Friday, September 11, 2015
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Justin Bieber arrested on felony heroin charges?!?!
…Just
Kidding
The
Power of Public Relations
Kevin Svec
Politics in Pop
Culture
“We got disrespected a little before the game, guys
calling us out. We’re a tougher team. We’re grown men over here. We got a whole buncha’ gangstas in the locker room,”
said Tu Holloway, Xavier University basketball player in a press conference
after the December 12th 2011 Xavier/Cincinnati game that ended in a
brawl.
A single sentence spoken on a public screen can make or
break the credibility and image celebrities, public figures and businesses. A
simple idiotic statement, such as the one made by Tu Holloway, can turn into a
public relations disaster and tarnish the name of an entire franchise for
years. According to Forbes.com, the field of public relations has seen a huge
job growth in the past 5 years and is estimated to see an even bigger one over
the next decade. This can be attributed to the rise of mobile media and the phenomenon
of having fresh news constantly availably literally at the fingertips. In a 21st
century society fueled by refresh buttons and fiber-optic cables, public
relations is a key factor in the life and death of big names talked about in
the media.
Public relations is “a strategic communication process
that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their
publics.” The job of a publicist is essentially to get their clients positive
press and exposure to shape images and enhance reputations. Public relations
can be divided into specific fields. These can include: government relations,
Industry specific communications, crisis communications and internal relations.
Perhaps the most important factor in public relations deals with crisis. This
can be a crisis as small as a simple statement heard by the wrong ears or as
big as an international catastrophe. The big example covered in this blog will
be the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that was discovered on April 22th
2010.
On April 20th 2010 at approximately 9:45pm
CDT, high pressure methane gas exploded a mobile drilling rig off the coast of
Louisiana. The explosion caused an estimated five thousand barrels per day to
spill ruthlessly into the Gulf of Mexico for the next 87 days. This catastrophe
earns the title of the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of
the petroleum industry. The damage caused by the explosion had a “ripple”
effect that took on toll on marine life, civilians and a number of industries.
Aquatic life was experiencing deformities and dying in record numbers. Cities
along the coast were faced with detrimental pollution. Big industries such as
fishing and tourism were taking huge hits as their services were no longer
desirable. This catastrophe was public relations worst nightmare.
There
is no question that the BP oil spill was a wide-scale catastrophe that can be
compared to that of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and the black plague. From
the day the spill was discovered, the public eye had BP locked in a death
stare. It is common knowledge that anything done to hurt the environment these
days is going to get roasted in the media, and big oil companies like BP aren’t
exactly on the greener side of the idea of sustainability. To make matters even
worse, BP’s public relations campaign to counter act the spill misfired
horribly. BP was slow to initially acknowledge the problem and underestimated
the magnitude of the damage and publically confessed to being “out of the loop”
about decisions regarding the disaster. BP officials originally claimed that
the rig was leaking roughly one thousand barrels a day into the gulf. Further
investigation proved it was leaking five times the quoted amount. This downplay
of the numbers hurt BP’s credibility from the start. In a situation like this,
the stakes are very, very high and priority number one should be to directly
address and empathize with the immediate victims of the accident, in this case,
would be the families who lost everything due to the spill. Instead, BP came
off as dodgy and slow to accept full responsibility. BP CEO Tony Hayward was
publically attempting to shift the blame. He chose words such as “This was not
our drilling rig,” and “This was Transocean’s rig. Their systems. Their people.
Their equipment. This was not our accident.” Although these statements held a
degree of truth, BP had the most stake in the operation which means that they
were the most liable for the incident. To reinforce these claims on a public
screen in the face of detrimental suffering is not only irresponsible and
childish, it is flat out wrong and in insult to those affected.
After
pleading guilty to obstruction of justice for misleading the government about
the magnitude of the catastrophe, BP had its sights set on moving forward in a
positive manner. This led to another botched PR attempt which essentially asked
for sympathy with Hayward using phrases such as “I just want my life back,” and
wanting the public to put the incident in the rear view mirror. As if a company
who was responsible for ruining countless lives and businesses deserves any
sympathy after trying to dodge the blame and misinforming officials. The PR
mistakes made by BP represent a huge awakening in the industry. These mistakes
will serve a lesson to big companies as to how important public use of rhetoric
is in the face of crisis. BP’s image will be forever tarnished by the mistakes
made by their PR division and have a long road ahead of them to repair their
image.
