LO4: Final Design of App pages

The following are the final designed pages of the app that I have planned out:

The first page/screen that the user will see is their Student ID card that will be used for any security or for proof of identity. This will be used for such things as going through student accessible areas and going through gates and barriers. This will also notify the institute that the student has been logged in to the system.

















The 2nd screen/page will be the class information. This features a map and information that is transferred from the next page (Schedule). If a user clicks on the map and chooses a room, it will feature the assigned teacher, subject and students for that particular room. The map in the design is just an example as the map that will be provided, will be at the discretion of the educational institute.

The 3rd screen/page is the schedule system. Users can insert information by clicking on a cell and using the bottom area next to the function switcher to add information to the selected cell. The cells can be made larger as to accommodate difficulty with seeing smaller text.


















The final screen/page features the messenger system that allows communication between students and teachers alike. There is even a feature that allows group chats. This can be useful for something like a class project. Users can mention each other specifically by using the @ symbol. This will notify the person being mentioned within said chat.

LO3 - Task 5: Planning the development of original social media medium

P5 Learners plan the development of their own new social media website, including:

A) Purpose (What does it do?)

B) Content (What’s in it?)

C) Target user/membership (How do people sign up? Is it paid?)

D) Production plan with launch date (Full production plan – can you give yourself 6 months and backtrack)

E) Possible revenue streams (Think about how you could make money from your app/social website – think about how Facebook makes money/YouTube makes money)

A) Purpose
The main purpose of the app is to provide a way for students to handle their education in a more organised way and with accessibility of a rather common item (smartphones). Compared to that of a paper-based journal, a electronic version seems far more easier to deal with. It may also allow some more connectivity between students as it does a messenger function and it also features a forum-style area for asking questions, topics of interests etc.

B) Content 
The app will contain several functions that will serve the purpose of the PDA app. It will contain a Deadlines/Coursework function that will allow users to track what coursework and deadlines that they are working towards. A Class Information function that will allow users to look at the information that the classes they're in. It will also feature a messaging system similar to that of Twitter but with a Facebook style. And email function will also be added to allow for larger messages and for sending large files.

C) Target User/Membership
The app will not target a specific user group as it is used for educational institutes. However, to access the app, the login information and unique student code will be given by the student's current schooling institute. 

D) Production Plan/Gantt Chart 

The launch date, according to the gantt chart will be most likely around September-October 2016. 

E) Possible Revenue Streams
For an app that is for educational institutes and the purpose of it is help student life, there will most likely be no forms of advertisements as that will intrude on the student's time using the app. The only possible way for the app to become sustainable is if there is some form of investor within the education sector. 

LO2 - Task 4 - Generate idea for Social Media Website/App

A) Purpose

A PDA system will be the form, the app, will take. This will act as a organised system to keep track of what happens at any educational insititute. This can include homework/coursework deadlines, class times and room location/number, current lesson (Lesson objectives, tasks etc.), class information (People in the class, teacher, classroom arrangement). The PDA system will also have a messaging system similar to that of Twitter, small short messages and with the ability to add photos and videos. There will also be a e-mail function for longer messages and attaching larger files. To all effects and purposes, it's a Facebook for schools. However, the app is for personal use and does not pick up any data that a user inputs, therefore it prevents any form of data privacy infringements, the data will be handled by the educational institute that the user is in.

B) Format/Style
It will take the form of a smartphone app as this will make it easily accessible since phones are essentially always carried. It will be quite simplistic in terms of design as it is more focused on clarity rather than appearance. It will have different layouts for the several features that is going to have i.e. diary/planner style layout for the lessons and class information. The format of the app will allow images and videos, a Facebook messenger style of talk pages which will include a way to share media, have group chats and view what group chats someone is in. There will also be an email feature in place for larger messages, larger file attachments and for sending a message across several departments. A main feature of the app will be live information, when a new set of information such as classroom changes, timetables etc. have changed, it will automatically update on the scheduling system. (If even possible at the current stage of digital security) The app will also allow users to store their id cards to use for security systems such as door lock scanners, turnstiles scanner etc. The user does not need to have any login details but that is handled by having a unique student/staff code.

