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Social Network Television

With all the on going advances in technology it’s really no surprise that the television landscape is evolving. With all of the prominence of social networks in todays day and age, television networks are taking notice and are changing with the times into being more social network centric.

As technology evolves we are seeing a large turn in the way we are watching our favorite programming. With the developments currently going on in the digital age, television networks are having a hard time gaining the viewership they at some point were able to acquire easily.

The result of the drastic change in television networks viewership could be the rise of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon. These services are being watched more on the regular basis because its made much more convenient for the everyday person. Often times people opt to catch a new episode on a streaming service over watching the program the same night it premieres, in turn hurting the network in terms of ratings.

Vulture reported that this year, returning shows on the bigger networks such as ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW have suffered a rating loss of around 25 percent or larger. Shows like the hit music series “Empire” are drawing half as many views as it did during the start of its run. While other hard hitting shows such as “Scandal”, has had its ratings dropped 34 percent this past season.

With the loss of all this viewership of course comes a loss of revenue from the networks advertisers, who generally are the ones who are paying to keep these networks running. So of course that’s where television networks have been looking for alternatives and have started to use social networks to their advantage.

The change in the way television is being watched is hurting television networks in one way, but helping them in another. Thanks specifically to social networks or “Social TV”, we are seeing a large sharing of communication and information of our favorite shows. This in the long run is very beneficial to the shows, and networks as it engages their audiences in a way that allows for more viewership to pour in from just word of mouth, which some describe as free publicity.

More shows are being talked about now on Twitter and Instagram than two or three years ago. Television networks are using all sorts of techniques to guarantee a raise in their viewership. We are often seeing stars of popular series live tweet during the episodes premiere with fans to ensure that the targeted audience are well aware to tune into the series, and interact with the star as reward.

Television networks weekly calculate their audience’s responses to their programming. The networks run analytics of all sorts during live broadcasts and afterwards, to measure their content and how well its doing with each intended demographic.

It was recorded that in 2015, 60% of consumers had used their smartphones or other electronics while watching television to be vocal about what they were watching on social media. It was also recorded that 24 million Twitter users sent out more than 800 million tweets regarding different television topics.

Social media has found a way to connect itself in ways that was not possible before.

Through social media outlets such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, television company’s can also now appeal to a larger demographic, and conduct promotional work at a larger level. Television companies are using these social media outlets to market their television series, as well as their stars in a much cheaper, yet larger and effective scale.

Networks such as The CW, Fox and ABC use these social media platforms to garner more interests in their peak shows like “Riverdale”, “How to Get Away With Murder”, and “Empire”. The television company offers them a hefty social network budget and banners are created and promotional ads are placed all over networks such as Instagram, Youtube and Facebook to promote the shows and garner more interest in them, creating more hype and helping the ratings.

According to an Adweek Report, 70% of markets in 2015 increased their spending on social media advertising, and the percentage has only rose in the past two years. In 2016, marketers spend $189 billion on advertisements in the states alone, representing 31.9% in the global market.

Still, one might ask themselves, what can social network television be defined as, and what might the future hold for this fairly new concept?

Well social network television can be easily put as any sort of media content that it’s publicly shared onto a social platform and given promotion as just that. From the largest television station, to the more independently own Youtube series, it can all be loosely defined as social network television.

The future of social network television looks very bright. We currently have highly popular shows such as Scandal that do great on their own and on their network, but with the inclusion of social networking, entire spin offs could be based around any character and presented online.

Social network television can give a platform to the characters of a series, creating a web series based around them that would not fit into the original one hour format on actual network television.  

This of course creates great opportunities for the networks as well as the show creators as it would generate more revenue for the show, and of course bring in more viewership because of the added social network publicity.

While its still a very new concept, social network television is slowly proving to be the television of the future, and with more opportunities rising for television networks to make money off these opportunities, we are going to continue to see the rise in social network television.  

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McLuhan’s Critical Perspective

Marshall McLuhan’s great interest in technological advancements and the future of how society is able to communicate, gives you an insight into understanding assumptions that are typically placed on technology and its future. McLuhan identifies with the idea that we are an extension of any medium that we use to communicate. He also helps us understand that the result of these mediums and the possible future regarding them affects us all.

Assumptions and questions of where the future of technology is heading are taken into account. McLuhan makes it a point to express that his way of thinking is open for debate, if anything, he expresses that a good argument would help everyone further understand the future. 

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Can You Keep A Secret?

Often times when trusted with secrets we are also tested with a sense of morality. Do we reveal this secret onto others, or do we keep the persons trust and not share the information with anyone else? When I had just turned seventeen-years-old there was nothing my older cousin Amanda and I wouldn’t tell each other, she and I would share all sorts of secrets. However, there was a specific secret I was not expecting to hear, she was pregnant.

The article in The New Yorker “No Secrets” by Raffi Khatchadourian, states that “when too many secrets are kept, it becomes difficult to know which ones are important.” With the secret that my cousin was pregnant no other juvenile secret she had told me beforehand mattered anymore. My full attention shifted to protecting this new found secret no matter the cause. Amanda and her ex boyfriend had a very rocky relationship, but even then keeping the secret from him seemed a bit cruel. I however obliged with my cousin in not telling him anything, though the guilt haunted me deeply.

