Keeping Up With The Kardashians… Oops I Mean Society

epic selfie via @raskalov

Honestly, I don’t think Instagram will be around in 10 years. Think about it, Myspace was short lived and Facebook use is declining. It’s a trend already in social platforms short lifespan. These platforms short lifespans almost reflect the attitudes of society today. People want new new new!!! That dress I bought last week, I’m already over that and want something different already. C’mon it’s the 21st Century and people are acting surprised about short lived phenomena, I mean we are the Why Not (Now) Generation.

Henry Jenkins (2004) talks about major trends and changes in technology, and since that was written in 2004, we can discover how in 10 years technology has changed. It is interesting to think what another 10 years will do to technology. He talks about what we will do with technology content, the change from analog to digital and its affects on cost, higher ownership rates, user generated content and new forms of community knowledge and habits. I think Instagram understands this concept of changing society. They understand that we are always on the move. The ability for us to snap and share is what makes this app so successful. The fast pace of society mean less time for everything basically, if only there were more hours in the day. Having less time means being in a sense less disconnected which Instagram too understands. It understands that we want to follow and unfollow who we please, comment on what we like and post what we like without taking a second thought. Check out VS model Cara Delevingne and her fearlessness towards IG posting. My ideologies about Instagram though may be different to say someone thats older a.k.a my dad. Older generations seem to not understand the impact that social media has on society. It changes the way we live. TV programs such as The Block (2003) use Twitter and Instagram. It’s a way of exposing their brand and in a way keeping up with the times. With Instagram, news travels quick. You can find out what fashion will be in next season as soon as it’s seen on the runway all the way in Paris. I think it’s fascinating but I guess dad just doesn’t understand.

 

Sources:

Jenkin, H 2004, The Cultural Logic of Convergence, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol 7, p. 33-43

The Block 2003, television program, Nine Network, Australia, 1^st June 2003

We Don’t Have To Be Media Robots

As soon as I wake up I check Instagram like it’s my Daily Telegraph, then I check out what nonsense is on Facebook, then I proceed to Twitter then Tumblr if I have time. Mind you, at this point I’m still in bed. Then when I am eating breakfast I can guarantee you I am watching either the Today Show on the Nine Network or Family Guy on Foxtel. On my way to Uni I am also chopping and changing between Triple J, Nova and Today FM. I guess you could say I’m run by the media, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, Kerry Packer, Mark Zuckerberg, The ABC, Austereo and the Nine Entertainment Company to be exact (Goncalves 2013). Woah, thats quite a lot.

I may be run by the media, in fact the majority of the world is run by media but that doesn’t mean we have to believe what we are “fed”. A few months ago Tony Abott appeared on 2GB with Ray Hadley claiming that the public believe the ABC is biased and un-Australian (Alexander 2014). This interview then led to a front page story in The Daily Telegraph causing controversy amongst some. The story sounded as though they were trying to justify Abotts statement about the ABC and attempted to make an apology (Blair & Auerbach 2014). As we know, “The Tele” a.k.a Mr Murdoch has been a supporter of the Liberals for some time showing bias in their headlines towards Liberal e.g. leading up to the election, headlines were in Abotts favour. Little to the audiences knowledge, just recently a poll had been taken on Australia’s most trusted media and detailed that it was in fact ABC that was the most trusted. News Corp contributes to Newspoll so Abott shouldn’t worry about this poll being biased.

Newspoll study via Essential Research 2013 (Alexander 2014)

 

I think this one example of media bias explains that no matter who controls the media, you have to broaden your sources of information. If we were only given one side of a story from all media corporations, Australia would be a very one sided country. I think that it’s great to have multiple media companies all with different opinions as they give the public a variety of information for them to make up our own minds. The first step though is broadening our media horizons.

 

Sources:

Goncalves, R 2013, Factbox: Who Owns What in the Australian Media, SBS, viewed on 27th March 2014, http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/06/22/factbox-who-owns-what-australian-media

Blair & Auerbach, T & T 2014, THE ABC OF TREACHERY, The Daily Telegraph, 30 January, p.1

Alexander, C 2014, Get Fact: Is Tony Abott right about the ABC?, Crikey, viewed on 27th March 2014, http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/01/30/get-fact-is-tony-abbott-right-about-the-abc/

 

Instagram Won’t Make You Rich

I had always been confused about what Copyright actually was. I think this is mainly because with the digital age that we live in, movies, images, music and games can be sent so easily through loopholes without getting caught. I still can’t fathom how we can download a copyrighted movie for free without getting caught. I don’t know anyone that has been caught illegally downloading things, I mean it should be easy right? Just find out what IP addresses have been downloading and voilà!

