MEST3 Independent case study: New/Digital Media
Case study research tasks
The basics
Your chosen industry: Social Media
Your chosen case study (i.e. text/institution etc.): Instagram (Facebook and Snap chat)
Have you received approval for this case study from your teacher? Yes
Research and answer the following tasks on your MEST3 exam blog:
Audience
1) How has new and digital media changed the audience experience in your chosen industry?
There is much more of an audience interaction with the institution creating more power for the audience to demand a particular service in a way they desire.
This thus shifts the power dynamics slightly going from the hypodermic needle model in regards to a completely passive audience, however now it is much more like the two-step flow model where the audience is much more active but it creates ‘opinion leaders’ as audiences are more likely to identify and agree with these institutions that post online.
The rapid growth of social media has meant the audience size has increased massively and Instagram has a massive 600 million active monthly users (http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/important-instagram-stats/ ) thus becoming a massive platform for marketing to occur. Therefore, audience experience has changed massively as it becomes increasing more of an advertising and marketing platform for firms. Viral marketing (file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/137%20Viral%20Marketing.pdf) is an important part of marketing now with more than 1m monthly active advertisers (https://www.ft.com/content/8fae738c-0e57-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d) on Instagram users will always be bombarded with products.
Moreover, the developments in technology means that the algerhythms and user interfaces have developed vastly. Instagram’s interface, its UI has reviews saying that it is “direct and simple. Satisfying. Glanceable and capturable. And user focused” (https://www.rossul.com/2016/blog/reviewing-instagrams-new-user-interface/)
2) Has new and digital media changed the way the audience consume your chosen product?
The development and growth of social media has meant that the sheer audience numbers increase the power of the consumer as a collective. Instagram now has a huge audience reach. Paired with the reach of Facebook of
1.23 billion daily active users on average for December 2016 (https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/) and WhatsApp with 900m active monthly users (http://www.businessofapps.com/whatsapp-revenue-and-usage-statistics/) mark zuckerberg therefore has a potentially massive audience reach. Therefore, there is much overlap between the platforms and user experience.
The ability to download the apps onto our phones and laptops allows for the audience to now have consistent and easy access to the platforms.
Moreover, due to the success of rival snapchat there is an overlap in the content of the products that seem to be over lapping more and more. Copying features such as the stories, disappearing messages/ images (https://www.ft.com/content/8fae738c-0e57-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d) making the proodcuts slightly more uniformed. However, there is a slight difference some would argue that there is still a difference in the way in which audience sconsume the products depending on the type of platforms they are using e.g. Message focus on wattaspp but iamge focus on Instagram and the software design still differs. Eg. Apples own version of snapchat is argued not to have a usp like Instagram and snapchat do. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/07/apple-launches-clips-as-it-bids-for-a-slice-of-the-snapchat-action )
3) Has the size of the audience changed as a result of new and digital media?
The size of the Instagram audience has increased massively ever since its becoming a part of mainstream culture more and more. The popularity is immense,
• Facebook at top with 84 % network membership
• Messenger has 56%
• Wattsapp has 55%
• Instgram ahead of twitter.
• Snap chat popular amoungst 2 thirds of youth (https://www.forbes.com/sites/gradsoflife/2017/03/20/helping-youth-and-working-adults-in-the-new-skills-economy-is-not-a-zero-sum-game/#564edaa33304 )
• In December 2015 – facebook had 1.59 billion monthly users
• Instagram had 400 million (decreasing) (http://www.adweek.com/digital/heres-how-many-people-are-on-facebook-instagram-twitter-other-big-social-networks/)
• Instagram now has 400 million active users
• 75% of Instagram users are outside the US
• Over 60% of users log in daily, making it the second most engaged network after Facebook
• 30% of internet users are now on Instagram (https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/37-instagram-stats-2016/ )
• Very high popularity and audience reach due to recent years.
4) What are the positive changes new and digital media have brought to the audience of your case study? (E.g. greater choice, easier access etc.)
They are a part of that change, they’re constantly using development across various other NDM platforms and incorporating them into their own platform. Such as the incorporation of many of snap chats features into Instagram are adding to its success and helping them to become stronger tools for social and political change as well as audience pleasures of ease and variety within the platform. Some may even think of just using Instagram as their main platform as they can use it without having to switch for other features onto other platforms. Yet there is still enough differentiation between Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, so it encourages audiences to use all those 3 main platforms but disregard others aiding to the monopoly status mark zuckerberg is defiantly working towards. (he did try to buy snap chat in its early days https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/11/13/facebook-wouldve-bought-snapchat-for-3-billion-in-cash-heres-why/#9c5fa0d43dea and tried to merge with my space back in the day http://www.phonearena.com/news/Did-you-know-MySpace-turned-down-a-75-million-offer-to-buy-Facebook_id76582)
Main thing they said about the platform’s interface is that its (https://www.rossul.com/2016/blog/reviewing-instagrams-new-user-interface/) direct and simple, satisfying, glanceable and user focused. It manages to target audeinces with the content they would like based on their followers, likes and interactions as well as potential pages to follow and this often leads to quiet a bit of advertising In the form of picture content that would interest the audience. Making it convenient and easy to use.
A platform to share and express themselves
“Meanwhile, Instagram will continue to develop its community, one that grew from early photo enthusiasts to include millions of casual photographers too. Though Systrom says he can’t pin down how exactly the Instagram community is defined, that diversity of users is one of the tool’s biggest advantages—and, its founder says, one of the most important things for the company to support.” ( - http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/ )
General positives of social media
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/22065333
• expression of self (https://unteaglestrategies.com/2016/10/09/instagram-is-a-platform-for-self-expression/ )
• learning about others (600 million uses Is a lot of profiles https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/ )
• keep in touch (only 17% is from US and 3% from UK there are a lot more countries to keep in touch with https://www.statista.com/statistics/272933/distribution-of-instagram-traffic-by-country/ )
• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/16/10-reasons-why-social-media-is-great-for-teenagers_n_7317716.html
• cheers them up (also talk about dopamine effect being a bad and addicting thing)
• can boost self esteem (also talk about dependency on validation/ feedback)
• new friends a click away
• in touch with heros/ celebs
• educates us
• share pictures easily
• cheap entertainment
• place to turn for advice
• test out honesty
• habit can help them in the future eg. Marketing
5) What are the negative changes new and digital media have had on your chosen audience? (E.g. quality of product etc.)
Intense competition on the platforms making shareholders pretty uncertain (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/weekly-newdigital-media-58.html ) about new comers. There are also some very homogenous products across social media now because they seem to be all conforming to what they deem as ‘successful’ new innovation is necessary to keep this young audience active as they tend to get bored extremely fast e.g. Constant new filters on snapchat? Contributing to its success
The general negatives of social media (http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html )
• Cyber bullying
• False sense of connection
• Decreased productivity
• Privacy issues
• ( http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/negative-effects-of-social-media/ )
• Makes you spend more money
• Alters appetite
• Alters ability to think independently
• Lower self esteem
• Lowers real time interaction
• http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Reasons_Why_Social_Networking_Is_Bad
• Safety concerns
• Narrows the echochamber
• Negative professional effects eg. Getting fired
• Damages personal relationships
• Social isolation
• (https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/social-media-and-young-peoples-mental-health ) mental health in general cyber bullying
• Instagram ‘beauty’ causing low self esteem http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/instagram-face-heavy-make-up-self-esteem-issues-kim-kardashian-psychologist-individual-creativity-a7653526.html
• Social worth based on online ‘likes’ http://fortune.com/2017/03/30/millennials-narcissistic-instagram-lendedu/
•
6) What about audience pleasures - have these changed as a result of new and digital media?
• Escapism
• Personal relationship
• Identification
• Surveillance
• Images as an international language
7) What is the target audience for your chosen case study? Write a demographic/psychographic profile.
(http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#instagram )
Age: (previously just younger generations but now being embraced by some of the older generations)
• 59% of 18–29 year olds use Instagram.
• 33% of 30–49 year olds use Instagram.
• 18% of 50–64 year olds use Instagram.
• 8% of people 65+ use Instagram.
Gender : (still women)
• 38% of online women use Instagram.
• 28% of online men use Instagram.
Location: (usually by younger age groups)
• 39% of adults living in urban areas use Instagram.
• 31% of adults living in rural areas use Instagram.
• 28% of adults living in suburban areas use Instagram.
Education: (previously pew said Instagram didn’t have many users without college experience unlike most platforms however it changed dramatically recently probably due to the fact it’s a huge marketing tool for educated workers and companies?)
• 37% of adults with some college experience use Instagram.
• 33% of adults who graduated college use Instagram.
• 27% of adults with a high school diploma or less use Instagram.
Income: (colossal advertising)
• 38% of adults who make less than $30,000 use Instagram.
• 37% of adults who make more than $75,000 use Instagram.
• 32% of adults who make $30,000–$49,999 use Instagram.
• 32% of adults who make $49,999–$74,999 use Instagram
Institution
1) How has new and digital media had an impact on ownership or control in your chosen industry? // 2) What impact has new and digital media had on ownership in your chosen case study?
