Strategically Communicating

Reading the first 3 chapters of Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture, we are exposed to the beginnings of his study and analysis of the relationship between the concepts of media convergence, the participating culture, and collective intelligence.

A couple of things that struck me after doing the reading: 1) Interesting to note that his goal was to document conflicting perspectives on media change rather than critique them, because he doesn’t think a critique of convergence can be done until it is more fully understood (spoke to the utter complexity of understanding convergence); 2) He said he wanted to help ordinary people grasp how convergence is impacting the media they consume because “if the public doesn’t get some insights into the discussions that are taking place, they will have little to no input into decisions that will dramatically change their relationship to media.” (this made me start to think about my media consumption in a more analytical way); 3) And last, (and perhaps least to some), I appreciated his accessible writing style (if writing is not engaging and consumable by the public he is trying to share his insights with, then what’s the point?!).

Chapter one was a discussion about the world of a group “spoilers” of the reality TV show  Survivor. We delved into the word of the spoilers and how their actions affected the TV show. By pooling their knowledge and intelligence, this group seeks to find out secrets about the TV series and reveal them on their message boards before they are aired on the show. We learned about active consumers and the power of collective intelligence through an analysis of the Survivor spoiler community. This case study showed how active consumers can become a powerful force that can change the way producers act and react to their messages.

Chapter two was a discussion about the American Idol TV show. This study was told more from the perspective of the media industry. We learned about how reality is being shaped by “affective economics.” In its most basic terms, because of the decline of the value of the 30 second commercial, advertisers are now interfacing with consumers in ways that blur the line between content and brand messages. For example, the Coca-Cola brand’s infiltration into  American Idol from everything to the Coke glasses in the judges hands, to the “red room” on set to the soft drink promotions reward tickets to the show’s finale. Jenkins talked about the ways companies are trying to get the audience “inside” the brand. The American Idol story was in contrast to the Survivor story in that the spoilers had the power to affect the producers, but the American Idol fans felt that even though they were supposed to be the ones voting and deciding the outcome of the show (after all, they were promised: America gets to decide upon the next Idol!), that the producers were actually the ones manipulating the outcomes. The fans were starting to speak out, expressing their outrage over what they perceived as fraud in voting methods and counts.

Chapter three, The Matrix, an example of transmedia storytelling. Here we learned about world-making and the role of active participation and knowledge communities which are needed in order to fully comprehend and even enjoy what you are watching. To fully understand The Matrix, and its sequels, the consumer must participate by researching and finding out information about the story, and spend time comparing notes with others in online groups, playing games, watching shorts, etc. This type of transmedia storytelling can be construed as quite demanding on the consumer, as they don’t get the full experience by simply watching the movie (and indeed won’t really understand what is going on in the movie – reading this chapter helped explain why I was scratching my head and saying “huh?” a lot when I watched the first two movies!).

Thomas Ruggiero’s Uses and Gratifications Theory explored the history of communications research surrounding U&G studies. He said that while many scholars think that U&G is not a  rigorous social science theory, he believes that any attempt to speculate on the future direction of mass communication theory must include the U&G approach, especially in light of the emergence of computer-mediated communications, which has heightened the significance of the meaning of uses and gratifications. He starts with a decade by decade history of the communication research methods that have been used, as people have switched media behaviors, from radio to newspapers to TV to computers. He stresses that in order to answer the question of why do people become involved in one particular type of mediated communication over another, that it must be known what gratifications they receive. In Sunday’s Columbian business section there was an article about how on-demand viewing is on the rise in households, and how you can find every member of a household involved in using a different form of media, even while they are all in the same room– different gratification levels). It was startling and a bit humbling to read the predictions of media use in article and think about how far we have come in only a decade since this article was written (“…the Internet is a technology that many predict will be genuinely transformative, it will lead to profound changes in media users’ personal and social habits and roles.”)

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1.  Are you willing to be an active participant in the TV shows or movies that you watch? Are you willing to expend the time and energy to do research, participate in on-line message boards and/or do other research in order to fully enjoy a show or movie? Do you think it depends on your age? Is this type of active participation solely for the “younger” generation? If so, what will happen to the “older” generation? Are people age 40 and over irrelevant to popular culture media producers?

After a quiet summer, I look forward to a stimulating and inspiring fall with the graduate students taking Mass Communication & Society at the University of Oregon’s strategic communication graduate program in Portland.  We’ll be covering some fascinating topics and I know these great minds will bring thought-provoking insights to the blog!  I feel so fortunate to teach this class as I believe that there may be nothing more influential in our society today than the way media is changing the way we learn, find information, engage in our world and connect with each other.