Our family had always been very strict and after learning about my cousin’s pregnancy I knew that we had to keep this secret away from them too. I felt a large sense of loyalty towards my cousin as I continued to keep this secret deep between us. I would often sneak out and accompany her to the doctors appointment and often suffered large amounts of anxiety, hiding the fact that she was expecting from our family. The WikiLeaks Equation article mentions “— a handful of releases of classified information it has unnecessarily jeopardized the safety of individuals and of society” which was basically how I felt guarding the pregnancy secret. If I told anyone at all I would put my cousin in danger of being found out by our entire family.

Because of her growing baby Amanda no longer had the energy she once had during cheerleading practice and she began to receive criticism from her peers who would often try to penetrate our secret. They began asking me why Amanda was acting so different and why she no longer was cheering the way she use too. The girls asking these things just wanted to gain control of the situation and were trying to understand something that quite frankly was not any of their business. I of course never felt at all the least bit of temptation to let anyone in onto our secret circle. Sometimes I would even catch myself feeling horrible as I lied straight onto peoples faces, protecting the pregnancy secret.

I didn’t guard this secret so exclusively away from others because I wanted to feel superior or have control over my cousin’s life. I simply did it because I had large amounts of respect for our life long friendship and I loved her. My bond with Amanda grew even stronger as I was right by her side when she finally decided to tell our family that she was expecting a child and to our surprise were met with a lot of support. 

This entire experience empowered me into being a lot more caring about others feelings, learning to just keep my mouth quiet about secrets and respecting everyone’s privacy. Holding onto someone else’s secret could feel like a challenge, especially when you have people constantly in your ear asking you about them. However, these secrets can give a person a sense of loyalty and pride within themselves that did not exist before, creating an insightful change in their lives.

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48-Hour News Blackout

It was no easy task, but I was able to successfully go 48-hours without accessing any sort of media outlet. During this blackout I found myself a bit less preoccupied with the many problems going on in the world and a bit more concern with the problems I am currently facing on a personal level. I used my time more efficiently and was able to accomplish more errands throughout the day. Aside from that, I also found myself less tempted to use my phone to access social media networks, as they too offer a lot of news. I felt as though this blackout really opened my eyes to how much the media consumes us, and our time. 

During the very first day, I felt at times a bit tempted to look at my phone and access E! News online and see the latest celebrity gossip. However, I was able to stop myself and instead occupied my time by going to the gym. Throughout the rest of the day I was able to keep myself occupied with my dog and doing homework at my house. But overall it was quite hard to stay away from the news sections in my phone, as well as accessing social networking sites. However, for that day in specific it felt a bit freeing, yet strange to be so disconnected from the world.

After the first 24 hours, I felt as though I was adjusting to the change and I wasn’t as tempted to check my phone as the day before. The fact that I had been disconnected the day prior most likely helped in the sense that I was a bit more use to the social isolation. Similar to the day before, not accessing social sites and checking up on news outlets once again allowed me to focus on myself throughout the day. I was with my family and we went out to dinner and were able to enjoy a full meal together, and I was not once tempted to log onto my phone and check anything. However, as the night ended I found myself really wanting to break and check my phone, I resisted the crazy temptation.

In “The End of Solitude”, William Deresiewicz states that “loneliness is is needed and its become a lost virtue” and throughout my 48-hours without accessing news outlets I finally understood what he meant. Often times we are caught in a specific routine and can’t see that breaking free of this tedious routine can actually help you improve your life. In this case allowing me to be media free for 48-hours allowed me to be a bit more productive in my life and actually live in the moment. This “loneliness” that I hardly experience in my life really is needed sometimes to help us regroup and focus on ourselves. William Deresiewicz’s theory of solitude opened my eyes to this idea, and all of its positive virtues.

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Why Our Memory Fails Us

Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel J. Simmons wrote the article “Why Our Memory Fails Us” recalling issues with memory and how sometimes real events are mistaken when recollected in a false matter. 

Throughout the article “Why Our Memory Fails Us”, both Chabris and Simons explain that even though we are often so sure of a memory, we still have the probability to remember it in an incorrect manner. Using ethos, Chabris and Simmons use a credible approach to help the reader understand the subject of memory. We are told the story of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist with great reliability and intelligence, and the time he was held accountable for recalling a memory incorrectly. Tyson had falsely remembered a quote by former President Bush that was not exactly all that accurate and was surprised when he was accused of lying.

Chabris and Simmons go on to say that often times when a person is confronted about the credibility of their memory they act in a defensive manner, feeling that everyone else is wrong except themselves. This is held true when looking back at the false memory account of Dr. Tyson, leaving him defensive after being accused of lying. Dr. Tyson claimed that he had explicit memories of the quote being said by Bush, stating “one of our mantras in science is that the absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence.” Chabris and Simmons then push the appeal of pathos as they have their readers recollect a time when they had to overly try and defend a memory only to have someone prove them wrong.

A study conducted by Henry L. Roediger III and K. Andrew DeSoto tested the accuracy of people’s memories and how well words could be recalled between them. This test was able to determined that when a lot of people where highly confident in their memory they were more likely to be associated with greater accuracy in their memory. However, even if the people being tested were not correct in their memories, they were still just as confident in themselves. This proved to be alarming as confidence and accuracy didn’t always coincide. .