C) Target User/Membership
The main target users will be anyone in a educational institute, which includes staff and students. However, this kind of system will more likely to be used correctly in a high school/college scenario. This would be quite helpful for students as it can allow them to keep track of their school/college/university activities. The app is free to use since it will be for a educational purposes and wouldn't make sense for it to be paid for if a large student body is going to use it. It has to be made completely accessible to any student/staff. The app can help improve the general school/college/university life in ways such as advanced payments for school lunches, notifications for classes (i.e. Class is not on, different classroom etc.).

D) Mock ups

LO1 - Task 3 - Commercial Uses for Social Media Products

This is looking at the way in which social media products are used for advertising and promotion. Bring in the theory we discussed in Unit 1 for c) – David Gauntlett (2010) and web 2.0, technological convergence, that the audience are now ‘we media’ Dan Gilmor (2004)

P3 Learners explore commercial uses for social media products, including:

A) Advertising: Paid for advertising (e.g. pay-per-click/impression advertising, sponsored links, banner advertising)

B) Viral Marketing: Aspects of promotional campaigns that are linked to and/ or passed around (e.g. amusing visuals, free e-books, free short reports, free ‘how to’ guides), online mass message distribution by users (e.g. Hotmail adding promotional footer to bottom of all users email), free online games highlighting products/service/news stories, access to TV adverts online, increased brand awareness

C) Product/Service Reviews: Advantages/disadvantages of user generated reviews, influence of ‘personal’ recommendation for others purchasing products/services.

Exploring Commercial Uses for Social Media Products which include:
A) Advertising
B) Viral Marketing
C) Product/Service Reviews

Twitter:
A) Advertising:
Twitter actually features a form of paid advertising in the form of sponsored links and promotions. They provide a service that allows people put their brands and display them to an audience within a certain target area. It has the same effect of per se, Google Adwords. Users are able to generate royalty free revenue from their tweets and media sharing with an agreement with WENN (World Entertainment News Network). A self-service advertising system was implented throughout the years, going from invited individuals only to non-invitees. This service was made available to all all of the US. 

B) Viral Marketing:
Twitter Is a platform for sharing which would mean that every form of viral marketing and anything that is currently trending will more than likely, if not definitely, appear on Twitter at some point. Due to the nature of users constantly sharing news and forming trends, every form of viral marketing will always be spread far from just Twitter itself but it can originate on Twitter since it is one of the most simplest form of being able to form a trend.

C) Product/Service Reviews:
In terms of reviewing products, it's not a very often explored area of Twitter due to how short the messaging system is; it can be used to link a page where the longer version of the review is located. It's technically a form of advertising. Influential people on Twitter may recommend products and it will more than likely be noticed more than a less known user; this could be both positive and negative since recommendations from well known users mean the product will be praised or it can be advised against.

Facebook:
A) Advertising:
Advertising on Facebook is based on advertising and promotions. Companies and people will pay Facebook to put up a series of sponsored advertisement across user feeds. Facebook may also use banner advertising and pay per click advertising by placing it on their browser based games. Advertising on Facebook is not as obvious as other forms of advertising since they are placed seamlessly.

B) Viral Marketing:
Facebook in terms of viral marketing is a heavily used medium for sharing viral features. This is most likely because of the huge amount of exposure there is between users, sharing trending subjects on a constant basis is what Facebook is mostly about, if not sharing general life and events. Due to the nature of Facebook and practically all social media, sharing en masse and between a huge chain of people is a common occurrence. However, there are certain negatives on Facebook; if the viral feature does not become large enough or was not large enough to begin with, it will most likely disappear before being able to be shared out.

C) Product/Service Reviews:
Facebook can be used for consumer reviews and can prove to be quite influential. The simplest form of providing product reviews is using a scoring based system i.e. stars and 'x out y' ratings. This is done in many ways such as films displaying awards, quotes from people and how it's rated by certain critics. This can be quite advantageous if said subject is as it is advertised. The main disadvantage is that if the advertisement is too far from the actual thing, it would mean that less people would believe the review on a future product for example.

Instagram:
A) Advertising:
Instagram uses short video advertisements that are placed in users feeds seamlessly with other videos and images from other users. Instagram does not heavily use other forms of advertising since it may intrude on a user's experience from casually browsing around.

B) Viral Marketing:
Viral marketing on Instagram is not quite as large as other mediums such as Twitter and Facebook since it tends to have it's own trends that is constantly shared between users. Existing trends that have been going on longer than new trends, tend to shadow the new trends. There are certain viral features that actually become a trend or a very heavily shared subject but they tend to be controversial subjects. On another note, companies that advertise clothing/fashion pay and sponsor models on Instagram to advertise their clothing for them. These models don't necessarily have to be well known models but can just be people who have a lot of followers and are able to advertise said fashion items.

