2- Understanding new digital media products

2-Understanding new digital media products 

There are so many digital media products available to be used worldwide. Some examples of these digital media products include mobile apps, websites, podcasts and Youtube shows or channels. 

Mobile app

There are now thousands of mobile apps available to download either for free or to also buy, ranging from social media such as Instagram or Snapchat all the way to food apps like Just Eat or Deliveroo. In this section of the digital media, I will be looking at Instagram. 

Instagram was launched on October 6th 2010  by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. It was originally only made for IOS devices, but the creators soon expanded the app to android users in April 2012, then further expanding to other devices such as windows 10 and also designing it as a website. The app allows users to upload photos and videos, which can be edited with various filters. Tags and location information can  also be added to the posts. An account's posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can "like" photos, and follow other users to add their content to a feed. In 2010, Instagram rapidly gained popularity, with one million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 800 million as of September 2017. As of October 2015, over 40 billion photos had been uploaded to the service. 
Instagram offers the opportunity to save your stories and add them as 'highlights' to your profile page, where other users can view them at any time. This makes the app unique compared to its competitors snapchat and facebook, as they only allow for the picture to be viewed within the 24 hours of uploading it to the users story. 
The functionality of Instagram isn't new or improved compared to its other competitors, as they are all similar and share the same ideas when introducing a new update or version of the app. 

Website

Youtube was created in February 2005 by ex paypal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. It was later on bought by Google for $1.65 billion. YouTube allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add to favorites, report, comment on videos, and subscribe to other users. Available content includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary films, audio recordings, movie trailers, live streams, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos. Most of the content on YouTube is uploaded by individuals, but media corporations including CBS, the BBC, Vevo, and Hulu offer some of their material via YouTube as part of the YouTube partnership program. As of February 2017, there were more than 400 hours of content uploaded to YouTube each minute, and one billion hours of content being watched on YouTube every day. As of August 2018, the website is ranked as the second-most popular site in the world, according to Alexa Internet.
Youtube is unique because it is the only service that provides online videos which have been uploaded by other users. This makes it very popular, as many users go online to watch their favorite youtuber which they can only do through youtube, making them different to other digital media products.

Podcast

Kermode and Mayo's Film Review is a radio programme hosted by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live every Friday afternoon between 2 pm and 4 pm. It features film reviews from Kermode, interviews with actors and other guests, and listeners' emails. As of August 2014 the show is BBC Radio's second-most downloaded podcast, and fourth on the BBC list of most-downloaded shows from 2004 to 2014. 
Kermode and Mayo's podcast differentiates itself from other film review podcast channels as it occasionally releases special broadcasts.For example, an annual 'Review of the Year' show is prerecorded and broadcast on New Year's Eve, during which Kermode names his best and worst films of the year, and a Christmas Quiz, broadcast on Christmas Eve with special guests and recorded with a live audience. This makes it different, as no other film review podcasts do this, leaving them with a bigger advantage. 

Youtube show/channel 

Shane Dawson is an American YouTuber, author, sketch comedian, actor, film director, media personality and musician. He signed up for youtube in 2008 and has maintained his channel since. When he first started out, his channel consisted mostly of sketch comedy videos as well as releasing 6 original songs and numerous parodies from popular music videos. Later on, Shane began a series of conspiracy theories for his youtube channel, which are now some of his most viewed videos. In late 2017, Dawson released his first docu-series on YouTube, in which he reconciled with his abusive father. He began using the format regularly in 2018, with his most-viewed docu-series being about Jake Paul, Jeffree Star and TanaCon. His channel 'shane' is one of the 100 most-subscribed YouTube channels with 19 million subscribers and over 4 billion views.  
Shane makes his channel unique and different to other users channels, from the documentary series he publishes, following the 'behind the cameras' lives of other youtubers. This makes him stand out, as his demographic fan base are intrigued as to what lives youtubers actually live when the cameras are away.