Media Use Diary {Day 1}

It was a boring day yesterday, spending most of in my dorm watching television on my laptop. Netflix always seems to have shows that are targeted just for me which I love so I don't have to constantly go looking for something.

From time to time I would check my Facebook and Twitter accounts just to see what other people where up to. For the most part people where posting Martin L. King Jr. quotes. That evening I updated both Facebook and Twitter.

I would look up occasional videos on Vevo from my iPad and create playlists that I would enjoy. As well I listened to some of my playlists on my Itunes that I had created while I washed the dishes.

In the morning I turned on Food Network to see what new recipes I could learn to make. Bobby Flay is one of my all time favorite chefs and it was great to see him working on the grill. And I learned some heart healthy recipes from the show Hunger Girl that looked so delicious as well.

It is incredible to see how much media I take in every day.

{Week 2} Yahoo vs. Google Advertising

Since the Internet boom advertisers have been looking for better ways to get at consumers. And what better way than to target the "search engines" that they are using everyday. Yahoo truly believed this and so joined with advertisers. The interesting thing to me was how much time and money Yahoo focused on the advertising and how little time they focused on the programming of the "search engine." From the get-go Yahoo never really seemed interested in the search aspect of the company, which I thought was the main reason that the company came into existance. As well I thought in order to even be able to set up advertisements you would need a great programmer. I suppose I can understand not wanting to be a so-called "technology company" especially with the emerging Microsoft back then. And seeing Netscape be completely crushed by them is a scary thing to see. Yet without the best programmers or code writers Yahoo was not able to keep up with the growth of the Internet. Focus less on advertising and more on what the company is supposed to be, a "search engine."

Google it seemed went in a different direction and focused on being a search engine with only text-based advertising. It is interesting to see the change that Google has taken as far as advertising goes. By buying DoubleClick advertisers can better see how the ads are working and how the ads are targeting consumers.

Yet one thing that both these comanies forget is the consumer and the fact that we have a say in what we see. If I don't want to see an advertisement I turn it off or I ignore it and focus on the text instead. Clutter is all over the Internet and advertisers need to work with search engines to see if they can find a way through the clutter and get the comsumers attention.