#comm375

When signing up for social media sites, we give up our basic information. This information includes our name, number, email address, and family members. All of these correspond with advertisers being able to find us more easily. These ads help social media corporations maintain an exponential growth in revenue. The greater the reach by advertisers, the more money the social media corporation makes.

Jenkins’ definition of spreadability is relatively simple: the ability to spread content to various groups of individuals both technically and culturally. The only stipulation is being granted permission by the original content holder to share such content. We call this copyright. Now, we all know that most content posted on the internet stays forever. Spreadability of memes and other content alike become trending topics for an extended period of time.

Above is an image and a gif: up top is a poster reading “Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals”. The gif shows Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James trash talking Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors after blocking Curry’s shot in the NBA Finals. 

The Warriors possessed a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, winning three games to Cleveland’s one game. The Cavaliers then made a miraculous comeback, winning three straight games to win the series, 4-3. These memes have become an internet sensation because the Warriors earned a 73-9 regular season record, making NBA history for the best record of any team. A team in the NBA Finals has never lost while holding a 3-1 lead, making the Warriors first to do so.

The point is this: after the finals, memes began to spread notoriously over the internet. As of today, these memes still continue to stand strong on the internet simply because it is something to laugh at. On sports blogs and social media websites/apps, there is always that one comment of “the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead” no matter where you are. This is spreadability at its finest. 

On Twitter, ESPN tweeted about the NFL Draft taking place the following day. The problem was this was posted on the same day ESPN was in the process of laying off up to 100 on-air and digital personalities for “budget cuts”. The trolls came out full force.

The bottom left picture shows someone parodying the NBA Playoffs with “ESPN Layoffs”. The playoffs slogan is “Where Amazing Happens”. The troll posted “Where ESPN executives close their eyes, randomly pick 100 people to fire”.

The tweeter on the bottom right shows his disgust by basically saying ESPN fired 100 people who have families to support, all while bragging about college prospects entering the NFL Draft to make millions of dollars.

I chose a social media post from Twitter that focused on trolling and body shaming. Trolls have the intent to hurt people’s feelings, but Lady Gaga was not bothered by it. There were several trolls that thought it was okay to make comments about her body. Some of the trolls wanted to draw attention to her body rather than her talent.

I noticed that some trolls would tag their intended target (Lady Gaga) in their posts, so they know she would see it. The funny thing is that individuals like that have anonymous profile pics, so they can’t be identified, whereas other trolls would just make offensive comments with their profile pic and really not care. I also noticed that there were a lot more men than women who were making some of the comments that I came across. Some women were coming to Lady Gaga’s defense and saying that she looked great and that she is a real women who is not afraid to show her body. I feel that more women need to be confident and not compare themselves to society’s standards. These standards are not realistic for everyone nor should they be used to body shame anyone that doesn’t fit the standard. Lady Gaga spoke out about body shaming by saying that she is proud of her body and other people should be proud of theirs too.