A
reputation is like glass, once cracked can never be repaired. It can be
something as simple as a controversial picture going viral or a short public
statement to bring an entire image into the toilet. It has been apparent
especially in the 21st century that in most cases, public image and
perception is the key to success or failure. The public has seen numerous
celebrities and public figure’s careers crash and burn in due to negative perception.
Even to the average person, the importance of keeping a good public image
through social media and networking is essential to being successful. Maintaining
a positive public image will prove to be more and more important as the steady
stream of information and current events in the very public screen continues to
grow.
And just for shits and gigs, enjoy this :
Work Cited
Wynne, Robert. "Public
Relations, Explained." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 04
Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Aug.
2014.
Zelman, Joanna. "BP Ad Campaign
Following Gulf Oil Spill Deemed 'Propaganda' By Some." The
Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Jan. 2012. Web.
"What P.R. Experts Think of BP's
Response to the Oil Spill." Slate
Magazine. N.p. Web
Friday, August 1, 2014
Seven Deadly Sins
But first… Let me take a
selfie. I Snapchat all my friends to show them how much fun I am having at the
beach with my family. I scroll through my Facebook feed and compare my vacation
to all of my friends' vacations from this summer. Damn it. Suzie went to
Florida AND France this summer. What a slut. Omg. How could I forget Suzie’s
birthday? I make a quick collage of pictures of her and I and tell the social
media world how much I love her and that I wish her the best birthday a
beautiful girl like her should have. I quickly tweet about the most ridiculous
thing the cashier at McDonalds said to me, and then I put away my phone so my
dad doesn't tell me to for the SIXTH time… Five was enough.
America is a nation
wrapped up in social media. We complete with our friends and create social
profiles that only display a small fraction of who we really are. I have a zit
on my right cheek, so you better believe I will only take selfies on my left
side until it is gone. Nodder explains that throughout history, philosophers
and religious scholars have categorized human weaknesses as a set of ‘sins’.
The Seven Deadly Sins are Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Anger, Envy, Lust, and Greed
(2013). Contemporary web designs exploit our weaknesses for both good and evil.
The power block uses these techniques on popular social media sites which
limits our ability refuse the seven deadly sins.
The internet has become
an easy gateway to the seven deadly sins. These sins take place outside of the
internet, yet the world-wide-web has made it particularly easy to do so while
sitting at a computer or hiding behind your smart phone. As long as we are
actively participating in social media, our weaknesses will be controlled by
the power holders of America.
The first deadly sin,
pride, is identified as believing one is essentially better than others and
excessive admiration of the personal self. Pride is prevalent in our “selfie”
culture. With every Snapchat you send your friends of your “awesome” life, you
hope that the person opening it thinks about how fun it would be to be you. You
open your friend’s Snap, and it is of them watching Netflix alone on a Friday
night. Subconsciously, you think about how much more fun you are having than
them, and you think about how it sucks to be them. Let’s have a reality check:
You don’t know if this person is alone on a Friday night because they don’t
have anything better to do, or if they have chosen to do so because they had a
much more “awesome” night than you did the night before. Snapchat is a social
media outlet that encourages its users to be proud and boast about themselves.
The second deadly sin,
sloth, is defined as physical laziness. It is also a failure to do things one
should and a failure to use one’s talents and gifts. Google is the prime
example of laziness. I would hate for someone to actually have to stretch their
mind when I ask them a question, so thank God for smart phones with Google. It
is almost too much to ask for someone to think logically about a question when
they could mindlessly find the answer on Google. In fact, we have turned this
phenomenon into a transitive verb. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines
Google as, “to use the Google search
engine to obtain information
about (as a person) on the World Wide Web”. When we have free time, many of us
are guilty of spending countless hours Googling different topics, browsing
through our Facebook feed, watching Youtube videos, and looking for our next
DIY project on Pinterest. How about we put away our computers and put down our
phones and replace these activities with volunteering to help a neighbor or
better ourselves for the future?
The third deadly sin,
Gluttony, is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point
of waste. Twitter is a prime examples of gluttony. Many people feel that they
need to tweet every aspect of their life regardless of how many other people
actually care. We tweet our emotions too soon, we tweet too eagerly, we tweet
too wildly, and we simply tweet too much. After we post, we wait to be
reposted, and we wait to be favorited. Twitter and other social medium consume
our thoughts to the point of waste.
