#chloehorder

Data gathering has been around for some time now. As our social and private worlds become effervescently integrated through online social mediums our irks, quirks and personal views of the world become public knowledge.  This public knowledge, left at the ready hands of big brands, corporations and governing bodies, allows what is known as ‘Big Data’ to serve as a form of currency, allowing the determination and prediction of trends, social behaviours and biased ‘caretaking’ laws to be set in place.

One of the concurrent collators of big data lives in the 140 character world of Twitter. Known for its use of creating ad hoc publics by grouping hashtags, Twitter easily and accessibly coordinates the collective discussions based on trending topics created through the micro/meso/macro social layers (as discussed in last week’s blog post). Although it is arguably only one form of online social media, it is more frequently than not used as a linking tool for other Medias such as YouTube, aptly serving as a short and sweet connective player highlighting trends.

The use of big data serving in the efforts of helping politicians gain sway as elections come and go is no different. Unsurprisingly as the media revolution took off persons with political prowess determined to grasp the support of civilians took to implementing social media accounts to not only connect more personally with their audiences, but to find insight into what the people truly want. As an example a large amount of analysts believe that Barrack Obama’s political win was largely due to the online strategy that he had implemented. Australian politics however, seems to run by what’s trending with the links to persons in political power and the amount of their Twitter followers becoming all too eminent,  disclosing that we are only really interested in what is happening with certain politics when they are the ones in charge of ruling our country, or, are involved with and entertaining scandal.

Here’s where telemetrics comes into play, in particular looking at entertainment for entertainment’s sake. Overseeing the received information garnered through online mediums through Twitter hashtags, Facebook posts and reposts, entertainment industries are able to measure what is known as the ‘Excitement Index’  (Burke) of a televised show.  Of course the diverse formats make truly accurate readings nearly impossible, with the variations of television shows that ask viewers to Tweet their thoughts as the show airs e.g. Big Brother as opposed to shows that provide prompts to tweet thoughts at certain segment points such as The Project. The excitement index however is able to give an oversight as to what shows are popular, what topics gain momentum and allow insight for future predictions of televised success.

Even with the attributions of excitement index calculations in place to monitor data for programs, Australia still falls behind the technological revolution, often favouring Facebook over Twitter posts.  Where in the US 95% of interactive engagement comes from the Twitter sphere (Bluefin), Australia adopts a more even playing field with just over 53% of the population favouring Facebook over Twitter (Woodford). This makes the collection of data more obscure as different posting mediums procure different posting habits that might not allow for the collection of an ad hoc public through the use of hashtagging.

  REFERENCES:

Alex Bruns. 2013. Mapping Online Publics. “How Australian Politics Gained their Twitter Followers”.  Accessed 11 May 2014.

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/2013/07/08/follower-accession-how-australian-politicians-gained-their-twitter-followers/

  Darryl Woodford.2013. Mapping Online Publics. “Australian Reality TV on Twitter a Two Horse Race”. Accessed 10 May 2014.

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/2013/08/13/australian-reality-tv-on-twitter-a-two-horse-race/

  Marketing Charts. 2013. “Twitter Overtakes Facebook as Teens’ Most Important Social Network”.  Accessed 10 May 2014.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/online/twitter-overtakes-facebook-as-teens-most-important-social-network-37352/

  Tumasjan, Andranik and Timm O. Sprenger, Philipp G. Sandner,  Isabell M. Welpe. 2014. Predicting Elections with Twitter: What 140 Characters Reveal about Political Sentiment. Accessed May 11 2014.

Unsurprisingly with the rise in new media devices and mobile connectivity, the realm of social politics and politics within our governing bodies have shifted to embody new means of engagement. Once reliant on traditional medias (television, radio and paper press), these new means of connection have become both enabling and blighting to government bodies and communities alike.

As an enabling tool, new social media found within online realms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, surpass in allowing communities to gain access to information that may once have been restricted by traditional press empires. It has never been easier to tap into resources and share our thoughts and views of the world than it is right now and mobile activism is truly hitting at a highpoint in today’s connective world. Aside from your local MP harnessing their political agendas through a smooth 140 characters, activist groups, celebrities, organisations and your average citizen are also capable (and at times much more powerful) of sharing their upmost truths and standpoint views of what is happening within society. After all, who are you more likely to listen to and share the statuses of? The guy in charge of ruthless job cuts? Or your favourite actor who plays that babe on your favourite primetime television show?  

