Media and Society: Social Media Is Changing Communication

I recently took a Media and Society class at Linn-Benton Community College taught by Rob Priewe. Throughout the term we studied the impact of new media, focusing heavily on the Internet and social media platforms and the role they play in mass media. 

We focused on several topics, examining the history and evolution of each: Google (teachings by Jeff Jarvis via What Would Google Do), Internet and Social Media, Music, Radio and Satellite, Advertising and Public Relations, Movies, TV and Cable, Books, Magazines and Newspapers, and the culture of journalism focusing on ethics, values and the First Amendment. 

I would like to spend some time talking about my interpretation of our studies and my analysis on the impact of media in modern-day society. In this post I will respond to three discussion topics which I will attempt to incorporate discussion touching on most areas of our focus.

Topic of discussion #1: August 2003 was when the world met Myspace. In just over a decade social media has grown into a social trend, introducing new sites every few years. Of people my age, 95 percent use social media. 

Analysis

Social media is prevalent in nearly all we see and hear. It appears in our favorite TV programs, it has changed how we listen to music and it has changed the business of advertising.

Starting in the days of Napster, which was the first of its kind to create the sharing and downloading of music on the Internet, the music industry has been interrupted by advent of digital music. Currently dominated by iTunes, the accessibility of sharing, curating and distributing music on the Internet has revolutionized the music business.

Take Spotify, for example. As of December 2013 Spotify is available on all mobile devices and desktops. When it launched in 2008 it required all users to activate their Spotify account by signing into their Facebook account. This has now been expanded to also signing into a Twitter account.

When Spotify was new to the Googlesphere it offered a six-month free trial for all users who started a Facebook page or linked their existing page. As of 2013 there are 24 million active users.

One reason that Spotify linked their music curating site to social networks was because linking would be easy for users and algorithms in programming would allow the site to learn about the user's likes from their social networking footprints.

When a new Spotify member integrates their account through Facebook or Twitter they immediately have access to all of their friends' playlists. They can then share and link single tracks or entire albums.

I find it interesting that, according to Spotify 2013 reports, the song 'Get Lucky' by Daft Punk had the most plays in a single day and was also in the top 10 most played songs on Spotify. Coincidentally, Daft Punk won five Grammy awards in the same year, including Record of the Year for 'Get Lucky'. 

It's no surprise to me that a song that dominated social networking newsfeeds and chat rooms got major recognition from the music insiders and fans alike. 

An example in the TV industry using social media is the show Person of Interest on CBS. In September 2013 the show integrated social media on a whole new level. They created a chance for viewers to see their own photo featured on the show via a Person of Interest Facebook app. 

The Person of Interest Facebook app was designed to import a photo from the viewer's Facebook account and then assign it a location and threat level within "the machine." After editing the photo and submitting it on the show's Facebook page the picture could be chosen and highlighted during an upcoming episode.

A submitted photo that wasn't aired can still be found on the website or within the app. Outside of engaging the viewer in the show through photo submission and capitalizing on the 15-minutes-of-fame mentality, the app also gives exclusive clips of upcoming shows and other perks to keep viewers engaged while not watching it on TV. 

Social networking has also changed advertising tactics. An example of such was a campaign by Burger King in 2009. They introduced an innovative idea for marketing via Facebook. They created an app called "Whopper Sacrifice" in which users would delete 10 friends in exchange for a free whopper.

In less than one week over 82,000 people had deleted nearly 234,000 friends and 23,000 coupons were redeemed for sacrificing online friendships. 

Ultimately the campaign was shut down per Facebook's concern that it violated user privacy. When users deleted their cyber-friends via the app it sent a notification both to the victim and on the user's newsfeed that read to the effect, "Allison Lamplugh sacrificed Rob Priewe for a free whopper."

However, the publicity the campaign drummed up, the fries and sodas that accompanied the free whoppers and the use of online media buzz certainly fit all the makings of a successful campaign to promote business online.

These days social media can help create a brand by user generated content. As Jeff Jarvis says, "Do what you do best and link the rest." The ability to easily link and share music on Spotify, a picture made for Person of Interest or a coupon for a free whopper is the future of marketing.

