weeklysocialblog-blog

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Intimacy

Intimacy holds a strong place in the lives of human beings and advances in technology are allowing people to use devices to fulfill the need for love in their lives. Primarily, in Japan and other Asian countries, love is perceived in the form of an algorithm or self-contained format for generating automated responses from machines. This automation, in the form of seemingly conscious behavior, contributes to the experience of love and intimacy that people have traditionally held within the domain of interhuman affairs. Is the turn to technology for the pursuit of love simply a sign of peoples' desperation or is it a harmless, effective tool for companionship and intimacy, some of humankind's most sacred and powerful experiences, or both? The Spike Jonze film, Her, clearly illustrates the concepts of the Otaku and microcoordination. Hopefully, these concepts will help to explain technology's role in the intimate lives of humans. The protagonist of Her, Theo, compares closely with the Otaku mentioned by Pettman. 

The Otaku mentioned by Pettman are described as relatively young, asocial Japanese men who flirt with a virtual woman on their handheld devices. Aside from being Japanese, Theo fits the profile of these young men fairly close because he appears particularly asocial in the film. It's clear in the beginning that he has a few friends like Amy along with her husband, but aside from that, he lives an isolated life and does not make significant efforts to be proactively social with people from day to day. He appears to spend most of his time at home, alone, in his virtual video game world until he meets his OS (operating system), Samantha. He not only flirts with Samantha, but begins connecting with her on a personal and emotional level.  

He knows Samantha is not a real person just as an Otaku man would, was even skeptical about the idea of getting to know her, but inevitably found himself falling in love with her. The height of Theo's categorization as Otaku is reflected by the fact that he is very psychologically and emotionally impacted by the relationship he has with Samantha. This is clearly portrayed when they get in their first fight and he dehumanizes her by saying she doesn’t need to breathe air. A more extreme example is when Theo panics, becoming gravely upset and heartbroken when learning that the relationship they have is not exclusive. He became very distressed like the children who cried after the death of their Tomagotchi pet. Samantha became such a central part of Theo's life, but initially, one aspect that made her so helpful to have around was her impressive assistance with microcoordination. 

Microcoordination, or the navigation of events from one place referred to by Manghani, undoubtedly was a skill that Samantha excelled at. She basically managed Theo's entire life for him as it related to his monthly bills, email, contacts (friends), professionals he had to work with (divorce attorney), and did it all in a personable and affectionate way. She was like the ultimate secretary and a soulmate. Theo seemed to already have so much on his mind and to be in a fairly depressive state so it is understandable how Samantha could have been such an incredible help in terms of just simply making his life easier. This also probably made Theo feel a lot like he had to depend on her and made him realize how much he needed her. Samantha did more than just manage his affairs, but even went above and beyond by sending his letters to a publisher and getting him a deal with a book. Through this concept, Samantha demonstrated the potential of this technological power to transform human lives and help her grow close to Theo. At times, we also wondered how authentic she was and the subject of Samantha and Theo led us to the question of: Is their relationship real? 

In an algorithmic sense, one could say that there was a real relationship between the two. Theo would speak and then Sam would generate artificial yet intuitive, conscious responses, and there was a concrete flow of communication from which one could superficially witness a relationship form. There seems to be no inherent reason why a relationship must only exist between humans, but perhaps it may be that relationships and intimacy are just implied to be human phenomena. As discussed in the lecture, it seems that philosophically, there is not really a legitimate reason as to why a relationship between a human and artificial intelligence is flawed, but ultimately, humans seem to find relationships most important in the context of a mutually human, living experience. 

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Social Movement Media

Social movements have benefited from the use of social media in different ways. It has been able to spread the messages of several movements far more rapidly than ever before and has been able to align protesters that are separated by physical distance and impairments such as disabilities. Most notably, social media sites like Twitter have lent themselves to large groups advocating for social change as an organizational tool to disburse necessary messages to all members of the movement and facilitate their face-to-face gatherings where the core of their protest efforts begin to unfold. For analysis, the Occupy Wall Street movement appeared to be a valuable and early example for illustrating concepts of social movement media as this movement has been said to make later movements, such as the Arab Spring, possible. To being this examination of examples from Occupy Wall Street, the first concept that clearly stands out is that technologies are not neutral.