The forth deadly sin,
wrath, is a hatred that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries.
Facebook is a battlefield for many people. You hate some bitch because three
years ago she slept with your new boyfriend, and she just liked one of his
photos. It is a source that fuels your anger, and you can be as nasty as you
want to someone because they are not right in front of you to kick your ass. I
am no longer surprised when I scroll through my Facebook news feed and see my
friends posting passive aggressive statuses about someone who they hate at the
moment. Social media is a place for many people to practice wrath towards not
only other people but towards political parties and controversial topics.
The fifth deadly sin,
envy, is characterized by the desire to have a quality, possession, or other
desirable attribute belonging to someone else. Envy is the one sin that is never any
fun. After feeling envious, people often feel smaller and less secure about
themselves because they compare themselves to others. Instagram is designed to
have its users follow people or pages they like. In today’s fit culture, many
Instagram users follow athletes and compare themselves to the pros. Users often
scrutinize themselves after looking through pages and pages of seemingly
“perfect” bodies and lives. This can lead to a lower self-esteem when you don’t
measure up.
The
sixth deadly sin, lust, is an intense desire of money, food, fame, power or
sex. The internet is a gateway
for lust through social media, online dating sites and pornography sites. There
are extramarital dating sites for those who are no longer satisfied in their
marriages and want to spice up their life with another person. These sites are
designed to make people feel lusted after even though their flame has died with
their spouse. Porn sites are also a large social media that is centered on
lust. Men and women alike use these sites to fulfill or supplement their needs.
Websites such as these make it easy to fall into lust.
The seventh and final
deadly sin, greed, is applied to a very excessive pursuit of material
possessions. People want to use the latest gadgets to view their social media,
and they want to do so at a low cost. They want to use free wi-fi whenever
possible, and they absolutely do not want to pay for their social media. People
use Youtube to mp3 converters and torrent sites in order to get whatever they
can for free. We want the latest iPhone, we want all new music on our iPhones,
and we want an app for just about everything. Greed creates a needy culture
that never really seems satisfied with what we have.
Savage critiques the seven deadly sins
in his book Skipping Towards
Gomarrah (2003). He commits
(or tries to) each of the deadly sins and finds the everyday Americans who take
delight in them. He points out that American sinners can be and are often good.
In context, he would argue that social media may encourage people to engage in
the seven deadly sins, but that does not make them bad people.
If you partake in social media, you will be influenced by at least one of the
seven sins on nearly every site. Adorno argues, “The system of cultural
production…was controlled by advertising and commercial imperatives, and served
to create subservience to the system of consumer capitalism” (Durham, 2006). We
have been shaped into a culture that puts our social image on a pedestal, and
we are beginning to lose some of our true identity behind our social media
masks. There does not seem to be a way around these influences set upon us by
the power block other than resisting social media altogether. Good luck.
Reference List
Durham, M. G. (2006). Media and cultural studies keyworks (Rev. ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Google.
2014. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved July 20, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google.
Nodder, C., & libro, C. (2013). Evil by design interaction design
to lead us into temptation. Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley & Sons.
Savage, D. (2003). Skipping
towards Gomorrah: the seven deadly sins and the pursuit of happiness in America.
New York: Plume.
Animal Testing
Rise of the Planet of the Apes making me
thinking about torture animal. In the movie, there have a lot of plot about
using Apes for experiment. When they precede subcutaneous injection for Apes,
we can see pain from Ape’s eyes. Nowadays, animal testing has become a widely
concerned issue around the world. Come up with scientific experiments, we will
think about white mouse, it is “devote” itself for a scientific breakthrough. I
still remember the experiment of white mice for photosynthesis in my high school
biology textbook, “Joseph Priestly process a series of experiments to find out
the influence of gases on plants and animas. He observed that (1) if a candle
was lighted in an airtight container, the flame would soon extinguish; (2) a
mouse died soon when put in an airtight container in which a candle has burned
out or the air inside has been spoiled by mice breathing and dying in it; and
(3) the mouse lived if at the same time a live plant is placed inside the
airtight container”(Bareja BG, 2012). Some people hold that the neural system
of animal are not advanced than human, they may feel minimize pain from
experiment; meanwhile, we cannot use human for experiment, which is inhumane.