It's a fact that consumers are more likely to buy a product based off peer reviews. Blogs about product quality and customer care have helped make or break sales. According to Brandwatch.com, 46% of web users turn to social media for peer feedback before purchasing a product.

Jeff Jarvis made Googlejuice history when his bad-mouthing in a blog about Dell in 2005 blasted the company for both service and quality. He gained the attention and support of people all over Googlenation and helped transform the company as we know it today. 

His rants eventually led him to talk with Michael Dell resulting in the company implementing Direct2Dell, which is a blog for consumers to interact with the company for constructive criticism. Jarvis made the point of how transparency on the internet makes it impossible for companies to hide behind a bad product. 

Although linking has become a very important aspect to any web post, it also presents a downfall for more traditional media such as newspapers. The advent of the Internet brings news into real-time and allows stories to be updated and evolve. This is impossible for a printed media outlet to compete with.

Any mass medium that wants to survive in modern time must adapt online. The issue for media outlets online is how to keep readers within the walls of the company website. 

Nicholas Carr, reporter for the New York Times, talked about the changes that reading on the Internet makes to our brains in his article "Is Google Making Us Stupid." He examined the idea that linking from page to page to page is potentially chipping away at the brain's capacity for information and the ability to concentrate and absorb long text.

When readers visit a news site they can click a related link and read more about a subject, person or place for as long as they would like. Carr pointed out that studies indicate that web readers are skimming, not returning to a link they have already visited and instead are getting lost in cyberspace.

With the use of pictures, minimal text and videos with sound embedded in articles, our brains are potentially becoming fickle and losing some of the wisdom gained in the study of ideas as scholars practiced prior to printing presses. Artificial intelligence is a click away and can be forgotten as fast as it was found.

The use of the Internet and social media as a source of news has another down side. According to the PBS video "Saving American Journalism" 96 percent of the news comes from reporters working for publications. 

This means that the bulk of the news on the Internet is regurgitated from another news source, over and over and over again. Although the Internet gives the convenience of news at our fingertips, it also offers a lack of investigative journalism and original content. 

Citizen journalists have been responsible for updating the world faster than traditional news sources. An example in recent years was the death of Whitney Houston first breaking on Twitter from a family insider. But on the other hand, Bill Cosby also died according to Twitter and Facebook in 2012 when not only a tweet was posted about his "death" but a RIP Bill Cosby page was created on Facebook.

 

Although the First Amendment protecting our freedom of speech gives citizens the right to post as they please with minimal exceptions, readers on the Internet also have to keep in mind that not everything posted is factual. This is especially important for members of "Generation G" as Jarvis labels the children growing up in the age of Google. 

Censoring web content would infringe on the basis of democracy, which is for our society to be allowed opinion and petition, but it can also raise eyebrows to where we draw the line of freedom to express and privacy.

As a reporter for The Commuter, student newspaper at LBCC, reporting news is important to me. I have a focus on investigative journalism so much of what I talk about in this post is relevant to the future of my career. 

Topic of discussion #2: Technology and innovation have continued to change the social structure. The film industry has evolved with society and my grandparents, for example, saw a different media when they were my age.

Analysis

Movies go through what seems a lifetime of changes in a single decade. Dating back to the late 1800's when photographer Eadweard Muybridge created the first moving picture, the film industry has morphed into something larger than anything my grandparents could have imagined. 

My grandparents were all born in the 1920's. In their lifetime movies went from snippets of early animation like the works of Muybridge, to films with no sound, to black and white "talkies," to the introduction of color in films like The Wizard of Oz, to the first cult classics such as Star Wars, and original masterpieces using CGI such as Avatar.

My grandparents got to see the birth, growth and domination of Hollywood. Before Adolf Zukor, who would eventually run Paramount Pictures, and William Fox, who would found Fox Film Corporation, there were vital steps taken to create film as we know it today.

Several changes in the film industry shifted the future of film. Zukor, for example, is credited for the creation of the idea of "peepshows" or "nickelodeons" which led to the evolution of movie theatres like Regal Cinemas found at multiplex shopping centers today. 

Movies have helped the public entertain themselves on dates and social outings for as long as my grandparents lived. However, in the beginning they were more wholesome, less opinionated and not as diverse in content. 

