We know that communicating through different cultures can be difficult. There are many differences in the way that a culture uses social cues and other gestures to get their point across to others, making it hard for people from other backgrounds to understand. With the introduction of social media into society, we can see that there is a new culture being cultivated through the way that we communicate.
Social media is arguably one of the most innovative tools in modern day that helps mass communication and advertising. We can connect with anyone from around the world. The sky is honestly the limit with what you can do with social media. What we aren't realizing, though, is that this communication through social media is shaping a culture of its own. I don't really mean this in a literal way, but through social media, we can catch onto trends and things that are popular in cultures other than ours. Take for example, Kanye West coming out with his new Yeezy clothing and shoe line. As a white male born and raised in eastern Nebraska, my culture and background is far more different from Kanye's. Being on social media, I am able to see what Kanye is up to. I know when his new album and clothing line was dropped. Other people can express to me how much they love his new shoes. That culture is being communicated through social media to me, and I can't help but catch on and give into this culture.
I'm going to be completely honest, when I first saw a picture of Kanye's shoes (which at the time I didn't know they were Kanye's) I thought they were the ugliest things I've seen in a while. After a lot of time sifting through clothing and fashion accounts on Instagram, I can see this culture starting to change and shift toward these shoes. I learned that they were Kanye's brand, I saw multiple accounts just dedicated to communicating to the public how amazing these shoes are, and I began to see a change in culture even in my life. My every day culture and the culture that is created through social media I am a part of is very different. I don't have a pair of these shoes, I own no items of clothing from Yeezy Season 2, and I don't really plan on doing so any time soon. But on social media, I talk about it. I share the hype about these items in this culture. I give into so much of what is communicated to me on a daily basis, and that's all because of the culture that is being created.
Whether we want to believe it or not, social media is a culture all in itself. You are contributing to that culture by every share you make on Facebook, every like you give on Instagram, and every tweet you send out to all of your followers on Twitter. Social Media proves again and again that it is one of the most powerful and important tools today, and I can recognize that I give into it.
Elliot,
ReplyDeleteReading through your post, I couldn’t help but agree with a lot of your arguments about social media. I may be bias because my job centers around creating, curating, and posting content onto social media, but this tool is something so innovative, and can reach a wide variety of audiences within seconds. We can see what is happening across the world by simply searching hashtags or finding various accounts online. Social media is becoming a huge part of brand culture today as well.
I think a big part of social media is the feeling of connectedness we get from it. We can feel somewhat connected to a brand or even a famous singer like Kanye because we can see into their lives and maybe get a like or favorite from a brand every once in awhile. This shows just how easy social media has made it for us to connect with brands, celebrities, and each other.
I wanted to reply to your post because I have been following Kanye fairly closely the past couple weeks on social media because I find it extremely interesting to see what he thinks is appropriate to post, and how his music and clothing line are blowing up across all forms of social media. According to an article found on (http://c-k.com/yeezyseason-by-the-numbers-a-look-at-kanye-wests-beautiful-dark-twisted-february-on-social-media/ ), there were over 11.5 Kanye-versations in February alone. Within that 11.5 million, 99 percent of the mentions and conversations were on Twitter.
Addressing your point about his shoes, Kanye pushed his line out by using the hashtag #YeezySeason. His hashtag fell short compared to the mentions of Kanye at the #Grammys. He had almost 351,000 mentions in relationship to the Grammy’s, and only 60,000 mentions in relationship to his line, Yeezy Season. This makes me think about his brand and his overall presence in the social scheme of things. His Grammy stunt really got people talking, which most likely in turn, helped him sell more shoes and clothing from his line. This makes me think about times before social media even existed. His clothing and shoe line has completely blown up on social media, and it is almost impossible to go one day without seeing something about his line.
Brand awareness on social media is a fairly new topic, within the past 10 years, but it has completely changed the game for brands all over the world. Virtually every brand now advertises online through social media, or at least has an account that is fairly active. To keep up with these new trends and cultures, brands must get ahead and keep up on social media. I believe that if a brand has a strong presence on social media, that it can really be taken to the next level, especially with our generation.
Your post caught my interest because I am a fan of Kanye's music and also follow him on Instagram. Although I don't plan on buying any of Kanye's clothing line, I do enjoy following him on Instagram (and Twitter) and see what he's posting about, and I guess I am sort of contributing to the Kanye "culture" by doing this.
ReplyDeleteI follow a lot of healthy food bloggers on Instagram, and I feel like that is a culture as well. They all promote different products on their accounts and blogs and advertisers pay them to make recipes with their products and post about them on their blogs. These bloggers also will post about another food blogger in their community and encourage all of their followers to follow this fellow blogger and vise versa.
There is also another culture on Instagram that feature the hashtag #liketoknowit that has to do with fashion. It's essentially a community of bloggers who are accepted to a rewards program and get paid to post outfits from different companies. When their followers like their photo with a #liketoknowit hashtag, they get sent an email with links to the clothing that was featured in the picture they liked. There are hundreds of rewards program bloggers who post and an official "Like to Know it" account that you can follow and see what other bloggers to follow. This is a type of culture I am a part of and follow several of the bloggers on Instagram. This is a way that advertisers use to promote their products. I honestly think that advertising on social media by paying bloggers to post about their products is a great idea and very innovative.
I totally agree that social media is becoming a huge culture. I find that I am a part of a lot of "mini cultures" on Instagram. Whether that be following Kanye, fashion bloggers, T-swift, or food bloggers, I contribute daily to the culture and community of these accounts and smart advertisers are definitely taking advantage of this.