Celebrity endorsements are no new thing, and they are possibly one of the most powerful presences that either lift or help with downfall of political candidates worldwide. Although it is not as present within our Australian culture, the power of celebrity campaigning is all too obvious overseas, with special mention to our Republican cousins from afar. Here, however, the social stratosphere is layered with our own candidates creating careful campaigns to reach their target audiences through the meso, macro and micro layers of social engagement. One of the most famous examples of this in recent times being Senator Ludlam’s speech “Welcome to WA”, and the viral campaign that followed on Twitter and Instragram with the hashtag refrence of #ourspeech reaching over 140 000 people within its first few days.

Public scrutiny, showcased political agenda and transparency (as showcased by the effervescent mayor of Toronto Rob Ford.)  of government enterprises has never been so easy. Likewise, rallying troops, sharing information and creating collective active communities in attempts of forceful action and change have proven to be successful entities through the use of social paradigms. Recent examples of this can be seen with Ben and Jerry's, "Scoup Ice Cream, Not the Reef"campaign causing a ripple effect between the Queensland Government, environmental warriors and the Australian public. The March in March protests that spread nationwide and also the famous Kony 2012  campaign setting example of how social media sowed the seeds for collective calls to action, worldwide.

Even with these instantaneous tools however the notion of what users want to happen and the action that follows is never clear. The March in March protests, although they should have been powerful, seemed to be completely ignored by the Australian Government.  It also can be noted that although a virility may ensue, does clicking ‘Like’ really help long term social progress when governments are aptly able to use and withdraw our connectivity to their own advantage, or does it leave us more exposed and vulnerable as we increasingly showcase our personal lives, thoughts and endeavours into our online profiles?

“…consider how it empowers the government via surveillance, how it disempowers citizens via entertainment, how it transforms the nature of dissent by shifting it into a more virtual realm, how it enables governments to produce better and more effective propaganda, and so forth.” (Evgeny Morozov, 2011)

REFRENCES:

Celebrity Power? - Forbes. 2014. Celebrity Power? - Forbes. Accessed 04 May 2014Available at: 

http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/17/forbes-tracker-celebs-oped-cx_daa_1017celebs.html.

 Chapter 2 : Structural Layers of Communication on Twitter pp. 15-28; Chapter 17: The Perilsand Pleasures of Tweeting with Fans pp. 221-236; Chapter 18 :Tweeting About the Telly: Live TV, Audiences, and Social Media pp. 237-248.

 Kony 2012 | Invisible Children. 2014. Kony 2012 | Invisible Children. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at: 

http://invisiblechildren.com/kony/.

 Morozov, Evgeny. 2011. “First Thoughts on Tunisia and the Role of the Internet.”Net.Effect Blog, 14 January. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at: http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/14/first_thoughts_on_tunisia_and_the_role_of_the_internet

  Opinion: March in March was big on people power and it had a point | News.com.au. 2014. Opinion: March in March was big on people power and it had a point | News.com.au. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at:

http://www.news.com.au/opinion/opinion-march-in-march-was-big-on-people-power-and-it-had-a-point/story-e6frfs99-1226858342518.

  Queensland Government urges boycott of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream over WWF ‘propaganda’ on Great Barrier Reef | News.com.au. 2014. Queensland Government urges boycott of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream over WWF ‘propaganda’ on Great Barrier Reef | News.com.au. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at:

http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/queensland-government-urges-boycott-of-ben-jerrys-ice-cream-over-wwf-propaganda-on-great-barrier-reef/story-fnii5v6w-1226898567920.

  Reef Scoop Tour | Ben & Jerry's. 2014. Reef Scoop Tour | Ben & Jerry's. Accessed 04 May 2014. Available at:

 http://www.benandjerry.com.au/flavours/reef-scoop-tour.

  Rob Ford, the World's Greatest Mayor, Smokes Crack | VICE United States. 2014. Rob Ford, the World's Greatest Mayor, Smokes Crack | VICE United States. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at:

 http://www.vice.com/read/rob-ford-might-be-a-crack-smoker.

   Senator Scott Ludlam's 'Welcome to WA' speech converted into the words of Western Australia - Campaign Brief Australia . 2014. Senator Scott Ludlam's 'Welcome to WA' speech converted into the words of Western Australia - Campaign Brief Australia . Accessed 04 May 2014. Available at:

http://www.campaignbrief.com/2014/04/senator-scott-ludlams-welcome.html.