“The brainchild of Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram was founded with a simple goal in mind, to help its creators find a way to share images of what they were up to. After the product acquired 25,000 users in the 24 hours after its launch, Instagram grew quickly, to more than 150 million by Sept. 2013 and 400 million last month. But, after Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, the company realized that users were reinterpreting what Instagram could do. “When [it] happened, the entire coast of the United States came together on social media in a way that I don’t think you really saw before,” says Systrom. “People were posting photos of themselves next to candles with the electricity out, flooding, trees down, damaged cars.” That’s when the founders realized that their simple moment-sharing app could be a powerful tool if it were organized and curated correctly.” (- http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/)
Initially Instagram created in 2010 and 2012 for android users was owned by Kevin Systrom, Mike Kreger (ie. Burbn inc.) but was brought by Facebook for 1 billion dollars. There are many reasons for this transaction taking place such as (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/04/11/ten-reasons-why-facebook-bought-instagram/#733a0aa0d1b1)
• Simply because they could
• They didn’t want competitors such as Google snapping it up before them – a wise choice. This highlights how the increasing dominance of NDM and the social media platform is creating more and more competition between companies to remain with a large market share. They want not only full control of their products but also the market, there is too much at stake. Therefore, the development of NDM has meant that it is increasingly more important for the institutions to have full control and ownership of a large proportion of the area in which they are operating (eg. Social media, more generally the internet.)
• Instagram has a better mobile app than facebook. THIS AIDED THEIR DEVELOPMENT AS AN APP – thus suggesting that the development of NDM makes the environment extremely fast at changing and institutions need to adapt and change quickly in order to keep control and this therefore means that ownership could constantly be changing.
• Facebook was becoming ‘uncool’ – the power of audience preferences influencing institution control and ownership
• First real competitor for a photo sharing platform
• More data = better ads – the increased importance of making a profit from ‘free’ content. Advertising importance (targeted advertising)
• Youth audience reach
The power and control dynamic seems debated between the two groups of the institution and the audience. Instagram is owned by Mark Zuckerberg Who also owns much of the major players of social media (Facebook and Wattsapp) with a huge audience reach. His power and control also seems to be slowly seeping into politics (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/03/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-2017-resolution-visit-us-states ) and his ideas and opinions, according to the article “For decades, technology and globalization have made us more productive and connected. This has created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone.” Therefore, the ownership and control of massive industries and players such as Facebook, Instagram, social media in general, can have a lot more power than just limited to their industry but also the political impact and power they could potentially have. There is also huge debates about social media and its influence on politics such as fake news and the American elections, the echo chambers in the Brexit vote and this just creates a greater more clear link to social media and politics.
3) How has new and digital media changed the way institutions produce texts?
Changes made to reflect snap chat (http://time.com/4578423/instagram-new-features-update-snapchat/?iid=sr-link3 )
Then develop them further to make them ‘their own’ to keep a sort of USP (http://mashable.com/2016/11/10/instagram-stories-tagging/#TGnWBhrgy5qj )
Changes in the algorithm Instagram uses changed the feed from being in chronological ordering (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/07/new-algorithm-driven-instagram-feed-rolled-out-to-the-dismay-of-users ) to what they think “ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most”
There is also the explore page Instagram has. (https://help.instagram.com/487224561296752 ) which they say is based on the people you follow and the posts you like, Also, some are hand-picked and automatically recommended as they are based on the accounts they think you would enjoy. (advertising motivated?)
“Especially that community could change the way we see the world, he tells TIME. “The next decade, at least on Instagram, will be the decade where we realize the power of a collective group of people capturing the world in real time through their phones,” he says. “I don’t think we quite understand how that will disrupt industries, whether that’s news [or] how we consume events happening around the world. And I hope that Instagram can become a platform and a medium that accelerates that disruption, and accelerates that access to everything happening in the world in real time. It’s going to be fun to see.” (- http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/ )
http://time.com/4273531/instagram-algorithm/?iid=sr-link2
4) How has new and digital media changed the way institutions distribute their product?
In recent months, however, Instagram has been facing increasing competition from Snapchat and Periscope, two services that favor video over still images. And while Instagram users are already able to share 15-second videos, the company is looking at expanding its video features. “Video is going to be increasingly important,” says Systrom, pointing at how data transfer on wireless networks is becoming faster and cheaper. “For Instagram to succeed in the long run, video has to be a core part of not only what we’re good at, but also what the community produce[s]. So we’re very focused on video. We produced a product called Hyperlapse that lets you take stabilized time-lapse videos. And [that’s] a toe in the water [in terms of] video production tools that might come in the future.” (http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/ )
There is also a lot more advertising present on the platform merging with content due to the rich consumer data it provides businesses https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2016/01/12/social-media-is-no-longer-a-marketing-channel-its-a-customer-experience-channel/#2e32430663a5 http://mashable.com/2013/12/24/grow-social-audience/#tQVogJ1BrZqB
5) How might new and digital media threaten your chosen industry?
Intense competition seems to be creating a hypogenous product. For example, the way the products seem to be mimicking snapchat. However, they do manage to change their product enough for it to be a different service. Moreover, the distinct branding and focus of each platform is varying therefore it would not completely threaten each service or the platform. Intense competition may just result in a better service and innovation as each service tries to stay ahead of the game.
There are more ways individuals try to use the apps etc. and could potentially misuse it in this way. (http://uk.businessinsider.com/instagram-made-a-change-that-stopped-lots-of-third-party-apps-from-working-2016-6?r=US&IR=T )
It is also threatening the sheer negative impact the services could have with their increasing popularities. A lot of the negatives of social media in general would mean a lot has to be done to tackle those issues. For example, fake news and blocking particular ‘fake content’, or tackling the issues of privacy, or issues of stalking etc. that are on a consistent rise.
Potentially changing the purpose of platforms into a more advertising and firm focused environment eg. The ability to so easily advertise on Instagram and the convinence to be directed to the official sites to encourage purchasing behaviour. (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-22.html )
6) How has new and digital media changed the way your chosen industry is regulated?
• Increasing audience size means the need for increased privacy and control on the behalf of users themselves (http://time.com/4592006/instagram-changes-remove-followers/?iid=sr-link9 ) e.g. Blocking, unadded etc.
• The need to make sure you have private and secure accounts which cannot be hacked or targeted unwantingly. Two-factor authentication (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/weekly-newdigital-media-57.html )
• Filtering abusive comments (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/weekly-newdigital-media-2.html )
• The basic terms of use (https://help.instagram.com/478745558852511) – there are also promotion guideline, platform policy, community guideliknes
• https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/essential-guide-instagram/
• Private profile settings, blocking, privacy of profile information, ability to block location, ability to manually approve tags, 2 factor authentication, Revoke third party apps
• With increased popularity comes increased spam accounts http://readwrite.com/2015/04/15/instagram-spam-instaspam-how-to-avoid/
• The law is getting increasingly involved http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-instagram-surveillance-spying-privacy-aclu-geofeedia-law-enforcement-a7628646.html
• Blurring potentially sensitive content https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2017/03/27/instagram-two-factor-authentication/#57bdc9533c78
UGC
1) What examples of user-generated content can you find in your case study?
All of the content on the site is a collective of user generated content. Many users sharing and reposting content that comes into circulation. The content can easily vary from young individuals who just want to post pictures of their day to day activities, to aspiring photographers, to professionals and celebrities, the variety therefore in immense. However, the ability to have content tailored to your preferences via the explore page, you can immerse yourself in solely the side of Instagram that suits your tastes.
Interests ranging from adventure and sports which can be seen on travel blogs etc. to pets which can be expressed by normal pet owners http://insight.globalwebindex.net/chart-of-the-day-instagram-users-top-20-interests
The trends such as taking pictures of your food, latte art, couple pictures etc. also seem to be very popular http://mashable.com/2013/11/17/types-instagram-users/#U15MzKQwykqa
As well as having common accounts such as those for humour purpose’ to activism http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2014/04/10/The-15-most-common-types-of-Instagram-users
ISSUES with selfie culture eg. Impact on animals and animal cruelty http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/animal-selfies-tigers-elephants-the-cruel-truth-thailand-a7623311.html
2) How has UGC changed things for audiences or institutions in your chosen case study?
• Content doesn’t belong to Instagram http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/instagram-regulations_n_2342509.html
• Copy right loopholes https://qz.com/424885/i-got-a-job-posting-photos-of-my-dog-on-instagram-but-others-arent-so-lucky/
• Hard to keep track of stolen content https://www.theguardian.com/technology/us-news-blog/2013/feb/05/instagram-users-fightback-stolen-photos
• Makes a lot of advertising easier
• Such as establishing brands https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2017/02/how-media-companies-can-drive-audience-growth-in-changing-digital-landscape/
• Cause you are creating an identity for yourself of institution.
• Direct engagement with those they wouldn’t otherwise be able to eg. Producer and consumer relationships can form on this platform https://maximizesocialbusiness.com/engage-your-audience-social-media-today-8240/
• The interaction isn’t always pleasant and can easily have negative impacts on an individual’s mental health eg. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/selena-gomez-instagram-mental-health-vogue-cover-social-media-anxiety-a7634081.html
• Increased ways tried to create the content you want eg. Insta pods to make content be better to cheat the alcarhythms http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/instagram-users-pods-gain-followers-increase-likes-secret-groups-algorithms-social-media-a7641231.html
• Activism eg. Awareness of sexual harassment https://www.indy100.com/article/photo-captures-exact-moment-woman-catcalled-photoshoot-street-harassment-chico-california-7646296
• Ability to make it big http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/instagram-mistakes-wannabes-milkyways-blueeyes-fashion-blogger-perfect-photos-claire-marnette-ysl-a7646846.html
• Life decisions such as holiday decesions vastly influenced by the platform http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/instagrammability-holiday-factor-millenials-holiday-destination-choosing-travel-social-media-photos-a7648706.html
• Awarness for transgender http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/trans-man-before-after-transition-images-jaimie-wilson-gender-bikini-judging-photos-social-media-a7655621.htm
• Eating disorders https://www.indy100.com/article/reddit-woman-before-after-picture-annorexia-7660616
• Against gender stereotypes – women pilots http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/instagram-star-female-pilot-smashing-stereotypes-a7654676.html
• Fashion brand popularity http://digiday.com/uk/british-vogues-2-million-instagram/
Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony
1) What would be a Marxist perspective of the impact of new and digital media on your chosen case study?
Involvement in politics (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-33.html )
Opinion leaders/ celebrity popularity http://uk.businessinsider.com/people-on-instagram-with-most-likes-per-post-2017-3?r=US&IR=T
A Marxist theorist would argue that social media is just yet again another tool of the ruling class to reinforce the status quo, highlighting their ideologies and prompting mass audiences to accept and internalise these beliefs. This would be apparent on social media as there seem to be dominant ideologies that are present. For example, the concept of Instagram beauty, creating a construction of what is deemed as beautiful and what isn’t. This would therefore also be usually from a male perspective. Moreover, the themes seem to be rather consistent and trends such as throwback Thursday etc. tend to take over Instagram creating an almost ‘ritual’ to the otherwise ‘expressive’ platform, there seems to be a large conformity being set by the opinion leaders about what is ‘Instagram worthy’ and what isn’t therefore causing audiences to passively accept these as a norm and thus being septable to the influence of what they see on the platform which is controlled by the ruling elite.
What the theory also focuses on is the ruling elites focus on capitalism and how there seems to be a normalisation of audieinces being manipulated and exploited to capital exploitation. These firms and ruling structures manage to use consumer data in various ways such as improving the service, making it more influential, encouraging consumerism and purchasing behaviour. This is even more effective on the platform as the audiences feel the illusion that they are in control whereas it is Instagram that is promoting and suggesting certain brands and products in the visual disguise of photography but that can easily be promoting certain brands and products (obviously through the shutouts and tagging of the brands) or promoting certain views and values that can ultimately benefit the elite (e.g. Pictures of the rich encouraging individuals to play into the system or travel photography encouraging holiday expenses to key destinations) Therefore becoming a commodity of the process as the advertisers gain a vast control over the platform.
2) How would a pluralist view the impact of new and digital media in your chosen industry?
A pluralist would argue that social media is a platform on which everyone can express themselves and learn new things from the varying voices and thoughts and opinions. It becomes a place where you can express yourself and watch others express themselves too through a platform where freedom of speech exists and democracy is encouraged.
The vast reach of social media connects people of various backgrounds, nationalises etc. which creates a sense of cultural pluralism where you can see and understand various cultures and their perspectives. Thus, also helping the world to be closer to our fingertips where we can actively participate and express ourselves. Thus, creating a sense of active citizenship and participation as the audience can inspire and shape the political systems of countries, voice their concerns etc. This therefore lowers the government control and censorship as the audience start producing the content themselves on platforms designed with wide access and diversity in mind.
3) Are there any examples of hegemony in your chosen industry or case study?
The trends and ‘mainstream/ dominant’ views seem to suggest that there is a conformity towards certain views and trends suggesting a push towards a particular group/power. Moreover, there are still acts of censorship where some content is censored but not others, e.g. the gender bias in censorship for example are widely debated suggesting it is predominantly controlled by a male perspective.
There are also the opinion leaders that are present on the platforms e.g. Celebrities with huge followers or particular brands that are more powerful and influential on the platforms.
Globalisation
1) How has globalisation impacted on your chosen industry or case study?
Advertising benefit (https://www.ft.com/content/8fae738c-0e57-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d ) Globalisation has both aided the development of social media and therefore also for platforms such as Instagram.
Globalisation by definition is “the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale”/” Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.” which is exactly what platforms like Instagram do. Instagram is a firm that has international reach with a massive audience, there influence is heightened by the fact that it is owned by Mark Zuckerberg who is also getting involved directly into politics, if facebook made a statement a lot of people would know. There is also therefore a vast interconnection of cultures as it is now much easier to message someone in Somalia from the UK with one simple dm, it allows people from miles away to be instantly updated on what is happening across the globe hence why trends such as #prayforlondon become viral in an instant even if in comparison to other happenings it may be deemed as minor, people in London where showing their concerns and those that cared about them also shared their concerns becoming a trend.
Economically advertising on such platforms and offering shipping options firms based in the UK can easily become internationally competitive through marketing on social media platforms and directing those international audiences to the correct websites where they could order from. Then once they have established these audiences they can easily begin to operate in the countries they are receiving most traffic and interaction from as the social media data would provide them with the confidence they need to invest in the ‘correct’ international projects.
2) In your opinion, has globalisation had a positive or negative impact on your chosen industry and case study? Why?
An extremely positive impact as well as aiding the globalisation process much further. Instagram is based on users and its popularity, as its maker said “images are an international language” and therefore through these pictures everyone no matter where they are from and what language they speak can become interconnected and express themselves to and with each other. Advertisers can literally strive of social media in a globalisation market where international competitiveness is becoming more and more important.
3) Can you find examples of cultural imperialism in your case study or industry? (The 'Americanisation' of the world)
Americanisation is extremely predominant on social media where a lot of the trends, topics, fashion etc. all seem to be focused on the US as well as the fact that a large share of users are from the US. Also explaining the extreme childlike delight on the platform for events such as Halloween, Christmas, valentine’s day (http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/10/five-clues-that-youre-becoming-americanized-brits )
The extreme consumerism that takes place in America is vastly promoted on Instagram with consist materialist posts with a lot of adverts taking place constantly encouraging users to purchase something. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-rinosa/4-ways-instagram-has-rede_b_2500057.html )
American Tv shows are la big deal, so is coffee and grunge culture which is all very very American. Instagram also mimics a lot of tumblr’s content quite a bit, and Tumblr is American.
Also there are things such as baseball caps, Fastfood, Proms (http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/04/five-ways-british-culture-has-been-americanized )
****Social media
1) How has your industry or case study used social media to promote its products?
2) Provide examples of how your case study has used social media and explain the impact this would have on audiences.
3) Is social media an opportunity or a threat to your industry and case study?
****Statistics
1) What statistics can you find to illustrate the impact new and digital media has had on your industry or case study? For example, in news, the UK newspaper industry sold more than 12m copies a day in 2001 but in 2014 it was below 7m.
2) Looking at these statistics, what impact has new/digital media had on institutions in your chosen industry?
3) What has the impact been for audiences? These may be positive and negative.
Theories
1) What media theories can you apply to your chosen industry and case study? Select THREE media theories and explain how they are relevant to your case study. Note: these can be ANY of the theories we have learned over the whole of Year 12 and 13.
Two-Step Flow Model – The internet platforms like Instagram have a huge ‘elite’ that act as the opinion leaders for a vast audience. For example, the pages that have a lot of followers naturally have a larger power to influence due to the sheer number of the audience they can reach. There are particular celebrities, brands and individuals that have stronger and more influential accounts that are further followed by similar smaller accounts that will soon follow their lead. For example, if the accounts are fashion accounts. A particular celebrity may wear a certain outfit which is picked up by a large fashion account and they share it. Soon that particular outfit will begin to trend. That is just the nature of social media, it’s based on going viral and trending and in order for it to do that the sources sharing must be large and influential.
Baudrillard Theory: Hyper Reality – Hyperreality is when audiences are unable to distinguish consciously between a simulation of reality and reality itself. This is extremely dominant in social media as a reality is being constructed. Be that a reality of ourselves and our lives, we constantly take snapshots of our best moments, filter and edit them till they look presentable and likable, then share them to present ourselves in that particular way. That isn’t the truth of who we are or our lives.
Moreover, there is the inability to distinguish between what is happening in reality in particular pictures, as media shows in general one image doesn’t tell you the whole story. A picture may make two people look like lovers when instead it is harassment. The absence of the full story being reduced to basic semiotics make it hard to truly see reality on social media. (a sort of simulation – it isn’t the full story but a sheer representation)
There is also the problem of fake accounts, catfishing, etc. that comes from the anomality of social media, you may think the people you are interacting with you are creating a real and long lasting relationship whereas in fact you aren’t. The people you are constructing these ideals with may not even exist, your relationships may not be as strong, in reality there may not be the same connection you have online and thus also blurring the lines of true relationships and reality and those constructed on social media. Thus, creating a sort of false sense of connectiveness that doesn’t in reality exist. (a sort of simulacrum – they are completely false)
Overall, there are massive debates behind social media and just how much is based in fact and reality and how much is controlled and constructed. The debate regarding the reliability of social interactions and their strengths compared to those relationships that are face to face. Moreover, there are arguments that social media is further taking us away from our true realities to these hyper real worlds where we are no longer in touch with reality as we are too distracted by things such as our phones, technology and social media, we are valuing potentially false relationships and identities over those that are truly real.
Mulvy: Male Gaze/ Rosalind Gill: Female Gaze – Instagram is home to models, to be’s, wanna be’s and those that already are. Therefore, the objectification of both men and women takes place constantly on the platform. The traditional male gaze is always met as not only do men present women in these objectified ways but some women also present themselves in these ways in order to appear ‘appealing’ or to gain a lot of ‘likes.’ But this is also true for men, moreover, there is also the activism that is present online. Instagram is predominantly used by women, those that disagree with the representation of women may actively present men in these ways too in order to make a statement or it may simply be a result of wanting to satisfy a female audience as well as the male. Either way, there is increased objectification of both sexes no matter the increased activism fighting against these representations, some seem to just be reinforcing these negative representations increasing a sort of ‘shallow’ ‘sexual’ culture especially amongst the youth.
