The aspect and role within media that I am looking to examine is the editor's job of deciding what gets published. This is easy and typical to examine when it comes to television, magazines, and newspaper. What TV shows do viewers want to see? Who is the target audience of a specific time slot, television station or specific programming? Similar questions can be asked of newspapers and magazines. What kinds of stories will appeal to the people the writers are targeting? Going deeper, what kinds of stories will appeal to the audience of the advertisers? Thus is the double role of old or traditional media-- appealing to their target audience and the target audience of advertisers. This goes back to questions raised in the chapter about stereotypes in media. If middle-aged, upper middle-class white men are determining programming, there is a good chance that programs will be about this group of people.
However, fast forward to today's saturated media world where web 2.0 (and what I will call media 2.0) and a new parallel set of questions can be asked. When you publish a facebook status, what is your motivation? This is just as much a rhetorical question as it is something you're welcome to answer in the comments. I know that I have different purposes depending on the status. Sometimes I share things on facebook for me, to fulfill my own need to share with people. Other times I post statuses because I want other people (sometimes specific people, sometimes anyone) to see them. This is very similar to the choices publishers and editors make with traditional media. What gets published and why?
With this question in mind I would encourage you to visit Facebook and look over three things. First, read through your newsfeed and ask why each post got published. Second, do the same thing for your own profile and third do it for a close friend's profile. This may seem like a new level of "facebook stalking" but it raises entirely new questions. It also seems like a great reason not to use Facebook and was one of the many reasons that I deleted my account for a month over the summer.
I will conclude by asking for your reactions. What do you think about this? Are my questions over analytical or do they raise good points about what our generation wants peers to see/know about us? Will this change how you use facebook at all in the short or long run (for me it might change how I use it today or this week, but overall I'll continue to use it just as I always have...)?
Wilson, I think your Facebook blog is not boring at all, in fact you took a really interesting aspect of facebook. When I write a status update I always have the target market as my friends but I have to keep in mind that my parents, aunts and uncles, and other adults might see it. When I look at other peoples posts I see a lot of asking for help (rides to the airport, looking for concert buddies, etc.) and a lot of posts that are people craving for attention and hoping that people will comment (life sucks, suchhh a bad day, etc.). I'll probably keep using facebook like I always do, continuing to scoff at the lame-ohs who post fishing for a compliment.
ReplyDeleteWilson, you blog made me go to my facebook and read my news feed and reflect about each status that my friends posted. I can see how most of the status updates are just things people need to share with others that are not very important but still other friends comment on their status. Sometimes the one sentence status have like 20 different comments sharing distinct points of view from different people culture, age, sex etc. I think it i goo for everyone that commented to see a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right in asking questions like what is the motivation behind people putting up a status for everyone to see? I would say that just by looking at how certain people use Facebook, you will learn a lot about them. For instance, I try to maintain a fairly private Facebook, occasionally posting a song that I want to share or my hatred for tests but there are many people who yearn for attention and try to funnel this through the site. Some people even enjoy announcing their farmvilles to everyone. There is definitely an intended message when someone puts up a status, but many times it's an inside joke for a specific group of people and everyone else ends up with a totally different meaning.
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