A response to "New Media - A Critical Introduction"

This is a reading response to an article titled "New Media - A Critical Introduction".

This article had a lot of different points to talk about, but the one subject that interested me the most is the newness of social media. Whenever something new comes out, regardless of whether its a social game, a new way to share media, what have you, the article states that more often than not, they try to advertise their selves as the new and coming media that will change the field and be the next groundbreaking thing. Through my experience however, it's usually the same old thing with new aesthetics; shiny bows and ribbons hiding the fact it is practically the same as everything else that is already out in the field being successful.

At this point, I do not thing any new social sites like facebook or twitter will arise and change anything. We might have hit the peak in that respect. The one chunk of social media I'm not so sure about yet is social games. Things like Farmville and whatever else is out there on facebook and iPhones being so popular. At this point, I think Farmville has run it's course. The new thing is Castleville, or something else with a “ville” at the end. Either way, these social games all have their hook, and they tend to have the same hook that “The Sims” does. There are objects and places in the world to be upgraded to something better and new, and you're the only one who can do it. With the help of friends also playing in your world and helping you collect what's necessary, you build your world piece by piece. Eventually, when everyone has hit the max level, the game has no replay value and is abandoned. But at that point, developers such as Zinga have already come out with a new game of similar likeness and it's ready for everyone's time.