Facebook-social networking
-One ‘leisure time’ activity involving NMT and audience consumption/production (social networking, online shopping, online gaming, music downloading, amateur film production, digital music production, etc)

Technology involved: internet, video technology, audio technology. Facebook is seen to be replacing forms of communication such as letters, phone conversations, emails, and even social interaction (meting up in person.)

Media content involved: Website, games, video clips, digital photographs, audio clips, applications, text comments including instant messaging

The website:
Facebook is an online social networking website which allows global interaction. It can be used by any body that has access to the internet and has their own email address (which allows them to validate an account). Each member is given their own webpage which they can personalise through many features. When creating a webpage the user is able to set their profile page to private whereby only their friends can access the page and look at their individual content or they can set it to public whereby anybody who has a facebook account can browse their page. If set to a private account then members will communicate across their individual social network and is an example of the institution fragmenting the target audience as a way of personalising each users experience on the website. Furthermore this leads to a larger target audience as each user can personalise their webpage and experience by talking to their friends and personalising their experience in a way that suits their tastes, habits and lifestyle. In other words the REACH of the website is extremely large as anybody with an internet connection can use this for their own reasons.

Games:
On the audience’s individual page they can add applications of games. For example, ‘ghost racer’ ‘Mindjolt games’ ‘Games arcade’ etc. This allows the audience to freely interact with friends and also challenge people of the same ability who they may not know. This almost fragments the audience and can allow individuals to socialise with people which they may never have in real life. This is also an example of horizontal networking.

· Video clips, audio clips and photography:
The audience can upload their digital videos and photographs to their webpage. This allows them to share their experiences with their friends and family. This follows the concept of immediacy as the audience can much gratify their viewing needs in a much more convenient manner. For example, without going to their house and viewing the videos on the television or stored on the computer, or without just looking at printouts, the audience can just view and even save the uploaded material. This also follows the concept of horizontal networking as the institution has no obvious gain from this sharing of media across a social network.

These features do not necessarily need to be uploaded they can just be added to the webpage through applications such as ‘iLike’ whereby the audience can add music to their webpage and dedicate songs to others, and ‘YouTube skins’ where the user can use the embedded code to transfer the video to their feature ‘wall’. This follows the concept of horizontal networking such as sharing of media from peer to peer via the webpage, yet this is an ideal way for Facebook to gain revenue. Applications such as these provide a peer to peer sharing of media however the institutions involved use these applications a good advertising for themselves. For this reason revenue must be paid to Facebook for these applications to be accepted by the Facebook institution.

· Applications
There are many applications that the user can add to their webpage. This vast amount gives much more choice and variety for the audience and so is an example of proliferation. As already mentioned for gaming applications, this allows the audience to interact across the social network and form new social groups and friendships with people that share your tastes. Also the number of different applications and content that the user can upload shows how the institution is promoting ‘personalisation’.

· Text comments and instant messaging
Every webpage is given a wall whereby the users accepted friends are able to write and leave them textual comments and even pictures. This allows social groups to interact for free over the internet without writing full emails. This saves time. The newest feature to Facebook is the instant messaging. This allows friends that are online to communicate instantly across the internet. For this reason it saves time and is a great example of immediacy.

· Democratisation is shown as the site allows everyone to join the networking website. The user has control over what their friends or the public access which gives everybody a sense of equality. Also the institution has no power over your account apart from regulating individual WebPages for inappropriate pictures and videos. This regulation allows a safe and secure environment for audiences to socialise within however is also dependant on the audiences help. For example the audience can ‘flag’ other WebPages’ content if they feel it is inappropriate or offensive and the Facebook institution has the power to remove this.

· The ‘people you may know’, ‘online friends’, notifications regarding friends actions , and other similar features are a good example of online surveillance. This shows the institution surveying your friends in an attempt to give the user the most current and significant information to them (the type and regularity of notifications can also be altered by the user) which provides a more convenient service. The ‘people you may know’ feature is when Facebook surveys the amount of friends you have in common with someone. Some of the users with the highest number of friends in common are then shown to the user. This can speed up the navigation around the website (save time looking to add people you know) and allows social (and horizontal) networking across a larger scale.

Audiences:
As already mentioned the website has a huge reach as each user can personalise their webpage and experience by talking to friends and alter their experience in a way that suits their tastes, habits and lifestyle. Anybody with an internet connection can use this. Personally I think that the largest audience is those people that are most comfortable with this new media technology (internet) and similar new technologies and people that have many friends and social activities and events. For example the 50+ years may not be confident with using the internet, and younger children may not part take in frequent social events such as going out with large groups of friends. Therefore the majority of users are social and between the ages of 14-35 years.

Institutions:
Facebook is funded by the revenue from advertisements and company applications. For example ‘YouTube skins’ and advertising on the left hand side of the users’ homepage. This is invaluable high reach advertising directly to individuals which can then become a viral application amongst social networks. For example if many friends are uploading YouTube videos onto their YouTube skins application, other friends are likely to join in.

The success of Facebook has lead to many companies wanting to advertise and create applications for the website. This increases revenue yet allows Facebook to exhibit a vast amount of content which may appeal to many diverse audiences. The success also led to other companies/institutions advertising the website when marketing a different new media technology, as this would increase their distribution.

Note: Apple advertises Facebook on their new iPhone TV advert. This shows a synergy between institutions. Both benefit from this advertisement as Facebook is being advertised the large audience that the Product may appeal to; whilst Apple are appealing to the wide reach of people that use Facebook.

Key concepts: Regulation, interactivity, reach, horizontal networking, online surveillance, immediacy, personalisation, democratisation.