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Success can now be collected and measured as numerical representations of online activity, in real time and updated constantly. TV shows can see how well the audience is responding to content unlimited by the dimensions of time and space. Success and popularity can be measured and compared by the count of interactivity from users. It can affect careers of politicians and celebrities, the lifespan of shows, can make or break technologies and companies, and is having a massive effect on how the world is being shaped. This blog post is going to look at a few examples of how the collection and results of big data has affected these entities.

  The popularity, particularly among younger demographics, of politicians and celebrities; films and TV shows, can be categorized and measured by the amount of interaction and following they have online. Politicians with a higher number of followers or likes appear more popular than their counterparts who generate less measurable data. Celebrities and their level of fame are relevant to their number of online supporters. Films and television shows are followed, re-tweeted, shared, and liked into popularity; low interactivity levels threatening to affect their lifespan and capital growth, both economic and symbolic (see more about types of capital in week 8 blog post).

  The ability to collect and collate big data enables the popularity of major figures to be easily displayed, interpreted, and analyzed (Siegel, 2013). This data can inform and affect political campaigns, pop culture, and the mainstream media (to name a few). For example, the data received from twitter informs news programs on the popularity and level of engagement audience members have to its specific segments. The show, for example The Project, is able to collect data and analyze the content to form decisions about its: 

-       Presenters

-       Segments

-       Content

-       Audience engagement in respect to the above aspects of the program

By analyzing the number of Tweets received by the show during the program, executives can make decisions about the program and how to better engage the audience (Woodford, Proud, & Bruns; 2014). This could be by stopping a segment, or replacing a presenter.

  New media conglomerates like Facebook and Twitter have technologies ingrained in their structure enabling mass data to be collected and displayed to the companies themselves, and users. What was previously reserved for conglomerates able to hire audience researchers, or extrapolate information from the ratings, is now accessible by almost all online entities. This process enables even the smallest of blogs to gather data about it’s reception and put it to use; possibly tailoring itself even more so to its primary audience’s wants. The ability to collect mass data has transformed media and communications research. The ratings and large-scale research companies are no longer the only bodies able to provide audience data. 

Bibliography

New media technologies are facilitating new types of activism dependent on networks and loose personal ties. This new type of activism allows long-term public conversation around various issues, instead of large-scale and ‘quick’ public events associated with other types of political activism. As noted by Malcom Gladwell (2010), “Where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools.” The tools regular citizens have access to has enabled the traditional relationship between political authority and mainstream will to be changed, and facilitate the previously powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns (Gladwell, 2010). Although this process has birthed some high-risk activism (i.e. violent protests, opposition of forces implementing violence), the Internet’s role in political and social reform is much more passive and focused on low-risk action than previous activist movements in history.

This is due to the loose-tie networked nature of social media. While social media permits a much larger number of personal connections to people, these connections lack strong emotional ties (Gladwell, 2010). It’s this close-but-distant aspect of new media technologies that facilitates new activism behaviors, most significantly ‘slacktivism’.  Political and social campaigns that seek minimal action from supporters (i.e. liking a page, sharing a video) usually offer social acknowledgement and praise in return for support (Gladwell, 2010). Gladwell noted, ‘social networks are good at increasing participation by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires,” (Gladwell, 2010). In other words, the Internet and its technologies make it easier for smaller and smaller actions to still be considered a worthwhile participation. Although slacktivism can cause a legitimate shift in public opinion, it is not as useful as traditional activism methods in the hopes of causing a significant systemic political change (Shirky, 2011).

Slacktivism is coherent with the environmental approach to Internet freedom outlined by Clay Shirky (2011). Shirky’s environmental approach to Internet freedom outlines that there should be a focus on long-term goals and changes built on a strong public sphere for conversation (Shirky, 2011). It puts emphasis on the conversations taking place in the public sphere as the core and cause of political change, and new media technologies as a tool to strengthen the public sphere long-term.  The idea that the media has a significant role in strengthening the public sphere and consequently supporting social change originated with the printing press, and has just expanded since the creation of the Internet’s new media technologies (Shirky, 2011). An example of this kind of activism is Gary White and Matt Damon’s website water.org – which is a global campaign bringing attention to the lack of drinkable water in some areas of the world. The site uses social media as a rallying point for supporters, and does not have a huge ‘call to action’, simply focuses on the small things supporters can do for the organization, mainly in an online environment.

While real-world activism still is important to the reformation of some political and social systems, new media technologies have enabled a new form of activism to come into existence: one focusing on long term effects, and the small contributions by the masses.

Bibliography

Gladwell, M. (2010, October 4). Small Change. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from The New Yorker:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all