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Executive Summary & Hypothesis

Introduction
Traditional media and its types
Advent of social media
New media trends
Credibility issues of New media
Challenges facing social media
New Media v/s Traditional Media
Primary Research
Case Study: Coca Cola
Conclusion

New Media

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Executive Summary
The advent of new media into the mainstream culture of our average day is clearly evident now.
People have the ability to access, analyze and engage in critical thinking about the array of
messages they receive and send in order to make informed decisions about the everyday issues
they face regarding health, work, politics and leisure. Most Indian families live in homes with
500+ TV channels, broadband Internet access, and mobile phones, essentially having access to
services offering on-screen, interactive activities at the touch of a fingertip. In such an age
meticulous research should be done to study the impact of such technologic advancements in our
lives, especially when compared with the increasingly diminishing alternative of traditional
media.
One of the most recent trends in the spread of information that connects multiple parts of our
lives and the foremost runner amongst the types of new media is social media.
The definition of social media which I will be focusing on for the purpose of this thesis is the
one created by Varinder Taprial and Priya Kanwar for their book, understanding Social Media.
This definition is
Social media encompasses all the services that facilitate creation, sharing and
Exchange of user-created content. By using this definition there is the ability to spread the topic
of social media to many other forms of other than traditional social networking sites, such as
Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. Many individuals have adopted these sites and are spending
large amounts of time and spreading vast amounts of information amongst these sites, even
sometimes without their own knowledge. The fundamental question regarding how much of this
information is blurred or filtered through the intermediary once the particular message leaves its
source remains largely unanswered. However its advantages cannot be understated, namely those
of exponential capacity to customize the message, instant reach and interactivity.
Hypothesis
This research aims to ascertain whether the current advent of new media threatens to render
obsolete the need for traditional media and also the impact of the new media on how we as a
mass audience consume the material presented to us.
The increasing consumption of new media renders traditional forms of media obsolete while
causing a definitive change in the way we accept and/or consume new media
Research objectives & Questions
The main research question that I will attempt to answer in this thesis is:
Can new media be compared with traditional forms of marketing?
This will be demonstrated by an assimilation of primary data and secondary data.
Limitations of Thesis
Due to the large number of variables when considering this topic there are Limitations to this
thesis. The first of which is the type of companies who would use the mentioned forms of new
media. There are also geographical Limitations to this thesis. There are currently many different
individual sites that, although they are similar, have different approaches to how content is
shared.

Introduction
Through this dissertation, I shall aim to study the far-reaching impacts of new media over its
traditional counterpart, majorly within the Indian market while also contemplating on its global
effects.
The advent of new media has had a definitive impact on the way we carry out our daily
workings. Through the rise of Internet and social media, rise in the interactivity between the
editors and consumers of content to the very recent inception of Internet Of things which aims to
digitalize and inter-connect everyday objects in our lives, the scope for new media seems
limitless and traditional sources of media are seemingly under high threat.
We shall examine the most common tools of traditional media, how they have been impacted or
in certain cases been replaced by new media tools.
Also to understand the credibility of modern day media sources in the eyes of their consumers
and how easy it is for the content therein to be interfered with by external sources.
I shall use examples of how modern media covers new media such as social networking sites,
mainstream news etc.
I have created a sample survey to demonstrate the findings of my studies regarding new media v/
traditional media mainly within the Indian consumers hemisphere
To support my study I shall use the case-study example of Coca-Cola, its transition from a
majorly traditional operator of advertisements to a digital one.

Traditional Media
Companies have long been using many different forms of media across different technologies to
market their products or services to current or new customers. Due to the age of many of these
different forms of advertisement companies have become well versed in their use. The forms of
media, which will be considered tradition media are, television, radio, billboards and
newspapers. The reason for the selection of these medias for further examination is they are the
media most commonly used by companies, as well as they have a large amount of information
currently available.
Television
Television could in some ways be considered very modern, which it is, but it can still be
considered a traditional form of advertisement. There are numerous reasons for this, the first of
which is although television is over 100 years old it was not readily available until the mid
1920s Television has been used to an extreme by many companies and most companies have an
Understanding how to effectively use this channel or if not, they are able to easily find a
company to help or create media for this platform. Although there are extremely large numbers
of people over vast areas that have televisions, typically the content and broadcasting standards
change from one area to another.
Radio
Radio has been around for numerous generations and can be considered the oldest
form of informative marketing, where the listeners or users do not need to see or read anything.
As with any new form of technology, growth was slow in part due
to costs and consumers not understanding what exactly they were supposed to gain. In the late
1940s early 1950s before television was readily available radio was probably the most common
way to gain information other than possibly newspaper or During this time as now with
televisions, radio costs were decreasing rapidly and the number of radios owned by consumers
were rapidly growing .One reason why radio is still an important form of media is that its not
removed from any marketing plan without first considering the large number of people who can
be reached.