Bear a resemblance to humans; animal’s respond is similarly to external
disturbances, so animal is best substitutes for human experiment. However, this
opinion is misleading facts. Animal also has rights for their lives. They also
have capacity to make moral choices. Therefore, animal testing should be
banned, because animal has the right to life and human, which prohibition of torture
need protect them.
The
primary reason to support that idea human gives experiment of animal in order
to makes profit for there commercial, this is immoral. Animal testing for
cosmetics and medicine, which are most common experiment of animal. People
realized that animal testing can be done for commercial purposes; it is
cheapest way to proves the risk or stimulate of product. For example, Legally
Blonde 2: Red,White&Blonde, Elle woods wants her dogs mother attend her
wedding, she hired private detective to find bruiser’s mother, but they found
that Bruiser’s mother is in an animal testing for cosmetics.in the movie, we
can see how painful of Bruiser’s mother from her eyes. Human compel animal to “use”
the new product, which is testing how stimulate or risk of human skin. They
uses animal to test cosmetics safety, it is not only harmful animal, but also
deprivation their rights of survival. “Millions
of rabbits, dogs, cats, mice and other animals are burned, poisoned and killed
in painful and
unnecessary tests each year for the sake of cosmetics and toiletries.
Finished products (and/or their individual ingredients) are frequently tested
on animals overseas before making their way to Australia.”(Animals Australia,
2013) Animal testing is kind of
behavior to torture the animal; it is possible that new product have poisonous
and harmful substance, which is hurt and dangerous for animal. Some people may said
that we uses some un-toxic substance for animal, those products are come from
herbaceous plant, which is not harmful. Despite those product are not harmful,
animal may not adept for those product. Here is some fact, “32 guinea pigs and
16 mice for test the skin sensitization, it cause those animal’s skin may show signs of redness, ulcers, scaling,
inflammation, and itchiness.” “3 rabbits for test skin irritation/corrosion, it
cause they are skin may show signs of redness, rash, lesions, scaling,
inflammation, and/or other signs of damage.”(The human society, 2014) and so
on. There are a lot of fact to shows that how harmful testing of animal. Therefore,
for protecting animal’s right, we need to stop using animal for experiment
human products.
.jpg)
An
additional factor involves this recognition that animals testing are result and
information is unreliable and misleading, after all there are many differences
between humans and animals. For example, In the movie， Rise of the
Planet of the Apes the doctor create a new medical
for Alzheimer’s disease, which is promote the intelligence. They give Apes to
experiment this new medical; however, this new medicine is not suit for human.
That it is adept for Apes, which is promoting their intelligence. It is
possible that medicine is able to adapt on animals, but human may have some
risk for use it. “We believe that although animal experiments are sometimes
intellectually seductive, they are poorly suited to addressing the urgent
health problems of our era, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, AIDS and
birth defects. Even worse, animal experiments can mislead researchers or even
contribute to illnesses or deaths by failing to predict the toxic effects of
drugs.”(Barnard, Kaufman, 1997). Animal does not have complex systems of organs
like humans, such as nervous system is difference for human, so they might not
has same disease as well human. If gives a new medicine injection for animal
without heart disease, it won’t any effectiveness for this experiment. Because
of we cannot test this medicine of pesticide effect, it will harmful and
dangerous for human’s life. Therefore, the important medical improves have been
postpone, because of misleading information test derived from animal testing.
In
conclusion, we should not use animal to testing our new medical or drugs,
because of human interests should not be placed above animals welfare, which is
harmful animals rights to life. In the future, hoping can find substitute for
testing new medical or drugs without any harm.
Reference
BAREJA BG. 2012. 11.Oct, 2012. Crop farming
or crop agriculture: basics and practical methods.
Retrieved from http://www.cropsreview.com/index.html.
Animals Australia the voice for animas. 14 March
2013.Which companies and brands still allow testing
on animals? Retrieved from http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/animal-testing-list.php
The humane society of the
United State,5 March,2014. Cosmetics Tests That Use Animals. Retrievedfromhttp://www.humanesociety.org/issues/cosmetic_testing/tips/common_cosmetics_tests_animals.html
Barnard, Neal D., Kaufman, Stephen
R, Feb, 1997. ANIMAL RESEARCH IS WASTEFUL
AND MISLEADING. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~koertge/Sem104/barnard.html
Still Clinging to the 1950s
Alex Schlegel
Politics of Popular
Culture
Blog 2
August
1, 2014
Still
Clinging to the 1950s
The 1950s was a grand era that offered
immense change in America, even though patriarchal families were still at
large. It seemed that each member of the family had one specific or pretty much
in today sense a stereotypical role, such as woman/wife cooks and cleans,
man/husband is the bread winner and the kids basically pick up on these cues, which
eventually leads them replicate 1950s patriarchy. A big advancement during this
era was the idea of consumerism and advertisements. Soon ads became prevalent
in movies, television, magazines, billboards, etc., and many people during this
time never thought to consider if these advertisements were stereotyping,
racist, sexist, or even ethical. Now, fast-forward sixty years to present day.
