Meme Queen

internet thoughts from a new media observer

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Anna Rawsuh

Real person, fake YouTuber.

Hi everyone! Here is my fake YouTube channel where you can find my makeup tutorial and my Let’s Play video for my Digital Culture final project on content creation. 

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Social Media as a Medium?

So, I’ve been meaning to post about this for a long time. I don’t know how much I have to say since I’m still confused about it, but I would love to hear anyone’s take on this.

Earlier this semester, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed (this was pre-algorithm if I remember correctly,) and I came across this rather odd sponsored post by an account called “Example Business:”

I almost didn’t stop scrolling to look, but this was actually not a still image. It was a video of a series of images, all seemingly stock photos, of various subjects. And I don’t recall any of them being a baseball cap. I don’t remember if I clicked on the account or if it wasn’t anything memorable. It seemed to have relatively low engagement. I commented on the post to ask if it was a conceptual art project (still my leading theory,) but others who commented said things like “???” and “is Instagram drunk”

One thing that makes this so mysterious is that sponsored posts are hard to find. I found this out a few posts ago when I was frantically googling trying to find a specific Taco Bell sponsored post I had seen. They don’t show up on a timeline or feed on any of the major platforms. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for some A/B testing if you ask me.

So what do you think this post is? Simply a stylistically weird choice on Instagram’s part to reach out to advertisers and educate them on how sponsored posts work? Or was it another weird Internet phenomena which will one day be revealed as a long-term art project, like Horse ebooks?

I recently read about the artist on Instagram whose art project on online lives convinced her thousands of followers of an ulterior identity, and my first thought was “Of course!” It makes total sense that we’re moving into social media usage as a medium for art. This art that might be more accessible, as well change the course of modern art forever. 

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When #YesAllWomen just doesn’t cut it

We’ve discussed the hashtag #YesAllWomen in class to give an example of social justice on social media and organizing to raise awareness of an issue marginalized people face.

But here’s the thing: it got a lot of media attention. Brands jumped on board. Celebrities and politicians contributed to it. A hashtag that was created to give voice to people whose struggle was being ignored soon grew to a point where the individuals (not just influencers, but real people who started the movement) were no longer at the center of the conversation. What do you do when a hashtag becomes too mainstream?

#Youoksis was created by social justice blogger and Twitter influencer Feminista Jones as an avenue for women, specifically African American women, to voice their experiences with street harassment. It also encourages women to step in when they see another person getting harassed.

An additional use for the hashtag was to educate men, especially African American men as well as white people, the unique struggle African American women go through. I’ve definitely witnessed some of this learning, as well as done my fair share of learning. 

I’ve been following #YouOkSis for a while and it’s been a really powerful grassroots replacement for #YesAllWomen, which at its height focused mainly on more privileged groups. I love that social media allows for people to create spaces when their voices aren’t being heard in the existing ones.

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To pick a fandom:

I’ve never been into a “traditional” fandom. I never read Harry Potter, I’m still on season 2 of GoT, and Doctor Who just doesn’t really seem like my style. 

After discussing with Michelle McCudden (who has a PhD. in Fandom...WHAT) the differences between YouTube fandom and fandom where the source material is finalized or at least more structured, I’ve come to some realizations about how I pick fandoms to enter- and I am definitely of a “fannish disposition.”

When I was younger, my very first fandom that I participated in online was Fall Out Boy. I still consider myself a “true fan/diehard fan” because of the four albums whose melodies and lyrics I will most certainly take to my grave. Yes, I’m ignoring their most recent 2 albums because they’re not MY FOB and I was safely out of the fandom by the time they came out.

Fall Out Boy was my every waking moment in 6-10th grade. I had some of the typical collection behavior going on, I prided myself on my knowledge of the band and how many times I had seen them in concert (and how close I was). I distinctly remember crying because I just loved Pete Wentz so much!!!!!

But, I was young and foolish and as soon I got acquainted with reality enough to realize that 14-year-old me was not going to ever join the band, I moved on. This line of thought is key to why YouTube is my fandom of choice, and it explains my interaction and relationship with fandoms now, as a (mostly) adult.