Gillian Dyer: Brand Values: Lines of appeal – due to the vast marketing nature of the platform used to create strong brand images as well as the necessity to achieve as many likes as possible by appealing to basic human values and desires, the lines of appeal are very important on Instagram. Not only are particular brands etc. being marketed so are these particular values as they become more and more reinforced in audiences as they see them as being popular on the platform, they become adopted on an even larger scale than previously. For example;
• Happy Families – lots of family, couple, children picture
• Rich, luxurious lifestyles – the rich kids of Instagram, the motivation pages
• Dreams and fantasy – Disney, art
• Successful romance/ love – couple stories, goals etc.
• Elite experts/ people (and Successful careers) - always present and self-promoted
• Glamorous places – travel culture
• Art, culture, history – lots of arts and culture pages
• Nature/ natural world – activism, travel, animal love
• Beautiful women (and men in my opinion) – beauty pages
• Self-importance/ pride – selfies
• Comedy & humour – meme pages
• Childhood – throwback Thursday, baby pictures, 90’s kids
Issues/debates
1) What media issues and debates can you apply to your chosen industry and case study? Select THREE media issues/debates and explain how they are relevant to your case study. http://hwsmedia.weebly.com/media-issues--debates.html
Constructed identity / representation/ stereotyping – (all media texts are constructed- like hyper reality argument) Instagram consists of pictures that will only show a snapshot of a moment and therefore in order to convey a sufficient enough message they will rely on stereotypes, either the users will be creating that stereotype for themselves or they will appear that way to someone who doesn’t know them. They will create an opinion on the individual through stereotyping the representation that person is creating of themselves. Therefore, you can apply a lot of the stereotyping and representation theories to Instagram.
• Richard Dyer: stereotypes and power – He would argue that the complexity of particular groups would be reduced to a few characteristics which would be present on social media defiantly. If you follow a few accounts of individual’s living in Texas and they all post a particular picture you would begin to associate it with them. Or if someone is brown you may assume they are a user from an Asian country. These stereotypes would often therefore also be exaggerated which you can see when people try to dress ‘Indian’ for example. This would also be more predominant for the more ‘powerful’ accounts, if the account has a lot of followers and they have that they are Japanese in their bio audiences are more likely to deem that as the norm of that particular culture for example.
• Andy Medhurst: Shorthand & Stereotypes – the ‘short hand’ is therefore extremely necessary when trying to convey a message in just one picture. Therefore ‘value judgments’ would need to be made by the audience (they can often be negative)
• Tessa Perkins: Stereotype – They aren’t always negative (funny jokes about particular races), not always the less powerful (stereotype of rich white middle class men exploiting women for profit), own social group (pages making fun of their own race), not always false ( relatable pages, especially for teenagers and racial groups), can change over time( Instagram activism, fuck boy stereotype? )
Identities are constructed online (file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/MM54.pdf) creating particular social and personal identities that are more likely to make you popular on the platform or express yourself the way you want to the way you can’t In reality. EG. From the transgender YouTubers who challenge old media stereotypes of gender to Facebook groups like the Lad Bible, social media frees audiences from the straitjacket of traditional society. AND (12) We don’t have to look too deeply into our Facebook and YouTube commentary streams to find adversarial social media ‘banter’ that can escalate into extreme and entrenched debate. Alan Martin believes that we are more likely to be adversarial online because we immerse ourselves in blinkered communities, identifying our own viewpoints as the centre ground. AND Web 2.0 is only a reflection of our existing social divides. Perhaps for some, it presents opportunities to explore their identities; but for others it works as a set of ideological blinkers concentrating their existing prejudices. AND (10) t ‘Making is Connecting’, explaining that platforms like Instagram and YouTube offer us the opportunity to create and share our output with like-minded others. AND Turkle’s concept of ‘mediated’ identity live on in the form of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, where users often abandon the physical in favour of idealised expression of self. ALSO FURTHER SUPPORTED BY (file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/MM53.pdf) (42) the anonymity of social media provides us with a sophisticated toolkit to create a whole new persona: a world in which we can change our age, gender, marital status, job – in essence, our whole life. And if this wasn’t disturbing enough – it highlights the fact that the internet is plagued with people willing and able to utilise this toolkit and that others are desperate enough to fall for it.
Media effects-
• The ease for firms to market and distribute products through the rich audience data they achieve from social media as well as the nature of social media having particular audiences with particular values and tastes that marketers can choose are best for their products.
• Becomes a platform with such a vast audience that your voices are likely to be heard by at least 10 people minimum one of which can probably share it and make it go viral – so audiences can make a change.
• Possibility to feel accepted by likeminded people with similar blogs and interests even more likely with Instagram recommending particular pages and people.
• Further lowering of communication barriers as audiences can interact with more ease and a picture can communicate across language barriers. (maybe may have a negative response due to different cultural ideologies etc.)
• NEGATIVES – an over dependency on the platform due to the dopamine effect it has, it provides an addictive sort of escape that can disrupt an individual’s day to day routine.
• Exposes to negative culture such as drugs, sex, violence etc. that can easily still seep through on social media normalising the culture to young audiences.
• Excess expression can lead to privacy being undermined and put a user at risk of things such as stalking, or hate crimes et.
Regulation and Censorship – “Media is regulated as a result of concerns about the potential power of the media to influence its audience.
Data mining of audiences ‘private’ data file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/MM52.pdf “We’ve all read about Facebook surveillance, privacy settings, data mining, and mobile monitoring. Some even argue that it’s an acceptable, if unethical, price to pay for the riches of social media. But is it equally acceptable when government surveillance is involved?” Which is potentially why social media keeps in more so to where they can make a profit rather than giving to much data to government agencies so tend to be self-regulated much of the time. But it still allows audiences moods to be affected especially by targeted marketing based on social media data-mining thus marketers are almost invading audiences ‘private spaces’ therefore maybe self-regulation is allowing particular institutions to exploit users more than others rather than protecting users ‘themselves)
However, this self-regulation isn’t always good. It may lead to bias’s in the censorship of some content over other which may give’s itself to social bias’s such as racial, or sexist bias. There are also various types of regulation
• economic regulation – economically powerful groups pressure to limit the content of media texts which is present on instagram. Particular firms that provide instagram with a lot of advertising revenue may be extremely popular with audiences and therefore can easily threaten instagram by leaving so they would have to please them. This is also present due to the fact that isntagram allows institutional pages to regulate their audience reach, activity etc. providing them with a lot of data to use.
• Cultural regulation- cultural attitudes limit content of media texts – which would be harder on platform’s such as Instagram. What some cultures in collectivist cultures deem as indecent may be perfectly fine in individualist cultures therefore making the regulation and censorship extremely hard to finding a common group between the two.
• Legal regulation- only provides a particular barrier to the platform as they mainly like to regulate themselves with legal guidelines but without direct intervention from a particular government.
Wider examples and secondary texts
1) What other texts or institutions are also relevant to your case study? What would be good secondary texts or examples to use to support the findings of your independent case study?
Facebook and fake news
• Improve newsgathering http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/weekly-newdigital-media-1-facebook-and.html
• public service reporting http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-17.html
• us elections influence http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-19_13.html
• external verification of fake news http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-21.html
• new tool testing to combat fakenews http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/weekly-newdigital-media-26.html
• as a media company http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/weekly-newdigital-media-29.html
• facebook live issues - http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-39.html
• racial bias http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-40.html
• opposing travel ban (overall power and infleune) http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/weekly-newdigital-media-44.html
•
Wattsapp
• privacy news (+ facebook) http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-35.html
• vulnerability in privacy http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-38.html
• improve 2 step verification http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/weekly-newdigital-media-45.html
• snapchat cloning http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/weekly-newdigital-media-47.html
Snapchat:
• https://www.ft.com/content/52b1e01a-e86c-11e6-893c-082c54a7f539 Snapchat took the idea of chatting by camera — the quick-fire ability to send images backwards and forwards — into the mainstream
• (Instagram and facebook following this example)
• Is it simply about accepting what is in mainstream culture and therefore giving audiences what they want or is it personal to elimating snapchat as serious competition as another successful social media platform – especially amongst the youth?
•
Instagram Stories, has been embraced by the photo app’s fans since it was launched last year, with more than 150m using it every day — the same number as Snapchat’s last reported user figure
•
But there is a fundamental problem with Instagram Stories’ camera: it is not at the centre of the experience, in that you have to swipe to reach it. Snapchat opens as a camera and is ready to take a photo straight away.
• It’s a tie: Instagram Stories and Snapchat are too similar to call a winner.
• http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/01/snapchat_why_teens_favorite_app_makes_the_facebook_generation_feel_old.html
• It is, by some metrics, the fastest-growing social app in the world. It has been the subject of Wall Street Journalthink pieces, Forbes profiles, and how-to guides for panicked parents.
• Snapchat as an escape for facebooks growing older users
• But Snapchat recently surpassed Instagram and Tumblr as the fastest-growing social app, according to market research by Global Web Index, with rumors of its size growing from 30 million active users a year ago to 100 million six months ago to nearly 200 million today.
• You could snap a selfie—clothing optional—add some scribbled text, and send it to a friend, and he’d have 10 seconds to view it before it disappeared from his phone forever. Snapchat’s security has never been ironclad, but it still feels a lot cozier than a social network that tracks your every post and click for the benefit of corporate advertisers.
• In a world in which Facebook is a $200 billion business, Snapchat offers a form of communication that feels less network-y and more social.
• “reaching teens where they are.”
