studying from Palter (2014). Although I have been interested in the social media for a while, my interest grew after finding out from the document under discussion that modern companies in the media industry have not fully realized or harvested the innumerable advantages that the platform accrues. Attached to this interest is the aspiration to work as a social media manager for a renowned media firm. The realization of this career aspiration will give me the opportunity to serve the organization by going beyond its website media activity to create value adding concepts to their social networks ultimately increasing traffic levels (Papattha et al., 2015). Another current interest I have is tied to leadership in a social media organization as I am currently studying from Sacco (2012). I have always been interested in finding out more about leadership in such organizations but I decided to delve deeper after realizing from the leaked document that even a reputable organization like the New York Times has had organizational issues that have led to loss of effectiveness in reaching the market (Preece, 2014). Owing to this interest, my future career aspiration is to reach the pinnacle of my career as an executive leader and probably a CEO in a contemporary media firm. This position will enable me to cultivate a culture of communication and avoid incidences like the one described in the leaked document where Twitter and Facebook accounts are managed by different departments (So, 2014). Report elements significant to interests and career aspirations Website management As Wang (2016) points out, website management is a major prerequisite for the success of any media firm operating in the current technology oriented industry. Consequently, having the position of a website manager provides the opportunity for one to help a social media company by ensuring that the company website has a homepage that allows the company to customize content for people to visit archived articles as pre-determined by their reading patterns (Sulberger, 2014). As Wang (2016) further found out in a recent study, the reading population is segmented in two main factions- 86% of them have consistent topics of interest while the remaining 14% reads haphazardly (Mcdowell, 2015). As such, as a website manager one would consider incorporating the need for customized content. This can be done by both designing and re-designing the website in order to cater for the two factions of readers satisfactorily. In addition, website management involves re-designing or re-structuring company websites in a manner that captures the most useful element in today's social media platform arena- the follow button (Abbruzzese, 2014). This would be against the common notion that the button aforementioned only works with social media sites but would help the company increase traffic by at least 34% (Palter, 2014). Innovation As evidenced in the leaked document, one of the greatest problems faced by the New York Times has been its inability to come up with sound and modern innovative ideas to help reach out to more people and retain its share in the market (Abbruzzese, 2014). Having this position would therefore mean that the person in charge would have to consider the need for tools creation, creation of templates, as well as permanent inventive fixes that do more good than sticking to conventional resource intensive strategies (Aziz et al., 2015). In support, Sacco (2012) argues that most media companies have failed to realize that changing times dictate that resource intensive strategies are no longer the most effective and appropriate as technology has seen them overrun by simple inventions. Being in charge of innovation in a contemporary media company also means encouraging replication of ideas put to use by competitors (Palter, 2014). The New York Times took a long time wallowing in their pride and failed to realize that innovation and replication of ideas are inseparable concepts (Preece, 2014). ...