  Senator Ludlam welcomes Tony Abbott to WA - YouTube. 2014. Senator Ludlam welcomes Tony Abbott to WA - YouTube. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqrfiEV8Gs.

  The Political Power of Social Media | Foreign Affairs. 2014. The Political Power of Social Media | Foreign Affairs. Accessed 02 May 2014. Available at:

As new technology embeds itself into the lives of modern society the parallel arguments continue to thrive and grow.  At first like frightened children we try to ignore the new fads, it’s too out there, too invasive and growing too quickly. After some time we give in, get a little curious and want to be in on the hype among our peers. The arguments on how technology can either enhance or serve as an impoverishment to our lifestyles both devise valid statements, some changes of which have become clearly apparent in our everyday lives.

Some of these arguments for the latter consist of a degradation of language and written skill; eroding the quality of social interactions and relationships; and allowing the guise of fake identity to swivel out of control (aka. ‘Catfishing’ when a person pretends to be someone else through their online identity). It also muses that it is easy to find a lack of social netiquette as people are given more power and the ability say as they feel without the physical association of feeling  and seeing the backlash that comes with it. Internet trolling, spamming and harassment seems to be at an all-time high, in particular being quite nasty when it comes to talent with sites such as YouTube and Twitter acting as enablers for jealous others to post hatred whilst hiding behind the screen. An example of this in recent times is the sad death of TV personality Charlotte Dawson who took her own life after repeated online bullying through her Twitter account.

Apart from the few who embody these sad traits, New Medias have been empowering in allowing time and space restrictions to be a thing of the past. Although we may not be able to physically touch our loved ones, applications such as Skype and Face Time allow the next best thing, by allowing real time interaction through a video call. We have untapped access for engagement with others that allow connectivity globally and have opened pathways for further creativity and self-reflection. As well as this it has been a phenomenal platform for activists and for connecting those long lost relationships.

Social technologies have truly integrated seamlessly into our everyday lives. Things such as hashtags, originating to group particular conversations or topics together, have moulded to become emotive addresses used to demonstrate feelings.  The trend quickly took off and seems to be invading our everyday lives, with barely a photograph uploaded without a witty hashtag attached and people even using it in everyday conversation, seen in excess in this skit here! The further implications of these fast communicative means has also been linked to our modern conversational language, how we interact with one another in a physical respect and how it has changed our sociality with others. As text now becomes more popular than phone calls, our use of emoticons weighs heavily to relay feeling that used to be conveyed through vocal inflection or real life interaction. Our real life interactions are now funnily enough more revolved around topic starters based on social media gossip or things divulged through spending time on online mediums as opposed to actual life experiences, maybe because we are a little addicted? Or because we have lost touch with our own lives by spending so much time through an online identity and that has now become the easiest way of communicating with others.

 REFERENCES:

"#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) - YouTube. 2014. "#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA. [Accessed 12 April 2014].

Baron, Naomi, (2008). Chapter 1 : Email to Your Brain : Language in an Online and Mobile World. In Baron, Naomi, Always on : language in an online and mobile world, (pp.3 - 10). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Baym, Nancy K, (2010). Chapter 3 : Communication in Digital Spaces. In Baym, Nancy K,Personal connections in the digital age, (pp.50 - 71). Cambridge: Polity Press. 

Charlotte Dawson bombarded with vile messages over Twitter before death | Mail Online. 2014. Charlotte Dawson bombarded with vile messages over Twitter before death | Mail Online. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2565903/Trolled-death-Model-Charlotte-Dawson-bombarded-vile-messages-Twitter-just-hours-death.html. [Accessed 12 April 2014].

New Media has shifted the way we previously viewed the world. No longer are bound to traditional mediums, society’s convergence with the digital era has redefined the lines of audience and producer, creating both to be just as powerful as the other. That being said, we now live in a place where audience popularity depicts the cultural and economic value deeming the presence of a product lies on relatable and engaging content. As Henry Jenkins said “…if it doesn’t spread, it’s dead.” (2007).

Technology now serves as a means to enhance our lifestyles. Mobile mediums, like smartphones allow us to stay connected, keep informed, be entertained and organised. They’re little devices with huge responsibility holding our upmost personal details. If they fail us, we are exhausted with hatred for bad servers and apps and lose our ability to contact certain people and retrieve important information.  We become in a way handicapped to society’s instantaneous needs, depending so much on technology that we suffer the same symptoms someone who is giving up smoking would when it’s gone. With this in mind it’s not surprising that expect the same limitless bounds to apply to our entertainment desires.

