stef3p18blog

[stef3p18blog]

October 3: All You Are is Data

Media ratings and target marketing were the main focuses this week along with issues of privacy, and the impact of using people as data.  

           I understand that I am merely a piece of data to all the social networks that I utilize. As any rational advertiser, I would try to gather data about my subjects so I could market to them as efficiently possible. As Sullivan states, “sophisticated surveillance mechanisms have been put into place in modern post-industrial economies to be able to measure and track individuals thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours, and that these tools are often used by powerful institutions and organizations to advance their own goals, thus bringing into play fundamental issues of power” (Sullivan, 2013, p.78). Even if I consent to my data being taken, do I still deserve the right to be able to use Instagram without being watched so closely? Privacy is a significant issue when it comes to media ratings and target marketing. How else would companies know exactly how to target you if they do not have an adequate amount of background information about you?  Should social media companies in specific be able to monitor us so closely? I admit that it makes me uneasy to know that Instagram probably knows more about me than I know about myself. Every one of my movements is monitored by them. Just this morning I went to Cora’s for breakfast and the second I came home I got an ad for Cora’s on Instagram! I would say it depends on how bothered you are that Instagram has so much information about you.

If you are indifferent about the use of your personal data, maybe ignorance is bliss. But, how many people take part in uninformed consent of their data being used? And is having your data being used in such a way unethical? In my opinion, as long as you consent, social media sites should be allowed to collect data. However, consent should be informed and not uninformed. Users should understand if their information is being sold, and what it is being utilized for.

           Audiences are nothing but data, and there is something dark about that. Is constantly being measured and studied making us unhappy? Everything about social media is quantified. The amount of followers you have, the amount of likes you get, the amount of time you spend on apps, the certain things you look at, the things you like. In my down time, I am helping a large corporation advance their own goals. Personally, it feels like a subtle form of exploitation. We are performing labour for advertisers and became a “new product the media corporations could to sell to advertisers” (Sullivan, 2013, p.81). Is knowing all of this information about how Instagram exploits its users going to stop most people from using Instagram? I know it will not stop me, although it is good to be aware. Since Instagram is free, I know it is my data that is for sale. I would not be able to use social media sites if my data was not for sale, and it’s quite an unsettling trade-off.

           I receive many target advertisements, especially on Facebook and Instagram. Those apps take demographics into consideration to attempt to target towards me. For example, Instagram figured out my age, geographic location, and tracked how I liked political involvement posts to try to market election ads towards me. I also get ads about special university student offers, and products that many university students use. The advertising on Instagram is becoming quite overwhelming and it feels like it never really stops. Instagram feels more and more like a marketplace rather than a social media site now. Products are being sold in advertisements by companies directly, and through sponsorships with influencers. There always seems to be something new that catches my attention, and an influx of products targeted towards me, as I had just viewed them on different websites, talked about them, or physically visited the store you can purchase them from. This economy of wanting more and more is alive and well on Instagram, and could be contributing to an unhealthy consumerist culture.

  References 

Sullivan, J. L. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

[stef3p18blog]

September 26: Public Opinion and The Spiral of Silence

This week we discussed measuring public opinion, the agenda setting theory, spiral of silence and the article, “What Do We Fear?”

           To begin, measuring public opinion is definitely a challenge when many are scared to voice their opinions due to fear of being publicly ridiculed, judged, or attacked. According to the textbook, public opinion refers to “group consensus about matters of public concern which has developed in the wake of informed discussion (Sullivan, 2013, p.56).  I have experience with measuring public opinion as I am currently canvassing for the federal election. I door knock all over St. Catharines not only trying to convince others to vote for a specific candidate, but also to understand how these people view specific issues, and what influences them to believe certain ideologies. We also collect survey data on my club’s Instagram, such as how people about certain policies or ideas. People consent to sharing this information with us, and it just helps us understand what issues to focus on when trying to convince people to believe in our ideologies. Companies often collect data from users to help understand what is most important to them. I have taken part in public opinion phone interviews such as when political staffers call me to collect data on voters’ opinions. All the data that we have collected about our followers can help shape the public opinion. However, a lot of the time data that is collected is inaccurate and creates a false idea of what the public opinion is. In the 2016 US election, polls suggested that Clinton was projected to win the election and hold much more popularity than Trump, but this did not end up being accurate. This example could be attributed to the “spiral of silence” theory. This theory claims “that individuals naturally fear social isolation and will therefore and will therefore monitor the political views expressed in the media and repress their own opinions if they are in the minority” (Sullivan, 2013, p.71).  While canvassing, the spiral of silence theory seems to be apparent. Many people I have spoken to have been afraid to admit their political opinions. They do not want to be stereotyped due to their political opinions. Before being interested in politics, I stereotyped members of political parties a lot. Now that I have met so many different kinds of people, I have realized that it is not easy to categorize people, and that stereotypes are not always true. For example, some Conservatives I have met have been some of the most open-minded and respectful people, willing to fight for all members of society’s ability to speak freely, especially the ones they disagree with. Very rarely have I met Conservatives that fell under the popular Conservative stereotype. Stereotypes are especially difficult to escape, though. 

