Denzel

During the pandemic back in 2020, all of us were confined to our own spaces within our households. Communicating with one another was solely reliant on the use of our gadgets and social media. As for the gaming community, Twitch has been used to its maximum capability in order to allow gamers from different parts of the world to connect with each other. Twitch is a live-streaming platform that allows users to hold live streams that get other users to interact with one another allowing different communities to come together remotely (Twitch,2021). 

The boost of Twitch during the pandemic was seen as an opportunity for individuals to start something different remotely which then led to an extreme amount of viewership overtaking the spot of esports. When the increment in viewership in Twitch occurred, it was seen as a window of opportunity for streamers as they gain revenue from viewership, hence the establishment offered more benefits to its streamers. Several examples of the content being streamed on Twitch vary from having digital events, tournaments, and more (Peck, 2023). 

The streaming platform has enabled the entrepreneurial drive of streamers when revenue can be made by streaming and creating content for media users. Firstly, it would only require a low margin for streamers to start their journey as the only factor that is taken into consideration in this aspect would be the time and effort spent on creating content depending on the individual. Secondly, it encourages streamers to take the step out to attempt to create content. Without actually trying, streamers could not dictate their success or failure. Alongside, although the earnings of a content creator are highly uncertain, the probable payout is indeed on the higher end (Wollborn et al, 2023).

Without a doubt, Twitch is a window of opportunity for many individuals who are looking to enter the streaming world to gain revenue. There are many opportunities within the platform which allow creators to venture in. Besides that, Twitch is an influential tool where establishments would seek to help build community. 

References

Peck, S 2023, How the Pandemic Became a Gold Mine for Twitch Streaming, ILLUMINATION, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://medium.com/illumination/how-the-pandemic-became-a-gold-mine-for-twitch-streaming-56985d81a07a>. 

The existence of augmented reality has brought face filters to social media and has become a feature that many of us will reach out to whenever we desire to alter and have a special element to capture memorable moments. Filters are also utilised to beautify ourselves in the selfies that we take. This is also to provide users with a touch of personalisation and interactive experiences (Herrington, 2019). 

Marketing and branding strategists have found a way to utilise augmented reality to improve and bring customer experience to another level. Augmented reality superposes virtual content to social media users in real life, allowing consumers to have a different and unrivalled encounter with the brand. This is expected to build interactions between a brand and its consumers as it enables them to interact in a fun way. When a brand utilises AR in its marketing, it is likely that consumers will have a good perception towards the brand as it provided them with a form of enjoyment (Flavian et al, 2021). 

It is stated that AR marketing is likely to be a success due to its strategic way of attracting the attention of consumers. Augmented reality marketing also knowingly emphasises the brand rather than the company (Rauschnabel et al, 2022). A great example of AR marketing is a campaign that was for Burger King in Brazil named ‘Burn That Ad’ innovated by David SP. The campaign is where a feature that was done by AR where consumers can “burn” advertisements from competitors of fast food restaurants within the application and the AR would convert the advertisement to a screen where consumers would be notified that they are rewarded with a free whopper burger (The Drum, n.d.)

To sum it up, we can say that augmented reality is making its way into the world of marketing making it easier and fun for brands to garner the attention of consumers and increase brand awareness and visibility. 

References

Burger King: Burn That Ad by David SP n.d., The Drum, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://www.thedrum.com/creative-works/project/david-sp-burger-king-burn-ad>. 

Flavián, C, Ibáñez-Sánchez, S & Orús, C 2021, ‘User Responses Towards Augmented Reality Face Filters: Implications for Social Media and Brands’, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, pp. 29–42, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-68086-2_3>. 

Herrington, J 2019, Face Filters for Instagram and Snapchat Are the New Frontier of Surrealist Art, Medium, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://onezero.medium.com/the-power-of-face-filters-as-augmented-reality-art-for-the-masses-65a95fb4a577>. 

