We all have social media or have been associated with it in
some way or another. The reality of it all is that we rely on social media to
portray an image of ourselves that we want our ‘followers’ and ‘subscribers’ to
see.
Celebrities use many different forms of social media such as
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to connect with their mass audience of
fans.
Social media can be seen as one of the easiest mediums for celebrities to get their views, opinions and stories out to the wider public. This weeks reading on the Specular economy draws on the idea that the public presentation of self can be seen through the term ‘specular’ which can be described as “a two-way mirror of projection on to the screen and the circulation of and interaction with those images and texts into the wider world” (Marshall, 2010).
Marshall discusses how the specular economy “foundations are derived from the much longer tradition of celebrity culture and whose repercussions relate to an emerging comfortability with a society of surveillance” (Marshall, 2010).
The reality of it all means that celebrities cannot hide from social media, once they are involved social media becomes a form of surveillance on their lives, with billions of people being able to access information and share information about these people.
A prime example would be he demise of Tiger Woods and his
image which had huge repercussions on his life, losing his sponsors and
creating a terrible image within the public. This was played continuously
through societies eye after tiger crashed his SUV in 2009 in his own front yard.
Marshall writes that Tiger Woods’s perfect sporting image was tarnished through “new technologies and their capacity to capture proof” (Marshall, 2010). This allowed capture images of Tiger crashing his SUV in 2009 to be circulated through social media and websites sending his once perfect sporting image into a media frenzy.
Social media can taint celebrities images, or improve them. However, once involved with these mediums it should be definitely used wisely!.
Marshall writes that Tiger Woods’s perfect sporting image was tarnished through “new technologies and their capacity to capture proof” (Marshall, 2010). This allowed capture images of Tiger crashing his SUV in 2009 to be circulated through social media and websites sending his once perfect sporting image into a media frenzy.
Social media can taint celebrities images, or improve them. However, once involved with these mediums it should be definitely used wisely!.
David Marshall, P, ‘The
Specular Economy’, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010.
Image: http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/tigerapology.jpg (Google Images).
Image: http://digitalsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/social-media-marketing2.jpg (Google Images).
Image: http://media.salon.com/2010/11/prepare_yourselves_for_a_day_without_celeb_tweets-460x307.jpg (Google Images).
Image: http://digitalsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/social-media-marketing2.jpg (Google Images).
Image: http://media.salon.com/2010/11/prepare_yourselves_for_a_day_without_celeb_tweets-460x307.jpg (Google Images).
Very interesting read, you were able to stick to the topic of both celebrity and the idea of specular economy throughout the blog and explain the different meanings, ensuring us readers didn't fall behind.
ReplyDeleteThe main issues I had with this blog were just grammar and syntax really, while it was completely understandable and I didn't get lost once, it lost some of its professionalism because of little errors like lower-case 't' for Tiger's name and 'loosing' when it should have been 'losing'.
The content was very good and insightful, and the example given of Tiger Woods' tainting really showed us how and why social media sites are a danger to celebrities, and I feel that there are so many bonuses to it as well, but I understand that wasn't the point you were making in this particular post.
If you were to pursue this for the final assignment I think that a few more examples of bad publicity wouldn't go astray, but also look at the positives of social media for celebrities, or even people who aren't famous, but get there due to social media (YouTube sensations and the like).
Hi Prue, I agree with Pierce in that I noticed some grammar and syntax errors too. I enjoyed the post and thought you had researched it well, however, I would like to have seen you use a different example than Tiger Woods, simply because this example was already cited in the readings for the week. It would have been good to have seen you expand to include other examples that we hadn't yet read about.
ReplyDeleteIt would have also been good to include a positive side too, i.e. Lady Gaga's 'Monsters' being able to connect with her through social media in regards to issues she cares about like bullying and homophobia etc. rather than just the negatives of it.
Hi Prue,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post it was a really good read and very informative from the get go. I think that you have described this week’s topic well particularly the reading by Marshall and have expanded it to fit into your blog. I particularly liked the part where you have underlined the fact that celebrity lives are indeed constantly under surveillance. The example of Tiger Woods and how badly his public image or persona was damaged gave added depth to your argument and the advise at the end to use social media wisely love it!
- Jules
Hi Prue,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the logical flow of your blog post. You bring up some extremely relevant points and clearly understand the key terms that are used throughout. Again, as mentioned above, there are some grammar and syntax errors, but that is an easy fix.
Perhaps to further this, you could look more so at the social media frenzy that was caused as a result of Tiger's actions, wherein everyday people felt that they had the right to publicly comment on such personal issues. In my opinion, it is the fact that consumers sit behind a keyboard and attain a sense of anonymity, meaning they feel they can say anything they want as it is not face to face, and due to the obscene amount of other people commenting on the issue, their words wont have ramifications.
Thanks again!
Julia