Blog 2 :)
Gillespie’s breakdown of the term ‘platform’ highlights how quickly different types of technology (software and hardware alike) have fit into a single description. It also pointed to the fickleness of the English language; for one word to have so many transformations is quite remarkable to me! This one word describes so many tools with several, varied capabilities which, on the surface, do not seem particularly similar.
One word!
- a physical platform one stands on to address a group of people
- a popular style of footwear
- a website for sharing and viewing videos, photos, music and/or text
Gillespie further delves into the analysis of language in drawing attention to the deliberate use of “you” in YouTube. He highlights how using “you” in the title and catchphrase (“Broadcast Yourself”) creates appeal, because it places the focus on the individual interacting with it. The website offers and encourages users to engage with the posting and commenting functions. I don’t think I’ve personally ever posted a video that wasn’t for uni, but I do use YouTube for music (exclusively… And in an age of Spotify… How embarrassing).
Murthy’s 2012 book “Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age” states that “more than 200 million tweets are sent every day”. This very well may have changed in the last five years, but I would imagine it’s only increased, no doubt in part due to ease of use and depth of reach. Twitter has become somewhat central in political discourse, including world leaders engaging with it in varying respects. Ekman & Widholm (2014) identified ‘public performed connectivity’ as one of three types of conceptual frameworks to apply to the celebritisation of politicians. They stated that “the boundaries between the public and the private become partly dissolved” when politicians participate in social media, making them appear more human to the general public. I remember seeing Barack Obama with a rapping Lin Manuel-Miranda outside the White House and thinking, “when did this guy get cool?”
In Gillespie’s conclusion he states “A term like ‘platform’… is carefully massaged so as to have particular resonance for particular audiences inside particular discourses”. I think he sums it up eloquently here, because while YouTube and Twitter have little in common at first glance, both have given and continue to provide the opportunity for regular people – those of us with little to no influence otherwise – a voice, and therefore the potential to engage with entertainment and social issues alike.
REFERENCES
Gillespie, T 2010, 'The politics of platforms', New Media & Society, vol. 12, no. 3, Sage.
Ekman, M & Widholm, A 2014, "Twitter and the celebritisation of politics", Celebrity Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 518-520, viewed 10 December, 2014, <https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2014.981038?scroll=top&needAccess=true>.
Murthy, D 2013, Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age, Polity, Cambridge.