Saying that technologies are neutral is denial of the fact that technologies have the potential for affecting society and it's member in both equally positive and harmful ways. To not hold technology and it's potential for good or harm accountable in an ethical sense is both ignorant and destructive to a society. For example, in the case of Occupy members, social media was used via Twitter to promote truth and justice from protesters who were on the ground experiencing reprehensible acts by those of the state who aimed to subvert their effort to communicate the movement's message. When California police had pepper-sprayed protesters who were acting in a peaceful manner, the events were captured instantly in the moment and uploaded to Twitter for followers to see, offering an alternate perspective of occurrences at the protest event from those of traditional media.  

With resistance from traditional media sources, the Occupy Wall Street movement was a movement against social and economic inequality worldwide; including greed, corruption, and also the influence of corporations on government. A critical component to the situation of Occupy Wall Street was the conflict of interest in the movement's coverage since traditional media sources like television and print are owned by multimedia corporate conglomerates. Traditional media, would then bias their news coverage of the movement to protect their self-interest. This was done by the omission of unjust acts like those performed by the police at the California protest mentioned earlier. The example shows how technologies can also be used to withhold knowledge from the public to the protect a corporate agenda. Such acts would be deemed by many to be highly unethical. Conversely, the positive efforts made by Occupy members through the use of technologies described earlier solidifies the groups contextual identity as a counterpublic. 

A second concept for examination is that the members of Occupy Wall Street played the role of a counterpublic. Although they were not a statistical minority, they carried the same burdens that minorities often do: disempowerment, marginalization, the potential for exploitation and victimization by both corrupt corporations and inevitably, governments. As the counterpublics of the article of Ferguson used social media as a way to communicate powerfully and potentially reach policymakers, so did the members of Occupy. In the case of Occupy; however, facilitating social change was not as successful since the movement was at odds with the traditional media, the obviously more powerful of the two, and the movement's coverage was tragically stifled.

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Labor

Much of the labor on social media makes us think of labor in ways which we would not ordinarily. Most of the time when thinking of labor, people think of work in the conventional sense which involves the production of a material product. Both the production of the product and the product itself are compensated by monetary value from the consumer, or the one who wishes to acquire the product. Labor; however, is not just this conventional process of work, but is value that is created. This understanding of labor helps one visualize a lot of the work on social media that goes uncompensated, in part, because a lot of the work is immaterial in nature (the finished product is not tangible and cannot easily or accurately be measured for it's worth, ie. informational, emotional, and cultural labor). Another explanation for labor on social media that goes uncompensated involves an often gendered or feminine exploitation of individuals who aspire to "do what they love", by laboring for free in hopes that one of their favorite brands may one day, offer them a career to do what they love and also get paid. The account I chose this week to apply concepts relating to labor on social media demonstrates a case story of the idea, "Do What You Love." 

Gear Gods' account, on YouTube, posted a special episode of one of their miniseries where host Trey Xavier visits his parents' house back home in Florida, and asks them what they think about his choice of career. According to the account given in an interview with the host's parents, Trey's journey of becoming a staff blogger at Geargods.net and the major host of most of their online videos, is a story of someone who believed in "Do What You Love" and had reasonable success. From a very young age, 8 years old, Trey had an extreme passion and aspiration to play a musical instrument, prompted by his intense desire to learn Tim Burton's rendition of the Batman Theme Song. It was long before he had made a mature and independent decision to make guitar his main instrument of choice. According to his mother, in his later years, he made several attempts to reach professional success with different bands he had formed, likely in hopes of getting a recording contract with a record label. Apparently, this idea did not unfold as planned for him and he eventually found that he could blog about what he loves and some of the time, completely do what he loves (play guitar, demo gear). His parents marveled at the fact that he can do what he does, and afford to shelter and feed himself. 

Food and shelter are essential requirements to living a healthy life as a human being, but many people would prefer more to have a lifestyle they felt was adequate. They may desire some extra material goods or items for leisure like a television, exercise equipment, or in Trey's case: guitar gear. The fact that Trey seems to only be able to cover some basic living expenses highlights that the potential to DWYL is not evenly distributed, because it would require resources that not everybody has access to like family, generous friends, or support systems. When Trey was forming bands as aspirational labor to potentially make a living one day, he would not have been able to support himself during that time without the help of others in his life because a typical person who is left with full financial responsibility for them self, with no outside resources, would have to dedicate the majority of their time to compensated labor in order to survive. The time he had spent forming bands was time that was lost for compensated labor. In this way, the opportunity to DWYL is really a luxury that not every member of society can afford. DWYL is also problematic because it devalues forms of labor that people do not love.