Billboards
Billboards and signs could be considered one of, if not the oldest form of media. The reason for
this is because it is one of the simplest and most Adaptable forms of advertisement. When using
a billboard advertisement the information being conveyed can vary from promotion of a brand,

to a location, to just informing. The reason why billboards and signs have been so effective
throughout history is due to their ability to catch peoples eyes and easily convey a message.
Although originally billboards and signs were pictures used to show what the store does, they
have become so much more. Currently billboards are placed in high visibility areas, such as in a
crowded city street, or just outside of a town next to a highway. The reason for billboards to be
placed in a town is so large numbers of people living in the town or who are passing through will
see the billboard.
Newspapers
A newspaper is a single article, news item or feature, usually concerning a single event,
issue, theme, or profile of a person. Correspondents report news occurring in the main, locally,
from their own country, or from foreign cities where they are stationed. Most reporters file
information or write their stories electronically from remote locations. In many cases, breaking
stories are written by staff members, through information collected and submitted by other
reporters who are out on the field gathering information for an event that has just occurred and
needs to be broadcast instantly. Radio and television reporters often compose stories and report
"live" from the scene. Some journalists also interpret the news or offer opinions and analysis to
readers, viewers, or listeners.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media can be considered many things and with the increased use of social media in our
everyday lives it can be hard to determine what should be considered social media advertising or
traditional advertising
A common problem which many companies face is what department should be responsible for
the social media pages. Although there is no one answer to this problem that will work for all
companies; in general the department responsible for information that is being broadcasted
across the majority of the social media channels should handle the pages.
It is due to this problem of massive amounts of different information coming into the company
and being projected out which causing the company to over think who should truly be
responsible.
How Social Media covers new media

New Media Trends

When attempting to estimate future new media trends or content it is nearly impossible. Some of
the reasons are the ever-changing technology that could and are being used by consumers. In
many different fields of business and market segmentations companies or individuals have a
relatively easy ability to gain information about future consumer trends. Another reason why
future trends of new media are not as easy to predict is due to whom the users are, people.
People have become very random and what could be popular today might never be shown again
for fear that the company is seen as being out of the loop. The only way to estimate what future
trends might be on new media is to not only examine what forms of it people are using sites, but
to also remember that human characteristics are changing daily.
User Trends In Social Media Sites
One current trend that can be seen with social media is that many sites that have been created and
have grown to extremely large numbers and have great influence, are losing popularity. Once
users feel that they can no longer express themselves freely and unrestricted they will typically
leave for other sites. Many users feel that they no longer have freedom to post and share
whatever they wish due to the size of the site and the users on the site. This was the case with
MySpace and more recently, a problem that Facebook is facing. Both of these sites grew
extremely large, meaning that whole families would be on the sites. This meant that many users
felt they could not be completely open on these sites for fear of who might see them, whether
they are family, certain friends, or other company employees. A trend, which can be seen not
only by users but also by the people who create social media sites, is the decrease and
simplification in content size. This does not mean that the sites are getting less complicated but