The feeling of being too young with not enough capital or agency to really interact with the subjects of my fandom was terrible. To combat this, I think I’ve chosen to participate in more accessible fandoms. 

YouTubers are real people, right? A huge number of them (few of which I consider myself a fan of, though) are younger than I am. That’s crazy. The ones I love to love are only 1-10 years older than I am. That, to me, makes them super accessible. Now that I’m an adult with autonomy and some capital, I could literally go to VidCon or a show and pay money to meet them. That’s a huge improvement upon listening to From Under the Cork Tree on my iPod nano on the school bus everyday for 3 years! 

But I don’t pay to meet them. I barely converse with others in the fandom about these YouTubers. And that’s because I’m holding on to the possibility of being on level playing field with them, being equals, and interacting in the real world. And knowing that I’ve fanned out hardcore about these would-be peers makes me stay in the lurk zone. 

“Casually” participating in these fandoms is also not the same level of emotional commitment as crying emo middle school tears after a Fall Out Boy concert. But that could just be because of puberty.

One last thought- I recently got to see a band (not FOB) who I obsessed over in middle/high school perform a 10-year anniversary tour of the release of their first album. This was a farewell tour as they had already disbanded and weren’t permanently getting back together (and no doubt, a result of fan campaigning). I had the agency to purchase a ticket, and attend the show as an adult, but with all the same feelings I had about the band as when I was 13. Let me tell you, it was trippy and SO WEIRD but also extremely satisfying. Is this how 2026′s 22-year-olds will feel about seeing a One Direction reunion concert? It’s pretty interesting to think about.

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Brainless Blood Bags and Present Shock

Douglas Rushkoff has a thing for zombies. Though I think I understand what he’s saying, I’m not sure I follow his logic. Here’s what I’ve gathered:

We live in a world where we are constantly forced to deal with the present moment- where a notification takes us out of whatever we are doing because everything happens in real time. We don’t have a reprieve from the hustle and constant vigilance of our daily lives. We don’t plan for a greater future because we are too distracted by everything happening. right. now.

Rushkoff says this explains our obsession with apocalyptic scenarios. He thinks that feeling like there’s no “turning off” or ending our culture of constant availability leads people to fantasize about a big, sweeping, dramatic end of times- an apocalypse.

Many people, scientists even, agree that an apocalypse that involves zombies is plausible, if not probable. These people are stocking up and prepping (being a “prepper” is a thing among this crowd) for an apocalypse which will come and free them from the never-ending feedback loop. The same goes for our cultural fascination with zombie narratives (even though I think this fascination has existed since Night of the Living Dead, long before present shock.) If the world is always on, people “ache for a conclusion,” he argues.

Rushkoff also says that the way we have developed technology has made us devalue humans. It seems like he’s especially referring to AI, which definitely accompanies a narrative of “humankind will be obsolete in x number of years.” I think from this, he’s implying that we look to zombies to try to differentiate them from ourselves- or are we both just brainless blood bags?

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Not to go on and on about Taco Bell on social media...

But I’m about to. Sorry!

https://www.facebook.com/tacobell/videos/10154039435084697/

So you would have to live under a rock to have avoided the format of recipe video that has taken hold of social media, specifically Facebook as of late. I’ve been watching them for quite some time, just like everyone else. Something about the simplicity of the idea and the fact that foodporn is a real desirable thing elicits a positive emotional response!

So, naturally, like anything else on the Internet that people like, we started making fun of it.

Taco Bell is not the only page on Facebook who has riffed on the recipe video format. Here are some other examples: 

This recipe video that not-so-subtly pushes back against extreme desserts 

Or this Buzzfeed feature on Trump’s steak recipe

As much as I enjoy the original recipe videos, I think this is such a hilarious development. And look what each of these pages was able to do by parodying this concept!

Taco Bell turned their parody into a smart, witty and (imo) effective ad for a breakfast menu item. Buzzfeed combined the troll wars over Trump’s unusual steak order and the popularity of recipe videos into a political statement that was fun to watch. That, to me, is the true American Meme.