The basics
Your chosen industry: Social Media
Your chosen case study (i.e. text/institution etc.): Instagram (Facebook and Snap chat)
Have you received approval for this case study from your teacher? Yes
Research and answer the following tasks on your MEST3 exam blog:
Audience
1) How has new and digital media changed the audience experience in your chosen industry?
There is much more of an audience interaction with the institution creating more power for the audience to demand a particular service in a way they desire.
This thus shifts the power dynamics slightly going from the hypodermic needle model in regards to a completely passive audience, however now it is much more like the two-step flow model where the audience is much more active but it creates ‘opinion leaders’ as audiences are more likely to identify and agree with these institutions that post online.
The rapid growth of social media has meant the audience size has increased massively and Instagram has a massive 600 million active monthly users (http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/important-instagram-stats/ ) thus becoming a massive platform for marketing to occur. Therefore, audience experience has changed massively as it becomes increasing more of an advertising and marketing platform for firms. Viral marketing (file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/137%20Viral%20Marketing.pdf) is an important part of marketing now with more than 1m monthly active advertisers (https://www.ft.com/content/8fae738c-0e57-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d) on Instagram users will always be bombarded with products.
Moreover, the developments in technology means that the algerhythms and user interfaces have developed vastly. Instagram’s interface, its UI has reviews saying that it is “direct and simple. Satisfying. Glanceable and capturable. And user focused” (https://www.rossul.com/2016/blog/reviewing-instagrams-new-user-interface/)
2) Has new and digital media changed the way the audience consume your chosen product?
The development and growth of social media has meant that the sheer audience numbers increase the power of the consumer as a collective. Instagram now has a huge audience reach. Paired with the reach of Facebook of
1.23 billion daily active users on average for December 2016 (https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/) and WhatsApp with 900m active monthly users (http://www.businessofapps.com/whatsapp-revenue-and-usage-statistics/) mark zuckerberg therefore has a potentially massive audience reach. Therefore, there is much overlap between the platforms and user experience.
The ability to download the apps onto our phones and laptops allows for the audience to now have consistent and easy access to the platforms.
Moreover, due to the success of rival snapchat there is an overlap in the content of the products that seem to be over lapping more and more. Copying features such as the stories, disappearing messages/ images (https://www.ft.com/content/8fae738c-0e57-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d) making the proodcuts slightly more uniformed. However, there is a slight difference some would argue that there is still a difference in the way in which audience sconsume the products depending on the type of platforms they are using e.g. Message focus on wattaspp but iamge focus on Instagram and the software design still differs. Eg. Apples own version of snapchat is argued not to have a usp like Instagram and snapchat do. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/07/apple-launches-clips-as-it-bids-for-a-slice-of-the-snapchat-action )
3) Has the size of the audience changed as a result of new and digital media?
The size of the Instagram audience has increased massively ever since its becoming a part of mainstream culture more and more. The popularity is immense,
• Facebook at top with 84 % network membership
• Messenger has 56%
• Wattsapp has 55%
• Instgram ahead of twitter.
• Snap chat popular amoungst 2 thirds of youth (https://www.forbes.com/sites/gradsoflife/2017/03/20/helping-youth-and-working-adults-in-the-new-skills-economy-is-not-a-zero-sum-game/#564edaa33304 )
• In December 2015 – facebook had 1.59 billion monthly users
• Instagram had 400 million (decreasing) (http://www.adweek.com/digital/heres-how-many-people-are-on-facebook-instagram-twitter-other-big-social-networks/)
• Instagram now has 400 million active users
• 75% of Instagram users are outside the US
• Over 60% of users log in daily, making it the second most engaged network after Facebook
• 30% of internet users are now on Instagram (https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/37-instagram-stats-2016/ )
• Very high popularity and audience reach due to recent years.
4) What are the positive changes new and digital media have brought to the audience of your case study? (E.g. greater choice, easier access etc.)
They are a part of that change, they’re constantly using development across various other NDM platforms and incorporating them into their own platform. Such as the incorporation of many of snap chats features into Instagram are adding to its success and helping them to become stronger tools for social and political change as well as audience pleasures of ease and variety within the platform. Some may even think of just using Instagram as their main platform as they can use it without having to switch for other features onto other platforms. Yet there is still enough differentiation between Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, so it encourages audiences to use all those 3 main platforms but disregard others aiding to the monopoly status mark zuckerberg is defiantly working towards. (he did try to buy snap chat in its early days https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/11/13/facebook-wouldve-bought-snapchat-for-3-billion-in-cash-heres-why/#9c5fa0d43dea and tried to merge with my space back in the day http://www.phonearena.com/news/Did-you-know-MySpace-turned-down-a-75-million-offer-to-buy-Facebook_id76582)
Main thing they said about the platform’s interface is that its (https://www.rossul.com/2016/blog/reviewing-instagrams-new-user-interface/) direct and simple, satisfying, glanceable and user focused. It manages to target audeinces with the content they would like based on their followers, likes and interactions as well as potential pages to follow and this often leads to quiet a bit of advertising In the form of picture content that would interest the audience. Making it convenient and easy to use.
A platform to share and express themselves
“Meanwhile, Instagram will continue to develop its community, one that grew from early photo enthusiasts to include millions of casual photographers too. Though Systrom says he can’t pin down how exactly the Instagram community is defined, that diversity of users is one of the tool’s biggest advantages—and, its founder says, one of the most important things for the company to support.” ( - http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/ )
General positives of social media
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/22065333
• expression of self (https://unteaglestrategies.com/2016/10/09/instagram-is-a-platform-for-self-expression/ )
• learning about others (600 million uses Is a lot of profiles https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/ )
• keep in touch (only 17% is from US and 3% from UK there are a lot more countries to keep in touch with https://www.statista.com/statistics/272933/distribution-of-instagram-traffic-by-country/ )
• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/16/10-reasons-why-social-media-is-great-for-teenagers_n_7317716.html
• cheers them up (also talk about dopamine effect being a bad and addicting thing)
• can boost self esteem (also talk about dependency on validation/ feedback)
• new friends a click away
• in touch with heros/ celebs
• educates us
• share pictures easily
• cheap entertainment
• place to turn for advice
• test out honesty
• habit can help them in the future eg. Marketing
5) What are the negative changes new and digital media have had on your chosen audience? (E.g. quality of product etc.)
Intense competition on the platforms making shareholders pretty uncertain (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/weekly-newdigital-media-58.html ) about new comers. There are also some very homogenous products across social media now because they seem to be all conforming to what they deem as ‘successful’ new innovation is necessary to keep this young audience active as they tend to get bored extremely fast e.g. Constant new filters on snapchat? Contributing to its success
The general negatives of social media (http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html )
• Cyber bullying
• False sense of connection
• Decreased productivity
• Privacy issues
• ( http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/negative-effects-of-social-media/ )
• Makes you spend more money
• Alters appetite
• Alters ability to think independently
• Lower self esteem
• Lowers real time interaction
• http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Reasons_Why_Social_Networking_Is_Bad
• Safety concerns
• Narrows the echochamber
• Negative professional effects eg. Getting fired
• Damages personal relationships
• Social isolation
• (https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/social-media-and-young-peoples-mental-health ) mental health in general cyber bullying
• Instagram ‘beauty’ causing low self esteem http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/instagram-face-heavy-make-up-self-esteem-issues-kim-kardashian-psychologist-individual-creativity-a7653526.html
• Social worth based on online ‘likes’ http://fortune.com/2017/03/30/millennials-narcissistic-instagram-lendedu/
•
6) What about audience pleasures - have these changed as a result of new and digital media?
• Escapism
• Personal relationship
• Identification
• Surveillance
• Images as an international language
7) What is the target audience for your chosen case study? Write a demographic/psychographic profile.
(http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#instagram )
Age: (previously just younger generations but now being embraced by some of the older generations)
• 59% of 18–29 year olds use Instagram.
• 33% of 30–49 year olds use Instagram.
• 18% of 50–64 year olds use Instagram.
• 8% of people 65+ use Instagram.
Gender : (still women)
• 38% of online women use Instagram.
• 28% of online men use Instagram.
Location: (usually by younger age groups)
• 39% of adults living in urban areas use Instagram.
• 31% of adults living in rural areas use Instagram.
• 28% of adults living in suburban areas use Instagram.
Education: (previously pew said Instagram didn’t have many users without college experience unlike most platforms however it changed dramatically recently probably due to the fact it’s a huge marketing tool for educated workers and companies?)
• 37% of adults with some college experience use Instagram.
• 33% of adults who graduated college use Instagram.
• 27% of adults with a high school diploma or less use Instagram.
Income: (colossal advertising)
• 38% of adults who make less than $30,000 use Instagram.
• 37% of adults who make more than $75,000 use Instagram.
• 32% of adults who make $30,000–$49,999 use Instagram.
• 32% of adults who make $49,999–$74,999 use Instagram
Institution
1) How has new and digital media had an impact on ownership or control in your chosen industry? // 2) What impact has new and digital media had on ownership in your chosen case study?