“Men and women today lead highly complex lives with multiple societal roles.
Men and women are parents, businesspeople, corporate board members, friends,
siblings, volunteers, and more” (Sheehan 91). From what Sheehan mentions is
that everyone is equal meaning they can do or be whomever they want and no
baggage attached. You can be a single mother with three kids or conform to a
typical family where you have a husband/wife and two children. No matter what
you do it does not matter. In today’s age you can just be, and that is okay, or
is it? When it comes to
advertisement it seems to be playing a different tune. It seems that there is still
a hierarchy or patriarchy throughout most advertisements in terms of male and
female advertising. It feels like we have come so far just to take a step back,
which blurs the idea of equality in today’s society. In this blog post I will
analyze modern day advertisements vs. ads from the 1950s and from this I hope
you will have a better understanding of what really is going on with
advertisements and how the idea of post-sexisms is not all that it is chalked
up to be.
As I mentioned earlier patriarchy use to be a standard
model for families especially during the 50s and 60s, however todays model for
families deals more with partnership and equality. So why are advertisements
still condoning gender stereotypes? “Commercials are the vast source of gender stereotyping, because
they are adapted to the specific, either male or female target, and are
“the reflection of the recipient” (Wolska). 
That is they are targeted towards
either a male or female audience, which ultimately brings back patriarchal
ideology. For instance, take the advertisement
above. This ad was displayed during 1958 and obviously represents the man or
man’s hand as a dominant figure that has total control over anything and
everything, in this case a female’s butt. From this you notice that the only
thing shown is the women’s butt and legs, which are suppose to represent sex
appeal, thus provide context that women are just man’s object of gaze. They
only serve the purpose to please man physically, which stereotypes patriarchy
during this era. Now
lets take a look at a modern day advertisement that in theory should have no
connotation towards sexism, after all we are suppose to be living in a nation
of post-sexism and post-racism, sadly this is not the case.
As you can see
in the magazine ad once again the man or his foot is shown as a patriarchal
force that has total control over everything or in this sense the woman who is
knelling down. It is no surprise that the woman is seen as an object of gaze.
Something to “please” men, someone who is controlled. I don’t know about you
but advertisements like these completely tear down the whole idea of equality
and post-sexism.
Now
that we have hit on female advertisements I would like to discuss what the male
ads entail both from the 1950s and now. A majority of the time men are
perceived as muscluar or have great looks and tend to show dominance in the
situation, if paired with a female, espically as a couple.
This ad was for Van Heusen ties and as you can blatantly
tell it shows the man being dominate and the woman is seen as servant, someone
who waits hand and foot. For the time this makes perfect sense because the
typical household model is partriarchal. “If men and women appear in the commercials together, they are
mainly presented as a couple or marriage. A sexual subtext is also often
used in this case, even if the advertised product has nothing in common with
the erotic sphere. In the situation of competition, women appear to be weaker
than men” (Wolska). This ideology should have only been represented during the
50s and 60s but instead it has merged itself with modern advertisements. Once
again we are stuck in a world were representations of patriarchy are still
portrayed. Take for instance this Dockers magazine ad.
As you probably have
already noticed these two people are a couple and what do you know the man is
represented as pulling or guiding the woman, thus hinting towards patriarchy or
male dominance and it’s no accident either. At first glance men probably never
think twice about the position of the couple but it almost subconsciously
inflates the male ego showing that he is the leader of the pack, the one that
is in control. Would it be so wrong to portray this couple having the woman
leading the man? I tend to think not but since we live in an age where we are
constantly bombarded by ads, like these, I believe it turns the clock backwards
and represents what advertisements use to be. Maybe things will change but it
is too hard to say because of the constant struggle.
