Fans, Plans, and the Connection Between the Two

With the convergence of the internet and television a new dimension has been added when it comes to consuming media. Actively participating in the shows that you are watching is becoming routine in daily lives. Trends like Bravo's PlayLive feature, The Bachelors' Superfan program, and even Glee's Gleek following have opened new doors to the activity of TV watching. Chapter 4 of Spreadable Media highlights these trends and explains how they can help and hurt the television industry.

The Glee Project, a show that premiered 2 summers ago, has become a Glee landmark. The show is a talent competition that ultimately awards the winner with a guest starring role on Glee. Throughout the process the contenders are challenged on various personality aspects Glee characters are expected to have, coached by Glee's own stars, and mentored by the Glee crew (producers, writers, choreographers). Not only did this become a phenomena because of the success the show had on it's own right but the Glee, the show for the outcasts, was now open to starring the outcasts who made it a hit. Fans could literally watch the next season of Glee's characters being shaped and molded into the person that would be coming into their home on Tuesday nights. You can't get any more "The People's Show" than that. Signature Glee moments like getting slushied and wearing a cheerio's uniform were incorporated into the competition which produced weekly music videos and showed the world how real the Glee family is to those who watch it. 

Even cast and crew members of various shows that have social media accounts like, Twitter, enhance the fan experience. Grey's Anatomy has been around for 10 seasons and the fans that watch the show are thoroughly committed. Shonda Rhimes, GA writer, takes to her twitter daily to tweet about upcoming episodes and table reads to keep the spark for Thursday to Thursday alive.

Dr. Meredith Grey Twitter

Shonda Rhimes' Twitter

These tools allow viewers' relationship with their show to extend beyond the TV into everyday life. Even having character Twitter accounts that can be updated multiple times in a day can blur the line between reality and fiction which is what makes fandom so addicting. It's an alternate vacation; a virtual vacation. The escape has extended past 42 minutes one day of the week. 

With TV shows extending beyond the screen, and fans becoming more hands on, reality TV is becoming more of a trend. Shows like Big Brother and The Glass House allowed viewers to dictate the plot line of the show. All production was in charge of is making sure there were people to manipulate and cameras to film. 

The Glass House allowed viewers to make the rules of the game and play along with their favorite contestants. Contestants and viewers could communicate through secret messages and inside jokes in front of other contestants allowing for them to play mind games or develop and encoded strategy to push them closer to the end goal. Viewers could dictate daily activities, what appliances in the house worked, what contestants ate, and even who they roomed with. Viewers also played the role of eliminator and had the ability to bring previously eliminated contestants back to the house. What this allowed for was a close relationship between the show and the viewer but when the show went against a viewer's choices, backlash was rampant and deserved. When a show advertises that YOU are in control, you expect to receive that power in full. When the line between reality and fiction gets blurred so does your rationale. 

The Great Exchange

Media today has extended beyond the screen. It goes with us everywhere, as previously talked about, but in today's world it has leaked into economics. Everything over the web is negotiable. Everything over the internet is exchangeable. The internet has created a new marketplace, a social marketplace. Chapter 2 of Henry Jenkins' book, Spreadable Media, continues to elaborate on digi-gratis and the reappraisal of the web.

Logically with the expansion of the internet, businesses went online to reach a greater audience. Since then with the introduction of sites such as Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy, a giant online outlet mall has opened up to us from the comfort of our couches. But what does it mean when media is now dictating the market? When what users put online, and "like" online becomes the big ideas that enterprises capitalize on? It means that we are in a democratic, global economy. 

YouTube is one of the most visited sites in the history of the internet. At it's start, YouTube was the trifecta for spreadable media. You could post, watch, share within clicks of each other. YouTube videos have reached ever crevice of the internet with ease. YouTube as a company has a large audience that they now support through advertisements. They've tapped into the idea of spreadable media by creating their own culture with a hierarchy of stars in their own right. Stars such as Daily Grace, Jenna Marbles, and Tyler Oakley have made a living off of creating media for YouTube. How do you think they got that role? Spreadable media. Their media spread. Not by them, but by us. We spread their media. Got it? 