So, whilst I still find all the concepts of Copyright and The Creative Commons and licensing baffling I have tried to dig deep into the Terms and Conditions of Instagram (Instagram 2013). As I have a gathered, Instagram owns the right to do whatever they please with the content you post but will not claim the image as their own. Instagram also have no say in what Third-Party Properties do with your images… unless your profile is on private (Instagram 2013). If you are to dispute the use of your image by a third-party property, Instagram has claimed in their Terms and Conditions they have nothing to do with any legal issues if you wish to take the case further and if you are sued for posting someone else’s photo you must pay all of the fees (Instagram 2013). Crazy what we are signing into right?

I did come across on the magical inter-web that you can actually get a Creative Commons license for your Instagram account through i-am-cc.org (Harmon 2012). I did find out though that even if you own a Creative Commons License it doesn’t just totally disregard Instagram’s Terms of Conditions so people can still use your photos for whatever. By Instagram having an Open Content form of licensing it is amazing for avid sharers and music mixers but for those celebrities that own the app, they can’t make anymore money than they’ve already got (poor them) and for us, well if one of our photos makes it big time, we won’t become overnight millionaires. Dream on!

source: Tyler, the Creators Instagram @feliciathegoat

Sources:

Instagram 2013, Terms of Use, Instagram, viewed 20th March 2014, http://instagram.com/legal/terms/

Instagram 2013, API Terms of Use, Instagram, viewed 20th March 2014, http://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/api/

Instagram 2013, Privacy Policy, Instagram, viewed 20th March 2014, http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/

Soltero, A 2012, 6 Things Everyone Should Know About Instagram, The Social U, Viewed 20th March 2014, http://thesocialu101.com/6-things-everyone-should-know-about-instagram/

Harmon, E 2012, Should Instagram Adopt CC Licensing, Creative Commons, viewed on 20th March 2014, file:///Users/maddygreig/Desktop/BCM112/ASSIGNMENT%201/Should%20Instagram%20Adopt%20CC%20Licensing%3F%20-%20Creative%20Commons.webarchive

Do You See What I See?

I had fun researching some controversial images and found it shocking what some people would even allow to be published. Personally, I have no issue with controversial ads as I understand that it’s a way to sell  products. If an ad is banned for it being too inappropriate then that was probably the company’s goal in the first place, receiving more interest  just like this Lynx ad.

One ad I did find particularly caught my eye. It was a Brazilian WWF campaign. Upon researching this ad I came across another 9/11 ad. (Copyranter 2012) Although not as controversial as WWF I felt as though it explained and clearly conveyed they ideas of denotation and connotation.

Here is the WWF ad:

Brazilian WWF advertisement 2009

Here is the ad I chose:

Colombian newspaper, El País, 2008 advertisement

Both images are controversial as this event is something no one wants to relive or remember. But this ad in particular makes  you want to look. The sight of a plane flying into a building at a low landscape angle (at any angle really) is terrifying but in a sense too interesting to turn away. When I first viewed the image I found something to be a bit odd, then I read the small text at the bottom of the image. It says “You think you’re informed? Maybe not. If you read El País, you would have the information and a deep analysis of the world’s scene, and you would have noticed that the first attack on the World Trade Centre, was on the North Tower, that the impact wasn’t in the middle floors but the upper ones…Remember, there is something worse than not being informed and that is believing you are”. Of course, this image is a total misrepresentation of the event, for some though, they may not have realised. The signifier is what you see, the event of 9/11, most people would recognise that. The signified is what the image makes you think of. For me it is the major news stories and documentaries that followed the event, the poor families involved and the idiots that hijacked the plane. It also makes me think, like the small text says, that the first tower was hit higher up. The signified is determined by your ideological opinion and your knowledge so everyone’s opinion is different. For someone who doesn’t know the ins and outs of this event would just see an eye catching ad for El País. But for someone who does know this story they would truly get the whole idea and point of the ad. Personally I think this image is very clever in the way that it catches your attention for the purpose of this ad. Although, this ad may not be terribly like if it were on a large billboard in NYC.

Resources:

Copyranter 2012, The Five worst 9/11 Exploitation Ads, BuzzFeed, viewed on 20th March 2014, http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/the-five-worst-911-exploitation-ads

I Know, I Saw It On Instagram

Growing up I remember the first time I was introduced to social media was probably in year 6 or 7 when I got Myspace. My addiction to social network basically started then. I loved editing my profile, looking up new music and constantly talking to people without running out of credit. Then I got Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Gifboom, Vine, Snapchat, Jump In and even tried to start my own blog. I have always wanted and craved for the latest gadget or the newest app (except game apps, never been addicted to gaming). Out of all of these social network platforms, I have found Instagram to be my favourite.

Twitter (2006) and Facebook (2004) were created several years before Instagram burst onto the scene in 2010. By this stage avid technology consumers like myself were waiting for the next big thing. It was something totally new that we hadn’t seen before. Uploading single images to tell a story was not what we were used to. We were used to lengthy boring status’ and a minute by minute account of what someones cat was doing (although I guess we have started do this now on Instagram). We had never even seen someones meal being posted on Twitter or Facebook either or their legs while they were tanning (legs or hotdogs?). A simple image could tell a thousand words with this app. Instead of a 300 image photo album we just got to see the best of the best and the great thing was was that having a 50 comment long conversation on Instagram was and still is social suicide (BIG NO NO).