Comparing two completely different eras seems like there
would be huge contrasts but instead it seems there are more similarities. Advertisements
from the 1950s to now have not changed immensely but instead have stayed, for
the most part, constant. Women are still perceived as secondary, they clean,
they cook, and they are objects of male gaze. Men on the other hand are still
perceived as the financial leader or head of the household, someone who has
total control over everything. If we look at lifestyles today ideologies have
hugely changed. Both men and women are more independent than they ever have
been but if we still are being fed sexist and gender based advertisements then
how are we ever able to grow?
Works Cited
Krytyka.
Krytyka, Sept. 2011. Web. 26 July 2014.
<http://krytyka.org/gender-stereotypes-in-mass-media-case-study-analysis-of-the-gender-stereotyping-phenomenon-in-tv-commercials/>.
Sheehan, Kim Bartel.
Controversies in Contemporary Advertising.
Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2014. Print.
Writing
Commons. Writing Commons, 3 Mar. 20010. Web. 1 Aug. 2014.
<http://writingcommons.org/open-text/information-literacy/visual-literacy/ad-analysis/436-analyzing-ads-gender>.
THIS IS MY LAST COLLEGE ASSIGNMENT GUYS!!
(sorry about the title I had to! :) )
As a twenty-three year old girl, I, as well as many of you
ladies and gentleman have witnessed or taken part in many of the changes and
trends that have taken place within the media world. Most of the changes a fair
amount of us 90’s kids have seen have mostly dealt with advances in cell phone
technology and ways in which we received much of our information such as news
alerts, friend updates, and even texting. So with much advancement what is even
considered social media these days? Well our handy little friend, Google,
defines social media as “websites and
applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in
social networking.” Google’s definition goes hand in hand with the advancements
I’ve discussed due to the fact that social media has become mainstream through all
these technological advances.
From the start of the Internet hype many people (because it
was not only teens exploring the online sphere) seemed to be discovering the AOL
and MSN messenger chat community. If any of you recall, this was around the
time when we had dial-up Internet (insert laugh cause you all know you remember
that tone) and we could only be on it for so long because our mother who was
expecting a phone call from her best friend who lived two houses and had gossip
to share. Anyways, the social media or way for people to be socially connected back
then was through the use of chat or what I can even be described as old school texting
of the 90’s. One was simply always able to have conversations (chats) with one single
person and have names like *~brownsugar_244~*
(yes this may or may not have been mine, whatever) or with multiple people
(group chats.) But once you appeared offline, that communication was gone,
until your next login. In that way we see that the social media sphere has
continued to stay the same with the chat aspects and the fact that people are
constantly deleting their social media accounts and reactivating them (just
like appearing offline, until the next login) again with continuous ‘advances’
over the years. Now a days however, it is much more difficult for one to be
completely offline because we are constantly connected online in a way or
another through our cellular devices. I analyze that while social media is
still a large part of communication, there is always some sort of trend present
with what social media platforms are being used by people all over and which
ones may not be as popular at any given time.
With that being said,
the rise and fall of every other website or what may be the hip social media
site at any given time, changes more frequently than we probably even pay
attention to. More than ever (and by ever I mean basically since our age group
started using social media) we have seen people falling off the face of the
earth or what is also known as people deleting their social media accounts
including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Xanga, Myspace, etc. This happens for a
variety of reasons that the trends in social media are obviously linked to.
I begin with the discussion that those in my age group (and
mostly my friends as well as myself) began the social media excitement through
the use of MySpace and Xanga. Both mediums had the ability to post pictures,
design the website to your liking as well as providing a privacy preference of
your choice. This became a place for kids like myself to blog about their day
and simply post things that we felt were cool.
The life of both of these mediums was short lived as Facebook soon hit the
popularity charts back in 2005ish (at least for high school kids) by this time,
Facebook had already been floating around for college age group. Of course this
led us younglings to believe that if college kids were doing it, it was
obviously the cool thing to do, and we all jumped on the Facebook bandwagon!
At the beginning of the Facebook era, it was not unusual for
us to spend x amount of hours glued to our home computers wandering through the
profiles of our friends. It was the norm to update our status almost at a
constant pace, write on each other’s walls, and send awesome ‘bumper stickers.’
Facebook ultimately introduced the ‘like’ button shortly followed by the ‘add a
cover photo’ option. So what are the reasons in which Facebook use is
declining? Well, with the rise of many new users, the OGs of Facebook found
that its size became too overwhelming, and privacy risks and tendency to incite
drama became more of social burden than anything according to the Huffington
Post. Others such as Forbes, stated that with their (Facebook) new features,
users found that the site was trying to hard and that was a reason for many to
be pushed away.
