Network Laws!!!

Between all three laws, I understand and agree with Sarnoff's Law and Reed's Law the most. Sarnoff's Law states that the value of a broadcasting network is directly linear to the number of viewers it has. This is very important especially for mass media broadcasting. The number of people watching, or clicking or sharing the network’s content, the higher the value of the radio/television network. These numbers help us understand why and how digital networks are valued; you can understand exactly how much value a piece of content contributes. 

Reed’s Law is used for larger networks and more specifically social networks. This law claims that networks, or social media, will grow exponentially depending on the size of the network. Because of the possible sub-groups that the network supports, the number of potential participants will grow. There’s no way to really know how many users there are, and the only way to reasonably measure the value is by how counting the groups the network already supports and the affiliations they have with eachother. 

I agree with Sarnoff’s Law more, even though all three laws are substantial. In my experience with mass communication, I agree that the value of your network has a lot to do with the number of people clicking, watching and sharing your content. If a certain video or article attracts new viewers or subscribers, that is just a result of the shares on your content. Although Reed’s Law is accurate because of the sub-groups and their potential to grow the network, it still can not be 100% accurate. With Sarnoff’s law, we can at least see how many people are watching and try to graph the network’s growth from those numbers. The relationship between viewers and the qualities they share are important but their click to the networks content is more important. 

Five years from now, I think most people will receive their information completely online. I believe that Reed’s Law will be the most used because so many people will have an identity online, that brands and other networks will be able to learn about their viewers simply on the things they look up. Our online identity already contributes so much to how different networks can target us but eventually, everyone will be a target to someone.