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instead of having large blog posts with multiple pages or videos that are nearly 10 minutes, users
are more interested in quick information. This can be seen through the invention and
Adoption of Twitter, which was essentially a more simplified Facebook where
users can quickly post to followers a maximum of 141 characters. There is also a current trend
that is happening now on the social media site Vine. This is a site very similar to YouTube,
meaning that it is a site where users can post their videos. Vine has taken a similar approach to
YouTube as Twitter has done to Facebook. Currently on Vine users are only able to post videos
which are approximately 6 seconds or shorter.
Currently users are switching away from large social media sites for fear of information being
shared or simpler sites.
Company Trends
Company trend are much easier to examine and estimate when considering the actions they will
take but also the steps they should take compared.
Companies must answer to boards and quarterly reports that can limit their flexibility
Currently companies are trying to market themselves and their products over new media in a
variety of ways. The first of these and possibly the most common for companies of various fields
is the creation of social media sites and posting of information on these sites that was from the
website or another form of media. The way that this can be adapted to company trends is to
realize that they are not able to completely follow what individual users are doing but to attempt
similar content.
There is also a trend to not only post on social media sites but also to use this as a
Two-way form of communicating with customers. Many companies have done this extremely
well but there is even more who are lacking. The companies who realize that the most effective
way to use social media is to not only post many things but get reposts and likes
and individuals posting new content on their pages are those who will succeed. Users are not
only looking to social media as ways to be talked at, they want to interact and talk to other users
who like the company and the company itself.
Credibility Issues
Curiosity is a human nature and hence people turn to different sources of information to satisfy
their hunger. As the centuries pass by, more and more information is being available, whether
through word of mouth, traditional media, or through mainstream digital media. Open data is the
new source of information that provides people with the opportunity to have access to a wide
network of knowledge, which they can use to their advantage.
However this is not the case all the time. First and foremost, data is not always available in its
filtered form and most data out there is raw. Not all information is credible and originates from a
reliable source. Hence, people fall into the trap of being mislead, which prevents them from
making critical analysis and finding solutions to their communitys problems. People are not
always protected from the fake information and usually rely on it without verifying it.
Credibility issue example of American networks

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For the second time in a decade, the believability ratings

for major news organizations have suffered broad-based
declines. In the new survey, positive believability ratings
have fallen significantly for nine of 13 news organizations
tested. This follows a similar downturn in positive
believability ratings that occurred between 2002 and 2004.
The falloff in credibility affects news organizations in most
sectors: national newspapers, such as the New York Times
and USA Today, all three cable news outlets, as well as the
roadcast TV networks and NPR.
The average positive believability rating is 56%. In 2010,
the average positive rating was 62These are among the
major findings of a survey by the Pew Research Center for
the People & the Press, conducted July 19-22 among 1,001
adults.

Effect on medias credibility during crisis

Credibility of media and the information it releases, poses a major question to the people when
there is an open data of information out there. To what extent is the information out there true?
To what extent do media illiterate people get affected by false information out there? With
this fast digital moving age and with the time constraints that are present on getting the
information out, people are turning towards the broadcast media outlets and depending on them
for their news information and for their daily updates about their communities and their world
around them. If this information has the potential of being false, then imagine all the decisions
taken on the basis of this and the effect on these people. Since their advent, news agencies and
publishing houses around the world have been trying to provide a factual account of the events
that happen in a community and that have the power to affect a citizens life. With the initiation
of internet as a tool to reach a bigger group of people, by the news outlets, an effort was being
made to bring the same level of accuracy to this new medium. However, as the speed and spread
of internet increased, so did the consumption of news by the public. New media became another
tool to dispense and consume valuable information to and by the general population. Hence, the
regulation of the information that was being made public and that was accessible to a large group
of people became weak. As citizens became journalists, the practice of verifying each and every
fact that goes online, lost its importance. Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and blogs became sources of
information, not only for the public but also for the mainstream media. Mainstream media and
social media can often be seen interacting with each other to dispel all this information around
the world in real time.
With all this information presented, it leads us to question the credibility of the information and
news presented to us by the media. If a disaster happens or a crisis breakouts and information is
flowing from different directions continuously and un- relentlessly, it is hard to monitor the

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truthfulness of information and hence its credibility is jeopardized. As a result, this false
information is internalized by the citizens and taken as the truth which might lead to unintended
reactions.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECONOMY

American Press Twitter Hoax
On 24 April, 2013 a tweet by Associated Presss twitter account was published that said
breaking: Two explosions in The White House and Barack Obama is injured. The tweet got retweeted 6000 times in 2 minutes but as said to be a hoax after AP released a statement saying that
their twitter account had been hacked. The tweet had strong repercussions on the US economy as
well as the international economy.
On the left is an infographic of how twitter can be manipulated to cause a release of hoax
messages
Is traditional Media Still relevant? YES!
As social media surges in popularity, many authors and experts are questioning the benefit and
relevance of traditional media in their marketing and publicity efforts.
So how valuable is exposure on TV and radio, or in magazines and newspapers in 2014?
Its obvious people are still watching TV, listening to the radio, and reading print publications.
And its still impressive to be invited as a TV and radio show guest, or to be featured in articles
and reviews. Of course you must be net savvy and utilize every aspect of social media, building a
platform and making a name for yourself. But ignoring and dismissing this valuable resource is a
mistakeif youre serious about getting noticed and reaching a broader audience.
For example, book and personal publicity should be a multi-pronged effort. Incorporating
traditional media into book promotion strategies, marketing, and platform building, is a
guaranteed way of gaining visibility and boosting sales. It brings immediate credibility and
professional recognition. Then you can include links to TV interviews and articles on your
website, and share them on Facebook and Twitter, further expanding your reach and building a
larger following.
Traditional media has an immediate and powerful impact. It also has the advantage of a
targeted audience.
In stark contrast its easy to be online. You dont have to be invited. The door is wide open, and
as a result the internet is saturated. Everybody is now a writer because they have a blog. Even
with just a rudimentary grasp of grammar and poor spelling skills, they can still claim the title.
Anyone who owns a camera and can upload to You Tube are now filmmakers and producers. It
seems professional experience and accomplishments in such fields are becoming obsolete, and
unless youre already famous, its easy to be drowned out by the masses.

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But traditional media doesnt

work that way. They want the
best. They want to interview
novelists and non-fiction writers
with professional credibility and
accomplishments, as well as a
good story to tell.
Above all, traditional media
outlets have a stable and
established viewing audience.
Online you dont have this
advantage

Challenges facing traditional

Media
1. Lack of Warm leads
Trends indicate that local
media's projected ad growth will
come from brand new business
in 2013. The problem is sales
reps are chasing existing dollars
in their markets. Since most
local media companies don't
have a dedicated marketing or
sales person helping to generate
new, high quality leads, sales
reps are left with one option to
drum up new business, cold
calling. If you're in the business,
you know that scribbling down
that new advertiser you see in
the newspaper or on a billboard
and calling them up, is getting
less and less effective these
days.
2. Inconsistent Customer
Revenue

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not only are sales teams constantly chasing existing advertisers, they're constantly chasing the
same sales too. Inconsistent ratings, circulation numbers and viewership make insertion orders
commonplace and annual buys few and far between. Forecasting revenue with a larger and
growing portion of one-time-buys is nearly impossible. Media companies know marketing
dollars are being spent elsewhere in the market but, they haven't figured out how to capture a
larger portion of their client's marketing budgets.
3. Losing Money to Online Advertising & Marketing Services
The biggest growth area in local media this year will be in online marketing, growing 31% from
2012 representing a little more than $24 billion. Newspapers, radio stations, cable TV, local TV,
direct mail and OOH continue to lose share because their clients are investing dollars that they
used to spend in traditional. The money is being reallocated to SEO, email, PPC, banner
advertising and other online ad services that generate website traffic -- which is ultimately where
potential customers do their research before they buy. As a result, online seemingly becomes
more measurable and successful for business owners. Sure traditional media companies sell
online inventory that competes with alternative online channels, but traditional media companies
find that revenue isn't predictable, it yields small margins, sales reps don't always understand
how to sell it competitively and it ultimately can't be bundled to drive up the average cost per IO
as media companies had once hoped.
New Media
New media has injected new vitality and
competition into news.

Traditional Media
Mainstream media is more effective at
standing up to big institutions like
governments and corporations.

Because of new media there is now a

greater diversity of ideas and viewpoints.

Good thorough journalism requires deeper

pockets.

As new media matures, it will take over the

social responsibilities of old media.

New media is just an aggregation of

mainstream media.

You cant cover any news if you arent in

business and old media is dying financially

With new media people tend to isolate their

news consumption to only the views they
want to hear.

The best fact checking has been done

online.

The editorial process is shifting to the

consumers of news.

Old Media is slow, detached and

monolithic.

The audience has shifted to the web and

that audience is worth less to publishers on
the web.

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Primary Research Methodology

To collect primary data to gather a clear consensus, I created an online survey of 4 basic
questions
The link to my survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KVG3GF3
Id linked this survey to my face book page, and mailed it individually to 93 people, and
gathered a total of 79 responses.
While a majority of respondents preferred newspapers as their basic source of news
consumption, they assigned the highest doubt of credibility to online blogs.
A very minor distinction was made between the responses from Q3) as almost 53% chose to
spend their time on YouTube as opposed to 47% who preferred twitter.
A huge distinction was observed for the responses for Q4) as 86% of the respondents answered
that New media will NOT render obsolete, traditional sources of media
On follow-ups with a sample size of 15 people of the 93 who were part of the 86% category, they
cited their reason as being they believed the best way forward is for traditional media to
assimilate itself within the purview of new media rather than being rendered obsolete by it

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Case Study Coca-Cola and its transition from traditional media to new media.
Coca-Cola has long used advertising throughout their
companys history. The first ever advertisement was in 1886 in
the Atlanta Journal, which was a local newspaper. In 1891
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Coca-Cola started to lay the foundation for some of its most
popular and famous advertising, these being posters, calendars,
clocks and much more.

The shift to digital marketing & Social media

Coca-Cola has grown a huge social media presence in a relatively short amount of

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Time. This is in part due to the size of the area where the products are being sold, the age of the
company and many other factors; one of which is luck. Initially Coca-Cola did not have a fan
page on Facebook, so some fans of the brand created one. Once Facebook changed its
requirement where the actual company must operate all company pages, Coca-Cola was faced
with a problem, take the site over or let it die. At this point they realized the importance and took
over the site, but when they did so it was not by giving it to current employees it was
hiring the initial creators who were just super fans of the company
Coca-Cola site screenshot, 2014

On the Coca-Cola website next to this video which initially greets the viewer when visiting the
site, there is a list of recent post where the information from different social media sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, Flicker and YouTube can be switched to.
YouTube
Along with having social media pages that have various types of content, the connection between
social media and the company website can easily be seen. When visiting The Coca-Cola
Company webpage in the center of the screen is a video that was created for social media and
posted on YouTube
Facebook
After visiting the Coca-Cola Facebook page there are a few things, which become blatantly
obvious. The first is that Coca-Cola is an extremely well known and liked company due to their
72 million likes and 1 million people talking about them. It can also be see that Coca-Cola does
not necessarily post often, usually once a week, but when they do they have thousands of likes

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and hundreds or thousands of comments and reposts depending on the initial post. This means
that they rely on their followers to help spread the company and its information as much as they
do. It can also be see that Coca-Cola does not necessarily post often, usually once a week, but
when they do they have thousands of likes and hundreds or thousands of comments and reposts
depending on the initial post. This means that they rely on their followers to help spread the
Company and its information as much as they do
Assimilation with traditional media.
While coca-cola has advanced its marketing methods to mostly new sources of media, it doesnt
understate the importance of traditional sources of media, instead, views it as an effective and far
reaching supplement of its advertising efforts as can be seen through its prevailing use of
newspapers and TV advertisements.
It continues to host outdoor events to garner publicity for the brand, and for this purpose still
makes use of posters & billboards.
The extensive assimilation between traditional and new media convergence is best displayed in
the busy Times square street in New York where giant digital posters flash across buildings.

Conclusion
This thesis originally set out to examine social media in relation to past forms of advertisement.
This is a fairly broad subject due to the massive numbers of social Media sites, which cater to
different people and the extremely large numbers of opportunities to advertise through more
traditional means.
1. We examined how media covers the different aspects of broadcast, social media etc and
how credible such sources are when viewed by the public.
2. We analyzed the prevailing user and consumer trends regarding new media.
3. We then proceeded to use the case Of the coca cola to show how they have done
marketing before and after social media.
4. A growing consensus amongst the minds of the sample size studied in this research is
that traditional media will find its saving grace with assimilation with new sources of
media and not through obsolescence. This is partly due to the high credibility traditional
sources of media still enjoy due to the lack of intermediary intervention in its proceedings

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and given the long-standing trajectory of its consumption over the years which renders it
an integral source of content and information contributor.
5. Upon conclusion, it can therefore be stated that new media is not about to replace
traditional sources of media anytime soon, because the current working generation in
India is that which has extensively relied on the traditional sources of media for their
content and information consumption, this trend cannot be easily displaced in their minds
even with the advent of new media and its attempted convergence with traditional media.
References
www.scribd.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.thedrum.com
www.pewresearchcentre.com
Book referred - Understanding Social Media, by Varinder Taprial and Priya Kanwar