The evolution of transmedia and media based upon user generated content has allowed enterprises such as film to develop their stories and interact with fans in ways that just were not possible before. Fans and especially those who pose as a collective fandom are able to sway producers and hold real economical prowess that can be detrimental if their ultimate desires for the franchise go unheard or ignored i.e. the producers of The Walking Dead were given death threats by fans for killing off their favourite characters and threatened to riot if Daryl Dixon was killed off.

As traditional medias merge with new media’s we see things such as live tweet feeds on stories in real time. News reporters and even courthouses now utilise videos from YouTube as evidence on certain cases. The notion of what needs to be a professional product and its legitimacy is now blurred with everyday citizens holding the power to harness and publish information online without the need for any real credentials in any given arena.

The wildfire spread of social media and news has proven to be one of the most affected areas. In an instance, last April when a tweet made by Associated Press claimed that Barrack Obama was injured in a White House explosion. The news, although fake, sent shock waves through the stock market gaining over 4000 retweets and causing enough damage to wipe out $120 billion of stock value in seconds.

Entertainment also suffers here with the laws of piracy and copyright infringement constantly at battle. It opens the argument that lazy practitioners can benefit from others hard work with little to no effort by effectively using someone else’s material. In the book YouTube and the Mainstream Media authors Joshua Green and Jean Burgess write,

 “The repetitive framing of YouTube as an amateur ‘free-for-all’ rather than a place for community or artistic experimentation, for instance, situates it as a space where the public or the masses are rising up from the bottom, so that the matters of concern around it have to do with lawlessness, the crisis of expertise, and the collapse of cultural value.” (2009, 16. Jean. B and Green. J)

So, has new media stained quality material or has it enhanced the way we view the world?

  REFRENCES

  JOURNALS

Bourdieu, P. (1993b). The production of belief: Contribution to an economy of symbolic goods. In R. Johnson (Ed.), The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature (pp. 74–111). New York: Columbia University Press.

Burgess, Jean and Green, Joshua, (2009). Chapter Two : YouTube and the Mainstream Media. In Burgess, Jean and Green, Joshua, Youtube : online video and participatory culture, (pp.15 - 37). Cambridge UK: Polity Press. 

David, Matthew, (2013). Chapter 22 : Cultural, Legal, Technical, and Economic Perspectives on Copyright Online : The Case of the Music Industry. In Dutton, William H, The Oxford handbook of internet studies, (pp.464 - 485). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 

Shefrin, Elana (2004). Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Participatory Fandom : Mapping new congruencies between the Internet and media entertainment culture., Critical Studies in Media Communication 21 (3) pp.261-281. 

ONLINE

Angry Walking Dead Fans Threatened to Hunt Down and Kill Producers | The Walking Dead- Wetpaint. 2014.  Accessed 31 March, 2014 Available at: 

http://www.wetpaint.com/walking-dead/articles/2013-06-10-angry-fans-threatened-hunt-down.

How Does One Fake Tweet Cause a Stock Market Crash? | TIME.com. 2014. Accessed 01 April, 2014. Available at:

 http://business.time.com/2013/04/24/how-does-one-fake-tweet-cause-a-stock-market-crash/.

  I Forgot My Phone - YouTube. 2014. Accessed 29 March, 2014. Available at:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8.

Slash Me, Mash Me, Spread Me….- Henry Jenkins. 2014.   Accessed 29 March, 2014. Available at:

http://henryjenkins.org/2007/04/slash_me_mash_me_but_please_sp.html.

Student 'addiction' to technology 'similar to drug cravings', study finds - Telegraph. 2014. Accessed 01 April, 2014 Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8436831/Student-addiction-to-technology-similar-to-drug-cravings-study-finds.html. [Accessed 01 April 2014].

“The Walking Dead”: If Daryl Dixon Dies, We Riot! - International Business Times. 2014.  Accessed 31 March, 2014. Available at: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/521735/20131113/walking-dead-daryl-dixon-dies-riot.htm#.Uzkap_mSySo.

 The convergence of New Medias into today’s society has reconfigured the working markets and economic practices. Whereas in previous years, labor was a purely physical entity; times have shifted to allow digitalization and for maximized efficiency.