As movie stars became celebrities and directors began using film as a social message platform, self-regulation was necessary to combat the government stepping in and filtering movie content. Thus the ratings system was developed in 1967. 

With the rating system (PG, PG13, R) movie-goers had the option of the type of film they wanted to see and directors had a choice in the type of film they wanted to create. The "golden age" of movies, typically referring to the 20s to 50s, shifted into the path of modern film and has become a culture of its own.

While my grandparents were in their early adult years their only option in watching movies was at the theatre. But by the 1950s home television sets became more affordable in homes and by the 60s nearly 90 percent of American homes had a television. 

In the late 70s society was introduced to a piece of equipment that would change the movie business forever. The VCR created the ability to rent a movie and watch it at home, at the viewer's convenience.

Attendance in theatres decreased with the new method of watching a movie but with it came opportunity for Hollywood to expand its business model. Making revenue from VCR sales and rentals and selling licensed products and action figures from movies was the next generation of the film business. 

Today no other country has come close to creating a movie empire like Hollywood. The industry is controlled by the Big Six (Time Warner, Newscorp, Viacom, Sony, Disney and NBC Universal) but it makes room for a smaller market of independent, foreign and documentary films.

The evolution of film has in some ways been symbiotic with society. There is more expression accepted in today's society verses during my grandparents' hay-day. There is a greater acceptance of minorities in society, religious beliefs and political positions. 

All these factors in a changing society led to movies being more graphic, sexual and violent. In early films a kiss might have been the most sexual contact viewers saw and a powdery gunshot with no blood might have been the most violent. 

Many of my elders say that films were more about the story back then and that the explosions and car chases that make up the bulk of today's films have diminished the art of the story. Some may say it's more about the art of making a film sensational rather than inspirational.

If I could change places with my grandparents and go to the movies as they did verses how I can today, I would not. I like to technology I have today to decide how I want to view movies. I've almost forgotten how to live without Netflix. 

I also appreciate the fact that I can watch movies and trigger different emotions rather than simply a love story or western as most "golden age" films were about. The ability to watch a romance such as The Notebook one day, a gritty Cohen brothers film the next, and Michael Moore documentary the next keeps me interested and open minded.

The adaptability of film has so far been proven but in the digital world we live in today innovation will continue to change it. Piracy is a big factor in today's movie business. The use of the Internet and illegal bootlegging to distribute movies is a threat.

Film will need to adapt to innovation in the future much as music should have done with Napster when it had the chance. Partnering with distribution outlets utilizing the Internet such as Hulu and Amazon is the next step.

I think Jeff Jarvis would agree with me in this regard because he preaches searchable content. As he highlighted in the business model of Google, viewing online is the future of mass media and it presents a marketing strategy to advertisers.

Unlike my grandparents' generation, the decrease in viewers of TV shows as they air and less theatre ticket sales because of digital recording and streaming, once again changes the industry approach. 

With the reality of "free" media on the Internet the movie industry will need to continue to find ways to make money from advertisers and sponsors using product placement in films, teaming up for online distribution, and in the sale of licensed products. 

 
Topic of discussion #3: During this term we watched four documentaries chronicling different aspects of media. I would like to discuss my thoughts about one in particular, "RiP! A Remix Manifesto" by Brett Gaylor.

Analysis

This documentary piqued my attention due to the digital world we live in today. The film focused on a musician named Girl Talk who makes his own music using "mashups" or existing music.

 

The concept of a "mashup" is rearranging existing works and digitally creating a new sound. Girl Talk uses his laptop to create all his songs and is an extreme example of the possibilities of piracy in the digital age. He gets zero licensing to use any of the music he samples.

A point made by Gaylor throughout the film was deciphering what Girl Talk does creatively with "mashups" from what students do under creative common rules. The purpose of creative commons is to allow the use of existing works to make a point, to build upon it and remix it to illustrate interpretation.

Gaylor said there are four points to his argument.

1. Culture always builds on the past.
2. The past always tries to control the future.
3. Our future is becoming less free.
4. To build free societies you must limit and control the past.

The first point is the most self-explanatory. I would use the example of fashion trends to reiterate his point. It is said that a particular fashion style comes back around in a new form about every 30 years. This can be seen currently with 80s fashion statements like shoulder pads, mixed prints and neon colors.

As for his second point, I will use another example of the past controlling the future. Many ideas are not original but are expanded on and adjusted to fill a new avenue to use it.

Walt Disney is a great example of this. The character that arguably shot Walt Disney to fame was Mickey Mouse in 1928. However, before Mickey there was a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (pictured to the right). 

Disney created both characters but one was created for an Alice in Wonderland project and the rights to that character were owned by Universal Pictures. Unable to use his Oswald character after separating from the project, Disney redesigned it and called the new character Mickey Mouse.

The third point by Girl Talk is where things start becoming a bit confusing from a copyright point of view. 

When the concept of copyright was first written into law in 1790 it was for 14 years. There was an option to renew for one more 14 year term if the author was still alive at the end of the first term. There are some exceptions but currently the general rule of copyright is for the author's life, plus 70 years. 

Gaylor's point is that depending the age of a person when their work received copyright, the term could realistically last for well over a century. The concern brought up in the documentary was whether the protection of copyright was actually stifling the creativity of society. 

Considering some of the changes in the evolution of film that I discussed above, how many of the game-changers would have been possible if copyright laws excluded evolution to continue because it was similar to the idea of another?

Here is an example. 

In 1884 George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, developed the first roll of film. In 1888, Frenchman Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince invented the first motion-picture camera using Eastman's roll film to create frames of single photographs. In 1889 Hannibal Goodwin in New Jersey improved Eastman's film making it transparent and pliable, enabling rapid succession of photos to be taken for the first time. In the late 1800's Thomas Edison combined his light bulb with Goodwin's film and Le Prince's camera to create another early movie camera, the Kinetoscope, which truly made "motion pictures." 

In a period of less than 15 years four inventors created their own product but all of their inventions were based off the idea of those before them. They rebuilt and remixed it. Thomas Edison literally combined his invention with inventions from others to create something new. My guess is that modern copyright laws would have stopped the Kinetoscope from ever seeing a movie studio.

It becomes a slippery slope deciding where one idea ends and another begins. Using Girl Talk for example, many of his songs sound nothing like those in which contributed to his "mashups." In fact, he may only use a tone, a few notes or one word from a verse in another song to use in his song. He does this a few dozen times from a few dozen artists and combines them.

Is one to say that each of those artists should be paid for a single note, which outside of the context of their song they didn't own the note to begin with? He estimated that a 16 song album of his "mashups" would cost him licensing fees of $4.2 million.

The last point made by Gaylor is this very issue. Patents and copyright regulations have gotten so out of control that actual organisms used for medicine can be patented. What if that organism could offer the cure for another disease we are not aware of and yet the cure is put on the shelf for a century while the patent runs out?

The biggest issue for Girl Talk and for Gaylor is where the Fair Use rules run out and thus the freedom of creativity. The ability to take pieces from here and there in a digital world and combine them together is real.

We have the knowledge and tools to do it and, in the long run, I'm not convinced there will be a way to stop it. Some of the citizens interviewed in the film that were sued by record labels after the collapse of Napster would probably beg to differ about the intentions of a label to protect the work of the artist.

In most cases the people sued were middle class, lacked representation and were forced to settle for a sum of money that the artists never actually saw. Instead, lawyers and record executives divided it up and called it a day.

Examples such as these make me wonder who's best interests are actually in mind. When our Founding Fathers created the Bill of Rights it was to ensure the power of influence and opinion of the people as a whole. Not to create mega-powers that controlled the content of the people.

In some ways I feel what Girl Talk is doing could be considered a "gift economy" as Jeff Jarvis calls it. In his book What Would Google Do he talked about the relationship that Google has with its customers, the advertisers. 


Depending on the source, well over 90 percent of Google's annual income is made from their advertisers. The site is free for all users. The catch is that users are interrupted by ads, pop-ups and redirection to sites they deem of interest for the reader. All of this is done by algorithms that read into 56 aspects of the reader's lifestyle through their computer use.

The gift economy of Google verses advertisers is that the readers get to come for free and the advertisers only pay Google when a reader actually clicks on their site.



If Girl Talk makes "mashups" by using a song from generations ago and reintroduces it into the pop culture of today, I would consider this a gift economy for the original author. Publicity, interviews and record sales may be the result of new acknowledgment by new listeners.


Like the example of fashion I used above, things popular in the past can come back around into the main stream and become the trend once again. Obviously attribution to the original artists Girl Talk uses in his "mashups" would be necessary, but the reward to the original artist would be hearing their work on the radio, in the club and as a backdrop in society for young people once again.

LBCC: Flipping the Classroom

LBCC students in Media & Society crowdsource their ideas and take pictures on their phones to study.

Ever wish you had more time to discuss text book learning with your instructor? Or to be hands-on in the classroom putting your learned ideas into real life scenarios? LBCC is making changes to student learning in order to do just that.

The concept of "flipping the classroom" utilizes the instructor's expertise on the subject in which they are at the student's disposal in the classroom to interact, question, and apply learned material with their guidance. All "homework" is truly done at home, including lessons and quizzes, prior to class.

On March 12 a group of 15 faculty at LBCC met to discuss techniques using the concept on campus. Several instructors whom are already implementing the approach spoke about the positive changes it has made to learning in their classes.

One advantage of flipping the classroom is it can be adapted as a concept that works for a particular teacher and their subject of teaching. It can be applied to individual teaching style with an emphasis on the student getting baseline information outside of the classroom and coming to class to apply it. Traditionally, this is the reverse to what many students are used to.

"It's a nation-wide program being used in both K-12 and higher education," said Liz Pearce, Department Chair of Education/Child and Family Studies and organizer of the event. "There are a ton of options out there."

Richard Gibbs, a PE/Health instructor, was in attendance and has already started flipping his classroom.

"One of the things I did was [before] every class there was a quiz. It's putting more responsibility on the learner. Rather than having an expert talk, the [student] becomes the expert."

Among the faculty one of the topics discussed was how instructors can create non-passive classroom environments and focus on examples of implementation in their field of study that the students will encounter in the working world.

Carley Hansen-Prince, a Diagnostic Imaging instructor and speaker at the event, explained what she has done to flip her classroom.

Students in her Radiation Biology class listen to a recorded lecture from her, visit a website with related information, and click through a lesson she designed to be like Power Point with pictures and minimal text. All of these are assigned prior to class.

"What that freed me up to do is having [lecture] in class and instead give real examples of medical conditions. We can discuss all of these things and more instead of focusing on the 'what.'"

The reality is that in most classrooms there are students who don't do the assigned work. The concept of a flipped classroom makes not doing the work almost impossible. For example, instructors who use Moodle to design their lessons and quizzes can select an expiration date for students to be able to do them. Failure to do the assignment before class results in missed points.

When a peer asked Hansen-Prince how many students were not previewing her lesson prior to class she explained the learning curve of her students.

"The first week 50 percent were not previewing things. The second week 95 percent did."

Assigning work before class sparked a discussion between the faculty. Some pointed out that the ability to "slack off" on the work was minimal, others noted that in-class participation increased, and others felt that it enhanced the amount of students showing up to class.

"If school is your job then it forces [the student] to put the work in. I find my students much more prepared," said Cindy Falk, a PE/Health instructor. "I've had students say they like the class because they are more prepared and they learn more."

Pearce explained that flipping the classroom doesn't totally get rid of in-class lectures but it reduces them significantly.

"I haven't totally given it up but it's 15-20 percent now."

Greg Mulder, a Physical Science instructor, pointed out that certain subjects take more adjustment than others. Students in science classes, for example, commonly expect lectures.

"In Physics it was tough to go into the classroom and not have the students expect you to talk all the time."

Part of the challenge of flipping a classroom is left to the instructor deciding what information they want to cover.

"Lecturing covers a lot of ground fast and engaging slows it down," said Pearce, "so you really need to be thoughtful about what you cover."

From a student's point of view, the ability to have rewindable and reviewable content at their convenience is beneficial to retention of information. From an instructor's point of view, having students do the work prior to class gives them a chance to know what part of the lesson needs further focus and discussion based on student responses before they step into the classroom. 

