New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

Goalpost in the Ozone: The Deceptively Good Intentions of #Climate

As far as scientific consensus goes, it’s tempting to label the ‘debate’ around climate change as being over. However, to do so invites complacency, a willingness to delegate responsibility to a far-off unknown authority. News organisations, politicians and activists...

By David Molloy on 09/24/17 Comments Off

Henry (or How VR will Undermine the Cinematic Experience)

On September 8th, Henry, a short film about a hedgehog who loves to cuddle, won an Emmy for “Outstanding Original Interactive Program,” making it the first original virtual reality film to win a major award. Video 1: Henry’s Premiere...

By Georgina Ustik on 09/22/16 Comments Off

Live streaming; the next big thing?

Recently, I discovered the live stream button on my Facebook page. I have heard about the applications Periscope and Meerkat with which you can live stream your own content: “Periscope and Meerkat are services that enable users to broadcast...

By Zoe Versteegen on 09/22/16 Comments Off

#CopyPaste – The battle between Instagram and Snapchat

There is a battle going on between Instagram and Snapchat.. but who is on the winning hand? A-team Instagram is a mobile phone photo-sharing, video-sharing and social network service. It enables users to take pictures and videos and...

By Arabella Memdouh on 09/21/16 Comments Off

YouTube: From Video Sharing to Building a Community

What? Where? When? For some, YouTube is just a video sharing platform, but for others (such as PewDiePie, JennaMarbles, or Zoella – only to mention some of the famous YouTubers) it is actually a job. However, in order to...

By Bianca Andreea Banu on 09/19/16 Comments Off

Bad News for Facebook

In the past couple of weeks Facebook and its content-monitoring policy as well as the changes made to its Trending Topics section made the headlines over and over again. These headlines have led to many opinion pieces and several...

By Ecesu Erol on 09/19/16 Comments Off

The Logout Project

We might all have felt this way at some point– scrolling through endless posts and photographs of people who seem like they are living “The Life”: getting that promotion they have dreamed of, marrying the most perfect person in...

By Izumi Otsuka on 10/16/15 Comments Off

Spy me, please!

A project, brought to you by Afra Suci Ramadhon, Alina Niemann, Kimberly Leerkes, Kyra Teklu and Radina Teodosieva The exhibitionist beginning Several weeks ago we were presented with an assignment - to create a new media project, intervening an...

By Radina Teodosieva on 10/16/15 Comments Off

HelpOut: Real Help for Real People

The Crisis at Hand Political upheaval in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia have forced about 464,000 migrants to cross into Europe in 2015, a phenomenon referred to as the “Refugee Crisis” (Park). Numerous tragic events, like the...

By Katharina Lueke on 10/16/15 Comments Off

I need some Beer & Chips! Can you get me some? – The new way of personal assistance and how it impacts our society

On the 26th of August the Vice President of Messaging products at Facebook, David Marcus, announced on his personal Facebook Page that Facebook is beginning to test a new service within the Facebook Messenger called “M”. With that post...

By Katharina Lueke on 09/15/15 Comments Off

Semantic Search Servants: Facebook’s M and the new way of searching the web

“You think I’m weird?” “Kind of.” “Why?” “Well, you seem like a person but you’re just a voice in a computer.” – Theodore meets his new virtual assistant, whom he later falls in love with (Jonze, Her). Facebook M...

By Elias Gorter on 09/15/15 Comments Off

Facebook in the Spotlight of the Dark Web

“Facebook is blocking logins with Tor browser. This is crazy. Please help us to share!“ (Facebook, 2013) published Tor Project on Facebook on June 18th 2013. This is not the case anymore. Facebook opened a service for all users...

By Oskar Strajn on 11/07/14 Comments Off

Minder, the app that wants to change content control

Disrupt SF 2014 Disrupt SF 2014, an event where new technology startups showed their products to the public and to prominent investors, took place last week in San Francisco. Launched by the web magazine TechCrunch in 2011, it has just reached its...

By Roberto Pizzato on 09/17/14 Comments Off

Why questioning the code in Facebook and Twitter matters

The Internet has created more possibilities for the individual and civil society. Now they can engage in higher connectivity, collective action, and freedom of expression in what Robert Harris and Rebekah Heacock term as “the creation of social capital online.”(1)...

By Mahsa Alimardani on 09/08/14 3

What can we learn from a Facebook clone?

What is the future of Facebook? With the fast-evolving nature of new media, it is interesting to think of the possible scenarios for the further development. One way to do so is to look at a former Facebook clone...

By Polina Boykova on 09/08/14 Comments Off

User feedback and the automated News Feed

User feedback and the automated News Feed Recently, Facebook announced a change, or in other words a ‘tweak’, in its News Feed ads algorithm. The goal of this update, which is going to be effective in the coming weeks,...

By M. van Helvert on 10/09/13 Comments Off

We Are Here: Locating micro-social dynamics of mediation

We Are Here (Dutch: Wij Zijn Hier) sums about 220 refugees that are actively searching for security and shelter in Amsterdam on a daily basis. In their very first blog post, they have stated their core objective: We are...

By Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez on 10/09/13 Comments Off

Are You Ready To Get Tinderized?*

How Are You Looking Online Today? Looking for a date but too shy to approach anyone face-to-face? Lucky for you, the market for smartphone apps that connects people from a distance is rapidly extending. One of those apps is...

By Ihab Khiri on 10/07/13 Comments Off

Tinder: Readily Combustible Material

“Readily combustible material, such as dry twigs, used to kindle fires.” Tinder is the new application that tells you if the people you like/ want to sleep with like you too. All you have to do is download the...

By Jonne-Marie Bouman on 10/06/13 2

#VemPraRua

How the use of Social Media platforms can mobilize a whole nation and transform the history of a country “Vem pra rua, porque a rua é a maior arquibancada do Brasil” The sentence above was extracted from the song...

By Gustavo López on 09/12/13 3

Social media – the new watchdog?

September 5th the former leader of the Norwegian far right party (Progress Party), Carl I. Hagen, wrote a status update on his Facebook-profile. Here he blamed the current government for the murder of a 21-year old girl, Anja Weløy...

By May Andersen on 09/11/13 Comments Off

Apps evolution

I’m referring to the mobile applications specifically, because people tend to use them all the time in everyday life. We use the terms apps and app phones to describe applications and smartphones. Applications are designed to work...

By Alexandra Kontou on 09/10/13 Comments Off

Facebook enhances the brand image in consumer minds

Facebook is becoming a marketing tool involved in the 2.0. strategy, itself involved in the global brand’s strategy. The 2.0. strategy draws on social networks, as a marketing medium, and has a bidirectional communication that calls for creativity, rigor and...

By V Weydert on 09/08/13 Comments Off

Social network is aging. What’s next?

We’re hopelessly addicted to social platforms as if it would be still revolutionary in our lives but is anyone thinking about it to be aging? People start getting bored with social networks because it does change in the way...

By Indre Lauciute on 09/08/13 Comments Off