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Taco Bell road trip, anyone? Here are 12 beautiful Taco Bells we bet you never knew existed. https://www.tacobell.com/feed/coolesttacobells

Taco Bell is probably my favorite brand to follow on social media. They’re hilarious, irreverent, and constantly parodying themselves. This is a recent post they created, linking to their blog. I’m going to analyze it using the tenants of spreadability introduced in Chapter 5 of Spreadable Media.

Available when and where audiences want it? I would certainly say so. This post is a parody of other posts that are widely spread on Facebook, and that’s just where they posted it. I looked at it for a minute, thinking it was out of place on Taco Bell’s page being that it was just another elitedaily travel article until I realized the joke.

Portable? Yes, thanks to Facebook! Sharing posts is incredibly easy, and as I mentioned before, this type of post is frequently shared on on Facebook.

Easily reusable in a variety of ways? I think so, to a degree. The cool thing about this post is that I’m reading it as a stab at the millennial travel article that my generation so adores. But someone else who actually really likes Taco Bell may not read it that way, and genuinely look at it to learn about different interesting Taco Bell locations. Taco Bell never explicitly says it’s parody. 

Relevant to multiple audiences? This one I’m not so sure about. Maybe Taco Bell is a big enough brand that they don’t need to make each content relevant to more than their target audience for that material. It seems to be focused on millennials more than anyone else.

Part of a steady stream of material? Taco Bell, as a large brand with a big social media team no doubt, is very consistent in posting. There’s a lot of content there, and they’re always poised to hop on the latest news or event and make a post about it. 

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Talking to a camera?

I filmed my Let’s Play for my final project this weekend. I played a video game for the first time and filmed my gameplay while recording audio commentary.

It was SO HARD in the ways I thought it would be but also in all sorts of ways I didn’t think about.

Sure, the technical hangups were there: the software needed to record, adjusting the levels to make sure everything was sounding good, trying not to mess up the controls in the game since I wasn’t familiar with them...

But talking to a camera? That was hard. And my face wasn’t even in it!

I didn’t think I’d have any problem narrating what was happening, but the thing is, providing commentary forces you to vocalize things you would never say if you weren’t filming- when providing commentary, you need to comment on thoughts that would normally stay safely tucked in your head. 

The result is what will probably be a choppy, inconsistently commentated mess that is going to take me hours to edit. 

Cheers to you, YouTubers. Everyone thinks you have it so easy.

[emilypapp1-blog]

“Cleanliness is next to godliness”

I chose to read Felix Salmon’s prediction about journalism in 2016. The first line of the introduction stood out to me, “Ad’s have been getting increasingly annoying for years,” which I totally agree with 100%. However, Salmon predicts that 2016 is the year that “adtech encrustations” will actually start going down, rather than up (which is an amazing thought). 

Salmon predicts that 2016 is going to “smash” 2015′s record for the number of news stories read in-app, thanks to Apple News, Facebook Instant Articles, and Snapchat Stores. As a result, publishers will start facing real pressure to clean up their web pages. A cleaner/faster webpage may cause people to stick around longer, read more stories, and build up loyalty to any particular site. However, Salmon believes that this won’t happen quickly. It will take it’s time for the ad’s to disappear, but eventually, it will prove to be beneficial for the mobile web and for creativity in the online ad industry. 

If this prediction were to come true, I think it would definitely enhance my experience with news & journalism online. It would mean less viruses for my computer or phone, and more straightforward content (rather than scrolling endlessly through advertisement to advertisement). Most of the time, I end up giving up on reading online news stories on my phone because I am bombarded by pop-up advertisements. However, if Salmon’s predictions come true, I would be more inclined to stick around and read the story in its entirety. 

[socialsorcerer-blog]

I definitely agree with you here in that ads make reading news articles, especially on mobile, so much worse. Additionally, sometimes really well-curated and otherwise “clean” sites like WSJ and Forbes, have the ugliest ads which completely take away from the aesthetic the readers value.

I have a question and a response to this issue:

The question- what does Salmon propose as the new model for news orgs to make money off their websites? Is it membership? 