Let the journey continue…

I came across this blog post on Thought Catalog while skimming my Twitter news feed and thought, no pun intended, that it really captured the essence that IS Facebook. It’s crazy to think how little privacy you have as a social media user even if you have privacy settings. How many people are truly good friends with all of their Facebook friends? That being noted, how many of your “friends” do you really want looking into your life, and why? There are few users that delete friends as the fade out of their lives. Although you may not be directly communicating with them and letting them into your life, you provide them with photos, status updates, relationship updates, etc., to be able to read into what is happening in your current life. Do we do this for nostalgic purposes? Or are we doing this so we can creep on those friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, hookups, that have a different lifestyle than you do? It kind of reminds me of reality TV, we watch it so we can live vicariously through the life that TV provides, but in the case of Facebook, it’s that much more real because you actually know these people. As Chuck Palahniuk wrote, “”The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend.” I think this quote parallels with the function of Facebook. I feel like a main reason why we upload information to Facebook is so other people can look into our own lives. So is FB a form of strategic communication or just really creepy?

It is important to be careful who your friends, connections, and followers are on social media. This is for multiple reasons. One being how a wrong perceived contact can look towards a future employer. Another being how helpful a good “friend” can be.

Future employers, dates, and loved ones do not just look at your tweets or wall posts. Your “friends” are looked at too. If all of your followers are sorority sisters who tweet about going out and getting wasted every night with constant misspellings, how do you think that makes you look? Just like them. Be weary of who you allow to be your social media “friend”. You may care greatly about your online presence, edit every tweet, re-tweet carefully, and have professional photos of yourself, but unfortunately, not everyone does. I personally have had to “un-friend” on Facebook some of my good in my life friends because I disapprove of how they chose to use social media as a weekend evidence site. This does not mean I dislike them or even look down on their lifestyle. However, when branding one’s self it does not just matter how we act, but who we surround ourselves with.

To the contrary, having helpful, social media savvy “friends” can prove to be beneficial. I recently received the honor of interning with a corporate office this summer. I became excited immediately. My glee started fleeing as  I read how formal the attire was for the work place. I though “how can I afford to get a whole new wardrobe before I get a paycheck?” After a few tweets, direct messages, and a status update I quickly received multiple solutions from my social media “friends” on what styles are in, where to get them, and helpful hints on how to look professional quickly. I estimated it out that my social media “friends” saved me over $300 on what I expected I needed to spend.

Real life and social media life are not drastically different. We are judged by the company we keep. Surround yourself with others you respect, admire, and would like to imitate in one way or another.

The other day, I was sitting in lecture and like many other students, I was on my cell phone. All of the sudden, mid text message – my iPhone shut off. I frantically began pushing the home button and holding down the power off button, but nothing was working. After five anxious and stressful minutes, my phone finally turned back on. Now as I look back on those five minutes, an interesting and somewhat alarming realization dawns on me. First, let me get this straight – I was literally in a panic for those short five minutes (although at the time, it seemed like an eternity); in fact, I was in such a panic that I actually considered leaving my last lecture of the term the week before finals to figure out why my phone would not turn on. I was ready to drop everything I had planned for the day and run to the apple store. It was in those five minutes that I realized how truly attached I am to my electronics. Not only was I worried about being unable to communicate with my friends, I was waiting for an important email from a potential employer, and with my phone shut off and my laptop at home, I had no way to receive the message. It truly amazes me that one electronic gives us access to all forms of communication, and without it working properly it feels as if we are cut off from all forms of communication.

So, now that my iPhone is safely working, I can look back at this experience and laugh at how ridiculous I acted in the situation. But I can quite honestly (and somewhat embarrassingly) admit that if it were to happen again, I would probably react in the same way. With this story aside, good luck to everyone during finals week and I hope we all keep strategically communicating – with the trusty use of our working cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices.

Is that like asking what if the world stopped turning? Too dramatic?

Today I went to the library to get some work done for finals week. After searching for a table for who knows how long and getting myself situated, I had an issue. The university Internet was not working. I did everything I could to make it work. I restarted my computer, tried to move, turned of my AirPort, etc. So I sat the library so frustrated because I needed the web to complete my assignments.

That’s when I had a thought about school and the web. In school, we are starting to depend a lot more on the Internet and a lot less on paper. Sure the Internet makes the world a greener place and it makes life go much faster but what if the Internet was shut down? What if everything you depended on in school was unreachable because it was only on the web?

For me, all of my classes depend on the Internet. I take quizzes on the web, blog, research, and more. I know this is a what-if scenario but it is definitely something to think about.