ENGLISH A: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STANDARD LEVEL PAPER 1 SPECIMEN PAPER. 1 hour 30 minutes INSTRUCTIONS TO STANDARD LEVEL CANDIDATES

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1 1 ENGLISH A: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STANDARD LEVEL PAPER 1 SPECIMEN PAPER 1 hour 30 minutes INSTRUCTIONS TO STANDARD LEVEL CANDIDATES ü Do not open this examination paper until instructed to do so. ü Write an analysis on one text only. ü It is not compulsory for you to respond directly to the guiding questions provided. However, you may use them if you wish. Write an analysis on one of the following texts. Include comments on the significance of context, audience, purpose, and formal and stylistic features.

2 2 SECTION A TEXT 1 Blog 6 tips For Staying Ahead Of New Social Media Platforms In 2014: Posted by Steve Cole on Dec 26, 2013 Going into the new year many of us are evaluating our situations. If you re like me you are taking a look at current and past projects over the last 12 months and thinking about what you could have done better and patting yourself on the back for your successes. I would like to think the more switched on of you are also planning with your current projects how you can tweak your plans for further momentum and success in A problem that many of us marketing professionals have had over the last few years is which platforms to concentrate on. As demonstrated by this fantastic cartoon by marketoonist.com. The solution to this comes from viewing your campaigns in a different way instead of just thinking how different platforms can be shoehorned in to your strategy. All great campaigns start with objectives and a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want your message to reach. From here you can then look at the different platforms available and trending to see if they can help you reach said audience and hit your objectives. At this point I would love to have a fancy infographic to share with you that told you which platform helped you to to reach which audience and which gave you a helping had towards certain metrics. The truth is as soon as something like that is made it is out of date. My parents now use Facebook more than I do, they are now also on Instagram. As technology becomes easier to use and platforms get more media coverage the demographics and potential audience shifts. It is your job as a marketing professional to stay ahead of these trends to make sure that when you are writing a strategy in March 2014, you are aware of all of the up to date trends and usage, rather than basing your plan on a post you read on Mashable 18 months ago. I find more these days companies are asking for a Facebook tab app to be made. So the gap between what is possible to do and what companies ask for is slowly catching up, the problem is that in a meeting in January 2013 I had Facebook explicitly told me to start to steer clear of that kind of technology as it wasn t mobile conducive. I have spent the whole of this year recounting this story to clients, not to sound like a smart arse, but to make sure that their campaigns are using the most forward thinking. This is better for them, results and my reputation.

3 3 How do you stay ahead of social media platforms in 2014 Stay well read: By far the best books of 2013 for marketing professionals were Youtility (Jay Baer), The Age of Context (Scoble, Israel) and WTF (Brian Solis) these 3 books are most current thinking around online, offline and technology marketing and are highly recommended. They are written by some of the most brilliant minds in their fields, this gives you a glimpse into their way of working and help you think differently about your strategies going forward. Listen: Podcasts are still going strong people! I highly recommend the FIR podcast (Holtz, Hobson) a long running, predominantly PR based podcast with fantastic opinion and insight from experts, they have just expanded tehir network in the late part of 2013 to include even more fantastic shows, a must have for The aforementioned Jay Baer also has a podcast (Social Media Pros) that I would listen to if your focus is around social media and community management. Stay connected: Connect with the big thinkers in your field of interest. I won t give you a huge list of who I am connected to as you can find that out in a few clicks around my personal profiles but you should build lists on Twitter that make it easy to see what the top people you admire and take inspiration from are saying. Keep them trim and check them regularly. Watch: YouTube, Vine and Instagram are blowing up with inspiration right now. You need to immerse yourself in these platforms and find people and content that you like. A great YouTube channel/show for marketing pros is Savvy Sexy Social (Amy Schmittauer) Amy produces 3 high quality shows each week and at 5-7 minutes per show there is no reason not to be keeping up to speed. Use the platforms: There is no better way of understanding how platforms can connect than actually using them yourself. This is particularly important when it comes to UX you need to know how your idea flows, how it could be shared, how the end user will experience it and how they will feel about it. Find like minded people: One of the biggest benefits I ve got from Google Plus this year is through joining communities. The marketing platforms communities (if you join the right ones) are really well policed with stringent policies. This allows the best information to be shared without the spam bots ruining it for everyone. Something I am yet to find on Linkedin. (please point me in the right direction for one if you have found a good one on Linkedin) Staying ahead of social media platforms 2014 is as simple as this, if you are doing the 6 steps above you will be up to date. It involves some work from your side, and I know that time is scarce so you need to box clever and make the most of your time. I didn t mention having feeds on topics as I find that a cumbersome way of filtration. I would rather follow people I trust for quality information and build a relationship with them. The best content will always get filtered into your news feed quickly if you follow the right people.

4 4 I am not affiliated to any of the resources mentioned these are just ones I find very useful, please share any others you find help you. I made this point in 2008; unfortunately you don t get recognised for keeping up to date in this game. There is no diploma or degree for reading the blogs and doing the research. I can hand on heart say that I do more research and reading than when I was at University! But in doing so I am staying ahead of the curve and able to give the best advice to clients. Do you have any interesting ways of staying ahead? I d love to know, please share in the comments. Hope you all have a prosperous 2014.

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