The truth is: there will always be forms of labor that people do not love. Devaluing those forms of labor as DWYL does serves no practical purpose as it clouds an essential requirement for DWYL to be possible in the first place. Trey's aspirations to do what he loves may not matter so much anymore if the exploited, Chinese, female worker at the overseas electrical plant stopped producing the electrical circuits or vacuum tubes used to power a guitar amp. If the guitar maker stopped building guitars because it was only compensated labor to him for traded craftsmanship and a more appealing opportunity came along, guitar players may be eventually left without the primary object to fulfill their passions. The overall issue of devaluing forms of labor that people do not love begs a necessary question: What if everyone did what they loved? As any rational person might see, it wouldn't be possible. The DWYL success story also creates a narrative designed to attract and motivate everyday people with the embrace of authenticity and celebration of realness. 

Another decent question to ask would be if it is possible for a large media account to demonstrate true authenticity to their audience. Many of those who have had entrepreneurial success and who have developed large followings on social media seek to engage and connect with their audience through the emotional labor of projected authenticity. They want everyday people to know they're just like them. At times it really is easy to wonder about the truth behind the lives of the large social media personalities we see online. Even when observing a blogger like Trey Xavier, who is apparently just scraping by in terms of money, it is startling and slightly intimidating when he reveals how many guitars he owns (to many to store at his home) and how much gear he appears to have accessible over the course of his videos. Even if he doesn’t have considerable financial wealth he still appears to be widely connected with others in the industry and well-respected through collaborations and recommendations which can challenge the humble persona he attempts to show. His blogs on Geargods.net are aimed towards the hobbyist guitar player or musician whom he consistently aims to convince (I am no one great, I'm broke, I just have some experience because I've gained knowledge over the years, but aside from that, I'm just like you, let me share with you what I know). 

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Fans, Amateurs, and Professionals

This week's readings about fans, amateurs, and professionals definitely give users of social media sites and followers of social media accounts a new perspective on culture that is formed among those on the web. Some groups tend to simply develop and share culture amongst each other for their own personal enrichment, while also strengthening group solidarity. Others tend to treat culture as a product that is to be owned and sold for a profit. This seems like an appropriate place to draw a distinction between fans, amateurs, and professionals. The Jenkins reading offered important insight as to how the three might be seen differently. 

Jenkins spoke about Star Wars fans as well as fan culture in his article which seems to make some indication of what constitutes a fan. Fans, are individuals who are enthusiastic about and are closely aligned with a cultural body of knowledge that is owned by an individual or group of individuals and is dispersed for commercial purposes. The article also mentions amateurs, highlighting the impressive works that they have the ability to generate as a result of advances in technology since the inception of Star Wars. Amateurs appear to be those who aspire to emulate the works of the professionals by engaging in the activity, which in this case, is film making. I would consider the accounts followed on this blog project amateurs, largely for their engagement in the activity of guitar playing, referencing a position in a professional band with a capitalist agenda. Thirdly, professionals stand out to be those who have mastered their craft or activity, have become the owner of their own form of culture, and who successfully sell it to others for monetary profit. With these three distinctions aside; fans, amateurs, and professionals coexist with one another and occupy a common culture. Fans of social media accounts on sites like YouTube utilize the interactivity of media to influence culture. 

YouTube is a highly interactive form of media, like many other social media sites, as the site is designed to allow for a substantial amount of consumer and or fan feedback. One of my accounts, Ryan Bruce, posted a video that demonstrated the concept of interactivity among media forms. The video was a quick and informative segment about five cheap tips to improve your guitar. During the introduction of the video, Ryan stated that he was blown away by the amount of people that had commented on his last tip video with the same common concerns and thought there would be no better way to address the feedback from viewers than to make another tip video in response. The fact that social media technology has been designed to allow for consumers to directly send feedback/comments to the producer of content is a significant factor that makes the development of culture on social media sites unique. The example of Ryan's video shows that the emergence of an online product was shaped collectively by both consumers and the producer. The end result gives rise to the participatory culture defined by Fuchs. 

Fuchs stressed the importance of the fact that participatory culture and participatory democracy are not synonymous. The latter is a political term that does not accurately describe the plight of fans on social media with regard to their ambitions. The social media accounts I've followed on YouTube are very closely aligned with participatory culture. My two other accounts, Trey Xavier of Gear Gods and Glenn Fricker of Spectre Sound Studios, were featured in a video together and their interaction encapsulates this concept. The two musicians engage in a dialogue, sharing their personal insights and unique areas of expertise. They discuss important issues for metal guitar players like how to dial in the right sound on an amplifier. A few different aspects of participatory culture can be seen in the process. 