“The brainchild of Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram was founded with a simple goal in mind, to help its creators find a way to share images of what they were up to. After the product acquired 25,000 users in the 24 hours after its launch, Instagram grew quickly, to more than 150 million by Sept. 2013 and 400 million last month. But, after Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, the company realized that users were reinterpreting what Instagram could do. “When [it] happened, the entire coast of the United States came together on social media in a way that I don’t think you really saw before,” says Systrom. “People were posting photos of themselves next to candles with the electricity out, flooding, trees down, damaged cars.” That’s when the founders realized that their simple moment-sharing app could be a powerful tool if it were organized and curated correctly.” (- http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/)
Initially Instagram created in 2010 and 2012 for android users was owned by Kevin Systrom, Mike Kreger (ie. Burbn inc.) but was brought by Facebook for 1 billion dollars. There are many reasons for this transaction taking place such as (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/04/11/ten-reasons-why-facebook-bought-instagram/#733a0aa0d1b1)
• Simply because they could
• They didn’t want competitors such as Google snapping it up before them – a wise choice. This highlights how the increasing dominance of NDM and the social media platform is creating more and more competition between companies to remain with a large market share. They want not only full control of their products but also the market, there is too much at stake. Therefore, the development of NDM has meant that it is increasingly more important for the institutions to have full control and ownership of a large proportion of the area in which they are operating (eg. Social media, more generally the internet.)
• Instagram has a better mobile app than facebook. THIS AIDED THEIR DEVELOPMENT AS AN APP – thus suggesting that the development of NDM makes the environment extremely fast at changing and institutions need to adapt and change quickly in order to keep control and this therefore means that ownership could constantly be changing.
• Facebook was becoming ‘uncool’ – the power of audience preferences influencing institution control and ownership
• First real competitor for a photo sharing platform
• More data = better ads – the increased importance of making a profit from ‘free’ content. Advertising importance (targeted advertising)
• Youth audience reach
The power and control dynamic seems debated between the two groups of the institution and the audience. Instagram is owned by Mark Zuckerberg Who also owns much of the major players of social media (Facebook and Wattsapp) with a huge audience reach. His power and control also seems to be slowly seeping into politics (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/03/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-2017-resolution-visit-us-states ) and his ideas and opinions, according to the article “For decades, technology and globalization have made us more productive and connected. This has created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone.” Therefore, the ownership and control of massive industries and players such as Facebook, Instagram, social media in general, can have a lot more power than just limited to their industry but also the political impact and power they could potentially have. There is also huge debates about social media and its influence on politics such as fake news and the American elections, the echo chambers in the Brexit vote and this just creates a greater more clear link to social media and politics.
3) How has new and digital media changed the way institutions produce texts?
Changes made to reflect snap chat (http://time.com/4578423/instagram-new-features-update-snapchat/?iid=sr-link3 )
Then develop them further to make them ‘their own’ to keep a sort of USP (http://mashable.com/2016/11/10/instagram-stories-tagging/#TGnWBhrgy5qj )
Changes in the algorithm Instagram uses changed the feed from being in chronological ordering (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/07/new-algorithm-driven-instagram-feed-rolled-out-to-the-dismay-of-users ) to what they think “ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most”
There is also the explore page Instagram has. (https://help.instagram.com/487224561296752 ) which they say is based on the people you follow and the posts you like, Also, some are hand-picked and automatically recommended as they are based on the accounts they think you would enjoy. (advertising motivated?)
“Especially that community could change the way we see the world, he tells TIME. “The next decade, at least on Instagram, will be the decade where we realize the power of a collective group of people capturing the world in real time through their phones,” he says. “I don’t think we quite understand how that will disrupt industries, whether that’s news [or] how we consume events happening around the world. And I hope that Instagram can become a platform and a medium that accelerates that disruption, and accelerates that access to everything happening in the world in real time. It’s going to be fun to see.” (- http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/ )
http://time.com/4273531/instagram-algorithm/?iid=sr-link2
4) How has new and digital media changed the way institutions distribute their product?
In recent months, however, Instagram has been facing increasing competition from Snapchat and Periscope, two services that favor video over still images. And while Instagram users are already able to share 15-second videos, the company is looking at expanding its video features. “Video is going to be increasingly important,” says Systrom, pointing at how data transfer on wireless networks is becoming faster and cheaper. “For Instagram to succeed in the long run, video has to be a core part of not only what we’re good at, but also what the community produce[s]. So we’re very focused on video. We produced a product called Hyperlapse that lets you take stabilized time-lapse videos. And [that’s] a toe in the water [in terms of] video production tools that might come in the future.” (http://time.com/collection-post/4059656/this-is-what-the-future-of-instagram-looks-like/ )
There is also a lot more advertising present on the platform merging with content due to the rich consumer data it provides businesses https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2016/01/12/social-media-is-no-longer-a-marketing-channel-its-a-customer-experience-channel/#2e32430663a5 http://mashable.com/2013/12/24/grow-social-audience/#tQVogJ1BrZqB
5) How might new and digital media threaten your chosen industry?
Intense competition seems to be creating a hypogenous product. For example, the way the products seem to be mimicking snapchat. However, they do manage to change their product enough for it to be a different service. Moreover, the distinct branding and focus of each platform is varying therefore it would not completely threaten each service or the platform. Intense competition may just result in a better service and innovation as each service tries to stay ahead of the game.
There are more ways individuals try to use the apps etc. and could potentially misuse it in this way. (http://uk.businessinsider.com/instagram-made-a-change-that-stopped-lots-of-third-party-apps-from-working-2016-6?r=US&IR=T )
It is also threatening the sheer negative impact the services could have with their increasing popularities. A lot of the negatives of social media in general would mean a lot has to be done to tackle those issues. For example, fake news and blocking particular ‘fake content’, or tackling the issues of privacy, or issues of stalking etc. that are on a consistent rise.
Potentially changing the purpose of platforms into a more advertising and firm focused environment eg. The ability to so easily advertise on Instagram and the convinence to be directed to the official sites to encourage purchasing behaviour. (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-22.html )
6) How has new and digital media changed the way your chosen industry is regulated?
• Increasing audience size means the need for increased privacy and control on the behalf of users themselves (http://time.com/4592006/instagram-changes-remove-followers/?iid=sr-link9 ) e.g. Blocking, unadded etc.
• The need to make sure you have private and secure accounts which cannot be hacked or targeted unwantingly. Two-factor authentication (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/weekly-newdigital-media-57.html )
• Filtering abusive comments (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/weekly-newdigital-media-2.html )
• The basic terms of use (https://help.instagram.com/478745558852511) – there are also promotion guideline, platform policy, community guideliknes
• https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/essential-guide-instagram/
• Private profile settings, blocking, privacy of profile information, ability to block location, ability to manually approve tags, 2 factor authentication, Revoke third party apps
• With increased popularity comes increased spam accounts http://readwrite.com/2015/04/15/instagram-spam-instaspam-how-to-avoid/
• The law is getting increasingly involved http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-instagram-surveillance-spying-privacy-aclu-geofeedia-law-enforcement-a7628646.html
• Blurring potentially sensitive content https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2017/03/27/instagram-two-factor-authentication/#57bdc9533c78
UGC
1) What examples of user-generated content can you find in your case study?
All of the content on the site is a collective of user generated content. Many users sharing and reposting content that comes into circulation. The content can easily vary from young individuals who just want to post pictures of their day to day activities, to aspiring photographers, to professionals and celebrities, the variety therefore in immense. However, the ability to have content tailored to your preferences via the explore page, you can immerse yourself in solely the side of Instagram that suits your tastes.
Interests ranging from adventure and sports which can be seen on travel blogs etc. to pets which can be expressed by normal pet owners http://insight.globalwebindex.net/chart-of-the-day-instagram-users-top-20-interests
The trends such as taking pictures of your food, latte art, couple pictures etc. also seem to be very popular http://mashable.com/2013/11/17/types-instagram-users/#U15MzKQwykqa
As well as having common accounts such as those for humour purpose’ to activism http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2014/04/10/The-15-most-common-types-of-Instagram-users
ISSUES with selfie culture eg. Impact on animals and animal cruelty http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/animal-selfies-tigers-elephants-the-cruel-truth-thailand-a7623311.html
2) How has UGC changed things for audiences or institutions in your chosen case study?
• Content doesn’t belong to Instagram http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/instagram-regulations_n_2342509.html
• Copy right loopholes https://qz.com/424885/i-got-a-job-posting-photos-of-my-dog-on-instagram-but-others-arent-so-lucky/
• Hard to keep track of stolen content https://www.theguardian.com/technology/us-news-blog/2013/feb/05/instagram-users-fightback-stolen-photos
• Makes a lot of advertising easier
• Such as establishing brands https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2017/02/how-media-companies-can-drive-audience-growth-in-changing-digital-landscape/
• Cause you are creating an identity for yourself of institution.
• Direct engagement with those they wouldn’t otherwise be able to eg. Producer and consumer relationships can form on this platform https://maximizesocialbusiness.com/engage-your-audience-social-media-today-8240/
• The interaction isn’t always pleasant and can easily have negative impacts on an individual’s mental health eg. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/selena-gomez-instagram-mental-health-vogue-cover-social-media-anxiety-a7634081.html
• Increased ways tried to create the content you want eg. Insta pods to make content be better to cheat the alcarhythms http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/instagram-users-pods-gain-followers-increase-likes-secret-groups-algorithms-social-media-a7641231.html
• Activism eg. Awareness of sexual harassment https://www.indy100.com/article/photo-captures-exact-moment-woman-catcalled-photoshoot-street-harassment-chico-california-7646296
• Ability to make it big http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/instagram-mistakes-wannabes-milkyways-blueeyes-fashion-blogger-perfect-photos-claire-marnette-ysl-a7646846.html
• Life decisions such as holiday decesions vastly influenced by the platform http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/instagrammability-holiday-factor-millenials-holiday-destination-choosing-travel-social-media-photos-a7648706.html
• Awarness for transgender http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/trans-man-before-after-transition-images-jaimie-wilson-gender-bikini-judging-photos-social-media-a7655621.htm
• Eating disorders https://www.indy100.com/article/reddit-woman-before-after-picture-annorexia-7660616
• Against gender stereotypes – women pilots http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/instagram-star-female-pilot-smashing-stereotypes-a7654676.html
• Fashion brand popularity http://digiday.com/uk/british-vogues-2-million-instagram/
Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony
1) What would be a Marxist perspective of the impact of new and digital media on your chosen case study?
