#interactive entertainment is one of the most impactful mediums for creating/sharing an emotional experience change my mind

[eagon-media-entertainment]

Social Media Marketing Services in Andheri

The Power of Video Marketing: How Social Media Agencies Are Revolutionizing Brand Engagement in 2024

In 2024, video marketing is not just a trend - it's a necessity. With the explosion of digital content, videos have become the lifeblood of social media platforms, capturing the attention of millions in just a few seconds. As businesses scramble to keep up, social media agencies like Eagon Entertainment are leading the charge, helping brands harness the full potential of video to engage their audiences like never before.

Why Video Marketing?

Let's face it - our attention spans are shrinking. In a world where information is consumed in bite-sized pieces, videos stand out as the most effective way to communicate a message quickly and memorably. According to recent studies, video content is 1200% more effective than any other type of content. It not only grabs attention but also retains it, driving higher engagement, shares, and conversions.

The Evolution of Video Content

Gone are the days when video marketing meant just a polished, minute-long ad. In 2024, video content is more diverse, dynamic, and interactive. Here are a few trends that are redefining video marketing:

Short-Form Videos: Platforms like Instagram Reels have proven that you don't need a lengthy video to make an impact. Short, engaging videos are the new norm, and brands that can tell their story in 15-30 seconds are winning big.

Live Streaming: Live videos create a sense of urgency and authenticity that pre-recorded content just can't match. