Twitter and a tablet: tools of the DIY journalist?

I’m in Los Angeles this week for a web conference. Naturally, when you stick a bunch of IT and web specialists together, the topic of social media surfaces. So far I have attended two sessions on social media and mobile. Tomorrow holds a third.

With all this discussion on social media, I am seriously tempted to bust out this video tomorrow morning at breakfast. It’s an advert for The Guardian, and I still don’t know how I feel about it.

What is happening here? Clearly The Guardian is commenting on the instantaneous and ubiquitous nature of social media. The newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, explains that the advert is part of a re-branding initiative. The Guardian believes in open journalism, and “Big Bad Wolf” is meant to promote that philosophy.

While I understand the significant value of open journalism, this advert still makes me uneasy, for it speaks to the often unrecognized (or overlooked) power of social media.

Watch the video again. See how quickly the public’s opinion jumps from empathy and justification, to anger, to suspicion, back to empathy, and finally to rage – not against the murderous pigs, mind, but the economic structures that “caused” the pigs to murder in the first place. All these shifts in public opinion were encouraged and fueled by uploaded video from smartphones, tweets, and personal commentary on social networks.

Social media is a useful tool – one that integrates voices into the news that would have never been publicly and widely shared otherwise. As with any tool, however, comes responsibility. A healthy dose of skepticism is important when utilizing social media. Is there a point when too many voices actually hinders objective journalism? A point when it complicates court proceedings and crime investigations? Does “open news” invite too many perspectives to the table, thus creating a noisy squabble of citizen and do-it-yourself broadcasters? Or does it add to, as The Guardian puts it, “the whole picture”? If a news organization tried to streamline and reduce the noise of social media, would that be considered censorship?

This advert presents me with a list of questions which, in turn, produces even more questions. These sort of queries will only continue as the honeymoon phase of social media ends, and the legal cases begin. I’m very interested in your thoughts. How do you interpret this new advert from The Guardian? What is your opinion of the role that social media plays in journalism?

 

want the fashion of Effie Trinket? Capitol Couture offers glam galore

Effie Trinket on 'Capitol Couture'

Last week I came upon this delightful piece of transmedia, thanks to the obsessive coverage by Entertainment Weekly of all things Hunger Games.

It’s the new “Capitol Couture” blog for all those fashionistas who love the mad style and glittery colors of Suzanne Collin’s fictional District One (a.k.a. The Capitol). Unlike the Panem website, which requires a Facebook or Twitter login, Capitol Couture offers a splashy, magazine-style format for anyone interested. Posts are divided into such topics as Cover Stories, Profiles, Capitol Look, Guides, Intel, and Citizen Activity. Fans can read, like, share, and comment on each post, further generating fan engagement and interaction.

The tumblr blog is clever and imaginative. There is a banner that advertises the 74th Annual Hunger Games, creepily similar to the ad banners we all encounter across the web. There is a space for you to write to the editor and a Twitter stream in the sidebar so you can stay up-to-date with the latest announcements from Panem. (Yep, they’ve got a Twitter account, too.) There is a competition for anyone wishing to channel their inner Cinna in the hopes of being selected as their district’s stylist. There is even a Capitol line of nail polish called “Colors From the Capitol” by China Glaze, each color representing a district. You can purchase your favorite starting March 1st.

Several posts incorporate real-life fashion photographers and designers, such as this entry: “Craig McDean – Steal the show from the Tributes with this high-necked number at your next Sponsor’s banquet!” Other posts echo the voice of another fictional fashion-and-society blogger – Gossip Girl – like so: “Spotted! Yummy grosgrain peep-toes on one of the Capitol’s favorite socialites. Just how black were they in person? Coal-black. A sure sign of the District 12-inspired fashion revolution we predict is just around the corner.”

The insider references to districts, events, and characters are sure to delight fans. But really, what is the point?

Lionsgate (or a digital marketing company that is working with Lionsgate) has certainly taken advantage of online and social media to build buzz around the film’s March 23 release. Transmedia elements, like Capitol Couture, do more than garner excitement and prompt Siri reminders. They allow for fans to become part of the story while simultaneously welcoming new fans into the fold.

Sound familiar? AMC executed the same strategy for the third season premiere of its Emmy-winning series Mad Men (coincidentally produced by Lionsgate studio). With the creative genius of Deep Focus, fans were given the chance to create customised, 1960’s-era, Mad Men-inspired likenesses of themselves and then spread them throughout social media. The result? 3.3 million viewers for the premiere – up from the usual 2 million.