Involvement in politics (http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-33.html )
Opinion leaders/ celebrity popularity http://uk.businessinsider.com/people-on-instagram-with-most-likes-per-post-2017-3?r=US&IR=T
A Marxist theorist would argue that social media is just yet again another tool of the ruling class to reinforce the status quo, highlighting their ideologies and prompting mass audiences to accept and internalise these beliefs. This would be apparent on social media as there seem to be dominant ideologies that are present. For example, the concept of Instagram beauty, creating a construction of what is deemed as beautiful and what isn’t. This would therefore also be usually from a male perspective. Moreover, the themes seem to be rather consistent and trends such as throwback Thursday etc. tend to take over Instagram creating an almost ‘ritual’ to the otherwise ‘expressive’ platform, there seems to be a large conformity being set by the opinion leaders about what is ‘Instagram worthy’ and what isn’t therefore causing audiences to passively accept these as a norm and thus being septable to the influence of what they see on the platform which is controlled by the ruling elite.
What the theory also focuses on is the ruling elites focus on capitalism and how there seems to be a normalisation of audieinces being manipulated and exploited to capital exploitation. These firms and ruling structures manage to use consumer data in various ways such as improving the service, making it more influential, encouraging consumerism and purchasing behaviour. This is even more effective on the platform as the audiences feel the illusion that they are in control whereas it is Instagram that is promoting and suggesting certain brands and products in the visual disguise of photography but that can easily be promoting certain brands and products (obviously through the shutouts and tagging of the brands) or promoting certain views and values that can ultimately benefit the elite (e.g. Pictures of the rich encouraging individuals to play into the system or travel photography encouraging holiday expenses to key destinations) Therefore becoming a commodity of the process as the advertisers gain a vast control over the platform.
2) How would a pluralist view the impact of new and digital media in your chosen industry?
A pluralist would argue that social media is a platform on which everyone can express themselves and learn new things from the varying voices and thoughts and opinions. It becomes a place where you can express yourself and watch others express themselves too through a platform where freedom of speech exists and democracy is encouraged.
The vast reach of social media connects people of various backgrounds, nationalises etc. which creates a sense of cultural pluralism where you can see and understand various cultures and their perspectives. Thus, also helping the world to be closer to our fingertips where we can actively participate and express ourselves. Thus, creating a sense of active citizenship and participation as the audience can inspire and shape the political systems of countries, voice their concerns etc. This therefore lowers the government control and censorship as the audience start producing the content themselves on platforms designed with wide access and diversity in mind.
3) Are there any examples of hegemony in your chosen industry or case study?
The trends and ‘mainstream/ dominant’ views seem to suggest that there is a conformity towards certain views and trends suggesting a push towards a particular group/power. Moreover, there are still acts of censorship where some content is censored but not others, e.g. the gender bias in censorship for example are widely debated suggesting it is predominantly controlled by a male perspective.
There are also the opinion leaders that are present on the platforms e.g. Celebrities with huge followers or particular brands that are more powerful and influential on the platforms.
Globalisation
1) How has globalisation impacted on your chosen industry or case study?
Advertising benefit (https://www.ft.com/content/8fae738c-0e57-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d ) Globalisation has both aided the development of social media and therefore also for platforms such as Instagram.
Globalisation by definition is “the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale”/” Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.” which is exactly what platforms like Instagram do. Instagram is a firm that has international reach with a massive audience, there influence is heightened by the fact that it is owned by Mark Zuckerberg who is also getting involved directly into politics, if facebook made a statement a lot of people would know. There is also therefore a vast interconnection of cultures as it is now much easier to message someone in Somalia from the UK with one simple dm, it allows people from miles away to be instantly updated on what is happening across the globe hence why trends such as #prayforlondon become viral in an instant even if in comparison to other happenings it may be deemed as minor, people in London where showing their concerns and those that cared about them also shared their concerns becoming a trend.
Economically advertising on such platforms and offering shipping options firms based in the UK can easily become internationally competitive through marketing on social media platforms and directing those international audiences to the correct websites where they could order from. Then once they have established these audiences they can easily begin to operate in the countries they are receiving most traffic and interaction from as the social media data would provide them with the confidence they need to invest in the ‘correct’ international projects.
2) In your opinion, has globalisation had a positive or negative impact on your chosen industry and case study? Why?
An extremely positive impact as well as aiding the globalisation process much further. Instagram is based on users and its popularity, as its maker said “images are an international language” and therefore through these pictures everyone no matter where they are from and what language they speak can become interconnected and express themselves to and with each other. Advertisers can literally strive of social media in a globalisation market where international competitiveness is becoming more and more important.
3) Can you find examples of cultural imperialism in your case study or industry? (The 'Americanisation' of the world)
Americanisation is extremely predominant on social media where a lot of the trends, topics, fashion etc. all seem to be focused on the US as well as the fact that a large share of users are from the US. Also explaining the extreme childlike delight on the platform for events such as Halloween, Christmas, valentine’s day (http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/10/five-clues-that-youre-becoming-americanized-brits )
The extreme consumerism that takes place in America is vastly promoted on Instagram with consist materialist posts with a lot of adverts taking place constantly encouraging users to purchase something. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-rinosa/4-ways-instagram-has-rede_b_2500057.html )
American Tv shows are la big deal, so is coffee and grunge culture which is all very very American. Instagram also mimics a lot of tumblr’s content quite a bit, and Tumblr is American.
Also there are things such as baseball caps, Fastfood, Proms (http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/04/five-ways-british-culture-has-been-americanized )
****Social media
1) How has your industry or case study used social media to promote its products?
2) Provide examples of how your case study has used social media and explain the impact this would have on audiences.
3) Is social media an opportunity or a threat to your industry and case study?
****Statistics
1) What statistics can you find to illustrate the impact new and digital media has had on your industry or case study? For example, in news, the UK newspaper industry sold more than 12m copies a day in 2001 but in 2014 it was below 7m.
2) Looking at these statistics, what impact has new/digital media had on institutions in your chosen industry?
3) What has the impact been for audiences? These may be positive and negative.
Theories
1) What media theories can you apply to your chosen industry and case study? Select THREE media theories and explain how they are relevant to your case study. Note: these can be ANY of the theories we have learned over the whole of Year 12 and 13.
Two-Step Flow Model – The internet platforms like Instagram have a huge ‘elite’ that act as the opinion leaders for a vast audience. For example, the pages that have a lot of followers naturally have a larger power to influence due to the sheer number of the audience they can reach. There are particular celebrities, brands and individuals that have stronger and more influential accounts that are further followed by similar smaller accounts that will soon follow their lead. For example, if the accounts are fashion accounts. A particular celebrity may wear a certain outfit which is picked up by a large fashion account and they share it. Soon that particular outfit will begin to trend. That is just the nature of social media, it’s based on going viral and trending and in order for it to do that the sources sharing must be large and influential.
Baudrillard Theory: Hyper Reality – Hyperreality is when audiences are unable to distinguish consciously between a simulation of reality and reality itself. This is extremely dominant in social media as a reality is being constructed. Be that a reality of ourselves and our lives, we constantly take snapshots of our best moments, filter and edit them till they look presentable and likable, then share them to present ourselves in that particular way. That isn’t the truth of who we are or our lives.
Moreover, there is the inability to distinguish between what is happening in reality in particular pictures, as media shows in general one image doesn’t tell you the whole story. A picture may make two people look like lovers when instead it is harassment. The absence of the full story being reduced to basic semiotics make it hard to truly see reality on social media. (a sort of simulation – it isn’t the full story but a sheer representation)
There is also the problem of fake accounts, catfishing, etc. that comes from the anomality of social media, you may think the people you are interacting with you are creating a real and long lasting relationship whereas in fact you aren’t. The people you are constructing these ideals with may not even exist, your relationships may not be as strong, in reality there may not be the same connection you have online and thus also blurring the lines of true relationships and reality and those constructed on social media. Thus, creating a sort of false sense of connectiveness that doesn’t in reality exist. (a sort of simulacrum – they are completely false)
Overall, there are massive debates behind social media and just how much is based in fact and reality and how much is controlled and constructed. The debate regarding the reliability of social interactions and their strengths compared to those relationships that are face to face. Moreover, there are arguments that social media is further taking us away from our true realities to these hyper real worlds where we are no longer in touch with reality as we are too distracted by things such as our phones, technology and social media, we are valuing potentially false relationships and identities over those that are truly real.
Mulvy: Male Gaze/ Rosalind Gill: Female Gaze – Instagram is home to models, to be’s, wanna be’s and those that already are. Therefore, the objectification of both men and women takes place constantly on the platform. The traditional male gaze is always met as not only do men present women in these objectified ways but some women also present themselves in these ways in order to appear ‘appealing’ or to gain a lot of ‘likes.’ But this is also true for men, moreover, there is also the activism that is present online. Instagram is predominantly used by women, those that disagree with the representation of women may actively present men in these ways too in order to make a statement or it may simply be a result of wanting to satisfy a female audience as well as the male. Either way, there is increased objectification of both sexes no matter the increased activism fighting against these representations, some seem to just be reinforcing these negative representations increasing a sort of ‘shallow’ ‘sexual’ culture especially amongst the youth.
