krispykroissant

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #3 (Week 15)

"What do you like most about your essay?"

I like my ability to combine a professional language style (essay-like) with a more conversation-like style (such as during an interview) for the answers to the 5 questions. I'm not sure how it turned out or how it sounds from someone else's perspective, because so much time has already passed since the original time for writing this final essay that I spared no time for asking for peer reviews from friends/family before I submitted it. If anything, the amount of time it's taken for me to complete this work is something that I am least proud of regarding this final essay. Despite this, I think that I did well in conveying the way I talk in real-life situations in this essay because I tried my best to sound natural and professional simultaneously.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #2 (Week 15)

"What are you most proud of with your writing process?"

I'm proud that I was able to use some of the skills from this class, in unison with skills for learning/creating web writing from other classes, to write better essays in another class. Thinking critically about my writing process helped me revise my process for revision, revise my methods of creating outlines and filling them in, improve my ability to change my use of language and style of writing depending on the situation, etc. I feel that I've significantly improved my ability to convey messages, especially in the context of switching my writing style for the audience/context.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #1 (Week 15)

"What do you like most about your learning?"

What I like most about my learning, as it relates to web writing but more particularly about how it relates to creating social media content, is the ability for me to think more critically and through different, meta-level paradigms to determine how and why I can create content. Before learning about the web writing rhetorical situation and using the learned skills from this class for the later projects, I never considered the various reasons that social media influencers have/take for certain choices that they make when creating their content. I certainly have plenty of opportunities to use the skills and knowledge I've learned during this class for creating content in the future. For example, I may continue to create Instagram Reels after making the sample post for the How to Write Guide, because I found a great sense of gratification for having made the post, especially with how my peers/colleagues reacted to it (either after showing them in person/over text, or how they reacted to the post on Instagram).

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #3 (Week 14)

"Share a section of your Design Project content. What is the work of this sample? How can we help you revise?"

Instead of making all of the company response tweets from TV Movie Studio Co, I made some of them from Other Company Co, the company who bought my "Favorite Show". I did this so that I could use them as "bad" examples of web writing for my web writing intern style guide. The responses I made for TV Movie Studio Co are going to be used as the "correct" way to write and respond to fans online.

A few of things to notice here are:

Other Company Co don't know their fans (showing off their library of Conservative Classics, when they know "Favorite Show" is comprised of a very Liberal/Progressive audience)

They are disrespectful to the fan (responding in a way that undermines them, and makes them feel alone rather than being "one of us"*)

They couldn't even bother to spell TV Movie Studio Co's hashtag correctly, let alone put their hashtag first (notice #americafirst and #othercompanyco come before #favoriteshow, showing their disregard for the show and self-importance/ego for themselves)

*TV Movie Studio Co. makes Tweets that emphasize their connection to the fans, almost as if they are fans themselves. Other Company Co makes the fans feel like "Hey, I'm the big company, and you are my servants who will watch my newly acquired show and make me money!" which goes against the morals/values of Favorite Show's fans.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #2 (Week 14)

"Share an example of your favorite television show or movie - how does that show/movie help you work through this project and understand angry fandom?"

Doctor Who is, and has been for quite some time, one of my favorite tv shows. Throughout its entire history, it has always been pushing boundaries, making powerful statements/social commentary, and all while creating fantastical worlds and strange realities. It is one of the most progressive sci-fi series I have ever seen, and continues to be exactly that.

For my design project, the hypothetical show I've created to fill in the space of "Favorite Show" actually has very little to do with Doctor Who, thematically. It's not a sci-fi show, rather it takes influence from shows like That '70s Show, Big Bang Theory, Regular Show, and Adventure Time. One major aspect of Doctor Who that shines through in my hypothetical show is the progressive nature of it. My "Favorite Show" consists of subtle political dialogue, social commentary, progressive matters on current issues, and things of that sort. When I imagine non-Doctor Who fans complaining about Doctor Who being "woke", I can't help but use that as inspiration for some of the angry fans complaining about my "Favorite Show".

In my Design Project, I have also highlighted another key factor in my show's cancelation: the other company that bought the rights to it.

Other Company Co is the name of the other company that bought "Favorite Show" in my scenario (I know, not very creative, but I wanted to just keep it simple). Their fanbase is the "anti-woke", Conservative, patriotic Americans, who go completely against the values represented in my version of "Favorite Show".

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #1 (Week 14)

"Share an example of your experience as a fan of a show that was cancelled. Help us feel the feels."

There haven't necessarily been any shows that were cancelled while I watched them, but there were shows that were removed from streaming services while I was watching/rewatching them.

Psych and That '70s Show were removed from Netflix, and while I had already watched both of them all the way through, they were still comfort shows that I would enjoy every now and then, or just in the background while doing other tasks. Now, I can still watch them elsewhere, because both shows have been finished for years, but It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still going (since 2005). Before season 12 had made it to Netflix, they decided to remove it. Now it's on season 16, and the only way for me to watch it is on Hulu... (with ads!)

