Streaming media can be played immediately over the internet instead of being downloaded and then played. It is compressed and plays as the data arrives unless it is a live stream. The downside, if the user has a slow connection it can lower the quality of the video. Content creators can see what content is being watch and for how long. They have more control since the videos are not downloaded and stored which protects their intellectual property. These video files use some sort of plug-in, flash player, or a dedicated device that can play these files. The biggest streaming media site YouTube has hundreds of hours being uploaded every minute. Content of all sorts is available to users and it can be added to playlists, shared, even downloaded on some platforms.
Streaming media can have positive and negative impacts depending on the content. Businesses can use streaming media to release products, create how-to videos, and advertise.
Webcasts are video and audio streams that are live. They can be pre-recorded or streamed live. They are great as the audience can interact with polls and questions in real time with the broadcaster. It makes it more interactive and collaborative. Webcasts are usually used during events and conferences broadcast over the internet. They have more production involved than a podcast and have high quality video and audio content. A great example of webcasts are TED Talks.
Podcasts are audio files that are pre-recorded and can be listened to by downloading for offline listening or streaming it over the internet on mobile devices and computers. They have increased in popularity. Most podcasts have a episodic series and a topic or guests for each show. The increase in popularity has lead to marketing and advertisements included in the segments. Each episode usually follows some format that the listeners can predict and is consistent. Podcasts are different from webcasts since webcasts take more production with video being involved.
They are both great ways to reach an audience with your content and for businesses it can be a great marketing tool.
A wiki is made up of text-based content that can be edited by any users as they see fit. They are left of web-based servers and can be access by anyone via internet connection. Business have started using it on local networks as a collaboration tool for employees to gain access quickly to information and it allows employees to update when needed. The most popular wiki is Wikipedia. When you are using wiki pages it is important to verify the information as users can change information that is inaccurate or satire as this is a new trend on social media. \
Blogs are journal-like posts that are typically in reverse chronological order. They can use pictures, videos, music, graphics, etc in them. They are updated frequently and have a comments section for the readers to interact. Large companies have begun using blogs since they are easy to set up and inexpensive. They can be a means for business to share tips and troubleshooting steps to customers or employees and many companies use them to provide employees with current events and company changes in a fun and easy way to view/read.
Electronic mail, better known as email is a message sent or received digitally. It was developed by Ray Tomlinson in 1971. In order to use email you must have an email address. Once you have one created, you can send and receive emails as you wish. There are many options for email web-based applications and software applications. Web-based applications are those such as Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. Software applications are installed on your computer or mobile device like Microsoft Outlook. Email is tremendously popular due to its speed, convenience, and accessibility. The biggest downside to email is the spam and the security. Potential spam can have malicious content that urges users to click links or provide sensitive information. In today’s society, email is important as many things require an email. For example, shopping online has grown exponentially and many places require an email to be able to send order confirmations, shipping confirmations, and any other correspondence regarding your transaction. In many lines of work, email is used daily and professional etiquette is important to learn. Understanding how to use email can make life easier when it comes to communication, shopping, and employment.
The practice of expanding business and social contacts through social media sites is social networking. It has grown exponentially. Social networking today allows people to connect from all over the globe. Social media sites all vary when it comes to connecting to someone. In order to connect to someone you may need to have preexisting connection before any contact can be created. Others allow you to connect to anyone at anytime. In business, it is used for promotion and contact with customers for feedback and customer service issues as well. Social media trends can even drive business ideas.
The perfect example is Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich, there was not intentional paid for marketing by Popeye’s, but through social media and people sharing videos and posts it created a demand so high that they ran out of them and had to turn people away.
Social networking can be a great way to connect to people personally and professionally, the key is to be cautious of what you post and share online as certain information can be used by cyber criminals and negative posts can also affect job opportunities.
In 1969 ARPANET delivered the first message between computers at UCLA and Stanford. The system between the two crashed on the third letter of the word “Login”. A year later the network was created at other institutions such as MIT and Harvard. Ray Tomlinson created Email in 1971 and around this time almost all of the traffic that was on the ARPANET network. In 1974, TCP/IP was created to link networks together and 9 years later (1983) all computers on the ARPANET network had switched over. During this time computers were large and most used by institutions and computer hobbyists. Fast forward to the 1990s where the World Wide Web and ARPANET had ended. The 90s had major milestones when it comes to the internet. In 1993 governments had joined the World Wide Web and by 1995 the internet had begun to commercialize on a greater scale. Hotmail was created as the first free web-based email and shortly after in 1998 Google. In the early 2000s, social media began to form on the web and Web 2.0 was created. It was created to be interactive and user-driven. This became the internet as we know it today.
With the advancement of the internet, security issues have continued to arise. The internet being used in our daily lives have lead to a need in privacy and security. We interact with each other online, pay bills, shop, browse, educate, and much more all online. The risks we face deal with virus attacks, hackers, spyware, and data breaches. Even large organizations have trouble. Personal information can be stolen by hackers in employer databases, credit card information can be stolen at retailers, and cloud storage can be lost due to data breaches as well. As the internet continues to change it is important to have a basic understanding of it and understand general practices of how to keep yourself safe from these security risks.
References
Avast Business Team. (2019,February 12). What risks do IoT security issues pose to businesses? Retrieved December 24, 2019, from Avast.com website: https://blog.avast.com/iot-security-business-risk
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