The response- I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more sponsored content in the future as a means of “cleaning up” webpages. Instead of obstructive and annoying popups or banners. brands will pay publications to create content. It’s cleaner, more seamless, and even though it’s sponsored content, there’s more value in it than an ad that is simply in the way.

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Wrong uses for LinkedIn

I just received a LinkedIn invitation from a white middle-aged man who works at a warehousing company in Maine. I immediately thought we had nothing in common and I wasn’t sure why he had requested to connect with me. Before denying him outright, however, I viewed his profile to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

He attended a community college in Maine, has worked at two different warehousing companies as an operation manager and our only shared skill was “customer service.” I began to get a somewhat uncomfortable feeling about connecting with this rando. But wait! We had 4 shared connections! This seemed promising, so I clicked on them to try to crack the code on this guy. The 4 shared connections were 3 other Simmons SOM students, either my year or the year above, with varied majors. And their profile pictures, like mine, all showed a professional but polished smiling young white woman. You can imagine the conclusions I drew from here.

I think it takes a special kind of person to use LinkedIn to connect with young women for personal reasons when they are on the site to open themselves up to job and networking opportunities. That feels exploitative and honestly, I have no patience for it. 

@men using LinkedIn to try to talk to young women: WHY?

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Social Media and BLM

Social media has definitely increased traditional media’s accountability. This is important, because the major news stations played on general access cable are owned by large companies with corporate interests entirely separate from the interests of the general public.

So this is how the news cycle might work nowadays:

news reports on an issue with bias prescribed by their corporate owners

news reports on issues relevant to a corporate agenda without transparency

people on the ground of news-worthy events document their experiences via social media

activists and individuals spread the first-hand accounts on social media published by those at the scene

some news outlets pick up on the first-hand accounts

progressive/independent news outlets and individuals use social media and the Internet to highlight the discrepancies between news coverage

mainstream news outlets are kept somewhat accountable (I hope)

.This definitely happened during the Black Lives Matter movement, specifically the protests in Ferguson, MO. Regretfully, that was the period of time where I began to pick up on social media activism. I know that this new model for newsgathering began with the Occupy Wall St. movement, but it has really come into its own during the BLM movement.

I just recently visited the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, LA. We learned about the inaccurate news coverage and severe injustices that have occurred there since Katrina. I couldn’t help but wonder, what if we had a culture of activism on Twitter in 2005? What would have changed?

Just today, this Twitter thread about the American media’s reporting on American drone strikes vs. Russian drone strikes showed up in my feed. This is still a pressing and relevant issue. I’m looking forward to watching social media change how we get our news. Our generation is the one to make that change.

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Instagram is switching its feed from chronological to best posts first

The average Instagram user misses 70 percent of what's in their feed, including great photos with tons of Likes and posts by their best friends. So today..

Yet another reverse chronological feed will soon be ruled by an algorithm. 

This article states that people miss up to 70% of the posts in their feed, and it’s true, I feel like I miss my friends posts all the time. I have found Twitter’s ‘While You Were Away’ feature helpful most times, because much like my Instagram feed, I don’t want to miss my friends’ posts, but they’re often greatly outnumbered by posts from other accounts. I may follow more brands, thought influencers, celebrities, and organizations than people I know personally, but this is an instance where quality of the relationships trumps quantity.

However, I’m worried about what makes a “good” post “good,” aside from having liked similar posts before. Is Instagram monitoring photo quality and captions? It’s all so subjective, and may leave out more avant-garde Insta posts.

To make sure this algorithm doesn’t result in an endless feedback loop which locks you out of passively discovering new content a la Facebook, I think Instagram should counter this change with suggested posts. These would not be promoted posts, but rather suggestions based on accounts and pictures you follow and like, much like Tumblr’s model.

Okay Instagram algorithm, we’re all watching you.

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Journalism, Eyewitnesses, and Social Media

http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/12/a-new-dawn-in-social-newsgathering/ 

This Neiman Lab’s Journalism Prediction asserts that social newsgathering is becoming more important to news media organizations and simultaneously harder to manage and collect. I remember seeing on Twitter the example of the eyewitness to the UCC shooting in Oregon. White reporters asking a young black student to comment on what was happening at her school during the violence is insensitive to say the least, but as Reid points out, those reporters were just doing their jobs. A genuine, confirmed eyewitness to a news-worthy event on social media is valuable to media organizations, and it’s no wonder they’re seeking them out.

