P2P

New media companies continue to have a hard time managing piracy, also known as, digital theft. While file sharing and peer to peer file sharing would factor in to digital theft since is one of the means of piracy, not all file sharing and peer to peer filing would be considered illegal activity. For background, file sharing is the act of transferring files from one computer to another. Peer to peer file sharing (aka P2P file sharing) allows someone to access things such as music, movies, or book using a P2P software. For example, Amazon allows you to loan someone a book from your library which is totally legal.

Hollywood is still fighting the piracy battle. Brad Stone and Brian Stilter wrote an article that appeared in the New York Times, titled, "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios" that covered the enormous efforts the makers of the move Dark Knights made with the creation of a anti piracy campaign that failed. The movie was illegal reproduced despite all of their efforts.

Next New

The next new media I foresee is FaceTime that allows for visual group conversations. Currently, FaceTime only allows for two people on separate phones to use the app. I think Apple or someone should create an app that allows for multiple people to partake in the visual conversation. This could be similar to Skype, but for mobile devices. This could be very helpful for professionals working in multiple locations and also has benefits for more casual usage.

Privacy

Privacy on new media continues to be an hot topic. Although privacy filters are offered on social media sites such as Facebook, it is very common to hear stories about people's accounts being hacked. This also leads to concerns with identity theft. As new media become more advanced in protecting uses, so do the skills of the hackers. It is recommended to have separate passwords for accounts and to link you email to your accounts to help monitor usual activity.

Creativity and New Media

In my search for new media creativity ideas I stumbled across Google's Made with Code. Here's a link to a light up dress I created:

Enjoy!

Creativity

New media provides people from diverse backgrounds and interests access to various tools that can spur creativity. A story published in The New Yorker titled, "1+1+1=1 The new math of mashups.", details a guy, Jeremy Brown aka DJ Reset, that created a mashup by combining lyrics from Debra from a Beck album with vocals from Jay-Z and Pharrel's song Frontin. The new mashup soon Jeremy created  from his apartment in Long Island City was "Frontin on Debra", and he offered the song on iTunes. DJ Reset's access to various songs, beats, and the iTunes provided him access to what he needed to produce and sell the "mashup" piece. Mashups produced by others continues to thrive.

Other examples of how new media fosters creativity can also be seen among the pop culture. A few examples include the use of filters on new media sites such as Snapchat, the use of quirky slangs such as "bye Felicia", and the ALS challenge videos that aided in raising money for research.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are increasingly becoming popular, especially within the gaming industry targeting children. Personally, my children create avatars for some of the online games they play on their Kindle. The military uses it to help heal soldiers when they return from combat. Also, virtual worlds help in healthcare and education. For example, according to an CNN.com iReport titled, 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction,' Dave Savil suffers from Asperger's syndrome and uses his avatar to education people about autism.

Savill, who represents himself in the virtual world using an avatar named Dave Sparrow, said one benefit is that visitors can practice social interaction and find information about the condition. The graphical representations of real people create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others, he said.

The pros include the ability to escape to a virtual world and isolation and being "alone together", as stated in a Forbes.com piece, titled, "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?" On the flip side, some people get addicted to living in the fantasy world and have a hard time getting back to reality.

Virtual worlds foster creative across industries such as education, entertainment, healthcare, and other sectors. I think this industry will continue to grow and will target more millennia based on the buying power of this demographic group.

Social Networking Sites

While I find social media to be very helpful for maintaining relationships with friends and family, it's also beneficial in the business world. Here are brief descriptions on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram along with my personal thoughts on how they differ for both personal and professional use:

- Facebook allows users to create a user profile, add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post status updates and photos, share videos, use various apps, and receive notifications when others update their profiles. This new media site is a favorite for people that like to connect with friends and family regardless of their location. That said, businesses use it too. No character limitations here! You can also go "live" by taking video footage in real time.

- Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets". Registered users can read and post tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them. The same thing that makes it unique, is the same thing that deters people from using it.... the character limit. Twitter is very popular among celebrities and businesses. Sometimes it can be seen has one-way communication if you don't have a vibrant following.

- LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking site. I personally like to use it as my virtual professional Rolodex and it's a great tool for job hunting.

- Instagram has one of the most dominating social media services, it’s also become one of the most popular websites in the world. Its highly visual as it's best known for allowing users to posting photos and vides with brief commentary. Increasingly, entrepreneurs use this site to sell products. Advertising is also becoming very popular.

Other social media sites include Snapchat, kik, YouTube, Flipboard, and Pinterest.