These are just three examples of shows that escaped my reach because of greedy streaming services, though none of them have been cancelled or ended unexpectedly.

Stone Ocean is the most recent part of the 6-part anime (9-part manga) of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In the summer of 2019, part 5 had concluded, and so we all waited for the announcement of the beginning of production for part 6.

Then, COVID-19 happened. And nobody knew how long the delay would be for Stone Ocean to start production.

Stone Ocean was then bought by Netflix, produced and released en masse (monthly releases of multiple episodes rather than weekly, single releases), and didn't come out until the end of 2021. Such a long wait for the next part (2.5 years versus the average 1-1.5 years) to be animated, and then for the wealthiest streaming service to buy it and release the episodes in bulk instead of weekly was all enough for me to stop caring about it for a while. I am still a great fan of JoJo's, but it may take me a while to get back into it.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #3 (Week 13)

"Explain the appeal of long YouTube videos (10+ minutes), why do viewers watch? How do the creators make choices to engage the audience?"

To the best of my knowledge, YouTubers who create longer videos usually have some specific context in which they are creating content. There are surely infinite different contexts for creators to create YouTube videos. Many viewers may specifically choose longer YouTube videos for particular situations, such as long-distance travel, downtime, research/education, etc. In my case, I enjoy longer YouTube videos when the content matches my interests, such as a video essay about an interesting book I've read, a playthrough of multiple short games, a playthrough of one long game, a video showcasing a small town in another country through the eyes of a traveler/tourist, a video demonstrating the musical capabilities/talents of generations-old songwriters/musicians, and myriad other examples. I would suspect that the reason YouTube videos vary so greatly in length is due to the demand for such videos. For absolutely any context on YouTube, there is always a fan base or audience for it. The people who create longer YouTube videos know exactly what they're doing, who they're catering to, and their purpose for creating those videos. If the screen is not constantly changing, is is mostly just the creator talking, then the creator must thoughtfully choose images/visuals to put over their voice to keep the audience engaged. If the audience just wants to hear a voice for hours, they'd listen to a podcast or audiobook instead. YouTube is majorly used for the video aspect, so I would assume that there are rarely any cases of long YouTube videos with little to no visual element.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #2 (Week 13)

"Write a style rule for creating a TikTok video, how does this help attract followers?"

When making a stitched TikTok video, try to let the audience know that it's a stitched video by including some tag, text, image, or video over the original video. This way, the audience won't swipe away immediately and will stick around until your part of the video comes along. For many TikTok users, swiping up and away is an immediate, reflexive reaction when coming across TikToks with themes or rhetoric that they don't like. Occasionally, a user may not know that there is more to a video (possibly with similar opinions to their own) if all they see is the first few seconds of the original clip with opinions not aligning with their own. For example, what you could do to help your audience know that there is more to the video is use the green-screen feature to put a short video of yourself over the original clip, in the corner or bottom of the screen, almost as though you are watching along and waiting for the original clip to end.

In short, the style rule is "Give the TikTok a marker to notify the audience if it's a stitched clip so that they don't swipe away too quickly".

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #1 (Week 13)

"Write a style rule for creating an Instagram reel - why is this key for the Instagram followers?"

One style rule for creating reels for Instagram would be to take consideration into how your reel is displayed on your page. You are given the option to either show the reel in your post grid and the reels tab, or just the reels tab. Whichever choice you make still leaves the thumbnail as another choice you must make to help your reel stand out amongst the rest of your posts. If you have a similar style or theme for all of your reels, ensure that you use creative design for each thumbnail to better help your audience distinguish what each post is about. Usually, this can be done by adding a caption/title within the video and then using one of those frames as the thumbnail. Otherwise, your page will just be a sea of random videos with no context for the user/audience to decipher which video they want to watch next. For many users, I can imagine this is overwhelming, confusing, and annoying to deal with.

In short, the style rule is "Create distinct thumbnails for your reels to help your audience know what the reel is about before clicking your post".

[krispykroissant]

Thursday Check-In (Week 13)

@npfannen

"What assignment questions do you have that will help you complete the assignment successfully? This is a two-part assignment that spans two weeks - how can I help you be successful?"

My main question regarding the Design Project is about the posts themselves. Can I use an online post generator to make the fake posts look like they're on Twitter, or do the posts actually have to be on Twitter? I would find it a lot easier to just create all the posts with a Tweet generator instead, and not have to deal with making multiple Twitter/X accounts to produce the scenarios.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #2 (Week 12)

"How did content creation go for you? What did you learn that will help you write about your tips & tricks?"

Creating my sample content was not only fun but also provided just enough of a challenge that made the final product more enjoyable. It's a bit silly, but I think that makes it more fun/funny to me because it doesn't really matter how it's perceived since I'm using it to make the point that the content strategy I extracted from my data/content analysis is successful. I plan on using the same strategy to create two more sample posts for my final draft of the How to Write Guide.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #1 (Week 12)

"Post a tip or trick you are offering in your guide that is useful to all of us!"

The broadest tip that I'm offering in my How to Write Guide is "Use tags/hashtags/emojis/prompts in your caption/title". I think this generally works throughout all of social media, regardless of the space/discourse community. Tagging relevant people/accounts, providing hashtags to relevant topics and other subgroups, using emojis to liven up the caption, and prompts to drive engagement from the audience in the comments section are all beneficial for increasing engagement. I came to this conclusion based on my data analysis of the three accounts I followed, and it seemed to work for every single account. Using this tip for my sample video, in addition to the two other tips I made for my How to Write Guide, did in fact work for spreading my content to more audiences.

Jack Bates is currently touring with the Smashing Pumpkins as their bassist. He was one of the first few people to like my post because I tagged the Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan's Instagram pages, as well as included hashtags relevant to the Smashing Pumpkins.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #3 (Week 11)

"What did you learn about content strategy that you want to highlight in your How to Write Guide?"

The three things I learned about content strategy, that are most relevant to the three accounts I followed, are:

Knowing the audience and catering to their likes/interests

Choosing humorous video themes/plots and using less dialogue

Utilizing tags, hashtags, emojis, and prompts in the caption

All of these generally impacted each content creator's performance and audience engagement positively, garnering more likes, comments, or both. That's why these tips are important to include in the How to Write Guide.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #2 (Week 11)

"How will you integrate your created content so it's meaningful in your How to Write Guide?"

The goal for my How to Write Guide is for it to be meaningful to my specific audience, which would be the three content creators I've been following since the beginning of this project. This means that the content I've created was made to catch the eye of those three accounts. The same way I devised the content strategy based on the content creators was how I made my sample video.

Showcasing the sample video and then picking it apart bit by bit to demonstrate the content strategy I used is what should be meaningful to my audience given that it is all useful and relevant to their content strategies already. Not all three of the content creators used all of the concepts I combined for the content strategy, so at least one or two of the three tips and tricks I'm giving them should be new or build on their current content strategy.

[krispykroissant]

Original Content #1 (Week 11)

"How are you rethinking style to design your How to Write Guide for a content creator audience?"

Unlike the Content Analysis, where I used a professional, academic tone with lots of words and grammatical precision, my How to Write Guide feels more down-to-earth and casual. I'm not sure how well it turned out or if it's casual/easy-to-understand enough, but it is certainly shorter than my Content Analysis because I used significantly fewer words.

Similar to my Content Analysis, I used an artsy Google Slides template to make it more visually appealing, while also adding my own elements like pictures, videos, clipart, etc. I also tried to make it more like a how-to guide than a research essay to match the needs of this assignment.

[krispykroissant]

Thursday Check-In (Week 11)

@npfannen

"What assignment questions do you have that will help you complete the H2WG assignment successfully?"

My main question about the H2WG is about the sample posts. Is it ok if I use the first post I created for Draft #1 as one of the 3+ posts for the final draft?

I tried to make the language more casual to match the audience (my content creators) but I'm not sure if it was casual enough or if I still used too many words. Once you review my Draft #1, could you please let me know what needs to be revised if anything?

Other than that, I don't have many other questions besides those that I've asked via email regarding my Content Analysis Draft #2 and the remainder of the Tumblr posts I haven't made yet. I am embarrassingly late to this, but I'd still like to make the effort to complete my missing work.

[krispykroissant]

I really wish I had seen this post back during the actual week 10. You've provided not just a lot of different ideas for ways to illustrate data, but you've also included fun descriptions, in such a way that is easy to understand and doesn't feel boring. You've really got the language aspect down, knowing your audience and whatnot. I also like your inclusion of emojis, an intro phrase addressing your audience in a casual way, and the prompt you added at the bottom that sparks the conversation to continue in the comments. These are things that I've been looking at with my content creators and how these things all impact their audience interaction.

🌟 Hey crew! 🌟

📊 Here are some ideas and suggestions to report your data in multiple, meaningful ways:

Bar Graph: Showcase your data comparisons with stylish bar graphs. They're perfect for highlighting differences between groups or categories in a visually appealing way.

Pie Chart: Slice up your data and serve it in a pie chart! It's great for illustrating proportions and percentages, making complex data easy to digest.

Line Graph: Track trends over time with sleek line graphs. Perfect for showing changes or patterns in your data with a cool, dynamic vibe.

Scatter Plot: Scatter plots are your go-to for exploring relationships between variables. They're super versatile and can uncover hidden correlations like a data detective!

Histogram : Dive into the distribution of your data with histograms. They're awesome for visualizing frequency distributions and spotting trends at a glance.

Infographic: Get creative and craft an infographic masterpiece! Combine charts, graphs, and visuals to tell a captivating data story that'll leave your audience in awe.

💡✨ Don't forget to reblog and spread the graphing goodness! 🚀 #writ318mu #week10