The Security Department At LBCC: More Than Meets The Eye

Students on the LBCC campus may only know about security from what meets the eye. But the nine men and women that patrol campus do much more than on the surface.

The Safety and Security Department located in the Red Cedar Hall works 24/7 to keep students, staff, and visitors safe. Duties go beyond tasks that have been known to annoy students, such as writing tickets in the parking lot and enforcing designated smoking areas.

All of the officers working on campus are certified by the Department of Public Safety Standard and Training. Each has passed a full background check, including finger printing and drug testing prior to certification.

All officers are trained and certified in CPR and first aid so they can act as a first response to any medical calls on campus. They work very closely with the Albany Police Department to ensure disruption or intruder calls are responded to quickly and efficiently. 

The security officers are educated on admin and campus rules, attending monthly team meetings to discuss any issues or topics to be aware of. They also attend monthly meetings with the safety committee to ensure they are enforcing and following OSHA requirements.

LBCC is also part of the Threat Assessment Team which is a board of members invited to join based off individual skill sets they can bring to the table. Members consist of: Linn Country mental health representatives; Albany, Corvallis, and Lebanon Police Department representatives; and LBCC faculty and staff . Their joint goal is to educate on how to identify, assess, and plan a course of action for potential threats on campus.

"The whole point of us being here is to keep it safe to study and to work," said Marcene Olson the Director of Safety and Loss Prevention.

Most of the campus rules of conduct enforced by the department are dictated by the requirements of the Department of Education. According to Olson, LBCC complies with all federal and state regulations and undergoes annual audits. Failure to comply with any section of the audit can result in a $34,500 fine per violation.

"We try really hard to reach all requirements because we don't have that kind of money and fines like that would drive the cost of education up."

Duties of the department include but are not limited to: escorts to the parking lot, responding to suspicious activity, natural disasters, collection of hazardous materials, and managing insurance claims.

The department is also responsible for updating all safety protocols on the website. One of the requirements in which LBCC complies is to post a public record of crime on campus via an annual crime report. Olson says that some weeks are better than others when it comes to incidents on campus.

"It varies, sometimes we might have 10 events in a week and sometimes we have two."

Olsen asks that students on campus be active bystanders and report anything that makes students uncomfortable or threatened. There is a 24-hour number to reach an officer after business hours.

"We encourage people to report things they see and hear."

Keeping the safety department informed allows them to better focus their efforts to improve the safety culture on campus.


-At a Glance-

Located: Red Cedar Hall
Office Hours: 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Office: (541) 917-4440
24-hour patrol: (541) 926-6855

SLC President Elect: LBCC Votes Are In

Two days of voting brought 165 students to voting booths to voice their choice for the next SLC President. And the winner is...

Getting 62 percent of the votes, LBCC students chose Adelaine Carter to be the next SLC President.

"I was surprised and really happy," said Carter. " I was not sure what to expect, Jeff [Lehn] was a phenomenal candidate."

Although shy of the 220 vote goal, getting a minimum of 63 votes was based off receiving 2.5 percent of the full-time student population to vote.  If less than 63 votes, the election would have been void and the previous process of appointment would have taken place.

 "It was really great we received 165 votes because we needed 63 to make the election valid, so we more than achieved that," said Emily Browning the current SLC Vice President.

Most of the votes were placed on the first day of the Feb. 26-27 voting sessions. Carter's running mate, Jeff Lehn, will automatically join Carter as the new SLC Vice President.

"Students actually cared about the election. They would read the letters from the candidates and debate summary before voting," said Emily referring to the Commuter articles posted by voting booths.

The new president and vice president will take over office officially in the 5th week of spring term.

"I'm excited for it, just to see what the future holds," said Lehn.

There will be a recognition ceremony during that 5th week held in the Commons Cafeteria in which both will be sworn in along with their newly appointed SLC members. It is a closed ceremony to the student body but will be attended by family, friends, and faculty.

To prepare for office both Carter and Lehn will begin shadowing the current president, Amanda McGowen, and the current Vice President, Emily Browning, beginning the first week of spring term.

"I've already went to a couple meetings with Amanda so I'm excited to jump into it," said Carter.