 A crucial component of participatory culture witnessed here is that advice is given freely. Trey and Glenn have no intention or inclination to sell their knowledge for a profit through the posting of videos like this. A viewer on YouTube watching their videos would not see them advertising for paid subscriptions or promoting their own professional services either as a professional would through advertisements. Full artistic expression is evident among the activity of these accounts in that there are no limits on what they suggest or what knowledge they can offer. They do not use songs copyrighted by popular metal bands or record labels to demonstrate guitar gear or other investigatory phenomena, but instead, form their own unique riffs of which they assert no ownership. There is no third party exerting control over their creativity. Contributions of the accounts are meaningful as in the case of Ryan Bruce who makes clear in his profile YouTube video that the mission of his channel is to educate, demonstrate what can be achieved through the knowledge of different types of gear, and to share insights so that all players learn how to develop and improve their own personal sound with an online community of players. It is all centered around a shared culture and common interest in metal music which makes it highly valued by all it’s followers and viewers.

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Online Minorities

Spectre Sounds Studios published a very intriguing and important video on Youtube, which addresses acts of racism displayed by musicians and individuals within the metal genre of music. This video seemed of relevance to view with regards to the weekly topic of online minorities because it also shed considerable light on the nature of metal music fans and musicians as a subcultural group that happens to be uniquely diverse and inclusive of many different types of people. What prompted the discussion in this video, hosted by Spectre Sound Studios recording engineer, Glenn Fricker was an incident in 2016, at a chaotic metal music concert called, "Dimefest." Phil Anselmo, the lead singer of the Southern heavy metal band, Pantera, was photographed exhibiting the Nazi/white supremacist salute just as the band had concluded their performance at the live venue. Glenn did not condone this display of racism, but he did offer the singer credit for sincerely apologizing and admitting fault. What was very valuable about the discussion were the insights Glenn shared about the culture of metal and his experiences in it. 

Metal music culture is not particularly one to engage in divisive behavior or racist actions because the culture itself is strikingly accepting of people with various identities and personal attributes. It can be observed first-hand at a metal concerts and through social media that members of the culture are of both sexes, comprised of many different ages, and come from several different countries. As a group, it may be so inclusive because it is such a specialized type of aggressive music that a minority of the general population enjoys, and the encountering of others with the same taste creates a valuable and special bond. The music itself seems to be the primary force that unifies members of metal music culture more than other cultural markers like ways of dress or types of language. This is not to say that these types of similar taste are nonexistent among those who are part of the culture. In regards to the Florini reading, the markers of identity concept is apparent among members of metal culture in various forms. Markers or signifiers of identity are signifiers of cultural knowledge through common activity or shared taste in several forms like dress, language, values, beliefs or shared history. At first glance, dress is the way cultural affiliation is communicated.

 Some common patterns of dress that can be witness among those of metal music culture, in general, have to do with a rejection of high fashion. After years of following the three accounts chosen for this social media project, it can be strongly doubted that there was ever a time where one of these accounts wore anything over their torso aside from a t-shirt. T-shirts, most traditionally black and simple ones, like that worn by Glenn in the video, appear to be a staple for covering the upper body. Other examples relating to personal grooming and body expression are the prevalence of beards, skin covered in colorful tattoos, and body piercings (most specifically heavy gauge plugs in the earlobes that stretch the lobe to unthinkable diameters). These examples present the visible markers of identity that can be seen offline and that communicate membership and shared taste in the culture. In contrast, when online, language signifiers are more useful at serving as markers of identity. 

There are some aspects of language used by members of the culture that may seem shocking or confusing to people from the outside. One favored adjective to describe appealing metal that is really heavy sounding is the word "brutal." It seems to be one of the few descriptive terms that really captures the thrilling sensation of huge, rhythmic sound for metal listeners. There is also a subgenre of metal called "Djent" and the term is a vocal expression for the literal sound that low-tuned strings make on a heavily distorted guitar. The widely-used question, "Does it Djent?" among metal musicians reflects the cultural knowledge of that metal subgenre and leaves outsiders so confused. This question is typically asked when someone wants to know if a guitar or other piece of gear can effectively be used for that type of metal. Only someone within the community could understand that meaning. The regulation of a community through the use of cultural knowledge divides cultural members from outsiders in a much more indirect way than the way old racism divided it's users from other races. 

