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New media is a term describing media that can only be created or used with the aid of computer processing power. It is a form of media that includes some aspect of interactivity for its audience and is usually in digital form.

While the expression "New Media" may be applied to a large spectrum of media, it is generally used to describe interactive creative expression in multimedia, computers or communications technologies.

Contents 1 What is classed as new media? 2 Old media and new media 3 The new media industry 4 Disadvantages in the use of new media 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

What counts as new media is often debated, and is dependent on the definitions used.

• Video games and virtual worlds
• Multimedia CD-ROMs
• Software
• Web sites including blogs and wikis
• Email and attachments
• Electronic kiosks
• Interactive television
• Mobile devices
• Podcasting
• Hypertext fiction

The distinction between "new media" and old media is perceived to be a difficult one to make. From 1995 to 2004, the old media started to expand into producing new media, thus blurring the boundaries between the two. Much old media content was re-purposed in a new digital format, but with little substantial change,^[1] but 'old media' producers are now starting to make content specifically for new media audiences.

The term 'new media' gained popular currency in the mid 1990s as part of a marketing pitch for the proliferation of interactive educational and entertainment CD-ROMs. One of the key features of this early new media was the implication that corporations, not individual creators, would control copyright.^[2] The term then became far more widely used as the mass consumer internet began to emerge from 1995 onwards.

The new media industry shares a close association with many market segments in areas such as software/video game design, television, radio, and particularly advertising and marketing, which seeks to gain from the advantages of two-way dialog with consumers primarily through the internet. The advertising industry has capitalized the proliferation of new media with large agencies running multi-million dollar interactive advertising subsidiaries such as Ogilvy Interactive (Ogilvy & Mather), Tribal DDB (DDB Worldwide), and AtmosphereBBDO (BBDO Worldwide). In a number of cases advertising agencies have also set up new divisions to study new media, including Media Arts Lab from TBWA\Chiat in Los Angeles.

Within the advertising business there is a blurring of the distinction between creative (content) and the media (the delivery of this content). Now media itself is considered to be creative and the medium has indeed become the message.

In 1999 a Newsweek cover story featured the 20 "New Stars of the New Media." The magazine claimed a handful of newspreneurs were "changing the way Americans get their news.". Among the 20 "stars" of the new media were the Drudgereport's Matt Drudge, NewsMax.com's Christopher Ruddy, and Fox's Geraldo. ^[3]

While most advertising and marketing agencies have cited the use of new media as a positive force in reaching new and old customers alike,^{[citation needed]} a prevalent concern amongst companies that wish to remain competitive in today's digital markets is the rapid rate at which new media changes, and can be changed from any number of sources.^{[citation needed]} While the new level of communication between customers and those providing any kind of service is generally beneficial, it also allows for more methods by which unhappy consumers may disproportionately voice their concerns, in relation to their actual overall sampling size amongst consumers as a whole.

Another negative result of the implementation of new media advertising and marketing is cost-related. As new media forms are almost exclusively digital in nature, the cost of initial establishment and then the upkeep of the equipment, resources, and manpower needed may pose a significant problem for smaller businesses. It has been said that in this way,^{[citation needed]} the worldwide trend towards reliance on new media for such means may very well be a move towards further corporate globalization, and the downfall of smaller businesses that can't compete with such new technological means.

• (2003) in Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Nick Montfort: The New Media Reader. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-23227-8. 

• Electronic Language International Festival in São Paulo, Brazil
• Urban Dictionary definition
• What's New Media?
• The Media Age
• The What's New Media Wiki
• New Media Institute
• New Media Awards
• Television in the age of New Media explosion - by Yuli Yang - 2007 April 7th (Chinese)