 Our new work practices can be seen as constantly evolving entities that allow global networking and instantaneous interaction. Time is now timeless, distance now irrelevant. New Media forms allow workplace flexibility and adaptability, whilst engaging core components of live marketing by being able to target audiences directly and effectively through monitoring respective interests from afar. In particular social media users i.e. Facebook, willingly feature their interests as prey for major companies who can seek out their likes, dislikes, needs and wishes and use this as a marketing advantage. Tim Andersen from The Guardian sums up what power this new hybrid engagement can have if done correctly in his article about real-time marketing

 “The power of social media is that it enables a new level of engagement between businesses and their customers, with the potential not only for insight into what is working and what is not, but also changed attitudes across the company thanks to direct feedback on the outcome of their efforts. That is the kind of real-time social media interaction that is worth striving for.” (2011).

 The progress in social media and the changing work landscape has developed in such a way that brands themselves can not only act as people would on social media sites, audiences expect it. It also has truly paved the way for audience engagement and allowing the public to have their say, and do their part to help spread word or make a true difference.

 Crowdsourcing in particular has become a huge component of digitalized marketing. Used to help companies sort through their products, gain ideas and develop companies, its huge potential has made way for many global scale successes and innovation. Facebook and Google are major players that utilize crowdsourcing well by openly giving away their codes to others in a bid redevelop their software. The key to the popularity of the event, seems to be that it actually feels like and event and something that others want to be a part of.

  ‘Work’ has become more social, more involved and participatory in most respects, demands the attention from producers and consumers; both now needing each other to survive. The blurring of private, social and professional practice of employees; now instigated at the hands of their employers, openly harnessing ‘Playbour’ (exploitable labor that feels like play) to get the best out of not only their employees, but consumers as well.

 Whilst this is a great initiative for some companies it is challenging to accept the ideas that no play comes for free anymore. The haze between voluntary and unsolicited or unknown work is constantly on the rise and just like musicians who play for free for the ‘exposure’, audience members are doing their best to come up with the latest and greatest idea that helps build upon a company’s reputation. In an instance, Google reps approached several prominent artists asking if they would allow their site to use their work for free, under the guise that their work would be seen by millions across the globe. Nearly 200 declined responses came through with artists disgruntled that a company that is worth billions is still too cheap to pay for the work they ask of others.

So, how long will it be until our addiction to social media plays havoc with our real-time lives and work and we truly become the ones working for free in a bid to expose ourselves?

  REFRENCES:

Books

  Gilpin, Dawn R, (2011). Chapter 11 : Working the Twittersphere : Microblogging as Professional Identity Construction. In Papacharissi, Zizi, A networked self : identity, community, and culture on social network sites, (pp.232 - 250). New York: Routledge. 

Fuchs, Christian, (2013). Chapter 5 : The Power and Political Economy of Social Media. In Fuchs, Christian, Social media : a critical introduction, (pp.97 - 125). London, UK: Sage Publications. 

 Online

  Use Their Work Free? Artists Say No to Google - NYTimes.com. 2014. Use Their Work Free? Artists Say No to Google - NYTimes.com.  Accessed 29 March, 2014.

Available at:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/business/media/15illo.html?_r=0.

10 Crowdsourcing Success Stories - InformationWeek. 2014. 10 Crowdsourcing Success Stories - InformationWeek. Accessed 29 March 2014

Available at:http://www.informationweek.com/10-crowdsourcing-success-stories/d/d-id/1096464.

 Real-time marketing done right means a focus on the customer | Technology | theguardian.com . 2014. Real-time marketing done right means a focus on the customer | Technology | theguardian.com . Accessed 29 March 2014

Long gone are the days when major corporations ruled the advertising world! Today, any single mother with a six-pack and sizable Instagram account can become an online celebrity. Likewise, the guy who sits in an inflatable pool drinking VB’s all day can have his photograph spread through the masses and viewed by millions throughout various countries.

  Welcome to the internet. A place where pets can have their own social media site to connect with their human ‘friends’ and their potential unleashed unto a string of chain store tee-shirts (aka. Boo The Cutest Dog in the World), and power is placed in the able hands of regular citizens to actively participate in crime, humanitarian issues and the determining the shelf life of any particular product on the market.

  Audience appeal has gained phenomenal strength with the convergence of the internet’s social sites and participatory culture. The redistribution of power has allowed any average Joe the means and resources to become a valuable player within the online community, helping to decide the fate and popularity of products, events and determine their overall cultural and economic value. Because we are now living in a hybrid economy- a place where our online shares, likes and status’s play key parts in allowing targeted marketing to invade our small screens- big corporations need to rely on audience response, and therein, user generated content to deem their product a success. As an audience, the power of ignoring the social cues from corporations can become the stigma that leads to their own product failure.