Since the end of the SXSW conference these YouTubers have exploded in their appearances. Above, Tyler Oakley talks about his coverage for Taco Bell during their Passion Pit Concert series, his work with Virgin Mobile at their expo. Jenna Marbles recently returned from a sponsored trip to Ireland to speak to Irish universities about internet lifestyles. Daily Grace was just invited to make a documentary for G4 on the explosion of The Walking Dead phenomena. Is it just me or are you sensing a trend? We trust these people, or at least enjoy what they have to say, and are the sole reason for their success. So much so, Daily Grace has landed a role in the new Lowe's commercials because even though she lives in a tiny apartment with no room for "home improvement", we will take her opinion on the new MyLowe's program more seriously than some random actor. 

The fact is that sense the internet is negotiable, these YouTube stars will adjust to our standards of what we want them to do, or we'll watch other videos and create new personalities. In the same sense, what we are buying online is negotiable as well. iTunes allows for the option to buy one song on an album instead of the whole album giving the user to choice to not go without. Along those lines is the music website NoiseTrade. 

Brian Wahl, an independent worship leader, is a huge advocate for NoiseTrade and even wrote a "How To" blog for other musicians to get them on the site and use it effectively. NoiseTrade allows musicians to post or preview their music and make it downloadable for fans for free with an optional donation. This site puts the power in the fans' hands. We can dictate the quality of the product by how much of a donation we give, a comment, a download, and then by word of mouth. The site even has an option to share your download preferences with your friends via Facebook and Twitter. Again, the idea of divi-gratis is exercised: we "give" (download or share), and a career is propelled. 

Wiki-What?!

This week our seminar class is reading this book, Wikinomics.

GoldCorp, a gem mining company, was desperate for some new, innovative way to locate deposits of precious minerals quickly. Headed by Rob McEwan, an idea was pitched that was unheard of in the Mining industry. McEwan brainstormed a virtual model of their 55,000 acre mining plot and put in on the web asking for virtual prospectors to make their best guess as to where the next "mother load" could be located. Within weeks they had thousands of submissions powered by mathematical equations, military strategy, and good ole gut thinking. 50% of the suggested plots had never been explored by GoldCorp before and 80% of the plots turned out to be successful, profitable mining sites. McEwan realized than in a culture of mass-information business had to be run on a massive scale and the best global approach was the internet.

In a new aspect of participatory culture, the economy is playing a particularly large part. The internet has transformed consumer culture and changed the way we shop. Sites like Amazon and apps like Wanelo have put products at our fingertips from the comfort of wherever we are. Even the phenomena of Pinterest has spiked a rise in how we use our disposable income. The internet has presented us with the global marketplace.

The global marketplace isn't even place that requires you to actively participate. It's a connection hotspot that is fueled by the people walking (downloading) through the aisles rather than how much product is sold. In sites like Amazon all it takes is a free membership, or for apps like Wanelo, a free download. It asks you to pin things to your "Someday" board or to start making a wishlist that you can distribute around to friends during your birthday month year. The marketplace succeeds through participation and innovation not consumption.

Connected is an Understatement

Infinite is the number of opportunities I have to be connected to the internet or to somebody else virtually. 10 years ago that number was in the single digits. With the introduction of Wi-Fi, iPads, 3G, and especially iPhones it's almost impossible to be alone or out of touch.

After reading An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures by Pramod K. Nayar (Ch. 6), I am overwhelmed at how advanced the world I live in is. Granted, I use all of these technologies daily. I'm always talking to somebody, and it's not always face to face, but I never realized how much I relied on virtual communication. Let's talk about some of the obvious ones: 

Texting: We are a texting culture. It's a life saver when you have a question to ask a somebody in the real world in a meeting but don't want to be confused with leaving rudely. Or when you have a quick question that requires a yes or no answer, but don't want to get stuck in a long, drawn-out phone conversation. It adds to that instantaneous gratification concept that has become the norm in recent years. The downfall to texting is that you lose the "in-person" connection and the ability to not misunderstand what the other is saying to you. For this reason, we have developed emoticons as visual cues as to how to decode a short, less than a sentence, message. 

No, Our society is not slipping backwards. I promise. 

Email: This is a slightly old way of communicating. It is still useful and used on the daily, but it's not as quick as texting. Email allows you to send lengthy messages to numerous people. However, you must be sitting at your computer or have enabled notifications on your phone in order for this form of communication to be instant. For this reason, it's less popular with the younger generation. 

