DCS- Interactivity

Interactivity can be defined as “two way influence” and also can be described as “many-to-many” communication.  When talking about “two way influence” there are three areas to think about, Choice- there are 200 channels on the TV but although this is a lot to choose from it doesn’t mean it’s interactive. The second area is Involvement- books and films may “involve” us but we cannot influence them therefore it is not two way. The final area is Active Audience- the interaction between memory and the imagination means we are active when we consume media  but again we cannot influence it , so therefore it is not two way.

Two types of interactivity that are important are person-to-person interactivity and person-to-machine interactivity. Person-to-person interactivity allows communication between people, it may be described by the number of people it can reach, the speed of communication or the ease of use. Person-to-person interactivity dominates web and mobile phone communication and allows a much higher degree of person interactivity than traditional media.

Steuer, (1992) defines Person-to-machine interactivity as “the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real time”, it may allow person interactivity and like Person-to-person interactivity the web has high potential for this form of interactivity.

You often can’t tell the difference between person-to-person or person-to-machine interactivity, because sometime an interactive function uses both.  There are certain cases where each one is more relevant. In terms of social tasks person-to-person interactivity is most appropriate and person=to-machine interactivity favours things like the task of information searching.

Deighton and Kornfeld believe that where the consumer is concerned there are five paradigms in which relate to how consumers use media differently. These are:

1.       Thought tracing- people search the web for information or entertainment.  Businesses can infer states of mind from the content of the search and then serve the relevant advertising.

2.       Ubiquitous connectivity- people integrate always-on-computing into everyday life. Firms can exploit information on proximity and pertinence to intrude.

3.       Property exchanges- people participate in anonymous exchanges of goods and services.  Firms compete with these exchanges rather than participate with them.

4.       Social exchanges- people build identities within virtual communities; firms can sponsor or co-opt communities.

5.       Cultural exchanges- people observe and participate in cultural production and exchange. Businesses offer cultural products or sponsor their production.

They argue that the developments in” interactive technologies in the past decade lead to the conclusion that direct marketing is not appropriate for interactive marketing”. They felt that in terms of marketing, interactivity needs to be used to facilitate people’s identity projects.

To use interactivity effective, the needs of the consumer need to be fulfilled, through social exchanges or even through the search of information, for example on Google. Advertising on Google can be effective to businesses because it is not getting in the way of their information search, it is simply relating to their search and therefore will appeal to the consumer.  

“In the age of digital communication anyone who has the power to harness technology has the power to harness political and social power itself” ( Rheingold). This can easily be applied to the world of advertising and marketing communications.  If advertisers and marketers use technology to their advantage to reach consumers they can gain social power. The power of the crowd is an area in which could be seen as important to advertisers because of the use of User Generated Content, if they can use interactivity into these areas they could use this means of digital communications to successfully gain the needed social power for their brands.

References:
Deighton, J and Kornfeld, L., 2007 Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing,and Consumers Available from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5783.html [Accessed 13th feb 2011]