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experiencetheaudience-blog · 6 years

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Audience Experience Post #3

For my final blog post I wanted to write about something that I find is very relevant not only in my life, but in the lives of Generation Z millennials. I believe a highlight of this focus is the obvious inception of new media and the technological advancements that allow for audience members to virtually explore and creative content through any medium. Some of the things that are going to be brought up in this final post are the effects and process of digitization and how it has changed viewers from audiences to users, and what this means for audience interactivity. This post is going to mainly focus on YouTube, specifically the inception of blogging, the rise in audience agency towards this website, and how it has created a controversial and also fascinating social networking system.

The practice of blogging was an interesting topic that Sullivan (2017) brought up in the textbook, referencing several types of blogs such as: classic blogs, community blogs, institutionalized blogs, bridge blogs, flogs, and splogs. Considering this being the final blog post of the semester, I felt it only necessary to focus this final post on the topics of blogs themselves. Sullivan (2017) mentions that audiences within the 21stcentury are becoming more and more involved in shaping their own media content as well as what other people produce. This term is referred to as audience agency, which can be broken down to understand how user-generated content “serves to enhance the extent to which audiences have control over the process of media consumption (Sullivan, 2017). Essentially, audience members (who are now considered users) are becoming “better readers of their own culture and more self-reflective and critical of the culture they occupy” (Sullivan, 2017). As millennials consume the content that they also produce, they become aware of how to make it better to be more culturally accepting. As mentioned, Sullivan (2017) references some of the several types of blogs and how they have essentially become semi-professionalized careers for millennials. However, recently, a new form of blogging has since taken over and been reformed into vlogging. A vlog features several versions of content, however usually involved a narrative or monologue “directed to a single camera that more closely resembles a news broadcast” (Lee, 2017). The inception of vlogs began as a way for people to essentially have a one-on-one conversation with a camera and narrate different discussions into the camera as if they were talking to a crowd or audience. Though vlogs carry similarities to the types of blogs recently mentioned, they differ because usually they are individually written, acted, and edited by the person producing the content (Lee, 2017). Thus, vloggers arguably are the current producers of trends, eras, and fifteen-seconds-of-fame through one of the most important and influential media platforms of this generation. In the chapter nine reading of his textbook, Sullivan focuses on is how YouTube became “a cultural touchstone for a new generation” (2017). Thirteen years since its inception, YouTube acts as a platform of creative cultural content that audience members have the ability to react by commenting, liking/disliking, and subscribing to a channel. YouTube aids this new vlogging industry because of the sole concept of YouTube; allowing people with minimum technological knowledge to upload and share videos with other users (Sullivan, 2017). YouTubers, or individuals who have their own YouTube account and are recognizable on other media platforms, have taken this medium and used it to blossom their creativity and imagination by filming different YouTube videos and posting them consistency, gaining them followers and interest for them to create more content. YouTube thus acts as a site of participatory culture because it allows for audience members to be actively involved within the creation and consumption of any new content that a YouTuber might post, as well as invite them into conversation and cooperation outside the YouTube world (Sullivan, 2017).

For this section of the post I wanted to focus on one of my favourite YouTubers that I draw influence from as well as opening up discussion about how YouTube acts as its own market/industry. When I first began using YouTube, I was watching videos on almost anything that first popped up when I entered the site. As I began to understand more of the general concept of YouTube and my interests in makeup and fashion began to narrow, I found myself watching more and more videos on vloggers, specifically those who do makeup tutorials, such as Jordan Liscombe. She began her YouTube “career” about two years ago, beginning as a freelance makeup artists who posted tutorials on achieving makeup looks. When clicking on Jordan Liscombe’s YouTube page, there are an arrangement of videos that are not just makeup tutorials. The videos are posted from most recent to oldest, and the user has the ability to navigate their way through her page. As mentioned, Jordan started her first posts to YouTube recording herself doing her makeup and talking into the camera explaining every step along the way as well as the products she was using. Essentially this acts as free labour, or crowdsourcing, for these brands because without her knowledge, she was advertising these brands and giving them recognition by simply including them in a YouTube video and posting it online. As Jordan became more recognized for her artistic makeup tutorials, she began to branch out and post videos on more than just makeup tutorials. These essentially acted as subcategories to vlogging, and were trends that occurred over the span of months that YouTubers would take part in. For example, some of the trends that have occurred through YouTube in the past couple months are: “A day in the life of…” (vlogger takes camera around everywhere they go showing a day in their life); “Mukbang” (vlogger chats about events in their life while eating McDonald’s); “Get Ready With Me” (a chit-chat tutorial, minimal editing where vlogger talks through makeup application rather than an edited voice over); “Get Lit With Me” (vlogger reveals their favourite songs that they are currently listening to); “Makeup/Clothing Hauls” (vlogger reveals what products they have recently bought); and “Features/Collaborations With Brands” (vlogger features a famous person, friend or other YouTuber to their video). These vlogging categories became part of what is defined as vlogging today and made for YouTuber to be placed in their own industry. YouTubers like Jordan gain more popularity through the number of subscribers they obtain, by encouraging followers to subscribe to their channel, and eventually gain popularity and recognition through followers. YouTube recognizes vloggers when they have a certain number of followers, and mails individual vloggers a personal award of achievement. These plaques vary from silver, gold, and diamond, representing when a YouTuber surpasses 100,000, 1 million, and 10 million subscribers (TubeFilter, 2018). The reason I say that vloggers have created their own industry through YouTube is because these vloggers like Jordan get paid to make YouTube videos, are invited to VIP events, and are giving perks for being a YouTube celebrity.

Lee (2017) notes that vloggers are usually speaking in what appears to be someone distant, no matter the platform, to an unknown audience who “does not take an active part in the spoken interaction”. Common themes that vloggers obtain are inviting, warm, introductions such as “Hey guys, welcome back to my channel”, and reminding their followers to “like, comment, and subscribe below, if you liked this video”. I decided to watch a few other YouTube videos from more accounts that I follow such as Carli Bybel and James Charles. Both Carli and James also began their YouTube careers posting videos of makeup tutorials and have branched out to become vloggers posting more content than just makeup videos. These two YouTubers are significant because they have their own catch phrases and things that they do with every new video that they post. For example, James Charles introduces his followers by saying “Hi Sisters! James Charles here and welcome back to my YouTube channel”; referring to his personal followers as “sisters”. This captures the audience and makes them feel more involved within the life of James Charles, and allows them to feel recognized outside of the YouTube world. Carli Bybel’s common theme is including an inspirational quote at the beginning of each video, as well as blowing a kiss and forming a heart with her fingers at the end of each video. Sullivan (2017) notes this as ways in which YouTube has allowed for people to find their own individual playfulness, and create themselves through their videos.

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I would consider myself a fan of these YouTubers because of my inclusion in their social media lives, and the gratification I receive after watching one of their YouTube videos. By demonstrating my engagement with their media texts (Sullivan, 2017), it encourages me to explore into their lives such as following them on other platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. YouTubers offer their audiences into their lives by vlogging on other social media accounts such as Instagram and Snapchat, just as they would on their YouTube account. They also encourage their Instagram and Snapchat followers to go watch their most recent video by uploading a story to one of these apps, or making a post. Thus, audiences have the ability to engage with media exposure as much and as little as they want, giving audiences members control over their media exposure (Sullivan, 2017). As mentioned, YouTubers essentially rely on their audience members to contribute to what they post, in order to gain more exposure to the media world. An interesting question was brought up by the seminar presenter for the week of Chapter 9, asking the class whether producers or audiences are seen as more powerful. In this case, I would argue that audience members obtain more power, because in order to gain status, YouTubers rely on these audiences to engage and subscribe to their accounts.