G-Chatting/Facebook Chatting: The newer, more exclusive, version of AIM. You must be logged on to your preferred interface in order to receive messages. It's like texting but only with the computer or as long as the necessary app is downloaded on your phone. If you phone even does the whole app thing, if not, more power to you. 

Useful is as useful does.

Skype: Skype is free to chat one on one, but if a video conference is your goal then it costs you. The concept is that Skype is a downloadable program for your computer than utilizes your webcam and microphone to allow video chatting. It's useful for friends and family that live overseas but don't have the capabilities for international phone calls or texting. Skype minimizes the physical distance as long as you are physically close to your laptop. 

Facetime: Is an upgrade from Skype. Depending on your cellular network, you can video call anywhere there is a cell signal. Facetime minimizes the physical distance even more by eliminating the need for a computer. 

The internet has no physical limits or space that it resides in. It is simply a limitless magnitude of information that we can coexist inside. The internet is meant to be an extension of our physical lives. Instead, it has become a place where we can alternatively live a life without limits. 

When Society Puts You In a Box

Looking in the mirror I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Green eyes, fair skin, brown hair. I don't try to break any molds but I don't try to fit in a box either. Reading Nayer's chapters 3 and 4 was more self-reflective than anything. I read those chapters and reflected on myself since that is the only true opinion I can represent. I found in the bodies chapter (chapter 3) I had become a subject of body modification. By straightening my hair, wearing makeup, piercing my ears and even opting to add a corset into my wedding dress I have subjected myself to society's idea of beautiful. In chapter 4 (subcultures) I found myself trying to identify the subcultures that I am a member of. And then a subculture of mine was flashed onto the TV screen as the object of a new reality show. Wake up call indeed.

Body Modification, or the extreme version, is newer to American culture than other cultures but it has been around since the beginning of time. Tribal cultures have used tattoos and piercings to signify beauty, power, and social stature for hundreds of years.

The Maori tribe has used the art form of tattooing to signify beauty and self expression. The maori were discovered in 1642 and most of the tribe had permanent markings then.

The Kayan people of Asia as well as the South Ndebele peoples of African have a culture where women are made to wear neck rings. For the Kayan it is a signifier of beauty and grace and a tradition that starts at the age of 2. The Ndebele people start to practice this cultural norm when a women gets married to signify her transition into a life of her  own.

This woman from Mexico has been deemed the Vampire woman. She has modified her body so much that she looks supernatural. Her reasonings are humble and her artwork is a sign of her independence. Her appearance is the only thing defying what we would percieve as a housewife. 

With the inception of digitization in our culture other aspects besides our physical bodies have changed.  In the medical field treatments and protocols have been revolutionized by digital technologies. Now, simple surgeries have become transhuman. They've bypassed the need for a surgeon's skilled hands and now only need someone who can maneuver a robot remote. This is what they call "minimally invasive." Today, a doctor can remove your gallbladder with only 35% risk and only 2 tiny scars (smaller than a dime) IN UNDER 30 MINUTES! And then it can be posted on YouTube for the hospital to market their skill and precision. 

Don't watch this but do notice that the entire video length is 22:35 and that includes the patient leaving the operating room.

Not only has society and technology deemed how you should look and physically operate, but they have played a hand in how, and with who, you should mentally identify yourself. Subcultures are the smaller cultures that operate within a larger culture as part of society. Subcultures identify separately but could not function without each other and make the larger culture what it is. In Laymen's terms they are the individual spices that make the pot of chili what it is. 

Cyber cultures, such as bloggers and youtubers, are separate but equal and in some instances one could not exist without the other. Other social media sites offer subcultures of their own such as Chatroulette and Flickr. They have their own users and celebrities who someone outside the culture would not be privy to understand.

I don't find myself subscribing to any particular cyber culture apart from social media. The only site I feel particularly invested in is Pinterest because I actually participate alongside other users. Coming in a close second would be Twitter. I love twitter, but don't use it as often as Pinterest. I don't use any other site on the regular that I could be considered a "member" of. Of course, I have a Facebook profile but I don't use it to it's full capacity. I rarely post statuses or post on other people's walls.