  The collective; now being the people; who at one point we’re just an audience; determine what will be popular and what has cultural significance at any point in time. Social media has opened the door for clever marketing tools to infiltrate our small screens and ultimately social culture, by allowing users to share or like what they see. In turn, that user’s friends can view what their friend has liked or shared and so on and so forth. Memes are a great example of a trending marketing tool that has instant access for virility.

  Memes really define all great aspects of online culture. By harnessing a simple photograph and placing clever wording over top, (similar to a bad company logo with a large slogan at the forefront) they activate participation, replicability and engage social cues as sharing through various friends, networks and communities to circulate through our online networks.

  Similar to this are the viral videos that may incite laughter and bonding over a simple gesture to conversation and further exploration of more dramatic subject matters. These mediums gain attention quickly, not only because they are easy to digest, but because if they are done well and can connect on an emotional level they are easy to share without too many hindrances.

  In a nutshell, the people now have the power to create the world they want to see and determine the cultural and economic success of products. Commercial corporations have had to shift their traditional ways of marketing to find sway within the savvy internet dwelling communities, not only to access the profits from user generated content, but to even find their target audience who are no longer restricted to paper and magazine models.

  REFRENCES:

  Lessig, Lawrence. 2008. “Chapter 7: Hybrid Economies” In Remix: Making Art and Culture Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, 177-224. New York, NY: Penguin (Available on CMD)

Marwick, Alice. 2013. “Memes.” Contexts12(4): 12-13/ Available at: http://contexts.org/articles/fall-2013/memes/

New media has become increasingly immersed into today’s modern society, breaking down the barriers between our personal and private worlds, unravelling our ideals of privacy and censorship and allowing personification of an online body reflective of our personalities and lifestyles. Whereas in the years prior to the internet’s emergence we had big media companies determining the popularity of product through a slick one sided conversation model, we have radically moved into a changed society with changed values that has given agency to the population. A population who enable cultural value by determining the success of a product via social networking through the structures of comments, likes, shares and page views. Our personal pages on sites such as Facebook, Tumbler and Twitter are direct instruments to this new framework of advertising. Without our direct knowledge our wants to create a personal space as a reflection of self has given privy to fundamental advertising bodies who are able personally target these media users with through the acquired access and the ability to track our interests in a bid create a carefully targeted campaigns based on what they already know: our age, sex, interests and friends.

But that doesn’t go without saying that we are the masters of our own glass houses. In correlation with advertisers and trending media we are active participants. Users of social media pick and choose what content they want to share and discuss with others. They become active members of a virtual community- each member selectively choosing media that acts as the best representation of their thoughts, desires and personality. We are at a constant bid to increase our status and gain the gratification of others and by using an online forum enable a sense of community and response that allows sharing and conversation therein automatically creating user generated content.

The sense of community also places value on and allows strength to voices that may have been previously marginalised or even voiceless. The adaptation of memes, YouTube, hash tagging and the ability to share has bought to life and even made celebrity of particular people and communities. For example, by utilising technology in a basic capacity, if YouTube creationists can gather enough audience attraction to their page corporations will pay for advertising on it, knowing that their product will be seen by a large group of persons on a daily basis. Channel holders can gain instant celebrity as they divulge personal information about themselves which can be similarly compared with the most basic social media users; the only difference being the scale in which our online persona translates publicly and how broad that reach becomes.

Ultimately, users of social media have become their own brand of evolving advertisement. They openly share their thoughts, feelings, likes and dislikes to a virtual community if not only for self-reflection, but to gain gratuity from others and feel a sense of power in the acceptance of a dislodged social network, or an invisible community. Users allow big branding corporations segue to target their various demographics by allowing their personal lives to become an open platform to feed from, in the hopes that their product will gain enough popularity to warrant conversational exchange and word spread online.

REFRENCES:

Bayrn, Nancy K, 2010. Personal connections in the digital age. (pp. 22-45) Cambridge : Polity Press.

  Flew, Terry, 2014. Introduction to New Media (pp. 1-17) South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

  Marwick, Alice E, 2013. Introduction. In Marwick, Alice E, Status update : celebrity, publicity and branding in the digital age, (pp.1 - 19). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Papacharissi, Zizi, 2010. A Networked Self : Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites . Accessed May 16, 2014 Available at: