ComicalYou Is a New Social Media Service in Which Participants

question 174

Multiple Choice

ComicalYou is a new social media service in which participants create avatars to represent themselves, describe their lives, and interact with one another. All the postings are graphical, presenting the messages in the form of comic panels and strips. The service's software easily converts ideas into whimsical images. The site's creators, Ginny and RJ, believe that ComicalYou will be especially appealing to young people because it is so effective in conveying emotional content with a lighthearted appeal. They, along with a team of six employees, have completed the software, tested it on two dozen of their closest friends, and are eager to open up their site to users. What will make the product testing and test marketing stage challenging for an online product such as ComicalYou?

• A) Putting a software service on a Web site is very expensive.
• B) Consumers are reluctant to try out new forms of social media.
• C) Research and development is expensive, and many new products fail.
• D) If word about the service spreads quickly, it will be difficult to confine the testing to a limited market.
• E) If users in the test market are dissatisfied, it will be difficult to change the product after it is online.

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Definitions:

Erich Fromm

A German-born American psychoanalyst and social psychologist known for his theories on freedom, love, and human nature.

Abraham Maslow

A psychologist best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, leading to self-actualization.

Unconscious

The part of the mind that contains thoughts, memories, and desires not within the realm of conscious awareness.

Conscious

The state of being aware of and able to think about one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.