Society is interesting. We spend our entire lives trying to be "ourselves" and not be defined by something other than our unique personalities. However, our lifestyles are so plugged in that it is almost impossible to be away from what the world has to offer. We steer away from the boxes that society has provided for us but often the boxes we put ourselves into have been crafted by society by default. 

Your Inner Mean Girl.

Sometimes I honestly think you need to have a license before you are allowed online. That's right, I think we need to treat the internet like public roadways. Just like when you get into a car you become a threat to any other driver's physical being, when you get online you have the potential to be a threat to some other user's emotional wellbeing.

The 2004 film Mean Girls is pretty much the most generalized, stereotypical portrayal of american high schools to ever hit cinema screens. But it is also probably the most truthful. There are many lessons and slants you can take on the film's content but probably the most evident is the facade that high school students will put on just to get you to like them, and then how they really feel. To cause harm, all a high school girl really needs are her words. But technology has provided tools to turn even the nicest girl into a reputation assassin. Enter Cady Heron/Lindsay Lohan. 

Cady Heron is the main character. Cady grew up in an African village where her parents worked to provide better medical care and education. They moved back to the US so that Cady could attend public high school to prepare for college. Cady, not equipped with the social map required to navigate the school halls, gets sucked into the world of cliques and is tricked into being a spy for the outcasts and is sent into the world of popular girls. In the span of 97 minutes Cady loses the line between spy life and real life, reaches her social climax and rock bottom, wins prom queen, and then restores social harmony to the high school. 

Now to a certain extent the storyline was dramatized by hollywood for effect. High Schools aren't the blatant first world equivalent to an African lion feeding frenzy, but when you're fake Myspace facade is up, they can certainly feel that way. That's what Sherry Turkle's interviewees in Chapter 13 are talking about. The need to be liked, the want to be wanted is overwhelming and sometimes the only plausible way to find out the truth from someone else is to be fake because you know that you're not being upfront with your true feelings either. 

Turkle also brings up the aspect of online privacy & safety. Basically when you're online and find yourself looking through a profile and you've never had a personal interaction with it's owner you're stalking. We're all human therefore we're all curious. I don't know anybody who has the self control to not investigate an interesting person who leaves a comment on your friend's picture. Turkle interviews a  17 year old who says stalking is "the worst. Normal, but creepy." I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm not proud of those little curious moments that get the best of me but everybody does it!

True life: A good amount of us would probably admit to wanting this shirt. 

Just the other day I was chatting with the Mom of the kids I watch and she made the comment, "How did our parents ever raise us without Smart Phones." At first I almost felt defeated like the way we care for today's kids is less adequate than how our parents parented. But then I self-soothed by telling myself, "I would have never been able to go to that meeting if I hadn't kept them entertained with Temple Run 2!!" And let's face it: Kids don't know the difference. They live in a world where smart phones and iPads are their reality. They don't remember being told to play outside all day and don't come back in until dinner. All kids remember is the iPhone 3Gs. What a dinosaur!! 

Watching this really makes me want to ask the question, "Is Bridger really a baby tech genius or is he just predestined to enter into a world of tablets and apps?" For kids, the new generation, they speak a hybrid language of their geographical dialect mixed with technology. Never once has the 5 year old that I keep asked me a question about his iPad. But my Grandparents can barely turn their new laptop on. Sidenote: If you don't watch any of these video PLEASE watch this next one. 

The generational gap between the oldies (Senior citizens) and the newbies (Babies/Kids) is one of the biggest we've ever seen. Made to seem even larger because there is no smooth transition between the two. Hanging out with a church youth group is an experience in itself. I'm 21 and being around 16 year olds has made me feel straight up old. How they communicate is insanely different than how I communicated when I was in their shoes 5 years ago. Instagrams and tweets are more commonplace than texts. It's how they establish what they are doing and who they are with. It's even the language in which they flirt. In 20 years, the classic love stories our Grandparents tell will be obsolete and all the great romances will begin with a "poke." Personally, I'm a slightly proud that my love story does not include tweets and IMs and is more reminiscent of an old RomCom. 

Insecurity Purging and Word Vomiting

I can't say that the world of online gaming is one that I'm familiar with. It's one of the few places of travel that is not on my bucket list. It's not that I don't like it, but it's simply because I do not understand it. However, I am fascinated by it.

