SOCIAL MEDIA AND AUDIENCE INTERACTION:
TRANSMEDIA STORY TELLING
CHRISTIAN FUCHS
Fuchs investigates into the cause and effect of participatory culture, particularly focusing on the self-spreadable content produced within the media.
Participatory culture refers to the audience engagement within a produced media franchise.
Fuchs concludes that social media forms participatory democratic – Audiences can input and produce their own ideologies and ownership of their content.
EMIL DURKHEIM
Durkheim’s theory of “social order” looks into the influence of social media, and the influential processes on social and economic change.
Described as “social as social”, Durkheim expresses how society is complex. This structural functionalism is formed of two elements: interdependent and interrelated. This encourages social elements to work together to promote solidarity and stability.
Social facts are social environmental elements that influence our behaviour, however, can not to be changed or controlled.
Durkeim also expresses how there is a presence of “collective consciousness” in our society – this refers to the ideologies, believes and sentiments shared by a community, typically based upon shared experiences. This is evident within social media, where communities are formed online through experience, such as enjoyment or theories of their favourite television shows or films.
This leads of socialization; norms and expectations are produced, which are then internalized and habituated by the selected group.
Therefore, individuals produce self-organisation and self-management among their communities.
MAX WEBER
“Social action” refers a meaningful action that is projected towards others. Social actions are formed of two ideal elements:
1. Rational (referring to efficiency to achieve goal).
2. Non-rational (non-calculating behaviours, habits and traditions to benefit one’s self).
However, there are different benefits to rationality:
1. Instrumental Rational Action: This strategy relies on assessing the cost and benefits.
2. Value Rational Action: Loyalty and commitment would motivate the rational action, in relation to the commitment.
FERDINAND TÖNNIES
Tönnies investigates social relationships, and concluded that there are two types:
1. (Intimate) relationships – individual for themselves.
2. (Impersonal) relationships – seeking for means to an end, or a goal.
SOCIAL IMPACT
Social media is significant in producing a franchise, particularly to seek for audience involvement.
Through social media, a campaign can produce mass-media attention - this would eventually lead to engagement, action and then, change.
Through social media, we can also manipulate the audience in order to receive a particular response.
CLAY SHIRKY
Shirky debates ethical issues with social media interaction. She believes that social media leads to a wiring of humanity – allowing for manipulation, participation and sharing. Considered individuals’ free time is seen as a shared global resource.
SOCIAL TRANSMEDIA
The media is seen as a techno-social system – meaning, technological structures interact with social relations and human activities in complex ways. Therefore, these social media sites express power struggles.
An example of a social media franchise is memes. Memes are internet satires that circulate, populate and become viral among a media network – these memes would not be understood without an attachment of collective consciousness, meaning previous knowledge or content is needed to understand.
This is reinforced by Cohen and Kenny (2016) who expresses that social media is a foundation of community building. These communities are used for personal reasons, focusing on interests of common connections.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cohen, J., & Kenny, T. (2016). Producing New and Digital Media. New York: Focal Press.
Durkheim, E. (1982). The Rules of Sociological Method (Halls, W. D., Trans). New York: The Free Press. (Original Work Published 1895).
Fuchs, C. (2014). Social Media: A Critical Introduction. US: Sage Publications.
Shirky, C. (2003, February 8th). Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality, Shriky.com. Retrieved from http://shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html.
Tönnies, F. (1957). Community and Societ. (Loomis, C. P., Trans). US, Michigan, The Michigan State University Press. (Original Work Published 1887).
Weber, M. (1978). The Nature of Social Action in Weber: Selection in Translation. (Matthews, E., Trans). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Original Work Published 1922).