Internet Gratifications
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Introduction Digital media Corporate influences Web 2.0 Social networks Facebook Uses and gratifications of digital media Private/public blurring Learning outcome 2: Gain a basic understanding of the three core areas in Media and Cultural Studies (New media) Content analysis––could simply be a comparison of websites, or Facebook and advertising etc. Or comparing different social media. 1 Digital Media Digital ◦ All media forms represented numerically Web made up of billions of web pages Key dimensions of digital media ◦ Automation e.g. updates ◦ Variability e.g. Amazon personalised ◦ Transcoding e.g. cultural expression extended into digital media Quantum Computers 2 Networks Networks of digital media content and users Some networks still few to many (e.g. TV broadcasts) Internet – network of networks Castells – network society (Cyberculture theorist) Networks may still have unequal concentrations of power Finance, capital, images, ideas – flow through networks 3 Examples of Networks 4 Mediated communication Layers of mediated communication ◦ Physical: devices used to communicate e.g. phones ◦ Logical: software, algorithms, communications standards which enable connectivity ◦ Content: messages, ideas, information, entertainment, stories, songs, images we share Hackers – used to mean elegant solutions to problems Hacktivism = activism+hacking 5 Internet Dial up connection 1965 - Pentagon Arpanet 1969 1970s Email CC function led to group contacts 1980s non-military/non-scientific networks 1991 Tim Berners-Lee hypertext includes images 1993 web browsers marketed Launch of Google (1998) Launch of Smart Phones (2000) Launch of Wikipedia (2001) Media technologies develop /convergence (ongoing) 6 Social Networks Social networking tools ◦ Creating a profile ◦ Adding contacts ◦ Interacting with contacts within a network Our interactions are more/less visible to others Users on Facebook build up presentation of self 7 Social network media Basic elements integrated into wide range of online projects E.g. YouTube, Spotify Social media in the world Brazil – Orkut (now Hello) Cyworld – Korea Mixi – Japan Hong Kong – social network for dead people 8 Facebook Launched 2004 February Expanded to public 2006 12 million users by 2006 50 million users 2007 150 million users 2009 350 million users end of 2009 800 million users 2014 Over 1 billion users 2017 9 Media 2.0 Web 2.0 to distinguish it from web 1.0 Often refers to participatory culture e.g. blogging, photo sharing etc. But corporate emphasis of 2.0 We are the web but we’re not getting paid for our part in building it! Web 3.0 – the intelligent web 10 11 Who owns the data Facebook users are not customers The users are the product Broadcast model (old media) one way Two way (email, text messages etc.) but participants not present and time differences occur Facebook mixes message one to one, with messages to the wider audience (to someone but no one in particular) Whom are the messages for? 12 Friends on Facebook Users whom I connect with Head of MI6 wife’s Facebook Personal/public more blurred (postmodernity) Job applicants asked to log into profiles Journalists – ethical issues in using Facebook information? But now also Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest etc. 13 Uses and Gratifications 14 Traditional Uses and Gratifications What are cognitive needs? ◦ Acquiring information What are affective needs? ◦ Emptions, pleasures, aesthetic needs (pleasure through beauty) What are personal integrative needs? ◦ Strengthening credibility, confidence, status What are social integrative needs? ◦ Strengthening contacts and family What are tension release needs ◦ Escape and diversion What is gratification ◦ pleasure especially when gained from the satisfaction of a desire. 15 Uses and Gratifications digital media Internet gratifications Information seeking Interpersonal utility Entertainment Pass time convenience 16 Uses and Gratifications digital media Twitter gratifications Sharing Entertainment Social interaction Self-documentation Pass time Connection Convenience Self-expression 17 Summary Digital media - binary code privileged Corporate influences that still dominate web 2.0 Web 2.0 as opposed to web 1.0 (but more complex) and even Web3.0 Social networks everywhere! Facebook - we are the products Uses and gratifications applied to social media Private/public blurring – your newsfeed could be published as news! Watch out! 18 References • Curran, J, Fenton, N. and Freedman, D. (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. Oxon, Routledge. • Flew, T. (2008) New Media: An Introduction. Oxford, Oxford University Press. • Hassan, R. and Thomas, J. (eds) (2006) The New Media Theory Reader, New York, Open University Press. • Longhurst, B. (2008) Introducing Cultural Studies. Harlow, Pearson Longman. • Meikle, G. and Young, S. (2012) Media Convergence. Networked digital media in Everyday Life. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Sundar, S, & Limperos, A (2013), 'Uses and Grats 2.0: New Gratifications for New Media', Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57, 4, pp. 504-525 • Whiting, A. and Williams, D. (2013) ‘Why people use social media: A uses and gratifications approach’, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 16(4), pp. 362–369 19.