I am part of the generation that is old enough to remember Myspace. The amount of time and commitment to making my page have an effortless, yet “I’m fabulous” feel was ridiculous. I spent hours choosing the right song, editing profile pictures, and playing my part in the Myspace community.
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| Source: Myspace.com |
As social media began to progress, I even enlisted the services of friends to upgrade my page. And like most adolescents, I soon became focused on the amount of likes or comments I received. We all care about the likes and comments, whether we are all conscious of it or not is another discussion.
This is not the first company to create an active voice on social media platforms. Wendy’s and Burger King got in to an epic battle over Twitter. This battle was really just for laughs. However, it did result in a buzz around the two companies and I’m sure increased profits for both. As a result of the advances in forms of media, companies are able to establish stronger bonds with their customers. Proctor & Gamble have chosen to use their platform to take a stance on issues that affect society such as how society perceives girls and the issue of race. The videos “Like a Girl” and “The Talk” do not actively promote a single product. However, by taking a position and raising awareness to these issues Proctor and Gamble in turn have gained respect and loyalty from their customers. The strategy the Proctor and Gamble employs, is in my opinion one of the most powerful tools that has come from the advances in media.
Media is more powerful than it has ever been before , and we must wisely consume it, regardless of the form. Once I have completed my bachelors I will get back to a healthy amount of media consumption, and develop more of an active voice. I recognize the potential to develop a platform to reach the masses. It’s pretty cool that today the average Jane can express her opinion to those all around the world.
Great post Yolanda. Thanks for the throwback to the myspace days. I spent a lot of time on it myself. I agree with you that media consumption is at an all time high right now, and that we need to choose wisely what type of content we are consuming. Companies and celebrities certainly engage in twitter arguments just to increase profits and fame, but I don't really know if that is a bad thing for the general population since it is not really affecting any of us personally. Nonetheless, too much social media can either harm us or help us depending on how we use it.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job! I loved the videos that you linked. They were both very powerful and moved me, especially "The Talk". Another video that is similar to this is “The Dove Real Beauty Sketches”. If you haven’t watched it I definitely recommend that you do. To give you an idea the video has an artist sketch women two times, the first she describes herself and the second a stranger describes her. The results are very interesting. I completely agree that brands and companies are now changing how they advertise whether that’s in what messages there sending in ad campaigns or how they use social media for publicity. Also I really hope whoever is in charge of Wendy’s twitter account got a promotion because that was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that it's important to be very careful about what types of media you engage with. And I think you brought up an interesting point about who controls brand's social media sites and many of the interactions they have could just be to gain points with a certain community. But I also think it's nice to see that someone at Chase is loving Insecure as much as we are especially since this type of interaction would have never occurred in the past.
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