Pulled from the Cisneros and Nakayama reading, Old racism was racism in the overt fashion where whites would draw clear divisions between themselves and other races, based on biological differences and a belief in an existing racial hierarchy. To revisit the initial story about the lead singer of Pantera, who displayed the Nazi salute at Dimefest, a characteristic example of Old Racism had taken place. The Nazi salute is a historical symbol of white supremacy in America. What is more interesting is that Glenn's disapproval or shaming of the display by the lead singer can be construed as New Racism, with the understanding that all racism must be forgotten but that also, racial identity must be disregarded as well, that what really only matters is the individual and the content of their character. Much of this ideology was reflected in his discussion ie. All that matters is the music. As the reading suggests, a sentiment exists that because of certain historical achievements (Indian Miss America, 1st Black President), racial identity is no longer a concern in society and we live in a post-racial world. 

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Gender

This week I turned my attention to Gear Gods' account on Youtube and decided, for fun, to watch a video they posted entitled "Shit Gear Reviewers Say", which is basically an attempt to make fun of all the overused and sometimes atrocious phrases that popular people adopt who review music gear on Youtube. Trey Xavier, Gear Gods' host of the video mockingly exclaimed as a pretended, desperate gear reviewer, "Go ahead, leave a thumbs-up, and subscribe below because I need a lot of validation... A LOT OF VALIDATION! I don't know if I'm any good without youuuu!" This idea totally reflected the concept from the Wieser reading of self-reflexiveness that female teens are engaging in on social media.  

The self-reflexiveness is a way in which they are monitoring themselves in the process of self-branding where they build an online identity that is shaped to the liking and responsiveness of their audience.  They usually measure this by how many likes or hits their videos get. The self-branding is a constant process and self-reflexiveness highlights the continuous manipulation of teenage female identity in response to what the audience likes or reacts to positively. The quote in the video emphasizes the typical struggle teens face in the self-branding process of finding what their audience responds positively towards and what they can use to build a successful self-brand. Another fascinating aspect of the video is the way it so starkly contrasts with femininity as a bodily property. 

Femininity as a bodily property brings attention to the importance of the physical body or physical attractiveness of women in terms of female success and makes the body the defining factor of femininity over characteristics of personality. All of the traditional female personality traits (like nurturing and caring) even are overlooked. A woman’s body has taken such importance in regards to femininity that it is sometimes seen as a window to her internal life and well-being. Psychological illness may even be overlooked if she has a body that meets all of societies standards or conventions of beauty. What was remarkable about Trey's behavior in "Shit Gear Reviewers Say" was how it almost entirely opposed the importance of bodily property and took on the opposite effect in a manner which could strongly be characterized as masculine.

This profound effect resulted as follows: Trey does not appear to be an individual who is highly in-tune and attentive to his body. He does not bear a sculpted body or place much attention on his physical looks in any manner, but instead, the masculine quality of his performance is characterized in the importance that is placed on his personality or sense of humor. This is evident in comments made by online viewers such as one named Brad Ridinger who stated, “Trey - hilarious - you made my morning. I still crack up when I think about the video you did about locking tuners and you said don't poke your eye out and the strings were flopping all over the place. Keep it up.”  He is behaving in a way to be funny in the video and this is a behavior that is not always received entirely the same way by a female comedian. As we discussed in class, there is somewhat of an assumption that is made about comedy being masculine by nature. Perhaps when a woman engages in comedy, she downplays the asset that is most desired in a sexualized culture where antifeminist sentiments still lurk about, her body.

[weeklysocialblog-blog]