The other issue this prediction raises is that eyewitnesses on social media are not always truthful, and it lists plenty of occurrences where false insight was presented as fact and later corrected. I believe that we already have the technology to fix this problem: GPS and location sharing. Facebook/Twitter could develop a way to search based on location (which usually exists in News Stories anyway), and reporters could pull eyewitness material from those confirmed cases. 

This would definitely mean that me, and many other conscious social media users, would have a greater incentive to post about news-worthy events. I’m also interested in what this might mean for thinkpieces and more serendipitous news, like the girl who trolled her ex-boyfriend with Adele lyrics earlier this year. I wouldn’t hate getting a DM from a news source in response to something interesting happening in my life! That’s the millennial dream!

In all seriousness, social media has changed the way we view news and eyewitness testimony. Watching traditional media interact with social media for the BLM movement (specifically police brutality) has been interesting- this is new ground we’re forging- and it’s the beginning of a more honest approach to reporting the news.

[socialsorcerer-blog]

a love letter to weird twitter

Dear Weird Twitter,

I love you. I can’t believe that before a few days ago, I didn’t know what to call you.

But I love you, even though my inability to restrain from RTing you is the reason I changed my Twitter handle from my first and last name.

I love you, because things like this:

really break up my TL from activism and politics and news. 

I love you because I’m always finding myself, halfway through a class, thinking about whose picnic was ruined and why on Earth do I relate so much to this Tweet:

It’s my personal opinion that Rob Delaney is the father of Weird Twitter (or should I say the #ChristianDad). He was certainly my introduction, and as one of my favorite comedians, there couldn’t have been a better one. I think about this tweet constantly:

I love you because reading Tweets from Weird Twitter is like reading an exercise in related words and phrases which have never been put together before. 

I love Weird Twitter because it’s a thriving community, despite the complete lack of sincere hashtags. How does it work? If it’s just bigger influencers RTing smaller ones, you have to admire the dedication of the community. 

I love you, Weird Twitter. Stay Weird. 

Love,

Anna

ps: shout out to Laura for bringing this article to my attention: http://www.vice.com/read/joke-twitter-celebrities-endhoos-jonnysun-dubstep4dads-keetpotato-ruinedpicnic. obviously it was the inspiration for this post.

[socialsorcerer-blog]

I’m so 3008, you’re so 2000 and late

Internet culture and the passage of time have a complicated relationship.

If you’re a digital native, and you’ve ever had the overwhelming urge to post a joke, meme, or livetweet an event as soon as possible before someone else thinks of it, you know what I’m talking about.

As things on the internet get older, they lose appeal and value, and the longer something has been on the internet, the less exciting it is. Everyone is after the authenticity of being among the first to discover something. 

It’s my personal opinion that if you’re a good internet citizen, you believe in keeping jokes on the platform they originate from. There’s nothing worse than one of these:

A tumblr post screencapped and posted on Facebook by one “comedy” Facebook page and then shared by another and then shared by a Facebook friend of mine. I had to spend about 90 seconds scrolling to find an example of this.

For anyone who participates in a content creation platform like Tumblr or Reddit or (dare I say) 4Chan, seeing recycled jokes on another platform weeks, months, or years later makes you cynical about certain platforms like Facebook. A piece of this is that those original platforms feel like a community with many inside jokes, and letting other people who don’t “belong” to those communities in on the jokes feels like cheating. Another point is that different social channels have rules and formats to what they post and cross-platform posting takes those posts out of context.

I’m normally all for a wide, integrated, connected user experience but this is one area where I feel that as time passes on the Internet, the authenticity of content declines.

[socialsorcerer-blog]

Now you'll never again have to "Like" it when your friend gets dumped.

Facebook reactions just took engagement beyond liking and sharing. 

In response to feedback about “Liking” being inappropriate for some situations, such as someone’s post about a house fire or death of a loved one, Facebook rolled out their new Reactions feature today. This is giving people a wider range of emotions to use without having to comment exactly what they’re thinking.