The second part of this post I wanted to focus on is how people use social media as their everyday job, much like vloggers do with the use of YouTube. This has become an increasingly large introduction to contemporary audiences and reflects how the media’s usage is shifting. Social networking has become an industry that is reliant solely on social media. Social networking refers to people who advertiser products via social media, as well as sell the products online. As mentioned, audience engagement heavily influences how well these producers do, and if they sell any product at all. Therefore, in this case, audiences have more power than the producer in my opinion because their interaction and willingness to buy the product determines how much the producer will sell. The social networking industry has become so successful because of the updated technologies that allow for multiple devices to access media content portably (Sullivan, 2017). Comparing this to YouTube, a vlogger has to stay consistent with posting videos once or twice every week in order to keep their audience members engaged. By asking their followers to comment and like their videos, it allows for the YouTuber to narrow down ideas as to what they should post next, based on how the audience reacted to previous videos. As Sullivan (2017) mentions, previous examination of audience engagement showed that viewing experiences shifted markets due to the ability to engage via their mobile devices. This is still relevant in contemporary media audiences because of how they respond to YouTube videos, and how the vlogger reacts to the comments. However, when a YouTuber gets to a certain point of success, their videos are being video by thousands, sometimes millions of subscribers, which can become demanding and also overwhelming. It is also important to mention that YouTube seems to be a competitive platform, where as more and more vloggers become well-known, they become more creative outside of the YouTube world. As mentioned previously about James Charles, he has recently collaborated with Morphe Cosmetics to release an eyeshadow palette, as well as his own line and collection of Sister Merchandise. One YouTubers reach a certain level of fame (owning one or more of the previously mention plaques), they will receive endorsements from YouTube and it essentially turns into their everyday job. As Lily Singh mentioned in her latest post on YouTube, there becomes a high demand for creative content (YouTube, 2018). She mentions the reasons why she stepped down from posting videos for a while is the idea of having a fear of being abandoned by followers if she weren’t to keep up with consistently posting videos. This is why I mentioned early the fifteen-seconds-of-fame trends that last on YouTube are an example of how vloggers keep up with their content and also keep their audience engaged. However, at some point it must take an enormous toll on these individuals who are under immense amounts of pressure and feel the need to pump out content once or twice a week in order to keep their followers satisfied and also keep their status in relevancy.

In conclusion, YouTube is a tremendously successful industry in social media that allows blogging to be taken to another level. By introducing audience members into the lives of these YouTubers, it allows for a greater audience experience and increase in their level of fandom towards their idol.

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experiencetheaudience-blog · 6 years

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Audience Experience Post #2

For my second blog post I wanted to write about myself as a producer of media content and how it affects the ways in which I am represented as an audience member and how audience members interpret this content. To elaborate, uses and gratifications, as Sullivan claims, has some type of an effect on audience members which results in them choosing specific mediums based on needs (pg. 113). As we have evolved in society, so have the conversations on social, political, and economic issues, as well as the reactions that result from these issues from everyday people. Thus, as Plato incepted, opinion (doxa) and knowledge (episteme) were once seen as two separate schools of thought (Sullivan, pg. 58), where knowledge was more powerful than opinion. Today, people have the access and capabilities to post just about anything on social media, and not need a reason to do so. During our seminar discussion on Uses and Gratifications, Josh (TA) mentioned that there are studies that show and prove that millennials are literally addicted to media content and social media in general. This is something I can’t say that I argue against, but rather something that I wish wasn’t true. To elaborate, millennials in the social world today post on outlets essentially to keep up with followers, fill their follower’s needs to see their content, without any real reason to post something anyways. However, as I will explain, there are in fact reasons due to gratifications that we get out of being involved in the social media world. In this blog post I want to focus on myself as a creator of content for other audience members, with regards to the M.A.I.N. model, and how my addiction to social media explains uses and gratifications further.

The last two weeks of lecture content and seminar readings have been particularly interesting to me because they have opened up the ideologies that humans, specifically millennials, are essentially commodities rather than members of the audience. I say this because as Sullivan expresses, audiences have grown to perform labour for advertisers in the media, by remembering, learning, and socializing online about featured goods in commercials and advertisements (pg. 81). Rather than audiences thinking that our “media consumption is primarily a leisure- based activity” (Sullivan, pg. 81), we are unknowingly doing the work for companies like advertisers and not realizing it because we get so caught up in content. In the Nielsen study performed in the fifties, he analyzed audience viewing habits in order to assess what people were interested in and how to function market strategies around his findings (Buzzard, pg. 512). It is evident that audience members have shifted from just watching television and listening to the radio to multiple media platforms and mediums.

As Sundar and Limperos argue in their article, internet users have shifted from being referred to as ‘audiences’ and now are considered ‘users’ due to the expanding interactions of modern media and the ways in which we interact with this media content (pg. 505). As mentioned, audience members are no longer referred to as “audiences” but rather “users” (Sundar & Limperos, pg. 505) because we are not only receiving content, but also producing it. How people use content and what they use it for are the main points that uses and gratifications attempts to understand. Now, social media allows users to work via apps, re-post, comment, and like things that others have posted, and connect to other people around the world. As Katz states in Chapter 4 of the textbook, users possess certain levels of needs that “bring to their media use a pre-existing set of desires and expectations” (pg. 114). Not only do users who receive content thrive on these cognitive, affective, integrative, social, and escape needs (Sullivan, pg. 114), but producers of this content also do, too. For example, if I am about to post a photo onto Instagram, there are so many ridiculous things that I take into effect before I post it. Things like a specific time (so that more people can see the post), a specific pose (to show off a body part or the “good angle”), a funny caption (to show that I have a sense of humor), and so on are all things that I consider so that I can as many likes as possible. The need to feel this social status and sense of hierarchy is something that I get pleasure out of and boosts my confidence knowing that other people like what I posted. I can’t help but question if the media have, and potentially will, shift Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in the opposite direction, suggesting self-actualization as the most important thing to some humans.

As talked about in seminar, many of the questions brought to our attention were why we use media (social media in particular), the uses/gratifications/pleasures received from these uses, and how often people find themselves online. To me, answering these questions seemed silly at first, but took me by a serious surprise once I did. I took it upon myself to look up the setting on my iPhone called “Screen Time” which allows the owner of an iPhone to see how much time they have spent on every app on their phone, how often they are on each app, the number of calculated hours they spend on each app, and so on. I included photos of my screen time from the last 7 days, and here’s what it revealed.

On average, I spent approximately 17 hours of the week on social networking apps, the top being Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, as well as messages I received on my phone (which I had no idea was considered part of a social media app). The option to see which apps I received the most notifications from informed me that I received the most from iMessages/text messages, Snap Chats, and Instagram notifications. Further, this setting revealed that on average, I spent approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes on Instagram, 34 minutes on messages, 29 minutes on Snapchat, and 10 minutes on Twitter daily. As mentioned earlier, it is evident that millennials have addictions to their phones and social media, and this is just one example of how this statement is true. This clearly states how consumed I am by these apps, and the need/want to constantly be checking up on them. Katz explains that when people are absorbed into the social media world, their reasoning for being involved is due to fulfilling needs (Sullivan, pg. 114). In my personal experience, I believe that social media reflects my integrative needs (related to strengthening social status/confidence), social needs (related to strengthening contact with family/friends/social world), and escape needs (related to escaping tension/stress) (Sullivan, pg. 114) and the idea that it is like a second nature to pick up my phone and be involved with social media. It is almost like a fear or phobia of missing out if I’m not submerged into apps like Instagram because I need and want to be updated on my family, friends, and celebrities, and them to be updated on me.