Slow fashion sees daylight thanks to Gen-Z who constantly strives for sustainable fashion. Alongside that, Gen-Z is also well-versed in technology which serves as a tool for them to spread awareness and advocate for sustainability and slow fashion.

The term slow fashion refers to a philosophy of heed that the higher-ups in the fashion establishment have regarding the impact on those contributing to the fashion industry (Chhabra et.al, 2022). 

Regarding slow fashion, Generation Z seems to be leading in the role of making changes which is evident in the use of social media. Given the amount of influence that Gen Z has on this topic, more and more individuals within the age range are starting to purchase from brands that are advocating for slow fashion (Hope, 2022).  According to research conducted by Forbes magazine, 62% of them are willing to spend more on sustainable brands (Petro, 2020). Furthermore, this group of individuals are a group of individuals who believes and are for sustainability and will deliberately purchase pieces of quality clothing which would cost more (Williams and Hodges, 2022). The reasoning behind sustainable fashion consumption is due to the fact that participating in the slow fashion movement assists in reducing the damage done to the environment without going out of style (Domingos et al. 2022). 

Another factor that contributed to the slow fashion movement would be the pandemic. Back in 2020 when the pandemic occurred, many individuals are more cautious and aware of their spending habits. When spending habits are being reevaluated at the point of time in life, fashion was something that was not prioritized (Hope, 2022). 

With that, the slow fashion movement is practical and sustainable for the environment and the fashion industry. With the power that Gen-Z holds in addition to the power of social media, I believe that this generation will bring sustainable fashion to greater heights in the future and hold brands accountable to participate in the said movement. 

Reference

Chhabra, S, Sindhi, S & Nandy, M 2022, ‘Factors Affecting the Adoption of Slow Fashion – An Exploratory Study of Multiple Stakeholders’, Journal of Macromarketing, p. 027614672211162, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467221116294>. 

Domingos, M, Vale, VT & Faria, S 2022, ‘Slow Fashion Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review’, Sustainability, vol. 14, no. 5, p. 2860, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2860>. 

Hope, B 2022, How Gen Z shapes sustainable luxury fashion through digital, sustainabilitymag.com, viewed 16 June 2023, <https://sustainabilitymag.com/sustainability/how-gen-z-shapes-sustainable-luxury-fashion-through-digital>. 

With social media, we all have the access and freedom to say our own pieces on digital platforms. Given the liberty to do so, users are abusing it to say things to hurt people or rather to bring them down by leaving unsolicited and rude opinions. Especially on one’s appearance, the online community one has much to talk about when it comes to this. 

Let’s discuss the recent controversy that sparked on Malaysian influencer Kasih Iris Leona who was slammed on social media for the way she dresses and how people are leaving comments and making what she wears along with the fact that she shows too much skin. With this, the influencer is clearly being sexualised and objectified to a certain extent. Netizens are making nasty and inappropriate comments about Leona’s body and the way she dresses in her recent Instagram post where she is seen in a purple dress where her breasts are exposed which brought the attention of social media users. 

This brings attention to how there is a surge in sexualization in the media. Sexualization defines as a term where an individual is perceived as a sexual object for their alluring physics. In the case of sexualization, women seem to be more prone to being sexualised (Blake et.al, 2018). The comments section of Leona’s post is a great exhibition of how women are being sexualised by leaving inappropriate comments on her body telling her to “wear a better bra” and more comments from men leaving sex comments. Recent research confirms that sexualisation does not only occur in the form of an image but in comments that stress physical appearance as well (Guizzo et.al, 2021). Within the comment section, we can acknowledge that men will gape at women who they find attractive disregarding them (Davis, 2018).  

With that, there should be more action and initiative taken to combat this issue to protect women on social media from such disrespect to create a safe digital environment for female users.

References

Blake, KR, Bastian, B, Denson, TF, Grosjean, P & Brooks, RC 2018, ‘Income inequality not gender inequality positively covaries with female sexualization on social media’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, no. 35, pp. 8722–8727, viewed 16 June 2023, &lt;https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1717959115>.  

