Has online piracy killed the entertainment industry for good?

Since the creation of the World Wide Web, issues with copyright infringement and online music piracy issues have been increasing in what seems to be a never ending snowball effect. The U.S. government has tried to do its part to correct this growing problem, shutting down sites like Napster, and more recently Limewire, but for every site shut down it seems that one or two (or ten) pop up in its place.

But you can't blame the government, how are they supposed to stop something that occurs all over the world? A new bill called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeit Act is geared toward cracking down foreign websites that participate heavily in bootlegging and copyright infringement. For more information on this bill, check out this article in the Los Angeles TImes. This U.S. bill is a strong step forward since many foreign countries like China - and not only the U.S. - contribute to a significant amount of the expanding infringement practices. However, as always with issues as complex as online music piracy, it will have issues of its own, and by the time legislation works out all the kinks in the bill, online infringement "pirates" will probably have found new loopholes that make the bill out of date, and thus, ineffective.

Even if the U.S. government did come up with a bill that magically fixed all of the online infringement issues we see today, is it still too late? We as consumers have all felt the power of being able to get free music, and movies, and software in mass quantities at the click of a button. Will the world be able to go back to the way it was, with people spending $20 dollars on a single DVD or CD? Most people refuse to even purchase songs for the measly price of $0.99 cents on iTunes! So even if every infringement website in the world is somehow shut down by government, it is unlikely that the entertainment industry will snap back to the way it was before the Internet. The industry is not (and will never be) dead, but it will also never be the same.


- JB

How much are you willing to pay for online privacy?

Recently there has been a lot of talk about internet privacy and the Federal Trade Commission's role on this hot topic. One of the FTC's most controversial ideas is the ability for individuals to choose whether they want to be monitored while surfing the internet. The idea is simple: have a "do not track" button on internet browsers that if pressed, allows individuals to chose to be excluded from any information collecting being done by advertising and marketing companies for the purpose of targeted advertising.

Sounds easy right? Just one click and you no longer have to worry about your online privacy. I mean, doesn't everybody want their privacy? Even more, expect their right to privacy -- especially when using their own personal computers? The answer is, of course, YES. But how much are you willing to pay for your right to online privacy? Nothing is ever as easy as just one click...

Mechanisms such as the "do not track" button, if implemented and widely used by individuals, could directly affect the numerous online marketing and advertising companies (especially smaller companies) that use such information gathered to generate billions of dollars worth of business geared toward personalized or targeted advertising. Check out this article recently published in the NY Times which talks about the potential for the online advertising industry to suffer "significant economic harm" if these tactics are imposed. What does this potential blow to online advertising companies mean to the everyday consumer? It could mean paying for the information on websites that used to be free. Advertising is essentially the reason why most content on the web is free today. Tailored ads are worth much more in value than generic ads, and without revenue coming in from such ads, web site publishers may have to start charging for their internet content.

So, while I would enjoy the right to complete online privacy and do worry about companies crossing the line on privacy rights for their data collection, I would rather the world know which shoes I was recently browsing online for -- for free I might add -- than to have to pay for access to every site that I wish to visit.

Jumping on the Social Media Marketing Bandwagon

As terrible as it may sound, there is no way for small businesses to become successful today without using social media as a marketing tool. If a company does not have it's brand plastered all over Facebook, Twitter,  or Youtube, it might as well close up shop now. I can't say that I like the social media marketing trend that has happened over the past few years, but not liking it is not going to stop it from happening -- or taking over completely.

There are a million reasons why some people are still hesitant to pursue social media as a marketing tool. For one, some people (including myself) still cannot fathom that fact that in order for a company to be competitive in today's market, it better have a Facebook account.....it sounds crazy when you say it out loud doesn't it?! Crazy, but true, and therefore a small business cannot afford to not to be engaged in social media marketing.

The degree of uncertainty that social media offers is another reason why people remain hesitant. For the people who aren't experts in social media marketing, there are many questions to be answered including: How much time and money should be put into investing in social media marketing? Which social media marketing tools should I invest the most in? How will I gauge my return on investment from using these social media marketing tools?

A lot of these questions are very difficult to answer, or do not have just one correct answer, and therefore people remain hesitant to use social media. But for those companies that are not "experts" in the social media marketing field, I suggest you start making time to become one - or find someone who is. As Susan Gunelius points out in a recent article, "the worst action is no action", in reference to using social media marketing for business purposes. Some people are hesitant to pursue social media as  marketing tool for fear of lack of control - such as lack of control over negative reviews that someone may "blog" or "post". But, it is better to have your business being talked about (whether it be positive or negative), than to not have your business being talked about at all.

As you can tell, social media marketing has many negative attributes that leave small businesses fearful of using it, but in the end, its benefits are too large to simply ignore. Properly using social media will allow a company to increase its brand awareness, increase its target market, increase its visibility and/or rankings on search engines, and even increase customer service reputation by turning any negative feedback into constructive criticism that can be worked on to change the business for the better.  Basically, social media marketing has the ability to increase almost everything you want it to, as well as decrease the one thing you want to decrease: cost. A Facebook and Twitter account are free after all...

So as hesitant (or, down right scared) you may be to dive into the world of social media marketing, its time to jump on the bandwagon or get left behind.

Good business or going to far?

Recently, I logged onto Facebook and right away my eyes were drawn to a familiar picture on the right side of the page. But it wasn't an old photo a friend posted or a picture I was tagged in - it was an advertisement! On the advertisement was a picture of the exact pair of Jessica Simpson shoes I had been looking at while browsing on the Macy's website just a few days earlier. Coincidence? I think not...

I thought that marketers hacking into my Facebook account or tracking my every Google search was bad enough, but I was wrong. Enter: Neuromarketing. Companies are throwing piles of money to engage in this type of marketing that literally tries to get inside your brain as a consumer. Neuromarketing is becoming a trend in many companies who are trying to go outside the box to reach their customers on a  new, and definitely more personal, level.


The Wall Street Journal recently discussed the use of Neuromarketing techniques by Campbell Soup as a way for the company to try and understand why customers aren't purchasing soup. According to the article, when the Campbell company asked consumers why they weren't buying more soup, the typical response was that "they don't think of it" when going grocery shopping. So Campbell's is completely changing its soup displays and labels in hopes of helping consumers "connect to the soup on a deeper level"..... Really?? How connected can someone ever really be to a can of condensed soup?!

Companies engaging in these Nueromarketing techniques might end up creating enemies instead of new customers as many people view this type of marketing as an invasion of privacy. Nonetheless, while many consumers think it crosses the line, the trend is growing as companies view Neuromarketing as having the potential to boost their sales and profits by finally understanding what it is the consumer really wants.. And who knows, it actually might do just that. But at what cost to the consumer?

Neuromarketing: Good business or going to far? You decide.
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