Friendship

Upon being introduced to the topic of friendship this week, it's history, and how it continues to change through time and through the use of social media, turning to the Youtube channel of Ryan Bruce brought forth an interesting display of what appeared to be a likely instrumental friendship. Ryan, or "Fluff" as he is typically called does a video segment that he calls FAQ Mondays where he sets aside time, usually about five to ten minutes, to answer questions or address concerns that fans have in the comments section of his videos. In one FAQ he did that came to mind, he was talking about his personal experience with a specific make of guitar, and made a reference to one of his "buddies," a fellow guitar player named Jared Dines who bought one. Dines is another Youtube figure with an interest in metal music and a much larger following than Fluff, but his channel puts more of a comic spin on the metal genre which is secondary to my purposes (I mainly care about watching videos with serious playing and impressive gear). After witnessing the comment made by Fluff on FAQ Monday, the thought of a friendship between two Youtube personalities became a concept for analysis. They were never observed together in a video before so the nature of their stated relationship seemed questionable. Although managing a Youtube account is not necessarily a job as people might think of one in conventional terms, it might hold a set of responsibilities that come with developing a significant following among online viewers and may even encourage some collaboration between notable personalities on the site to synergize material for a larger, combined audience in the form of new videos with fresh insights or alternate perspectives. In the rise of "efficiency" over "meaning" with regard to Heidegger's mode of being, it seems highly probable that Fluff and his "buddy" Jared are connected not because they have a deep interpersonal connection as people had with only a select few in ancient times, but because efficiency and the success of their online profiles motivate them to be familiarized with and friendly towards each other. This whole culture of gathering together on Youtube to talk about music gear, in general, is also reflective of the autonomous generational identity that has further separated youth social activity from that of their parents, just as rising technologies of the past had separated teens and adults of the 1950's. Many fans of Fluff's channel have accessed a new mode communication over Youtube that extends far beyond the control or the immediate knowledge of their elders. Although much of the activity observed among peers talking about videos is not representative of the primary, friend-driven focus of social media among youth, it does represent the outlet for youth and people of all ages to be consumed by "geeked-out" interests. Many fans of these accounts on Youtube, such as Fluff's, are brought together through a common interest and contrary to communicating with only those who are familiar or simply hanging out with friends online, are placed in a position to be more attuned to meeting completely new people over the internet.

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Introduction

 This blog has the intention of following a few different social media accounts of musicians who blog about what they know regarding music gear and advice they have for other fellow musicians. Many musicians are in search of greater knowledge for what can improve satisfaction with their performance and at the same time, wish to access valuable tips and insight that benefit people who like to play metal music. Sometimes, musicians also tend to find answers to popular issues or hot topics that arise during a time of guitar playing or drumming through blogs posted on websites and this provides a platform for individuals to share their sentiments and ask related questions. A classic example of a typical issue that people face who really like to play instruments is the question of if it is worth it to go to music school. Online, I can gather some alternate perspectives on the issue, ask questions, and ideally make a determination over whether acquiring this type of education would best suit my needs. Now that I have presented the general idea of my plan for this blog, I would like to introduce the specific accounts I want to follow and share some details about them.

The first account I would like to follow is an account called "Gear Gods" which publishes a vast series of videos on different types of music gear, conducts band interviews, and post blogs on their website for a niche audience of metal music players. I initially took a bit of interest in their videos they posted on Youtube which were usually hosted by their staff blogger, Trey Xavier, who is a highly impressive guitar player and very knowledgeable individual as it relates to typical musician quandaries. I chose this account because it personally has provided me with valuable insight in the past and has it's on a particular style of music that I like. 

My next account I chose is one by a guitar player, Ryan Bruce, who goes by the name "Fluff", and has a Youtube channel that he calls, "Riffs, Beards, and Gear." It is a simple channel that intends to demonstrate how guitar equipment is used, it's purposes, and to basically educate musicians or anyone who wants to learn how to create an impressive, heavy sounding and carefully crafted guitar tone. I chose this account because I felt like it had a very clear and articulate mission behind all that it delivers and because it also applies guitar gear to metal, which I enjoy playing most. An advantage of this channel that is lacking on Gear Gods is that Fluff has a Youtube channel which he can manage himself rather than have the channel under the control of an organization like Gear Gods; and therefore, seems to have more flexibility and greater availability in communicating with people who ask questions in the comments. It results in more involvement on the social media platform and will likely produce more content to analyze.

The last account I chose to follow was one called "Spectre Sound Studios", a Youtube channel that reviews music gear with applications towards metal style music. They are actually part of a larger entity called, "Spectre Music Group", which is based in California and provides services for musicians who are seeking to record music, or to capture a live performance on film, or produce a music video. Their Youtube channel seems to have fairly strong ties to it's subscribers and they address the concerns of subscribers in videos that they frequently post. What Spectre Sound Studios offers that is pretty valuable is more of an experimental take on the use of music gear or equipment. They have lots of shootouts between comparable items and attempt to challenge the stubborn beliefs a lot of musicians hold. 

By following these accounts throughout the semester, I plan to observe first-hand how the use of social media is changing human communication and to apply what we learn in the following weeks to the activity I witness online.