Re-Reflecting on My Media Use

 I went back and read my 1st blog post for this class, which I titled
“reflecting on social media” and saw some drastic changes in my
opinions on media and general media usage.  After working with new
platforms (posterous and twitter) and engaging in weekly discussions
that shaded my black/white opinions of certain forms of media (AIM
specifically) I am approaching a more nuanced and detailed portrait of
the technological landscape we live in, and where I fit in that
picture.

In my first prompt I began by outlining my media usage: that I use my
gmail on a daily basis, have a facebook and tumblr, even if I don’t
check in with either daily. Along with exploring the frequency and
cataloging the media I use, I focused on the types of media I found
annoying. For example, I pegged Twitter as narcissistic—an entire
platform created for users to engage in a constant real-time streaming
of status-posting (a feature I have never used on Facebook). But once
I started using Twitter (and had the fun of setting up the
kayla8thecity handle) I realized that the same way blogs can be a
string of self-indulgent pithy remarks or a series of thoughtful op-ed
articles, Twitter can take many forms.

 I keep coming back to the google chrome “the internet is what you
make of it” slogan because I think it defines the notion that
experience and exposure influence our relationship to media. I enjoyed
following prominent figures on Twitter and reading news stories via
links posted to Twitter—things I could not have predicted when I
started.

When I look at my involvement on Twitter I see the way that social
media can be used to create a more personal connection between a brand
and a consumer. I often logged onto my Twitter for this class because
I had a specific Tweet I wanted to add to our class feed—but as the
weeks went on and my friends began tweeting me without the #csmt11 tag
I found myself going on on to scroll through my feed for funny celeb
posts or interesting advertising campaigns.

The first time I retweeted something I began to see how we curate a
Twitter feed based on personal relevance. I also realized Twitter gave
me a channel to reach out to people I otherwise would feel
uncomfortable contacting. For example, the Beauty Editor at Teen Vogue
is a really sweet lady with a love for Essie nail polish that rivals
my ability eye a strangers’ nails and guess her chosen shade. I
tweeted Eva a response about some nail polish related tweet and she
tweeted me back and we ended up having a twitter conversation, ending
with her suggesting a favorite nail salon I should check out—that nail
salon then tweeted me and Eva together saying thanks for being their
PR! In the exchange Twitter offered me an opportunity to talk to Eva
in a way that removed the hierarchy that is palpable within an office
setting and offered a business an opportunity for the best type of
press available, 3rd party endorsement (with a paper trail!) for the
salon.

While emails are still the medium I use with greatest frequency. I
notice that the way I read my emails has changed. I got an iPhone
during this semester (mainly because I wanted to use a touch screen to
scroll Tumblr and Twitter on the go) but it makes it so easy to delete
emails I find myself giving even less time to each individual email.
In this way having greater technology in my hand has lessened my
attention span. Baym speaks of the new technology’s ability to grant
us “separation of presence” but simultaneously subjects us to new
forms of control, surveillance and constraint (Baym, 4). I notice how
this separation of presence gives us a chance to explore who we are in
a multi-faceted way. When I first read that Baym point I could only
focus on the control and surveillance and all the dangers these new
forms of media veiled. I guess in a way the pervasiveness of the
surveillance indicative of social media is more apparent than
hidden—when I post on a friend’s facebook or post a tweet I know I am
adding my thoughts to a public. Whenever we become a part of a public
we know that our action will be surveyed.

I guess my re-reflect makes me think of a quote I read once that John
Maxwell said about a person needing to be smart enough to highlight
one’s own mistakes so he can correct the err and profit. As I am not
an entrepreneur I am not thinking in terms of literal profit, but in
terms of enriching my personal experience and elevating my
professional knowledge base, making me (hopefully) more desirable to
future employers. That said, most of my of my media use still exhibits
the characteristics of “a privatized media
rich bedroom culture:” sitting on my laptop in my bed connecting with
images/people through technology but in solitude (Baym, 23).  But by
gaining exposure to new platforms and developing a comfort level, with
say Twitter, I am strengthening a muscle that is an undeniable asset
in the job market.

While I am not too sad that AIM was forbidden in my home—and still
think it was because my parents had
what David Nye would call a “dystopian reaction” to the media, I can
see how real-time chatting actually makes the person more responsible
than texting—since the cadence on an online chat can’t stop without
the sender/receiver reading into the pause, whereas texting is dotted
with pauses, some natural and others strategic and all excused due to
the medium.