Conservatives are especially reluctant to admit their stances due to fear of being categorized and judged. News media works to shape the public agenda, as they make certain issues salient. The idea of a bandwagon effect—when individuals hear news reports of opinion polls differ from their own opinion, which causes them to shift their outlook to match the majority opinion—interests me since I thought people would think for themselves rather than go with the majority by default (Sullivan, 2013 p.71). I think that the polls in this federal election will be inaccurate as many people will not admit to who they are voting for if these candidates’ views are not part of the public opinion, mimicking what occurred in the 2016 US election. When the article assigned this week came to the conclusion that people are more comfortable with speaking their mind in person rather than online, I had a hard time believing it. The article states, “We found a reason for this effect in the sanctions expected from other Internet users: People perceive a greater fear of being personally attacked on the internet than face to face” (Kramer and Neubaum, 2018, p.19. Although I do engage in discourse online and offline, I feel much less nervous online.

My club also has events and meetings where people can join us to express their opinions about the state of politics, regardless of their opinion. Although we are a partisan club we are very interested in public opinion and the ways in which people think and make voting decisions. Our main goal is to understand people’s ideas and create a space where freedom of speech is possible in the public sphere. We contribute to the notion of freedom of speech by hosting debates with all political clubs where we learn the opinions of many different types of people and try to become open minded to all ideas.            

References 

Neubaum, G., & Krämer, N. C. (2018). What Do We Fear? Expected Sanctions for Expressing Minority Opinions in Offline and Online Communication. Communication Research, 45(2),139–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215623837

Sullivan, J. L. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc

[stef3p18blog]

September 19, 2019: Catcher in the Rye

 The effects of media messages were discussed this week, as well as an article regarding the four processes of audience involvement with media personae: Transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship.

           Have you ever read a book or watched a movie and just got completely lost in it? According to this article, a “highly transported individual is cognitively and emotionally involved in the story” (Brown, 2013, p.4). In high school it was mandatory to read Catcher in the Rye. I immediately fell in love with the story, and the main character, Holden. In retrospect, it was most likely my teenage angst that made fall in love with the concept of Holden Caulfield, but I just felt so connected to him.  Every time I had a thought, I would ask myself, “What would Holden do?”  It was like he understood my moods, and how I felt about people. The ambiguity in so many of his thoughts had me hooked. It was like every time I would read the book, I would learn something new about him.  He was a puzzle I tried so hard to solve, and kept wishing to learn more about. It was strange because I was aware he wasn’t real, but I was so captivated by the way that J.D Salinger crafted him, that I kept ignoring the fact that he was nothing but a character.  

           The narrative and characters in Catcher in the Rye transported me into a whole other world, but this example also relates to identification, and worship. This is extremely embarrassing to admit, but it got to the point where I would put him, a fictional character, on a pedestal and compare him to every other guy I knew. I wished to meet a boy like him, to be able to talk to someone like him, and figure someone out the same way I endlessly tried to figure Holden out. It felt like no one would be able to interest me in the same way. Through putting him on a pedestal and finding so much insight in his thoughts, he almost became a God-like figure to me. His ideas and emotions meant so much to me, and I thought they were so extraordinary. When I went to New York City in grade 11, the majority of my excitement was caused by the fact that I was going to visit some of the places he frequented in the novel. I quite literally transported myself to attempt to live his life. In fact, I even took a picture of the place in Central Park that he always went to, posted it on Instagram and captioned it, “Holden spent a lot of time here.” Through finding identification through his thoughts and feelings, I began to worship him and become transported to his world. Involvement was also evident in this example as there were, unfortunately enough, “illusions of intimacy” created (Brown, 2013, p.3).

           Many Youtubers have large communities of subscribers that worship their every move. Very often, large Youtubers will give their fans a special name that they are collectively referred to, and speak to their audience as if they are all individual people that are special to them.  Dan and Phil call their audience their “phandom,” meanwhile PewDiePie refers to his as his “Bro Army.” Smaller Youtubers also do this, and usually have a greater chance of developing a more genuine, personal relationship with their subscribers.  They may have livestreams to interact with subscribers, give “shoutouts” to their viewers to express their outmost gratitude and love for their viewers. This is known as a parasocial relationship: “a pseudo-relationship that results from a false sense of intimacy created during media consumption” (Brown, 2013, p.5).  The “love” and “appreciation” these Youtube personalities convey only create false intimacies between them and their subscribers.