As I discussed earlier, what is hip at any given time can
change quite quickly. Currently while Facebook use is declining, the rise of
applications such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter in which people can use
aliases seem to be the growing trend. Due to that fact that many employers and
others of that sort are relying on mediums as such to feel out possible hires,
people seem to be seeking out more private mediums.
It is obvious that many social platforms have an average
span of ‘popularity time.’ Time magazine describes this ‘like a disease that
spreads then dies.” We see this over and over again; people find these websites
to be less important in their daily lives and spend less and less time being
entertained by a certain platform.
In conclusion, I see the trend of Facebook decline happening
because of newer, more advanced applications people seek out. Privacy issues and
long term repercussions are the common denominator for the decline of Facebook (and
other website) users. As Forbes stated, “in
the end, Facebook is just an application. And people get tired of applications
after a while.” The rise and fall of websites and applications is a never-ending
cycle, people become tired of them and continue on with the next popular application.
Facebook (along with many other platforms) will continue be around, with less
users of course, but again always being part of that communication world.
Bosker,
Bianca. "Facebook's Rapidly Declining Popularity With Teens In
Chart." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Oct.
2013. Web. Aug. 2014.
Frizell,
Sam. "Facebook Is About to Lose 80% of Its Users, Study Says."
Time. Time, 21 Jan. 2013. Web. Aug. 2014.
Marks,
Gene. "Why Facebook Is In Decline." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 19
Aug. 2013. Web. Aug. 2014.
Wortham,
Jenna. "Still on Facebook, but Finding Less to Like." Bits Still on
Facebook but Finding Less to Like Comments. New York Times, 16 Nov.
2013. Web. Aug. 2014.
"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.
"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014.
How the Internet made Fan-Culture Cool
The fandom culture (or as many used to refer to
it—geek culture) has been around since the introduction of comics and sci-fi
fantasy within mainstream media. However, now what was once considered lame, or
“geeky” has spread to popular culture. Now being a geek is cooler than ever
before. From fandom websites, to convention centers, to everyday
conversation—cult television and movies are more pervasive in mainstream media.
Why? With the ever-changing landscape of the Internet, more people are watching
media—and they are watching it more often. The term “binge-watching” used to be
confined to that of the DVD box set it came in. Now with Netflix, Hulu Plus and
HBOgo consumers can access more television and movies at any time. This, in
turn, has changed the scope in how television and programming is made. Now Netflix
is coming up with its own programming, and top television networks are creating
programming specifically with the fandom communities in mind.
Fandom culture and geek culture have really culminated around the sci-fi
and fantasy genre. This includes comic books, fantasy novels and television
programming. It was once
considered uncool if you spent your entire afternoon reading comic books or
watching television—now it is a rite of passage into fandom culture. There are
many different theories as to where fandom culture originated. Some might say the
earliest comic book series are prime examples of fan culture. Some go as far
back as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes”—insisting that the
re-interpretation of his works through the modern age act as the first ever
written fan fictions. The fantasy novel “Lord of the Rings” is also close to
the origins of fandom culture—many believe that it is the popularity of this
novel that help spur the fantasy genre into popularity. And an overwhelming
amount of fans agree that it was Gene Roddenberry’s classic sci-fi series “Star
Trek” that started it all. All of
these classic examples, with the addition of the British series “Doctor Who”
all help us understand the origins of fandom culture and how it relates to
popular culture as well.
While I do not argue that these fandoms were not popular in their own
time, there was a certain amount of backlash to the term “fan”. It seems that
for a large part of the last 50 years, terms like “fan, geek, and fandom” where
synonymous with lame and unpopular. It took the Internet to really create a
space for fans to get together for the rest of the world to take notice. Myc
Wiatrowski explains this phenomenon; “Studies
of fan communities over the past twenty years have increasingly focused on
the internet as a locus of communal activity for participants. Certainly
this is not unexpected. Prior to the advent of the Internet, and its subsequent
adoption by fan communities, being a fan was largely a proposition that
required participants to engage in physical encounters. Fandoms were
transmitted on a personal, often individual level. Geographical boundaries were
an issue, to be sure, so fandoms were often local and specific with slight
eccentricities that could vary regionally, often only learned through the
process of enculturation. Conventions, newsletters and zines were employed by
fandoms, and often helped in reducing the need for face-to-face interactions;
however time and space were often prohibitive to constructing a thriving
community.”(Wiatrowski,1).