I know I spoke about archives in my first blog post. At that time I
was reflecting on the manipulation of an
archived conversation, which I said was unique to instant messenger.
Now I am thinking in broader terms and realizing that all mediatized
archives are manipulated or re-versioned to fit a purpose. For
example, an iPhone is a mobile and fluid personal archive that acts as
a warehouse for all my text conversations. But it allows me to delete
the conversations that I don’t want to see or delete a specific
message that failed to send, etc. Examining archives again becomes
especially interesting after rereading “Social Network Sites:
Definitions, History, and Scholarship” because the idea that users
“type themselves into being” can be extrapolated to the sentiment that
users store parts of themselves selectively, curating an
online/mediatized being (211). The techniques we use to shape how
others see us within the sprawling social media terrain interests me.

Kayla

My review of "The Social Media Marketing Book" by Dan Zarrella

For social media marketing week, I read the cleverly titled "The Social Media Marketing Book" by Dan Zarrella. This book was a bit basic in regards to its chapters on the different facets of social media (blogs, microblogs, social networks, etc), however the last two chapters claimed to provide some insight into strategy, tactics, and analytics, so I hoped that they would be beneficial.

One topic he discusses in these last chapters is the call to action, or CTA. A CTA is “an invitation you make to your website visitors to engage in some type of action that benefits your business aims––and hopefully theirs, too” (Zarrella 201). This is the sort of concept seen in practice everyday (business Facebook pages encouraging users to "Like Us!" for instance). That a major social media marketing author is encouraging the same practice suggests that I have been correct in how I have “read” social media marketing just through interaction with Facebook and Twitter pages.

Another discussion that I hoped would be of interest to me as a social media marketing intern was a section on campaigns versus ongoing strategy. I have worked on a few social media campaigns in my social media marketing internship and hoped that this section would provide some insight on how to be structure campaigns, however Zarrella merely offers, "[Campaigns] should fit within your ongoing strategy and have specific goals and finite timelines" (197). This extremely obvious answer was sort of aggravating and patronizing.

I would not recommend this book whatsoever. I've never been burned so bad by online shopping. This book features a screenshot photo every-other page, barely any text, and definitely stretches the borders of objectivity. Zarrella does disclose early in the book that he works for a "software startup" called HubSpot (7) and gives some statistics on its reach. This helps to frame him as an expert, however in the section blogs, he discusses different types of blog hosting (hosted versus self-hosted) and gives some examples such as WordPress and Blogger. He then adds in a section about HubSpot, essentially using this space as an advertisement for his company which I found to be a bit crass. Unless you have no experience with social media, I would suggest to look for a different book for an outlook on social media marketing. This book is borderline advertisement, too photo heavy, and not very informative overall.

Friends with Benefits

Friends with Benefits: a Social Media Marketing Handbook is a good entry level social media book that provides a general overview of the developmental process, useful tips on Do’s and Don’t in the social networking realm, and a collection of scenarios to help readers gain a deeper understanding in terms of what it means to build a “social relationship. The audience for this book would most likely be professionals who need to adapt to the changing environment of how marketing and promotion is done. These marketing professionals hold mid-level management positions that need to involve in the day-to-day workings of social media and, more importantly, navigate around the evolving landscape of social media integration and how it would affect their business decisions.

The book provides practical insights into tools such as RSS, blogging and social media platforms. All social media should include reaching the following objectives: foster customer relationships, solicit user feedback, establish expertise by promoting particular members within an industry sector, research the market and receive direct feedback, provide technical support and customer service, connect with journalists and industry bloggers, and deploy damage control at times of emergency. The book provides many examples of building a community within the industry circle as well as reaching out to expand the company’s influence across industries and platform. The social media tools would generate timely updates and  make possible for marketing professionals to engage in direct communication with consumers who are using their goods and services, especially during times of emergency and negative press. However, it is crucial to note that as much as social media can do, traditional forms of marketing tactics should not be taken less seriously because they are still the primary channels in which target markets and customers can be reached, especially in terms of B2B communication. Trade shows, real-world word of mouth, and media relations are not to be dismissed because social media is solely meant to aggregate the effects of these traditional tactics through innovative communication and maximizing influence via the Internet. Also, the book makes the point that too much success too soon might lead to early demise of the social media marketing campaign. There needs to be sufficient logistical back-end support to push for consistent success and to maintain a high level of user satisfaction (i.e. if a restaurant receives raving reviews online, and customers rush to the restaurant, there isn’t enough space to accommodate, or the level of services goes down, the effects will be irreversible and result in negative feedback via social media tools).

