“To what extent is Teen Vogue constructed to respond to the demands of various interested groups? In your response you should consider groups which have influence online, for example consumers, advertisers and competitors.”
teen vogue is a digital (not print) title – target audience (young women) predominantly consume news via the internet rather than reading print news
microtargeting used in the digital industry to target specific audiences – teen vogue is no exception
disrupt J20 article – studies + data harvesting show young americans are interested in radical politics, ‘no class’ column (written by an anarchist organiser) appeals to this demographic of class-conscious young people
coverage of politics – teen vogue is attempting to move away from just being a fashion/society magazine and towards a comprehensive title for young women (versus static competitors)
Exam Question: To what extent is Teen Vogue constructed to respond to the demands of various interested groups?
In the response, should consider groups which have influence online such as consumers, advertisers and competitors
Key Words associated with New Media
share
active
creative
host
story
re-connect
personalise
stream
experience
store
scale
immerse
interface
live
adapt
binge
conversation
re-perform
circulate
endless
Table to contrast ‘New’ vs ‘Old’ Media: Do you agree?
NEW MEDIA
OLD MEDIA
Active involvement
Passive involvement
Two-way conversation
One-way conversation
Open system
Closed system
Transparent
Opaque
One-on-one marketing
Mass marketing
About Me
About You
Brand and User-generated Content
Professional content
Authentic content
Polished content
FREE platform
Paid platform
Metric: Engagement
Metric: Reach/ frequency
Actors: Users / Influencers
Actors/ Celebrities
Community decision-making
Economic decision-making
Unstructured communication
Controlled communication
Real time creation
Pre-produced/ scheduled
Bottom-up strategy
Top-down strategy
Informal language
Formal language
Positives
Negatives
Can be tailored to fit the user For companies, can fit their products individually for each person
Private data can be used which people may not want shared
Zuboff
‘The ability to infer a user’s personality, social media websites … can be tailored to reflect the user’s personality traits such that users will be most receptive to it’
audiences can choose to consume whatever they like
vast amounts of information easily available
consumers are targeted by ads for things they’re more likely to buy, rather than pointless ones for things they probably won’t
negative:
microtargeting and massive data harvesting mean that companies can accrue vast amounts of information about individual customers
sensitive information (sexual orientation, political beliefs etc.) can easily be collected and sold
potential for blackmail by intelligence services or private companies – government surveillance issues?
consumers are more easily manipulated when data harvesting can work out their personality type, personal history etc.
quote: “nix claimed to have data resolved ‘to an individual level where we have somewhere close to four or five thousand data points on every adult in the united states'”
teen vogue is culturally significant in its marrying of the political with fashion – my case study is from teen vogue’s ‘no class’ op-ed series, written by an anarchist organiser from new york, and covers the radical j20 protest against the inauguration of the current president of the united states in january 2017
representation ofthe target audience of young women in the united states but also globally – the article covers us politics and looks back to a significant event in very recent history, the 2017 inauguration.
Store, personalize and stream all connect because they all link to how companies can attract customers. They can store small pieces of peoples data, then personalize adverts for person based on their interests from the data and then this advert is streamed to the target audience through their media platforms.
Store – Teen Vogue store data in order to know what people are interested in
Personalize – they can then use this data to personalize adverts to specific people
Stream – they then stream these adverts to the potential customers
Table to contrast ‘New’ vs ‘Old’ Media: Do you agree?
Share – accessing Teen Vogue online allows the readership to post comments and connect with different members of society
Active – reading Teen Vogue online instead of the magazine is active due to the fact it is always accessible
Endless – again, reading Teen Vogue online instead of the magazine is endless are there is no last page, there are other pages and hyperlinks with further things to read into