Davis, SE 2018, ‘Objectification, Sexualization, and Misrepresentation: Social Media and the College Experience’, Social Media + Society, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 205630511878672, viewed 16 June 2023, &lt;https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2056305118786727>. 

Guizzo, F, Canale, N & Fasoli, F 2021, ‘Instagram Sexualization: When posts make you feel dissatisfied and wanting to change your body’, Body Image, vol. 39, pp. 62–67, viewed 16 June 2023, &lt;https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.06.005>. 

Diving into hashtags today, something that we’re all familiar with. However, are we really aware of the true meaning and purpose behind the hashtags? Instead of throwing a bunch of hashtags in our caption randomly, allow me to enlighten my fellow readers about hashtags.

Hashtags are typically known as this symbol, # where its purpose is to bring attention and emphasis to a certain topic on social media. The origination of hashtags started from Twitter which then became commonly used in other social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram (Biocommerce Essentials, 2023).

Bringing the #freebritney movement into the picture of today’s topic, I would like to dive deeper into how the entire movement unfolded on social media with the use of hashtags. The movement started by the general public was all rooted back to when her 14-year conservatorship was when fans were deeply concerned about who was behind Britney and the culprit of controlling her life back then (Anguiano, 2021).

The people behind the #freebritney movement were executed by hardcore fans of Britney to fight for her justice with the power of social media advocating for Britney and spreading the word through the power of media. The campaign officially took off in 2021, however, it all started back in 2009 when FreeBritney.Net was created (Betancourt, 2021). 

Taking a look at the hashtag on Instagram, there is a total of 631k posts on #freebritney. This brings us to talk about the power that hashtags activism hold and how effective it is to raise awareness for a good cause. Hashtags are staggering in the sense that it allows the public to start the conversation about the cause that we are advocating for online. It serves as an action to initiate and accelerate the campaign, just like how it did for #freebritney (Apostal, 2018).

References

Apostol, K 2018, The Power of Hashtag Activism and How It Can Help The #TimesUp Movement, Medium, viewed 12 May 2023, <https://medium.com/women-in-the-industry/the-power-of-hashtag-activism-and-how-it-can-help-the-times-up-movement-e4240a64ebcf>.

Anguiano, D 2021, The #FreeBritney movement finds its moment: ‘All the hard work was worth it’, the Guardian, viewed 12 May 2023, <https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/14/freebritney-movement-britney-spears-conservatorship>.

Betancourt, B 2021, Britney Spears’s Father Loses Bid to Obtain Sole Control over Her Finances, Harper’s BAZAAR, viewed 12 May 2023, <https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a34113034/why-longtime-britney-spears-fans-are-demanding-to-freebritney/>.

Today’s discussion would be on how blogging is the root of where the influencers we have today come from. The starting point of the influencers we know today. Blogging started way back in the 21st century, it is where the public shares literally everything that they want with the public. Blogs such as WordPress and Blogger dominated the blogging world back in the day. As blogging started to grow, the rate of blogging escalated quickly as well (Ho, 2007). 

After the blogging revolution, here comes influencer marketing and this is where bloggers pivoted to the influencer marketing industry. Influencer marketing is known as a form of marketing that revolves around social media and an individual who has a sufficient amount of followers endorses a certain brand or product (Sheikh, 2023). 

Bloggers have slowly evolved into influencers as the blogging era dies down where they focus more on sharing and reviewing products that they trust and believe in strongly. With that, brands are always on the lookout for influencers who are advocating for their products due to the way they recommend the product range along with the loyal fanbase the influencer possesses which makes a great revenue generator for the brand (Wlosik, 2021). 

Xiaxue, Singapore’s pioneer blogger and so-called OG influencer is a great example of how she evolved from blogging to influencer marketing. Xiaxue strives for controversy as it is her passion and she’s all about going against the norm and speaking her side of the story of unpopular opinions, and that is what I admire about her. She has a huge amount of followers on Instagram and her career started with blogging back in 2003. She is now a known influencer in Singapore with various endorsements for different brands. 

References

Ho, S 2007, ‘Blogging as popular history making, blogs as public history: a Singapore case study’, Public history review, vol. 14, no. 2007, UTS ePRESS, pp. 64–79.

I believe that we are all familiar with the term Reality TV. Something that all of us enjoy and also one of the most triumphant formats of TV in history. It is known as a format of television where the show revolves around the daily lives of the cast (Hill, 2015).

Steering back to Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the show that dominated the reality TV industry for many years started back in 2007 with its executive producer Ryan Seacrest (Rees, 2015). The show has over 20 seasons now and made a comeback with the same cast under a different name titled “The Kardashians”. The reality TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashians has influenced the general public in terms of fashion, word stock, and, social media.

Speaking from the fashion perspective of how the Kardashians have made an impact on society. The pieces worn by the sisters in the show will make their way to the shore of the general public as it turns into trends praised and admired by teenagers. Besides that, Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney had a boutique named Dash (Bi, 2017).

Loyal Kardashian fans would know the infamous catchphrase “bible”. The family uses the term when they are speaking the truth about a certain something. The word has become a vocabulary word for the entire family as the years go by, resulting in the fandom of the Kardashians being influenced to use the catchphrase as well (Bi, 2017).

Social media plays a huge role in creating the fandom of the Kardashian family. With the sisters' active presence on social media, it provides the fans with a platform and space to keep up with the beloved sisters. Platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are where the sisters are found actively posting. Take Kim’s Instagram account as an example, she has a total of 355 million followers. This shows how strong her fandom is after the show.

References

Edwards, MF n.d., Kim Kardashian Stole Her Trademark Catchphrase From An Ex-Boyfriend, www.refinery29.com, viewed 12 May 2023, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/09/173226/kim-kardashian-west-catchphrase-boyfriend.

‌Rees, A 2015, Here’s How the Kardashians Landed Their Reality Show, Cosmopolitan, viewed 12 May 2023, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a35457/heres-how-the-kardashians-landed-their-reality-show/.

Social Media is a term that most of us are familiar with living in such an advanced era. This term has also penetrated our lives whereby life would be much more complicated if it ceases to exist. This is where users on social media, such as ourselves are able to express themselves on their own accord about their daily lives on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok (Kosut, 2012). Whether or not the intention is to educate or share, we all take part in the digital community. 

Moving forward to the virality of social media content, it amazes me how online content that digital users put out can go viral. Today, we will be diving into the aspects that contribute to the virality of these contents on social platforms. 

One of the biggest reasons why certain posts or videos are able to go viral is due to the fact that digital users are always sharing content. Users love to share what they deem informative, educational, or even entertaining. It also leads to users with the desire to share the perks or benefits with people around them who they appreciate and would love to enjoy what is being shared (Berger et al, 2014). 

Another aspect that leads to the virality of content is the characteristics within the viral content. While we all scroll through social media in a leisurely manner users are most likely looking for a positive experience. With this being said, content that goes viral is most likely to be positive content which rules out negative ones (Berger et al, 2014).  Taking this video published by a YouTuber named Momem where a compilation of funny clips with the title “If you Laugh 5 Times, you lose” as an example. The video garnered over 2.2 million views in 3 months. This is an example of how positive content is more likely to gain virality compared to negative content. 

References

Kosut, ME 2012, Encyclopedia of Gender in Media, ME Kosut (ed.), 1st edn, SAGE Publications, Incorporated, p. 529, viewed 12 May 2023, <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/swin/detail.action?docID=996572&pq-origsite=primo#>.

if you laugh 5 times, you lose n.d., www.youtube.com, viewed 12 May 2023, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWevBIIAZIM>.