This made me think of this post: https://medium.com/swlh/i-quit-liking-things-on-facebook-for-two-weeks-heres-how-it-changed-my-view-of-humanity-29b5102abace#.r4cj3rvx7 and how quitting liking can make your Facebook news feed better. 

I’m curious as to how the new reactions buttons will affect the algorithm for the news feed. If Facebook knows you are sad about a pet death or mad about Donald Trump, will it show you more tear-jerking videos of dogs dying or more articles about how out-of-touch certain presidential candidates are? 

On another note, I think the design for the react buttons isn’t quite aligned with Facebook’s clean, neutral branding. I’ll be interested to see how this is received.

[carlysdigicommblog-blog]

February 15, 2016

Post 1: News: San Jose Will Track Super Bowl Visitors’ Mobile Devices To Find Out What They Like To Do In The Bay Area – Silicon Valley Business Journal One aspect of digital culture that I disagree with is unauthorized mobile tracking.

This issue was in the news recently as San Jose tourism centers made plans to track mobile phones during Super Bowl Sunday in order to see where visitors go and what they do.

Using this data will be extremely beneficial to them in determining what aspects of the city are most inviting to tourists, which will allow them to better market themselves as a travel destination. And, they argue that their tracking is not an invasion of individual privacy, since mobile users’ identities will be kept private and in no way associated with their location data.

Regardless of whether or not an individual can be connected with their mobile ID, tracking a person’s every move without their permission is entirely unethical, and a borderline act of stalking.

Where and when people go where they go and do what they do is an entirely personal matter. If people want it shared, they can choose to share it themselves.

There are a million other ways that the tourism centers could have attained this information without choosing to sneak around and violate the privacy of their visitors. They could have been direct and simply asked for feedback, launched surveys, contests, social media campaigns…anything!

The fact that they felt the need to use location tracking data without permission is nothing short of laziness and shady business ethics.

It’s shocking enough to know that this initiative went through, that attendees had no say in allowing a company to track their every move, and that this was all applauded by many in the industry as a strong strategic marketing technique. However, for me there is another aspect of the issue that is even more unnerving.

The really unsettling takeaway here is that stalking, and the invasion of people’s rights to their own data and personal privacy, is acceptable if it’s done in the name of economic growth and “good business” practice. This is an extremely dicey message to send, both to businesses and to the public at large.

It seems that it is quietly becoming the norm for digital culture to infringe on individual privacy rights, and as a result people are becoming accustomed (or tricked) to ceding their privacy without second thought.

[socialsorcerer-blog]

THIS. Yes girl. Okay, having a problem with unauthorized mobile tracking is one of the things that makes me feel like an outsider in the agency world. IMO, if Simmons leaders were running the companies that pioneered these technologies, you’d be seeing a lot more principled leadership practice!

But I’ll get off my soapbox. This past summer I worked at a digital marketing agency. The biggest lesson I learned there was what I don’t want to do in the marketing space. Holy crap.

So first, there was the SEO bidding war. There was constantly making adjustments in AdWords and cranking out reports in Google Analytics to convince the clients that they were doing all they could to make them totally optimized. & SEO was like the most peaceful and chill department.

Then there was the Paid team. You know the banner ads you try to avoid, install AdBlock to minimize, and generally ruin your internet experience? That’s what this team did. I was on the social team, so I was constantly referencing the client’s website for information to write into content. As result, the client’s ads (our ads!) followed me around, stalking me on every webpage I visited. It was so creepy.

It didn’t help that all of our clients were the most boring B2B Tech and healthcare companies imaginable. We couldn’t keep anyone else, it seemed, because anyone with an eye for what consumers want knows that our methods weren’t innovative or pleasurable to consume.

And through all that effort, what we were producing was a huge invasion of privacy. I believe in transparent, innovate, integrated marketing that does some good for a party other than the shareholders. (This is maybe why it’s goal of mine to never work for a company with shareholders?!)

In summation, this tweet by Ezra Koenig encompasses my feelings on this type of advertising: