What is the significance of corporate power in new media?
For the purposes of our project we have examined new media in the form of video, web content/social networking, mashup, and videogames/second life. From our research on and analysis of each of our chosen forms of new media we have concluded that corporate power in varying forms is evident in each. Corporate content providers exert their influence over video in new media through copyright protection, advertising, and the threat of litigation. The importance of legal regulation in the form of copyright is also evident in mashup. Corporations are using copyright regulation to block the dissemination of work by the creators of mashups. Advertising is the other primary form of power that corporations wield in the new media environment. This power is clear in video games, as well as on social networking websites.
The examination of each of these mediums brings us to an important realization, corporate power is diffuse in nature and manifests itself in ways that resemble its influence on old media. Where it breaks with tradition is in its ability to identify and analyze threats and opportunities for business with a level of accuracy and personalization that once seemed unthinkable. Along with this shift in power comes a greater understanding of how the new media environment can be constrained by regulation created for more traditional formats. Important to note is that not all corporate power exercised online is nefarious in nature, in many ways corporations seek to provide better information and products to consumers and to ensure that creators are entitled to some share of the fruits of their labor. Additionally corporations play a key role in providing content to new users that provides an incentive for the adoption of new media technologies.
As demonstrated by our discussion of video, social networking sites, mashup, and video games/second life, corporate power in new media is significant because of the threat it poses to creativity, to the open exchange of information and to the privacy of the users of new media. As corporations adjust to the new media environment and try to maintain the level of control to which they are accustomed, they are affecting the possibilities for community and sharing that are presented by these new media.