           The People’s Choice attempted to answer the question “to what extent did the radio and newspapers shape voters’ choice in a presidential election?” (Sullivan, 2013, p.42).  To conclude, very few actually changed their minds from the start of the campaign to the end. According to the study, news exposure only reinforced their opinions, rather than change them.  I found this interesting as I believe it still rings true for decided, passionate voters. However, I believe the 2019 election is significant in the fact that there are a large amount of undecided voters who aren’t really looking for reinforcement, but to be convinced. These undecided, mainly young voters, are looking to opinion leaders for insight. Many political clubs on campus have been attempting to make themselves appear as opinion leaders during the election campaign. The club I am in constantly gets asked questions from undecided students who are unsure of who to vote for. We inform them on our candidate’s platform, and other party platforms as well.  A club we partnered with on a Townhall event with local cross-party candidates, First Vote, attempts to bring non-partisan voting information and insight into each party platform to students. Similarly, as mentioned in my first entry, 6ixbuzz also attempts to act as a platform for many opinion leaders to spread their political opinions to masses of followers.

References 

Brown, W. J. (2015). Examining Four Processes of Audience Involvement With Media Personae

Sullivan, J. L. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

[stef3p18blog]

September 12, 2019: Does Free Choice in Consumption Truly Exist?

In class today we discussed the history of the audience, as well as size, danger, and power. Additionally, we read Livingstone’s article about the “pivotal role played by ‘‘the interview’’ in the history of audience research” (Livingstone, 2010, p.1). Livingstone’s article was interesting as it explained that interviews provide us with information we could not have received via other methods. When my friends and I were looking for a new roommate, we put up ads on Facebook and Instagram. Our audience was quiet university students that needed a place to live. When we got interested audience members’ attention, we interviewed them on their living habits, traits, and certain values. By interviewing them, we got information about them that we couldn’t get just by looking at them or studying them as “subjects.” Luckily for us interviewing was a good method to learn about them, as we are all best friends now!

In class we also discussed audience size, danger, Sullivan’s trilogy, and power. In Ancient Greece, the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, audiences tended to be small and all in one place. Now, you can be a part of the same audience as 1 billion other people. Audiences can consume the same content but it does not necessarily have to be at the same time. For example, when I watch a show on Netflix, I am part of the same audience as all consumers of the show.  But instead of watching it at the same time, as everyone else, I may watch it a year after it has been released.  

Danger is mostly discussed within the text as the disruptive nature of the Greek audiences, as well as the concept of “Rowdyism” where crowds act out in ridiculous manners.  In my preteen years, my friends and I attended many concerts. Most notably were the One Direction concerts with the seas of screaming, hysterical fans. Since we could not afford the tickets that came with specific seating arrangements, we always sat in the general admission areas where you would get stuck in crowds of people trying to push closer to the stage (such as many theaters in the United States and Europe that featured a “pit” where the poor could purchase theatre tickets). Fans would throw things on stage, try to jump on the stage, and just act completely bizarre. Due to unruly crowds, most concerts now have security guards to make sure fans do not come into contact with performers. The uncontrolled, boisterous crowds could be seen as a danger.  

 Sullivan’s trilogy first describes audiences as outcome as “people being acted upon by media. Typically it reflects a concern about the power of media to produce detrimental effects on individuals, and by implication on society as a whole” (Sullivan, 2013, p.6).  Many have argued that modern media has “demoralized society” through the normalization of drugs, alcohol, sex, and violence. People who believe this theory believe that the media has detrimental effects on individuals by demoralizing them. On another note, I think the media has had many effects on me. I believe the introduction of social media has had a detrimental effect on my work habits, and my ability to focus.

           Audience as mass refers to a “large collection of people scattered across time and space who act autonomously and have little or no immediate knowledge of one another.”  When I watch Youtube livestreams, I am watching content at the same time as other people from all around the world. Although we comment on the livestream to grab the attention of the Youtuber, there are so many comments that show up on the screen, that we have no immediate knowledge of each other. There are mass amounts of people consuming the same material as me and I have no idea who they are.