It’s not just the content of Instagram that is revolutionary it is the fact that this single app is one of the most powerful marketing tools. The brand Michael Kors was recently one of the first brands to be advertised through Instagram. After the ad, the brand received a staggering 34,000 new followers in 18 hours, nearly 16 times their normal rate of followers (Taube 2013). Since the Instagram brand was bought by Mark Zuckerberg in 2012 I have feeling we will be seeing more and more ads appearing on our once ad-free app. Since Zuckerberg has owned Instagram, the app is constantly having Facebook characteristics added to it such as being able to tag people in the photo and instant messaging. The question is, will Instagram keep on changing into something consumers will not enjoy anymore or become too alike to previous social network sites?

Check out the rate of growing Instagram users

Source: GlobalWebIndex Q4 2013

Sources:

Taube, A 2013, Michael Kors’ Widely Hated Instagram Ad Was Actually A Massive Success, Business Insider Australia, viewed on 15th March 2014, http://www.businessinsider.com.au/michael-kors-wins-with-first-instagram-ad-2013-11

Monkey See Monkey Do

http://www.hcplive.com/articles/Violent-Videogames-Desensitize-Brain-to-Violence-Increase-Aggressiveness-

 

So, apparently young children are influenced by the media to do violent things? At first I would’ve partly agreed with this statement, I mean the media affects everything we do, buy and consume, therefore making me wonder “maybe we behave like the media shows us to”. Having grown up in a time of technology, I had always been sat in front of the TV so I wasn’t nuisance to my parents. All of  that TV watching must have had some behavioural affects on me. Obviously I wasn’t walking around pretending I was a Power Puff Girl (actually I probably was) but maybe I learnt to be a brat by watching Angelica on The Rugrats, monkey see monkey do, a like to Alfred Bandura and his Bobo Doll experiment (Turnbull 2014).  After taking a look at Gauntlett’s “Ten Things Wrong with the ‘Effects Model'”(1998) it actually got me thinking. Maybe the issue isn’t with the media but to do with the genetics and psychological capability of a person. I found researching teenage offenders vs. ‘ordinary’ teens to be particularly interesting considering that the offenders hardly had watched any TV as they had hardly any exposure to technology in the first place (Gauntlette 1998).  It’s like saying that because the shooters of the Columbine massacre were supposedly influenced by Marilyn Manson (Bowling For Columbine 2002) therefore every violent act caused by children/teens is because of media influences. I think that is totally bogus to be honest.

Then we have issues, once again, said to be caused by social media, a new and even more brutal and psychological way of violence. We are all aware of the late Charlotte Dawson’s passing due to being cyber bullied via Twitter. This new extension of social media makes it ever more easy to contact people 24/7. It allows ordinary people to contact celebrities and gives them access to say whatever they please no matter how brutal. Many people a blame Twitter for her suicide but as the majority of her close friends had reported she had battled with serious mental issues for a very long time (Harris and Banshan 2014). She had them before she was abused and bullied on Twitter. So yes, Twitter was only just one contributing factor to her death but I believe it is not be blamed as much as it has been. I believe the way someone acts is very dependent on the persons upbringing (not television but parental nurture), their genetics and their life experiences not always the by the media.

Sources:

Gauntlett, D 1998, ‘Ten Things Wrong with the ‘Effects Model”, Approaches to Audiences- A Reader, viewed on 15th March 2014, http://www.theory.org.uk/effects.htm

Bowling For Columbine 2002, film, Momentum, America, directed by Michael Moore

Turnbull, S 2014, Week 2 Lecture

Harris, A and Bashan Y 2014, Charlotte Dawson found dead at her Sydney home, police say her death is not suspicious, The Daily Telegraph, viewed on 15th March 2014, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/charlotte-dawson-found-dead-at-her-sydney-home-police-say-her-death-is-not-suspicious/story-fni0cvc9-1226834547331

WELCOME

Hi I’m Madeline, (now you get the blog name, Madeline Oh Madeline).

I have finished at Engadine High School last year and am now excited to start my journey through University. I am doing a Bachelor of Communication and Media studies majoring in marketing and advertising and I also currently intern at a modelling agency in Surry Hills so life is a bit full on.  I love everything and anything about fashion, knowing almost every model that ever walked the runway for FW and I love music, just don’t ask me my favourite genre because I  will not be able to tell you, unless you count Beyonce as a genre.  Do I really need to tell you more about my life?

After finding the HSC difficult  I’m very determined to get stuck into the Uni life and study and find at least some balance in my life. Im dedicating this blog to my semester in the BCM110 and BCM112 courses. From this blog I will detail to all my readers and fellow classmates the difficulties that they and I are sure to come across over this course and interesting topics to discuss that I have learnt in my lectures and tutorials.

Such Uni, Much Blog