            In terms of Baym’s four major social discourses of the new technology: technological determinism, social construction of technology, social shaping, and domestication of technology, the book of my choosing fits well with the social shaping aspect. Social media is changing the way marketing tactics are utilized. Professionals now days must think inclusively how social media tactics contributes to the overall success of the marketing campaign. To be unrepresented on the Internet is to be invisible, and there is so much truth in that especially in the current context of digital advancements. Digital marketing is the new trend that is going to last and the influences of how social media will shape the conversation will only grow exponentially.

 

Ivy Y. 

Blog Post 6 Prompt

For this post, you may either respond to the prompt below or comment on a previous post (same instructions as always apply).

Prompt:
Go back and look over your first post of the semester, where you considered your own use of social media technologies. Has anything changed for you over the course of the semester? Can you trace any of these changes to your involvement in this course? How do you think differently about social media now, if at all? Do you think your use of social media will change in the future? Will political or ethical issues play into your decisions at all?

Your post should be published by 9am on Tuesday, November 29th.

Presentations

Your research presentation should accomplish 4 things:

  • explain the topic you researched
  • summarize the major methods and theories used in this research area
  • identify and explain major themes in the literature on your topic
  • point to directions for further research on your topic 

You are encouraged to be creative in the presentation of your research findings. Your presentation should be well-structured, polished, and professional. You should incorporate media (images, animations, video, sound, etc.) where appropriate in order to illustrate your points. The purpose of your presentation is to provide your audience with new information and also to engage our interest in this information! Your presentation will be evaluated on the following criteria:

___Apparent effort and preparation
___Polish and professionalism
___Logical structure
___Clarity of information presented
___Audience engagement with presentation

 

Presentation order

Tuesday, November 29
1. Sarah
2. Nicole
3. Jen
4. Roxy
5. Emma
6. Colleen
7. Pizeme
8. Ivy
9. Jessica Y
10. Justin

Tuesday, December 6
1. Ceci
2. Gaby
3. Sophie
4. Sachi
5. Cindy
6. Ari
7. Jessica W
8. Charli
9. Clarke
10. Kayla

Discussion for 11/8/11

The major question I'd like you to contemplate this week as you do the reading/watch the videos/listen to the podcast is basically the same as danah boyd's:

Can social network sites (and social media in general) enable political action?

You should also think about the limitations introduced by social media as a vehicle of political activism, both according to our authors/speakers for this week, and in your own personal experience.

Our discussion in class will pick up nicely where we left off on Tuesday, when we talked about Google Chrome's (mis?)appropriation of the "It Gets Better" campaign.

Blog Post 4: In Response to Branding the Post Feminist Self

Branding the Post Feminist Self.  


In Sarah Banet-Weiser's essay, she analyzes how young girls utilize YouTube as promotional platform for the creation of their identity - in essence, the site serves as a branding apparatus for these youthful identities.  Banet-Weiser describes the process in reference to broadcasting oneself and exercising the liberty of expression form a post-feminist and neoliberal perspective. She draws relations to consumer culture through the process of feedback and interactivity.  The projection of the self unto public space and the creation of one's narrative lends itself to the concept of brand building and production.  From these assertions, Banet Weiser shifts focus to YouTube enables women to be empowered within a consumer context - defined by her own authority. Within this consumer realm, women create and impose their identities comprised of commodity puzzle pieces in the digital consumer-scape. 


This article first appealed to me simply because I am very interested in the the way brands use social media to bolster identity. The ability to define one's self presentation through social mediums is a process that we confront every day.  YouTube is an interesting choice to dissect because of it's wildly expressive nature - after all people can put nearly anything in a video.  Branding is glossed with the notion of expressing the story or telling the tale of the brand.  It is apparent that YouTube allows a channel for participating in the same story telling process of the individual.  Visual moving pictures by nature are more relatable to stories than a simple Facebook profile picture or an advertisement.  Of all the existing social mediums, the avenue of YouTube for portrayal of female identity was a choice I appreciated.  As YouTube users become more like brand identities, it is interesting that Banet-Weiser mentioned the importance of the feedback and interactivity.  She writes "Self-branding does not merely involve self-presentation, but is a layered process of judging, assessment, and valuation taking place in a media economy of recognition, such as YouTube, where everyone has their “own” channel" (21).  I thought this was an interesting point to draw upon because while the process of judging and evaluation molds the brand of the presenter, many consumer brands enact these facets to shape into the person (rather than simply a brand).  With the above said, I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with the essay.  Although Banet-Weiser brought up several points that I feel are valid, there were parts I wish she had elaborated on.  Specifically I wish she placed more emphasis on the power implications for females with authority.  I would have really enjoyed if she explored more ways females can exercise power via YouTube in respect to identity creation.  For example, I met an artist who created a YouTube character (posing as a real life person), and talked to her viewers. She successfully made her viewers believe she was really who she claimed to be and that this persona that was constructed truly did exist.  After amassing many viewers/comments/etc, her true identity was exposed.   I thought this was a great example of identity construction and the creation of a brand and story in a way that exercised power of the producer over the audience.   Despite my wish for expansion of her essay, I still found Banet-Weiser's work on Branding the Post Feminist Self to be quite interesting.

Blog Post #4 - My response to the article "Branding the Post Feminist Self: Girls' Video Production and YouTube" by Sarah Banet-Weister

The article, “Branding the Post-Feminist Self: Girls’ Video Production and YouTube” by Sarah Banet -Weister particularly caught my attention because of the fact that YouTube is such a widely use media site. I had never looked at YouTube in such a different light, especially in a light dealing with post-feminine characteristics. The article describes the way digital media may be changing the way girls and women in particular view themselves and how others view them in conversation with digital media sites. YouTube in specific is a site that allows for self-expression and allows for others to not only express themselves but view and make conclusions of others self-expressions.  

                When I read this article the conclusion that I came to was that Banet-Weiser was seeing how the idea of feminism has changed and become more mainstream through the use of digital media. She describes certain YouTube videos that display young girls having fun and singing or dancing (basically just expressing themselves) as an outlet of self-branding and empowerment. She describes YouTube slogan “Broadcast Yourself!” as “a way to brand oneself, a practice deployed by individuals to communicate personal values, ideas, and beliefs using strategies and logic from commercial brand culture, and one that is increasingly normative in the contemporary neoliberal economic environment,” (2). Basically what she is trying to say (at least what I think she is trying to say) is that because YouTube allows for this ability of people to express many things such as “values, ideas and beliefs” it Is a perfect outlet for a new discourse to emerge. In this article she is saying that YouTube has allowed for the discourse of post-feminism to appear and develop through the fact that it gives girls and women the ability to act out their post-feminist ideals and feelings through silly YouTube videos.

                The one part of the article that I found most intriguing was when she describes in-depth a specific YouTube video of a group 13 year old girls dancing and singing to the song “I’m a Barbie Girl” by Aqua. She basically makes various assumptions and distinctions about the way that the girls act during this performance. The idea of a “Barbie” seems to me to be as the inherent assumption of pure femininity. The way that they tweak and challenge the limits of this femininity by making fun of and acting out in a slightly “un-feminine” way (the way they cut Ken’s head off) gives light to the post-feminine discourse. Though throughout the video Banet- Weister describes the girls as engaging in certain feminist practices such as “feminist grooming practices: (where) one girl is looking at a teen magazine with Paris Hilton on the cover, while the other is occupied by dramatically brushing the hair of a small toy dog,” (8) Banet -Weister also describes the way they are engaging in these practices are dramatic and in a mocking way. Banet-Weister describes the girls as “clearly mocking celebrity as well as beauty culture,” (8).  Finally the post-feminine discourse is high-lighted when the girls cut off Ken’s head. Banet-Weister describes this as a “political ending” where the girls are highlighting the fact that in their post-modern world they do not need Ken – (“chopping Ken’s head off clearly calls into question his role as a crucial part of Barbie’s world). Banet-Weister also describes the girls as displaying a different kind of “public femininity” (8). I think what she is saying is that the original idea of “public femininity” was more rigid and strategic than it is now. For example back in the 1950s it would be shocking and “un-feminine” for girls to be mocking beauty and celebrity culture and cutting off a male doll’s head.

                Banet-Weister also uses these YouTube videos as a way to show the new self-branding post-feminist empowered culture. She describes the ability of girls to express themselves and “sell” themselves via performances such as these as a way for girls to empower themselves. The way they are “empowering” themselves is through the ability to proudly express their opposition to traditional feminist views. The “13 year old Barbie Girls” are making fun of the feminine practices and also pointing out that they don’t need a man like the real Barbie might. As Banet- Weister points out “this kind of self-branding is thus not just a tired re-hashing of the objectification of female bodies, but rather a new social arrangement, one that relies of strategies for identity construction that get their logic from more progressive ideals such as capability, empowerment, and imagination,” (10).

                At the end of her article she looks at these self-branding expressions in a different light. She shows that even though there is a new post-feminist discourse where young girls are taking control of their “self-brands” by acting how they want and showing people their own personal self-expressions these self-expressions still bring a great deal of feedback that still sticks to the same old feminine discourse that we are used to. The idea that girls making up these dance and posting them on the internet are either a reason for others to objectify them or also a reason for others to scold them as being too “sexually explicit” at such a young age. In the end I think what she is trying to say is that though there will always be people that oppose this new post-feminine discourse, there is still a discourse that has given birth to the ability of young girls to express and empower themselves.


Jessica W.


(Sorry this is a day late guys - I totally thought I had posted it and then looked on the blog to see if anyone commented on my post and realized I couldn't find it... because I blanked out and forgot to post it!)

Blog Post 5 Prompt

For this blog post you must respond to the following prompt (no commentary posts this week).

Your reading for November 15th required you to read a trade book about social media and marketing. Your blog post this week should be a review of the book, which considers the book's value in light of what you now know about culture and social media technologies from taking this course. Your review should include the title and author as well as a link to the book online (e.g. a Google Books page or Amazon listing). You should very briefly summarize the book's points. The bulk of your review should be a critical analysis of the book. You may want to consider the methods used by the author to arrive at the findings (are they adequate? are the arguments trustworthy based on the evidence offered?). You may want to think about what the book does not address - what important issues might be missing? How might the author go about incorporating them into his or her analysis? You are strongly encouraged to put the book in conversation with authors we have read throughout the course. How might danah boyd, Nancy Baym, David Beer, Sarah Banet-Weiser, or any of the other authors react to this book? Offer references to these authors' works to back up any claims you make.

Your post is due by 9am on November 22nd (note that I have given you an extra week past the due date on the syllabus). For extra credit, you may upload your review to a popular book review site such as Amazon or Google Books. Include a link to your online review in your post in order to receive this extra credit.

Blog Post #4: Virtual Group Participation

Katelyn McKenna and John A. Bargh's studies on "Coming Out in the Age of the Internet… Through Virtual Group Participation" revealed an interesting phenomenon known as Identity Demarginalization - The process by which participants in a group of similar others create changes in one's identity, and in which active participant (virtual) group members acquire positive group identity where there was formerly only isolation and feelings of being different (691).

As their study focuses on marginalized identities (versus the mainstream), McKenna and Bargh draw on Frable's 1993 analysis in which marginalized identities are distinguished into two separate categories. The first are conspicuous stigmas (i.e. obesity, bald hair, visible scars) that are more clearly visible to the public. And the second are concealable stigmas - hidden conditions that are harder to identify (i.e. sexual identity/preferences, political or religious affiliations, extra-terrestrial believers). As we have moved into the virtual world, McKenna and Bargh thus focus on the impact of virtual groups (or newsgroups) that have enabled individuals with stigmas to connect and communicate with each other. Focusing strongly on those with concealable identities, they hypothesized that because their concealable stigmatized identity does not make the benefits of group membership easily available elsewhere, as compared with people with mainstream or marginalized-conspicuous identities, those with marginalized-concealable identities would identify more strongly with relevant internet newsgroups and would consider such groups to be more important to their identity. Furthermore, they looked to see how this virtual community affected their notion of self and how that might translate in the real world - in terms of the person's psychology and behavior.

Their research and findings were based on three separate studies. Study 1 showed that newsgroups with concealable marginalized identities were more important to the lives of their members (as indicated by the amount of active participantions [average number of posts] by each member and through the reading of positive-negative feedback of each person's behavior in relation to feedback from other members. Study 2 and 3 examined the transformational ability of Internet group participation in which active participation or group involvement led to an increased importance of the group's identity in the eyes of its members and how this same amount of significance increases the ability of a member to self-accept their identity.

As I have studied marginalized identities in other classes, I found this study really interesting especially since I've never really thought about how our social stigmas are leveled in both a conspicuous and concealable way. I'm not sure how I feel about classifying these stigmas because (at least with this study) it felt like concealable identities were stigmas of a greater psychological-social weight (for instance, in comparing the "weight" of sexual identity versus obesity, some may view obesity as something that may be more readily changeable whereas sexual identity is inherent). And I don't think that is true. The study, which was done in 1998, offers insight and is worth looking into because concealable stigmas may be overlooked, but the one limitation I found with it (or at least with how they worded their study) was that it was too generalized. Their study shows that marginalized-concealable identites would identify more strongly with newsgroups and that it would be more important to them. Though it may be true, I think they must acknowledge that a newsgroups significance is also dependent on the person and their own background and context.


--Charli Lee