A decade ago, Comic-Con was a nerd convention, now it is the “Superbowl
of Pop Culture”. Comic books, and fandom media were on display—yet its
popularity in mainstream media was not. Con goers were mocked for their
attire—dressing up, as their favorite character was considered infantile and
stupid. Today, ComicCon tickets sell out within minutes, live streaming is a
major component and the media not only covers the convention—they treat it as a
“hot ticket” event. Celebrities come out in the droves and fans couldn’t be
more excited. So what’s the difference between then and now? The digital
revolution and the fact that geeks were the one that created it. This change is
explained by Andrew Harrison is his article “Rise of the New Geeks: How the
Outsiders Won”;
“First the digital revolution elevated alpha nerds such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to
unprecedented power and influence. Then Hollywood
rediscovered a rich stream of intellectual property and coincident nostalgia in
geek touchstones Star Wars, Marvel Comics and JRR Tolkien at the
turn of the century. Coding nerd Shawn Fanning
overturned the music industry with Napster, a geek project
extraordinaire. Celebs got in on the act, with R&B producers The Neptune’s
rebranding as N.E.R.D.
and stars as unlikely as Justin Timberlake, David Beckham and Myleene Klass
donning thick-rimmed specs in the mid-nineties. Sitcoms The IT Crowd
and The Big Bang
Theory set out to satirize a geek world that was becoming more
visible and powerful – face it, can you fix your own PC? – but did so with a
surprising measure of warmth, making unlikely heroes out of Reynham Industries'
Moss and the poster boy for high-functioning OCD, Caltech theoretical physicist
Sheldon Cooper PhD.”(Harrison).
Fandom
culture is cool, because new technology and media is cool. Superhero comic
books were transformed on the screen in new and exciting ways. The two major
comic book producers Marvel and DC are making new material for their brand over
every form of media. Marvel has two television shows lined up on ABC for this
fall, has already had over eight successful blockbuster hits in the past ten
years and is set up for it’s next one this weekend with “Guardians of the
Galaxy”. Comic books fans are thrilled that their favorite comic book is
finally coming to life and mainstream media is excited for another Marvel hit.
Marvel and DC have plans to release at least one superhero/ comic book character
film a year for the next five years. It just goes to show that something that
was once considered “nerdy” can become a huge part of pop culture—and can cover
several different forms of media at a time.
It was a show like “Star Trek” that really created
the first introduction of fandom to popular culture—but it is new age
technology and programming that has made fandom part of popular culture.
Television shows like “Doctor Who”, “Sherlock”, “Lost”, “24”, “Supernatural”,
“Game of Thrones”, “The Walking Dead”, “Orange is the New Black”, “House of
Cards”, “True Blood”, and “House” all provide the same level of fandom
interest, but can also show the intense amount of mainstream influence in it as
well. Now with the introduction of Netflix, viewers can start and get caught up
on a show with in days—forget going to work and other responsibilities—they
have a show to watch. What is more and more prevalent—and ultimately what is
most important is that this “binge-watching” craze is more widely accepted.
This is something that is now a part of popular culture, and is considered the
norm. Comparing how long it takes you to watch a series now determines how
“hardcore” you are. Telling your friends and co-workers that you binge-watched
all of “The Walking Dead” is met with enthusiasm and excitement rather than
embarrassment. It is this new era of technology and media programming that has
really created a space for viewers to become a part of fandom culture. Netflix
and HBOgo are staples in people’s lives. This new “on-demand” viewing is a
vehicle for older shows to become popular again and for newer shows to gain
traction as the season progresses. It used to be that if you missed an episode,
you were out of luck—now with streaming television viewers can get catch up
whenever it fits there schedule. And ultimately it creates an environment for
more consumption of popular media. Now people no longer need to feel ashamed
for watching all of season 2 of “Orange is the New Black” in their pajamas
while consuming nothing but pizza and chocolate…or so I’m told.
Sources:
A
Brief History of Fandom, Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Being a
Fan
By Elisabeth
Flaum
Rise of the New Geeks: How the Outsiders Won
By Andrew Harrison
The
Dynamics of Fandom: Exploring Fan Communities in Online Spaces
By Myc
Wiatrowski
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)