New Media and New Markets: Test

Throughout the semester, I learned many things that will allow me to be more marketable to an employer. An example of something that I learned in New Media and New Markets was how to create a website using HTML. I learned how to create a website on Dreamweaver. I created hotspts, added hyper links and images, designed tables, added titles and metatags and added Javascript. I learned the importance of making sure everything is exactly correct with no spaces because even the slightest space can result in a website not functioning. I learned the importance of making sure each page is saved as a jpeg seperately and made sure the HTML pages were saved correctly as HTML files. I also learned the most effective ways to design pages, banner ads. I learned about how different demographic groups use the internet. For example, my parents use the internet to check email, book flights and research product information. In my generation we use the internet a lot more, type faster, search for jobs and socialize. Our parents and grandparents are not using the internet to socialize as much as we are.

Additionally, in New Media and New Markets I learned how to develop and maintain a blog for free. I also learned where to find out how to start websites for free. I was not sure on what websites to use for this blog and found that http://www.blogger.com/ was an effective way to broadcast your thoughts and class assignments in a creative manner online. Furthermore, I also learned a lot about target markets on the internet. I learned about the different websites such as emarketer, Click Z, PEW Internet, Comm Score, Hitwise, Quantcast and Alexa. These websites give you specific information on what people are watching and provides the demographic information about specific TV show or newspapers so you have specific statistics to give employers. I learned that by saying the names of these websites and discussing key buzzwords, it may help you obtain a job in the social media field.

Furthermore, in New Media and New Markets, I learned about how Myspace is rapidly declining and that Facebook is increasing more rapidly then ever. As a result of this class, I read the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich and I am currently reading The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick. I developed a real passion for social media and would love to get into the social media field. Finally, I learned about how important privacy is on the internet and how important it is to keep your profiles private so your boss can not see your photos and private information. Many people have been fired due to blogging about information that could be harmful about the company. Consequently, for consumers, by negatively blogging about a company, certain companies may offer you discounts to change your opinion about the company and prevent you from continuing to write poorly about them. Finally, I learned that marketers are following your every move and know all about what websites you visit and what it is exactly that you are buying in all areas of your life.

The most interesting thing that I learned in this class was behavioral targeting. "Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual. Practitioners believe this helps them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely to be
interested" (http://www.businessdictionary.com/). Behavioral Targeting allows website owners or advertising networks the ability to display content that is more relevant to the interests of the person viewing the page. Properly targeted ads will generate more consumer interest and may result in increased sales.This will result in the seller possibly asking for a premium for these over random advertising or ads based on the context of a website

In this class I would have liked to learn more about website design and layout of websites. We touched upon that in class, but I think more detail on advanced design techniques would have been interesting. This would also have made our websites more creative. I am strong in the Adobe Design Suite, but am not aware how to use what I know in these design programs in Dreamweaver. Maybe a course on website design could be offered in the Master's in Communication's program as an elective. I also think the Master's program in Communication should offer courses on specific design programs that employer's are looking for when hiring a communication professional. I noticed a lot of the jobs that I am looking at require Indesign and Flash. If we could learn about these two programs in our graduate studies at Suffolk University, I think this would make graduate students more marketable for employers. By combining our HTML skills learned in this class, and learning more about design, I think this would give us a greater advantage over other job seekers. I also think since Search Marketing is becoming very popular, a specific class on SEM, SEO and Marketing Analytics would be very beneficial.