C) Product/Service Reviews:
Product reviews/advertisements are not really used on Instagram but certain sponsorship and reviews can be noted as a form of advertisement. Products do happen to appear quite often on Instagram due to people constantly sharing just about anything that happens in their life. 

LO1 - Task 2 - Analyse positive negative social effects of social media products

LO1: Task 2 - Analyse social media products under the factors of how the product serves its purpose (Communication, instant access to friends - base personal experience) and what social problems could be posed when using the social media (obsession, bullying, trolling, isolation, obsession with digital technology.)

Twitter:

A) Positive:
Twitter is able to communicate to a wide range of people within an extremely short amount of time. Users are also able to send direct messages between each other and can be used a quick and short form of sending messages to people from farther away. Twitter can also be made as a form of advertising events and their brands to an audience which can share this promotion through the retweet and like function. Users are also able to advertise their services i.e. art comissions

B) Negative:
Twitter only provides so much space for messages considering what it was made for; short messages. People can get obsessed with using Twitter, having the constant need to post messages for no real reason which can result to being constantly stuck to their phones and computers on Twitter. Twitter can also be an area of cyber bullying and trolling (although trolling is more or less obvious), there are also cases of defamation and impersonation.

Facebook:

A) Positive:
Facebook allows long distance communication, assuming that both users are able to access the internet and Facebook. People are also able to connect with family and friends from faraway and there are able to share photos and videos to each other. Facebook also has a feature that gives people the choice to create groups which other people are to join. Not only does this create more connections with others but it also can mean that certain people can become more sociable outside of Facebook through learning how to be socialise in a virtual space with people they are not likely to meet face to face.

B) Negative: 
Facebook can be addicting to certain individuals and can cause certain negative impacts on their mental health. Some people may become unsociable due to their influenced way of thinking; people can becomes depressed, easily aggravated, envious etc. because of the way they always look at what other people are doing and not what they are doing for themselves and with others instead. There has been events of controversial manner on certain subjects of bullying.

Instagram:

A) Positive:
Instagram allows users to connect with other users purely with just photos and short videos. Being able to communicate with friends and other users almost instantly with others. People are actually able to give a more visual form of what people could be doing in their everyday life. Instagram has quite a few ways in protecting its user's security and prevents users who are not following them cannot access their feed (photos and videos). People can also block certain people from seeing their feed if by any means that they are offending them in any way.

B) Negative:
There are ways that can cause privacy issues; features such as 'location hashtags' which would be very dangerous for minors as people who have no good intention have a way of finding out a location through these location hashtags. There is also a direct messaging/photo sharing that has had issues of sexting which quite a few parts of the userbase does due to it being a new feature. Hashtags are also quite a danger since it can be used to find certain tagged photos and videos which people of ill interests use to find places.

LO1 - Task 1 - Understand existing social media products

Research and write about the following points for existing social media mediums:
A) Purpose
B) Content
C) Target User/Membership
D) Sources of Revenue
E) Legal and Ethical Issues

Existing social media:
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Snapchat
- Vine
- Instagram
- Tumblr
- DeviantArt
- SoundCloud


Twitter:

A) Purpose:
The purpose of Twitter is to share small messages between people. With the follower system that Twitter uses, when a user posts a message that they want to share, his/her followers will be able to see that message. Messages can be favourited and it can also be retweeted which is just repost function. Twitter is also often used for promotional uses for small and big companies.

B) Content:
Twitter features a lot of available content for all users. There are several promotions from companies that advertise their services, photographs and videos that people upload and each of the messages that are shared by the users can be considered content due to the different messages shared.

C) Target User/Membership:
The targeted users for Twitter usually involve the majority of people. Certain cases such as corporates making an account that they can use for advertisement and promotion. Considering that it is aimed towards the majority, both genders are equal targets for the use of Twitter. It has several connections to other social media such as Vine, Facebook and Instagram.

D) Sources of Revenue:
Corporate pages are a common subject on Twitter and even asks their users to use their promotional services. This 'service' that Twitter provides to the general public allows them to gain revenue and in turn provide a way for people to promote their brand. Twitter doesn't use banner or impression advertisement as all their revenue is made from people promoting their brands on other users through their feeds.