Sure, it’s cute and creative to post about Effie Trinket’s shoes as if she were a real person. Yet it is the spreadable and immersive nature of this transmedia that heightens visibility and deepens investment – something producers hope will translate into mega-numbers at the box office.

 

coming attractions at (edge)wise…

Times have slowed here at (edge)wise over the holidays. This has more to do with my new job, though, than Christmas. I have been settling into my work as a social media specialist (dream job!), and (edge)wise has been patiently waiting for my attention.

Isn’t it interesting how pop culture seems to take a break through much of December? At least, most of the pop culture articles that appear on my Twitter stream relate to year-end summaries, top ten lists, and 2012 predictions. Many television shows are on hiatus until the new year, and we’re inundated with reruns and holiday specials. Obviously there are exceptions. (The thoroughly anti-climatic finale of The X-Factor being one.) Several films have been released for the holiday masses. Yet there remains an overwhelming presence of reflection and assessment.

So here at (edge)wise I offer no top ten lists or favorite films of 2011. No social media predictions for the upcoming year. I don’t want to add to the noise.

Coming soon: a feminist’s perspective of Doctor Who, a retro look at The Avengers, and a playful dialogue about my newest obsession – Downton Abbey. Can you sense a theme? Yes, I seem to be enjoying an awful lot of British television these days. Just call me an Anglophile. I also have some scribblings on the Pinterest craze, the awkwardly adolescent relationship between TV and social media, Jennifer Lopez (yes, you did read that correctly), Vanity Fair, and that deliciously addicting affair on ABC called Revenge.

And lest we forget, January presents the mid-season premieres of Alcatraz (hmm) and Smash (groan), so you can expect my thoughts on those.

Finally – and the moment you have probably forgotten, er, been waiting for…my new website will launch on March 3, 2012. Mark your calendars.

 

a new direction

York Minster & Low Petergate, October 2010

A lot of changes have transpired this past year. A year ago today I was living in York, getting ready for my first departmental meeting. I was anxious and excited for the year ahead, unknown of what it would include. I still believed I would study the political and activist uses of film for my dissertation. And I walked into town every weekend so I could sit on the bench outside the Minster.

 

Now I am back in the States. My year in England has influenced and shaped me in ways I have not fully processed yet. But my studies abroad have revealed three things for certain.

 

1. I love analyzing television. More so than film. I enjoy the continuity of television seasons and the ability to craft ongoing, multi-layered, complex narratives. With television (if written and produced well), viewers can emotionally engage with characters—potentially over several years, an aspect distinctly different from that of the two-hour film. I now know that, at some point, I will be involved with television production.

 

2. Social media fascinates me, especially when joined with television. Because of the weekly format of most television shows, social media are used to further engage viewers, maintain interest between episodes, and deepen the narrative experience. Social media can create hyperdiegetic spaces, and we are only beginning to see the creative (and sometimes banal) ways in which entertainment and culture industries are employing social media to immerse their audiences.

 

3. I am a firebrand feminist. Apparently this is old news to everyone who has known me the past ten years. I never recognized this aspect of myself until college. Even then I saw it as a supplementary feature. Politics and theatre were my defining ‘passions’, if you will, during that time. Then I moved to York and met Dr. Kristyn Gorton.

 

While her area of research is television, she often analyzes television through a feminist lens. My first term of Television Case Studies was heavy with feminist analysis, and something within me finally sparked alive. Took root. Feminist analysis appeared in my critique of Mad Men that autumn, two more essays in the spring, and my final dissertation. Despite my efforts at searching for other analytic perspectives, I kept returning to feminism.

 

Feminism is more than a supplemental aspect of my being—something friends and family have recognized for years now. It defines me; I cannot separate my passion for female equality and empowerment from who I am. Now that I am fully cognizant of this passion—and embrace it—I am excited for the ways in which to pair feminism with media.

~ ~ ~

 

These three things, my readers, will come to define (edge)wise over the coming months and years. (Edge)wise will be undergoing a major face-lift over the next several weeks—a new direction. It will be a place for commentary on television, entertainment, and media; television and film reviews will remain a major component. I will have a new section specifically focused on girls, women and media. Interviews will become a regular feature. Book reviews will still make an appearance. Recipes will not. More attention will be given to the developments within social media and related technology. The hope is for (edge)wise to become your first-read on television, pop culture, and social media through the perspective of an everyday feminist. Fun, exhilarating stuff.

 

This is an exciting time for (edge)wise. Please be patient as the website undergoes creative re-design and construction. As always, I appreciate your feedback and your readership.

 

I am media maven. Hear me roar.