Gillian Dyer: Brand Values: Lines of appeal – due to the vast marketing nature of the platform used to create strong brand images as well as the necessity to achieve as many likes as possible by appealing to basic human values and desires, the lines of appeal are very important on Instagram. Not only are particular brands etc. being marketed so are these particular values as they become more and more reinforced in audiences as they see them as being popular on the platform, they become adopted on an even larger scale than previously. For example;
• Happy Families – lots of family, couple, children picture
• Rich, luxurious lifestyles – the rich kids of Instagram, the motivation pages
• Dreams and fantasy – Disney, art
• Successful romance/ love – couple stories, goals etc.
• Elite experts/ people (and Successful careers) - always present and self-promoted
• Glamorous places – travel culture
• Art, culture, history – lots of arts and culture pages
• Nature/ natural world – activism, travel, animal love
• Beautiful women (and men in my opinion) – beauty pages
• Self-importance/ pride – selfies
• Comedy & humour – meme pages
• Childhood – throwback Thursday, baby pictures, 90’s kids
Issues/debates
1) What media issues and debates can you apply to your chosen industry and case study? Select THREE media issues/debates and explain how they are relevant to your case study. http://hwsmedia.weebly.com/media-issues--debates.html
Constructed identity / representation/ stereotyping – (all media texts are constructed- like hyper reality argument) Instagram consists of pictures that will only show a snapshot of a moment and therefore in order to convey a sufficient enough message they will rely on stereotypes, either the users will be creating that stereotype for themselves or they will appear that way to someone who doesn’t know them. They will create an opinion on the individual through stereotyping the representation that person is creating of themselves. Therefore, you can apply a lot of the stereotyping and representation theories to Instagram.
• Richard Dyer: stereotypes and power – He would argue that the complexity of particular groups would be reduced to a few characteristics which would be present on social media defiantly. If you follow a few accounts of individual’s living in Texas and they all post a particular picture you would begin to associate it with them. Or if someone is brown you may assume they are a user from an Asian country. These stereotypes would often therefore also be exaggerated which you can see when people try to dress ‘Indian’ for example. This would also be more predominant for the more ‘powerful’ accounts, if the account has a lot of followers and they have that they are Japanese in their bio audiences are more likely to deem that as the norm of that particular culture for example.
• Andy Medhurst: Shorthand & Stereotypes – the ‘short hand’ is therefore extremely necessary when trying to convey a message in just one picture. Therefore ‘value judgments’ would need to be made by the audience (they can often be negative)
• Tessa Perkins: Stereotype – They aren’t always negative (funny jokes about particular races), not always the less powerful (stereotype of rich white middle class men exploiting women for profit), own social group (pages making fun of their own race), not always false ( relatable pages, especially for teenagers and racial groups), can change over time( Instagram activism, fuck boy stereotype? )
Identities are constructed online (file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/MM54.pdf) creating particular social and personal identities that are more likely to make you popular on the platform or express yourself the way you want to the way you can’t In reality. EG. From the transgender YouTubers who challenge old media stereotypes of gender to Facebook groups like the Lad Bible, social media frees audiences from the straitjacket of traditional society. AND (12) We don’t have to look too deeply into our Facebook and YouTube commentary streams to find adversarial social media ‘banter’ that can escalate into extreme and entrenched debate. Alan Martin believes that we are more likely to be adversarial online because we immerse ourselves in blinkered communities, identifying our own viewpoints as the centre ground. AND Web 2.0 is only a reflection of our existing social divides. Perhaps for some, it presents opportunities to explore their identities; but for others it works as a set of ideological blinkers concentrating their existing prejudices. AND (10) t ‘Making is Connecting’, explaining that platforms like Instagram and YouTube offer us the opportunity to create and share our output with like-minded others. AND Turkle’s concept of ‘mediated’ identity live on in the form of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, where users often abandon the physical in favour of idealised expression of self. ALSO FURTHER SUPPORTED BY (file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/MM53.pdf) (42) the anonymity of social media provides us with a sophisticated toolkit to create a whole new persona: a world in which we can change our age, gender, marital status, job – in essence, our whole life. And if this wasn’t disturbing enough – it highlights the fact that the internet is plagued with people willing and able to utilise this toolkit and that others are desperate enough to fall for it.
Media effects-
• The ease for firms to market and distribute products through the rich audience data they achieve from social media as well as the nature of social media having particular audiences with particular values and tastes that marketers can choose are best for their products.
• Becomes a platform with such a vast audience that your voices are likely to be heard by at least 10 people minimum one of which can probably share it and make it go viral – so audiences can make a change.
• Possibility to feel accepted by likeminded people with similar blogs and interests even more likely with Instagram recommending particular pages and people.
• Further lowering of communication barriers as audiences can interact with more ease and a picture can communicate across language barriers. (maybe may have a negative response due to different cultural ideologies etc.)
• NEGATIVES – an over dependency on the platform due to the dopamine effect it has, it provides an addictive sort of escape that can disrupt an individual’s day to day routine.
• Exposes to negative culture such as drugs, sex, violence etc. that can easily still seep through on social media normalising the culture to young audiences.
• Excess expression can lead to privacy being undermined and put a user at risk of things such as stalking, or hate crimes et.
Regulation and Censorship – “Media is regulated as a result of concerns about the potential power of the media to influence its audience.
Data mining of audiences ‘private’ data file:///C:/Users/Amrit/Downloads/MM52.pdf “We’ve all read about Facebook surveillance, privacy settings, data mining, and mobile monitoring. Some even argue that it’s an acceptable, if unethical, price to pay for the riches of social media. But is it equally acceptable when government surveillance is involved?” Which is potentially why social media keeps in more so to where they can make a profit rather than giving to much data to government agencies so tend to be self-regulated much of the time. But it still allows audiences moods to be affected especially by targeted marketing based on social media data-mining thus marketers are almost invading audiences ‘private spaces’ therefore maybe self-regulation is allowing particular institutions to exploit users more than others rather than protecting users ‘themselves)
However, this self-regulation isn’t always good. It may lead to bias’s in the censorship of some content over other which may give’s itself to social bias’s such as racial, or sexist bias. There are also various types of regulation
• economic regulation – economically powerful groups pressure to limit the content of media texts which is present on instagram. Particular firms that provide instagram with a lot of advertising revenue may be extremely popular with audiences and therefore can easily threaten instagram by leaving so they would have to please them. This is also present due to the fact that isntagram allows institutional pages to regulate their audience reach, activity etc. providing them with a lot of data to use.
• Cultural regulation- cultural attitudes limit content of media texts – which would be harder on platform’s such as Instagram. What some cultures in collectivist cultures deem as indecent may be perfectly fine in individualist cultures therefore making the regulation and censorship extremely hard to finding a common group between the two.
• Legal regulation- only provides a particular barrier to the platform as they mainly like to regulate themselves with legal guidelines but without direct intervention from a particular government.
Wider examples and secondary texts
1) What other texts or institutions are also relevant to your case study? What would be good secondary texts or examples to use to support the findings of your independent case study?
Facebook and fake news
• Improve newsgathering http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/weekly-newdigital-media-1-facebook-and.html
• public service reporting http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-17.html
• us elections influence http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-19_13.html
• external verification of fake news http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/weekly-newdigital-media-21.html
• new tool testing to combat fakenews http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/weekly-newdigital-media-26.html
• as a media company http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/weekly-newdigital-media-29.html
• facebook live issues - http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-39.html
• racial bias http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-40.html
• opposing travel ban (overall power and infleune) http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/weekly-newdigital-media-44.html
•
Wattsapp
• privacy news (+ facebook) http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-35.html
• vulnerability in privacy http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/weekly-newdigital-media-38.html
• improve 2 step verification http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/weekly-newdigital-media-45.html
• snapchat cloning http://amritbmest3exam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/weekly-newdigital-media-47.html
Snapchat:
• https://www.ft.com/content/52b1e01a-e86c-11e6-893c-082c54a7f539 Snapchat took the idea of chatting by camera — the quick-fire ability to send images backwards and forwards — into the mainstream
• (Instagram and facebook following this example)
• Is it simply about accepting what is in mainstream culture and therefore giving audiences what they want or is it personal to elimating snapchat as serious competition as another successful social media platform – especially amongst the youth?
•
Instagram Stories, has been embraced by the photo app’s fans since it was launched last year, with more than 150m using it every day — the same number as Snapchat’s last reported user figure
•
But there is a fundamental problem with Instagram Stories’ camera: it is not at the centre of the experience, in that you have to swipe to reach it. Snapchat opens as a camera and is ready to take a photo straight away.
• It’s a tie: Instagram Stories and Snapchat are too similar to call a winner.
• http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/01/snapchat_why_teens_favorite_app_makes_the_facebook_generation_feel_old.html
• It is, by some metrics, the fastest-growing social app in the world. It has been the subject of Wall Street Journalthink pieces, Forbes profiles, and how-to guides for panicked parents.
• Snapchat as an escape for facebooks growing older users
• But Snapchat recently surpassed Instagram and Tumblr as the fastest-growing social app, according to market research by Global Web Index, with rumors of its size growing from 30 million active users a year ago to 100 million six months ago to nearly 200 million today.
• You could snap a selfie—clothing optional—add some scribbled text, and send it to a friend, and he’d have 10 seconds to view it before it disappeared from his phone forever. Snapchat’s security has never been ironclad, but it still feels a lot cozier than a social network that tracks your every post and click for the benefit of corporate advertisers.
• In a world in which Facebook is a $200 billion business, Snapchat offers a form of communication that feels less network-y and more social.
• “reaching teens where they are.”
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