“The mass media are not the same as any other business or service industry, but carry some essential tasks for the wider benefit of society”
People get involved with the mass media for different reasons which could be to escape (escapism), have a good time, enjoyment etc etc. Entertainment is also a big factor within the mass media. This allows for the mass media to grow as there is a wide variety, and people are constantly looking for something within the mass media. The mass media includes many things such as films, news articles, tutorials and more.
Personal needs include understanding self, enjoyment, escapism
Social needs includes knowledge about the world, self confidence, stability, self esteem, strengthen connections with family and strengthen connections with friends
The role of advertising – Used to persuade and manipulate people into wanting to buy the product and making a product known to the world
Agenda setting – Creation of public awareness and concern of the big issues by the news media. The media attempts to influence viewers, and establish a hierarchy of news importance
Framing – How something is presented to the audience, influences the choices people make about how to process the information. It’s also a form of second level agenda-setting
Media myth making – Agenda setting and framing can create myths within media about how the world should be, things we value and how we should act
Conversation – People can communicate with each other whether it be online or in person. Communication nowadays is primarily online as we have all of this new technology and all of these developments. Teen Vogue uses their articles in order to intrigue an audience and persuade people to spread the word and pass it onto others which involves communication between individuals.
Personalise – In Teen Vogue articles can be personalised to what you seem to be into and looking at the most creating your own personal ‘library’ for articles. An article may be suggested to you that is similar to another article that you clicked on and read not so long beforehand.
Two-way conversation compared to One-way conversation – Now that there is advanced technology this means that people can communicate between each other a lot more easily than previous years such as messaging or sending images of memes or screenshots etc. This allows people to have two-way conversations and communicate with each other better.
What is the network effect? (Theodore Vail) – It’s the effect described in economics and business that an additional user of goods or services has on the value of that product to others. When a network effect is present, the value of a product or service increases according to the number of others using it. Can’t function unless there are other connections.
Can you remember what ‘feedback loop theory’? (Norbert Wiener) 21 mins into video – Provides information to an organisation about system successes and problems. If a feedback loop is positive then there are ‘success results’, but if not then there is a ‘negative feedback loop’ if there are problems. Predicting behaviour.
What is the Dunbar number? (Robin Dunbar) – This is the supposed cognitive limit to the maximum number of stable relationships one person can have. It’s said that this number is 150.
Who really benefits from a digitally networked society? Big business or individuals? Refer to ‘loop theory’ and the ‘Dunbar number’ – Big businesses benefit from a digitally networked society as it allows for them to reach a very wide audience and many different people can see something that has been uploaded onto the internet. It also partly benefits individuals because it means that they can explore the internet and social media platforms with hardly any consequences. Facebook is a good example as it allows users to interact with multiple different people and friend as many people as they want. Although the Dunbar number is present at 150 people there is no limit and people can explore however much or as little as they want. Facebook would benefit from this as the app would be growing.
How does big business benefit? What commodity do they trade in? Answer: predictive human behaviour. Write out an answer in your own words –
– Digital audio recorders / digital microphones – Digital cameras – DTP / Photoshop / Adobe ie software editing packages – Blog / web applications – Computers – Word processor – Tablets (drawing / design) – Data profiling
– The internet – Social media – Broadcasts (satellite or terrestrial) – Hosting sites – Youtube – Email – Website – Wifi – IP address – VPN – GPS – Firewalls – Through people
– Phones – Television – I-pads / laptops / computers – DAB’s ie digital radio – Air-pods – Youtube – Cinema – App – USB’s – Digital implant – Internet of things (IoT) – Digital billboards / digital displays – Smart watch – Websites – VR
Technological determinism – Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society’s technology determines the development of its social structure and cultural values. Technological determinism tries to understand how technology has had an impact on human action and thought
Marhsall McLuhan – Canadian philosopher. His work is one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge
More traditionally seen as interested in more superficial issues – I think that Sex Education isn’t interested in more superficial issues because the actor George Robinson is disabled in real life which means that throughout the show he will experience real life events; there will therefore be a deeper meaning for the character Isaac. His relationship with Maeve represents that people don’t have to discriminate or be mean just because someone is disabled and doesn’t function like everyone else, they’re still the same person that they always have been. Their relationship highlights this and shows how Sex Education isn’t necessarily interested in more superficial issues. Having an actor who is disabled in real life is admirable because characters are often played by people who aren’t in wheelchairs in real life which implies a lack of consideration; however, using George Robinson to play Isaac is significant as he uses a wheelchair in real life and it represents a disability in a more real and heartfelt way.
Representation of particular groups – Many groups are being represented in Sex Education, including different races/ethnicity, people with disabilities, many different personalities etc. Isaac is being represented as having a disability which adds a sense of diversity to the show because it shows how the show is inclusive and doesn’t exclude people just because of what they’re like. The representation of having George Robinson play Isaac in the show is significant as he said he can empathise with the character. Although Isaac and Maeve grow a good relationship with each other in the show, the actors who played them (George Robinson and Emma Mackey) have developed a good relationship in real life which shows how different people can work together and be friends even if their background or situation is completely different.
Condé Nast owns Teen Vogue and is a publishing company
8 million dollars made a year for Teen Vogue
Advanced publications own other publications
Founded in 1909
Focused on fashion, politics, culture, identity
Teen Vogue was launched in 2003 and is a sister publication (horizontal) to Vogue and is targeted at teenage girls
First issue: January 2003, Final issue: December 2017 (on paper) featuring Hillary Clinton. They now only produce articles online
Cut down prints in 2015 as it wasn’t very efficient and not many people were buying them
Primary target audience: Teenage girls
since 2016, Teen Vogue has grown substantially in traffic through its website; in January 2017, the magazine’s website had 7.9 million US visitors compared to 2.9 million the previous January
1.7% of their May 2018 audience was 17 or younger, 2.6% were 18 to 24 years old
There is a wide variety of topics (Overview of the homepage)
Represents a lot of different topics and Teen Vogue can reach and increase their audience by the variety that they have on their website. Keeps people updated on ‘all the gossip’.