In reference to the M.A.I.N. model discussed in lecture, modality, agency, interactivity, and navigability allow users and producers to be more involved with the media than ever before. Continuing on the example I used earlier, when I post something on Instagram, my followers are able to access the presentation differently, as well have the capabilities to engage in the content. As the media and technology continues to update, users are able to interact anywhere at any time, with almost anything in the world which allows us to be more interactive with one another. For example, on Instagram, people can send my photos to my account personally, comment/like them publicly, or save them in their archives to look at later. Finally, with the use of something like a cellphone or laptop, users have the capability to use numerous search engines at a time while also being on Instagram, allowing them to navigate freely through the social world. The downfall to social media addictions and uses and gratifications is that we become so reliant, and so urged to fill the need to be on social media, that it effects our social skills. So many times, I find myself ashamed to be on my cellphone around my grandparents, who only recently were introduced to such technology, because it’s rude to invest so much time into an online social world, when I can physically interact with them. Now children are becoming submerged into cellphones and tablets at an early age as a way to calm them down when they have to be quiet at a restaurant, or as a way of bribery to behave. These problems, at Katz refers to, are static-abstraction problems, where individual audience members’ interactions with media isolates them from other social processes (pg. 122). Even in my own personal experience, I find myself on my phone, while I am watching a television show to fill some need of satisfaction, or bored, or need to always be involved in the online world. However, as the M.A.I.N. model helps to understand, we use these gratifications as a way to stay updated, which is how we stay connected with everyone around the world. It helps us to stay updated with things like what Trump’s newest ridiculous tweet was, but also topics in the news such as the most recent school shooting in North Carolina. The importance therefore of uses and gratifications is to understand why we use the media, and how it affects us, but also how we as users affect the media and what our contributions to being producers means for the online world.

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experiencetheaudience-blog · 6 years

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experiencetheaudience-blog · 6 years

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Audience Experience Post #1 Continued (part two)

The Power of the Public Opinion: He Said, She Said As mentioned in lecture, Professor Good mentioned the parabola of power, and its reflection of the “place” that people have in public opinion and how it has drastically changed since the introduction of democracy, and the ability to freedom of speech. Without an audience, there is essentially no power to have, because no one is willing to listen to whatever that person has to say. Whoever is in front of audience, whoever has the opinion(s) that the majority of the audience agrees with, holds the power. In this scenario, I was a part of the audience, but I also shared a piece of the power. In lecture, it was mentioned the physicality of audiences coming together, in a room or auditorium or sporting event. However, in the online world, I was brought together with people socially via Twitter and Facebook and outlets of the media. In relation to ths Kavanaugh debate, I made sense of the topic through other members of the audience and their “fifteen seconds of fame”, or power. On Twitter specifically, when a person makes a funny tweet, or valued opinion, it is shown by the number of likes and retweets that person gets which shows that thousands of people agree with that opinion, or post, or meme. I call this “fifteen seconds of fame”, because Twitter is constantly changing, as are opinions, and what people find to be the most talked about thing. Therefore, in a sense, when an account posts something about the Kavanuagh debate, and receives thousands of retweets, they in a way have a form of power because it is a popular opinion that clearly lots of people agree with, it is just represented though one person’s post. However, without the presence of audience members and their ability to have a smartphone and access to Twitter, power would not be delegated in the same way. As an audience member, I also have the power to like/comment on something, and to not, which gives power to the person’s post. This relates to what was mentioned in lecture about the shifts of reliance. People once relied on the state and powerful people in charge, however people (audience members) have since come together to talk about things which resulted in the arrival of the press and newspaper.

The other sense of power that I wanted to mention is the difficulty that women have in terms of “power”. In terms of the Kavanaugh – Blasey Ford allegations, he has a possesses status/power than she does because of his profession and political standpoint in the spectrum. Women’s opinions specifically in the political world are overlooked, just like the opinions of minorities, and people of color. Though this is my opinion, I still believe it to be a fact of human nature that has not drastically changed over time. This is part of the reason why I am hesitant about posting my opinions on social media. It is much easier to get chewed out and picked apart on social media, especially when the access is right at your fingertips. For me, getting socially “attacked” via social media is something that is terrifying, and limits people like me from expressing what they believe in. Specifically noting as well, I am a female, I am a feminist, and those are both things that politics do not always mesh with. In comparison to the topic of discussion, and the Taylor – Hill debate that occurred 27 years ago, the voices of these women are being overlooking by the systems of power, or in other words, male political figures. This is why the impact of the press is so important on topics such as these because not only is it sometimes the main source of news to people, but it is also how the story gets around and how the story is thus told.

In summary, systems of power I believe are still very much relevant in situations such as the one mentioned in this post. I believe that every person’s ability to express their opinion is one that they should have and one they should own, however measuring public opinion to me, is only accurate on certain topics of opinion. Politics are always and forever going to be a touchy, highly debatable topic, and who is ever to say who is right?

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experiencetheaudience-blog · 6 years

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Audience Experience Post #1 Continued

The Kavanaugh Debate: Framing and Agenda Theories Both of my parents are involved with politics in their jobs, however I am not one to carry a conversation outside of social media about politics, because quite honestly, the conversations can get way too heated. However, this specific topic with relation to sexual assault and the status of the man accused, was something that my opinion couldn’t pass up. To me, the Framing Theory seems like an excellent way to break this audience experience down because many of the posts that were associated with Brett Kavanaugh followed the photo of all of the women sitting behind him staring at him in disgust while it pictured him in the middle of the image in mid conversation. To me, the facial expressions of all of the women in the photograph told the audience essentially who was the bad guy in the picture, essentially it was framing it in a way to promote a problem and moral evaluation (Sullivan, pg. 71) of Brett Kavanaugh. After reading multiple news articles and posts on social media outlets such as Twitter, the way that Kavanaugh was framed in these media outlets (as a sex offender who was getting caught up in his past) is what shaped my judgement in thinking that he is not a good person. The image was made public because this IS an issue that everyone is now talking about, even though it happened more than 35 years ago. When a story is put onto the media, there are endless ways in which it can be told, endless ways in which it can be shared, and endless ways in which we as the audience understand it. I considered myself to not only be a member of the news audience in this situation, but I was also a producer of content by making my own Instagram stories about my disgust with Brett Kavanaugh and the entire system revolving around patriarchy. This goes to show that the Agenda Setting Theory is just as effective because it offers evidence that people are extremely effected by the news media. No one was telling audience members what to post, or how to feel, or what to say about this issue, because the media led us to believe by one simple image such as this, that it comes down to what we think about it and how it affects us. The news agenda is something that shapes what people think is important, based on things like how many people are commenting, re-tweeting, and giving their opinions on an issue. People’s opinions are shaped by other people’s opinions, which in this case is how my perception of political issues alters. Like I mentioned, my parents are highly involved in the political spectrum, however, the opinions that they have on an issue like this are similar to mine because they are my parents. Online sources also shape the way I perceive Kavanaugh because I agree with them, because I believe that they are right. It is easier to agree with a common opinion than to fight against one. This is not to say however that I have a bandwagon opinion, that my opinion changes because it is the popular opinion, I believe I stood out and responded to this content because of the heart of the issue and that it is not just based on something like an election, it is based on a sexual assault. What I also find worth mentioning is the spiral of silence that was largely associated with this entire topic of discussion, and similar opinions that sparked from people simply retweeting this image was astounding. So many social media platforms were taken over by numerous opinions, all very similar, none of which were really on the side of Brett Kavanaugh. It backs up what Professor Good mentioned in lecture, that we as human beings want to be social and be engaged, however we are more likely to speak out if our opinions are the same as the public opinion, and in this case my opinion was. Politics are such a touchy topic with so many people, that like Sullivan states, people just like me monitor political views that are expressed in the media, but if my opinion were the minority opinion (if I was for Kavanaugh), then I would be less likely to speak out/comment on posts about him (pg. 71). I believe the online experiences however to be drastically different from what they could have been like offline. Having a conversation like this offline with my parents would be more of a lesson rather than a discussion, because they know much more about this industry than I do. Not everyone is educated in politics specifically in the same sense, so therefor if someone disagrees with something like sexual assault that just so happens to be associated with a politician, someone can easily create a meme and post it, and because it’s funny, another person will re-post that because they agree with the humor that it’s getting at. In this case, it is exactly the reasons why I reposted the memes mentioned in this blog. It is not the sense that they are poking fun or making light of a sexual assault, it is poking fun at the reaction of Brett Kavanaugh, his stuttering on stage, and his overall presence on the stage.

#BrettKavanaugh MeToo

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