Taylor Swift: Audience and Industries blog tasks

 Audience


Background and audience wider reading

Read this Guardian feature on stan accounts and fandom. Answer the following questions:

1) What examples of fandom and celebrities are provided in the article?

Julia Fox and her active fan accounts on Twitter, Ariana Grande's fan who came after her ex boyfriend and Cardi B's fans who made efforts to attack her boyfriend.

2) Why did Taylor Swift run into trouble with her fanbase? 

Fans believed she was deemed as too prestige when she presented her celebrity lifestyle.

3) Do stan accounts reflect Clay Shirky's ideas regarding the 'end of audience'? How? 

No they don't as they present that fan culture is still active and important in the media which opposes Shirky's idea of audiences ending.


1) What do Taylor Swift fans spend their money on? 

Fans purchase tickets for concerts and tours as well as merchandise in which they purchase off Taylor Swift's websites.

2) How does Swift build the connection with her fans? Give examples from the article.

She connects with them through social media and in the past she has responded to direct messages on Instagram and she has also on numerous occasions responded to comments on her posts.

3) What have Swifties done to try and get Taylor Swift's attention online? 

They have used many tactics, for example they have created theories and ideas of her which has forced her to respond, they also come up with a large number of messages and comments which directly have importance to Taylor Swift.

4) Why is fandom described as a 'hierarchy'? 

Because social classes exist between fan cultures as there is a judgemental culture involved within fandoms.

5) What does the article suggest is Swift's 'business model'? 

Her companies which include: Booking agency, management team, copyright, tour production company, dancers and crew.

Taylor Swift: audience questions and theories

Work through the following questions to apply media debates and theories to the Taylor Swift CSP. You may want to go back to your previous blogpost or your A3 annotated booklet for examples. 

1) Is Taylor Swift's website and social media constructed to appeal to a particular gender or audience?

It seems that it is meant to appeal to female audiences that are slightly younger.

2) What opportunities are there for audience interaction in Taylor Swift's online presence and how controlled are these? 

Fans can message her through direct messages and can also communicate through comments on her social media posts.

3) How does Taylor Swift's online presence reflect Clay Shirky’s ‘End of Audience’ theories? 

She has a huge online presence which opposes Clay Shirky's theory as she is proof that audiences are still impactful and are very much still alive.

4) What effects might Taylor Swift's online presence have on audiences? Is it designed to influence the audience’s views on social or political issues or is this largely a vehicle to promote Swift's work? 

Audiences will have increased engagement so their views will be affected. It is likely that social views may be linked to her presence under discussions from audiences.

5) Applying Hall’s Reception theory, what might be a preferred and oppositional reading of Taylor Swift's online presence? 

Preferred readings may be to deem her as a likeable celebrity that frequently interacts with her fans. An oppositional reading is that she comes across as arrogant and unlikable which will fit the usual celebrity stereotypes.


Industries

How social media companies make money

Read this analysis of how social media companies make money and answer the following questions:

1) How many users do the major social media sites boast?

As of Q4 2022, Meta formerly Facebook, had 2.96 billion monthly active users.1 Twitter (now X) stopped reporting monthly active users, but the last count in Q1 2019 was 330 million, while LinkedIn had about 900 million monthly active users as of Q1 2023.

2) What is the main way social media sites make money? 

Through targeted ads.

3) What does ARPU stand for and why is it important for social media companies? 

Average revenue per unit. It is important as it is majorly impactful towards the money making side for social media companies.

4) Why has Meta spent huge money acquiring other brands like Instagram and WhatsApp? 

In order to decrease their competition and allow for a higher market share percentage.

5) What other methods do social media sites have to generate income e.g. Twitter Blue? 

X premium which is a monthly subscription of $8 a month or verification checks which are payed for. 

Regulation of social media


1) What suggestions does the report make? Pick out three you think are particularly interesting. 

  • Implementing "circuit breakers" so that newly viral content is temporarily stopped from spreading while it is fact-checked, forcing social networks to disclose in the news feed why content has been recommended to a user, limiting the use of micro-targeting advertising messages.


2) Who is Christopher Wylie? 

A data consultant.

3) What does Wylie say about the debate between media regulation and free speech? 

Whenever social media regulation is proposed, there are concerns about stifling free speech.

4) What is ‘disinformation’ and do you agree that there are things that are objectively true or false? 

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people.Yes as there is always the chance of things being false even when they are deemed as true.

5) Why does Wylie compare Facebook to an oil company? 

As Facebook also profits from harm like oil companies do even though it is a different type of harm that is done.

6) What does it suggest a consequence of regulating the big social networks might be? 

That free speech may be stooped and many users may lose their voice and opportunities to speak out.

7) What has Instagram been criticised for?

Because they have algorithms which decide on what audiences see.

8) Can we apply any of these criticisms or suggestions to Taylor Swift? For example, should Taylor Swift have to explicitly make clear when she is being paid to promote a company or cause? 

Taylor Swift is a high level user of social media so she may be criticised for using harmful applications that can negatively effect society.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Audience theory 2: blog tasks

  1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence? I think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence as they have control to what is given to audiences which majorly impacts behaviours upon society . 2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples. Social learning theory is prominent in this era as audiences receive through social media and frequently upon on what is given to them . 3) Research  three  examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics? Killer clowns - 2016  Secret Nazis - 2016  Sex recession - 2018  The media had a huge responsibility of the increasing of awareness
Read more

Public service broadcasting

  the introduction to their report - pages 3-7 . 1) Look at page 3. Why is it a critical time for public service broadcasting?  Audiences ways of viewing are changing in modern society and PBS is becoming less and less popular . 2) Read page 4. How has TV viewing changed in recent years?  There have been significant changes in the way in which people watch television. Live broadcast viewing has declined, as audiences increasingly choose to view content at a time that suits them on global online and on-demand content services. These trends are affecting all broadcasters, including the PSB channels. 3) Still on page 4, what aspects of PSB do audiences value and enjoy?  Audiences continue to highly value the purposes and objectives of PSB, including trustworthy news and programmes that show different aspects of UK life and culture. 4) Look at pages 4-5. Find and note down the statistics in this section on how much TV audiences tend to watch and how they watch it.  The average viewer now s
Read more

Score advert and wider reading

    you can download it here   1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change? In the 1960's companies adapted their way of advertisement production which meant they relied rather on instincts instead of market research therefore utilising traditional beliefs and humour in order to attract customers . The score advert demonstrates this with the representation of woman being lesser then men and the use of the hidden inappropriate meaning behind the gun which would intrigue audiences with the use of humour . 2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns? Woman were commonly conveyed as helpers and supporters of men . 3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image ? You may wish to link this to relevant contexts too . C- Women dressed in a sexualised manner in order to appeal towards the male gaze . L- Brigh
Read more