Audience
Background and audience wider reading
Read this Guardian feature on stan accounts and fandom. Answer the following questions:
1) What examples of fandom and celebrities are provided in the article?
Julia Fox, Matt Healy,Taylor Swift swifties, Nicki Minaj Barbs
2) Why did Taylor Swift run into trouble with her fanbase?
She had trouble with her fans over the ticket system failing which meant fans couldn't purchase tickets for her performance.
3) Do stan accounts reflect Clay Shirky's ideas regarding the 'end of audience'? How?
Yes, Stan accounts do reflect Shirky's ideas as Stan accounts are an example of audiences not just consuming media but also producing it.
Read this Conversation feature on the economics of Taylor Swift fandom. Answer the following questions:
1) What do Taylor Swift fans spend their money on?
Fans spend large amounts of money on concert tickets, albums and merchandise.
2) How does Swift build the connection with her fans? Give examples from the article.
She builds personal connections with randomly selected super fans who she sometimes invites to her home before concerts for 'secret sessions' and she also writes handwritten letters to fans or even sometimes sends personalised gifts.
3) What have Swifties done to try and get Taylor Swift's attention online?
Swifts post and show off their devotion to her music online by posting images of themselves with merch/at concerts as this is recognised by Taylors 'Taylor Nation' twitter account which reposts these posts (getting her attention).
4) Why is fandom described as a 'hierarchy'?
They're described as a hierarchy as there's different levels of fandom with those who spend more, attend more concerts or have better seats being considered higher level.
5) What does the article suggest is Swift's 'business model'?
Her business model relies on fans desire to meet her as she gets people who buy more tickets and merch to gain her attention in hopes of meeting her as she has met other big fans who spend a lot.
Taylor Swift: audience questions and theories
Work through the following questions to apply media debates and theories to the Taylor Swift CSP. You may want to go back to your previous blogpost or your A3 annotated booklet for examples.
1) Is Taylor Swift's website and social media constructed to appeal to a particular gender or audience?
2) What opportunities are there for audience interaction in Taylor Swift's online presence and how controlled are these?
3) How does Taylor Swift's online presence reflect Clay Shirky’s ‘End of Audience’ theories?
4) What effects might Taylor Swift's online presence have on audiences? Is it designed to influence the audience’s views on social or political issues or is this largely a vehicle to promote Swift's work?
5) Applying Hall’s Reception theory, what might be a preferred and oppositional reading of Taylor Swift's online presence?
Industries
How social media companies make money
Read this analysis of how social media companies make money and answer the following questions:
1) How many users do the major social media sites boast?
Q4 2022
Meta - 2.96 billion monthly active users
LinkedIn - 900m
2019 (stopped reporting)
Twitter - 330m
2) What is the main way social media sites make money?
Advertisement
3) What does ARPU stand for and why is it important for social media companies?
Average revenue per user and it’s important as it tells the company how much income each user generates.
4) Why has Meta spent huge money acquiring other brands like Instagram and WhatsApp?
They’ve purchased these companies to increase their total monthly users so they can target more people with advertisement.
5) What other methods do social media sites have to generate income e.g. Twitter Blue?
Sites make extra money by charging subscriptions for premium services which give extra benefits such as the X blue check mark.
Regulation of social media
Read this BBC News article on a report recommending social media regulation. Answer the following questions:
1) What suggestions does the report make? Pick out three you think are particularly interesting.
Adding ‘friction’ to online sharing to slow down the spread of misinformation
‘circuit breakers’ where viral content is briefly stopped from spreading while it’s fact checked.
Display a correction to everyone who was exposed to misinformation.
2) Who is Christopher Wylie?
He exposed how Cambridge Analytica used millions of people’s facebook data for targeted campaigns.
3) What does Wylie say about the debate between media regulation and free speech?
Wylie says that regulating platforms wouldn’t limit free speech and that people aren’t entitled to having their free speech amplified by technology.
4) What is ‘disinformation’ and do you agree that there are things that are objectively true or false?
Disinformation is false information that is spread to mislead people. I somewhat agree, some things are objectively true or false as they can be proved (positive statements) but people’s opinions (e.g. pizza is the best tasting food) can’t be proved or disproved and therefore can’t be true or false (normative statements).
5) Why does Wylie compare Facebook to an oil company?
He compares the spread of misinformation to pollution being spread by oil companies. He does this by saying that oil companies would claim they don’t profit from pollution the same way facebook claim not to benefit from hate. Even though this may be true, it’s still the harmful byproduct of their product.
6) What does it suggest a consequence of regulating the big social networks might be?
It could result in people moving to smaller social network platforms which advertise the ability to have “free speech” which will attract those who want to spread hate speech.
7) What has Instagram been criticised for?
Harming mental health by promoting ‘perfect’ images which are highly edited and unrealistic.
8) Can we apply any of these criticisms or suggestions to Taylor Swift? For example, should Taylor Swift have to explicitly make clear when she is being paid to promote a company or cause?
I believe they could apply to Taylor Swift as she had a big influence on a large fan base so if she was to promote a product without stating it, it would make her fans think she use the product personally and make them more likely to use it themselves.
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