Audience as agent is described as “people are conceived as free agents choosing what media they will consume, bringing their own interpretive skills to the texts they encounter” (Sullivan, 2013, p.8).  I do believe we have somewhat of a choice regarding what we consume, but I also think most of what we consumed has been determined for us through algorithms, the media agenda, and targeted advertisements. Instagram tracks your movements on all other apps and websites and gives you targeted ads based on your viewing history. They watch what posts you look at, what posts you like, and give you an explore page based on what they think you want to see. When I wanted to advertise for my school club on Instagram, they gave me an option to advertise to a certain demographic that lived in a certain geographic location. The targeted advertising on Instagram is available to regular people such as me, so the advertising available to large corporations could only be more extensive. Even if you decide to ignore the “Recommended for You” sections, the advertisements, and the popular content, you may be able to go on Netflix and have free choice in what movie you decide to watch. But ultimately, Netflix has decided what content to make accessible and readily available for you to consume. All media that is available to you has been carefully constructed and produced by corporations, it’s just your choice as to which ones you choose to consume.

References 

Livingstone, S. (2010). Giving People a Voice: On the Critical Role of the Interview in the History of Audience Research S. Livingstone. Communication, Culture & Critique, 3 (4), 566–571. https://doi-org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/10.1111/j.1753-9137.2010.01086.x

Sullivan, J. L. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

[stef3p18blog]

September 5, 2019: The Rise of 6ixbuzz

This week built the foundation on what would be learned in the course. We discussed when people are and are not part of audiences, along with what audiences are, and how they’ve changed over the years. It was discussed that audiences used to be small gatherings of people in the same concentrated area, and have evolved to become larger. Building onto this, I would claim I am constantly a part of a specific online audience. I am part of a specific demographic that is targeted by advertising companies, and what I view and ‘like’ on Instagram is curated into a profile that I am a targeted audience member of. For example, if I constantly view politically related content, meme pages, and makeup pages, my Instagram creates an algorithm to show me ads and more related content that is similar to those pages. In that sense, I am a targeted specific member of a smaller audience, or a niche audience.  

On the topic of niche audiences, I was part of a spoken word club in high school where we would write our own spoken word poems and perform them to each other. The first year I joined the club, it consisted of about ten members and the performances could only be watched by members of our club. The second year, the performances were filmed and we invited other schools to participate in a board-wide spoken word slam. The first year I was a member I performed instead of spectate, and in front of a smaller audience, the club felt more secretive and more as if it was part of a niche audience. When more people joined, we were all still part of a niche audience, but with more members and attention, it felt more impersonal and less fulfilling. This taught me that the size of an audience can have a significant impact on how it is perceived by the audience members and can sway the mood, feelings and overall audience experience.

However, I am also a part of larger online audiences such as on Instagram pages like “6ixbuzz.” 6ixbuzz posts Toronto news, memes, and opinion posts where the owners ask audience members their opinions on certain Toronto related events that often cause discourse on significant topics. For example, with the Federal election nearing, 6ixbuzz has begun to post content regarding issues such as Trudeau’s blackface incident, the main points from every candidate’s political platform, and rumors regarding Andrew Scheer’s dual citizenship. As politics interests me, I often comment on these posts with my own opinions and join the conversation with thousands of other commentators. By doing so, I am part of an audience with millions of people, who engage in discourse involving relevant topics. Prior to the internet, it was more difficult to engage in discourse and be a part of an audience with over one million people. Although during elections every eligible voter in Canada is an audience member and can engage by voting for their candidate, they could not all voice their opinions in mass amounts at the same place at the same time.

Young people on social media are especially being targeted as audience members during the election. As younger voters are the main users on social media platforms such as Instagram, they are being targeted with sensationalized, biased, and inaccurate information. Young audiences are often easily swayed, and through providing them with easily spreadable information consisting of emotional marketing, alarmism, and issues that directly impact them, they often share and distribute these advertisements through their social media accounts. This causes information to spread through targeted age groups rapidly. Prior to the internet, it was not as easy for information to spread through specific audiences with such ease. In our grandparents time, propaganda and news were often spread through radio and spread through people in person, but regular people could not share and distribute news sources in mass amounts.

Although I actively engage in political discussions and view political content, someone does not have to be to be politically involved to be an audience member of the Federal election campaign. Eligible voters are audience members, as well as ineligible voters. Although they may not be targeted, they are still watching this election campaign unfold, and possibly forming their own opinions about the candidates for when they do become eligible to vote.

Relatively speaking, 6ixbuzz’s 1.2 million followers may be a smaller online audience compared to other online audiences. With 1 billion users, Instagram users like myself are part of a different, much larger audience. We are all targeted on our specific ways of using the platform; the content we view, like, share, and post. However, we all share common characterizes such as how we utilize the app; understand the functions of it, and how advertisers market towards us.