E) Legal and Ethical Issues
Twitter has had a few legal and ethical issues which include a series of defamation, cyber bullying, stalking, impersonation and the use of spreading groundless rumours which has caused quite a few incidents in the past. However, Twitter has been cutting down on aforementioned issues and has since enforced their privacy protection, messsage filtering, verifying accounts to stop people from impersonating and defamatory messages blocked and most likely deleted.

Facebook:

A) Purpose:
Facebook serves as a social medium for people to share, communicate and connect with other people. People create a user profile which is used to connect with other users to add them as friends. With this user profile, people are also able to message each others feeds, send direct messages (know as private messages since only the 2 users communicating will see the conversation), share photos, videos and status updates. People can also choose to get notifications when their friends do the mentioned features. Users are able to join groups that share a common interest and are even able to make their own groups to share their interests with other people who may want to join (if said group doesn't exist). There is also a feature known as 'Pages' which allow people to create pages for brands, subjects of interests and for sharing information.

B) Content:
Facebook is used a form of 'blogging', sharing things that people do in their day to day lives. People share photos and videos where people are able to like and add a comment on it. Facebook also allows users to talk to other users through the use of an in-built browser-based instant messenger. This also includes voice calls which instant messaging programs provide, although not the same quality that of a program focused directly on instant messaging and video and audio calls. Facebook also provides a 'Marketplace' for people to post advertisements.

C) Target User/Membership:
The demographic statistics for Facebook is mainly female in the age range of 18-34. Males are included more heavily in the 18-25 age range but have a exponential decrease towards older ages. Facebook is popular globally, mostly in the United States, Europe, Middle Eastern and SEA (South East Asia). It is also used in different parts in Africa. Facebook is linked with several other forms of social media, which includes Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat and several blogging services.

D) Sources of Revenue:
Facebook has several forms of features that allow them to produce revenue and that also includes surprisingly popular browser-based games. Facebook has a series of microtransactions and forms of advertising and promotion around the website. Another small source of revenue that Facebook has is a 'gifting' service which can be used to send friends and other users a virtual gift that allows people to write a personalised message to give along with the gift.

E) Legal and Ethical Issues:
Several legal and ethical issues surround Facebook due to the way social media interactions are done. Minimum age requirements and data protection acts have been breached before but since the discovery of said things happening, Facebook has been working towards preventing any further breaches from happening. With the rise of celebrities and icons using social media more often than before, impersonations and defamatory comments do happen more often than it should and policies such as the "Real-name policy" which means that people have to verify and confirm that they are who they actually are on Facebook; this prevents impersonation and causing less confusion and controversy when a certain impersonator writes a out-of-character message to people. However, these new policies did cause certain problems such as people who go by their stage names as to mask their identity and to keep it a secret in the first place.

Instagram:

A) Purpose:
Instagram is a multimedia sharing platform under the guise of a social networking medium. People share photos and videos. Instagram is a very popular social medium, much like Vine but with a selection of other features that Vine doesn't provide, albeit Instagram existing before Vine did. Instagram is available through te App Store, Google Play and Windows Phone Store.

B) Content:
Instagram allows their users to upload photos and short videos, follow other users and get update of their feeds whenever they upload new photos and videos. A feature that allows to find other users can be through the use of the Explore tab, which is a section of Instagram that lets a user look through trending subjects, popular users and specific users (as long as the profile has been set as a public profile).

C) Target User/Membership:
The main target audience demographic would be 40-60 male to female ratio and mostly in the the 18-25 age range and even in the 17 and younger age bracket. Instagram has also adopted in a business model of sponsorship and promoting brands after every other message or so.

D) Source of Revenue
Instagram in itself does not produce revenue but after being acquired by Facebook, they have been using an advertisement and brand promotion system that allows people to advertise their brands through sponsored videos and images on user feeds.

E) Legal and Ethical Issues:
Instagram has had several issues with legal and ethical controversies. Terms of uses changes such as people "...agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display tour username... in connection with paid or sponsored content... without any compensation to you." Instagram has had a problem with illicit use of the service, pertaining drugs.

Unit 35 - Brief

Unit 35 - Social Media Products

 Assignment:  To investigate social media products and design a new social media app/site.

LO1: Understand existing social media products
LO2: Be able to generate ideas for a new social media website
LO3: Be able to plan for the development of a new social media website
LO4: Be able to design pages for a new social media website