Chapter 11 of Sherry Turkle's book, Alone Together, introduces the reader to the world of Second Life.

Notice how this narrator characterizes this simulation as "historical" because it was filmed in 2006. In the real life, a house built in 2006 is still characterized as *New* in the real estate world. Turkle introduces us to a few subjects who have built second lives. One, Joel (SL, Rashi), is an insecure 26 year old in real life. In Second Life Joel is a purple, tiny elephant who is also a public figure known for his kind demeanor and cyber gaming wisdom. Joel's mental line between Second life and real life is very clear although fine. He justifies his avatar by affirming that his Second Life has become a self-esteem supplement to his real life. Joel uses the Second Life game to practice his leadership skills in a cyber setting so he can translate them to a physical setting when given the chance. He sees his participation as practical yet entertaining. He doesn't delve in to replace his real life as some people do. 

The Second Life online newspaper offers an advice column to help users meander through the second life world and to cope with the problems of maintaining a first life and second life. "Bella, the Wise" is the advisor and her posts with the tags "addict", "fired" and "relationship" far outnumber the posts with tags like "events". In a column titled "SL has ruined my life!", a reader complains of their addiction to Second Life and how their real life relationship is suffering because of it. The reader writes that he has been fired from their real life job for sneaking a 'SL fix' during work hours. The reader goes on to explain that even though their real life is hanging in the balance they can't find the emotional energy to care because he views the recent unemployment as just more time for gaming. 

I would view this particular request for help as more of a cry for help. The reader is blatantly admitting that there is a problem, a mental disconnect. A therapist would take this opportunity to help "outta work and don't care" to rationalize his thoughts and even seek further help. Bella, the advice giver, goes the opposite direction. She welcomes him to the rather large club of people with ruined first lives due to second life and then proposes a series of boundaries and a regimen of self-control. But before that advice she does recommend a job without a computer (i.e. factory worker, janitor...) would probably be the best bet.

Truthfully, I'm a little put off by Bella's response. I'm all for bettering oneself when you can. I thought her advice was more enabling than helping. Let's call a spade a spade, shall we? Second Life can be very real and cause real problems and real addictions. A heroin addict would be fired for using on the job, and probably asked to go to rehab by his/her family and loved ones. I see no difference between the two other than one addiction is more conventional than the other. Bella also advises dealing with the issue privately and not involve his wife. Most marital counselors would advise against this strategy and would promote being upfront, honest, and vulnerable. A component that Turkle discusses in this chapter is betrayal. Usually, this word is used in context pertaining to gamer v. gamer. But it is evident, and well known, that this betrayal exceeds beyond the game and affects people who have chosen not to live a second life. 

Where the internet can be a place to create a new life, it can also be a place to deal with your current life. People feel the ability to be a true version of themselves when a computer screen is acting as a harbor. Chapter 12 of Turkle's book approaches the subject of people just being people. Not different people, but themselves uncensored and unbarred. 

PostSecret is an online forum where secrets are published one a week. Frank, the site creator, picks from thousands of secrets sent to him every week. He publishes them on Sunday as sort of a symbolic way of starting the new week clean of guilt. The site has become viral. He speaks to universities -arenas- of people explaining to them that guilt and regret can eat you alive. He sends a message that allowing yourself to release your secrets can be liberating and open your eyes to a brighter life. Secrets can be about anything.

Guilty pleasures...

Intimate thoughts...

And a general hope in people...

I was first introduced to PostSecret in high school. I fell in love with the simple honesty the blog offered. The dialogue was always sincere and supportive, the layout was very clear, this isn't a stunt to make money. It's a genuine place for people to be themselves and it went viral. PostSecret allows itself to grow on the premise that they are helping people. 4 books and numerous speaking engagements later, Frank is still posting secrets every Sunday and now has a chapter in a book about being alone together. 

The truth is that many of these confessional sites, like FML and GMH, are all about being alone together. So many of the secrets posted deal with posters feeing lonely or inadequate seeking a support community. Often it's easier to post our feelings in a place where nobody we know can identify them as our own. Using our computer screens as a buffer from the real world has become a virtual trend. These confessions aren't generic. A lot of them should be said to somebody's face, but the reality of our society is that we're defensive. The next best thing is to get our confessions out in the open for somebody, anybody, to read them.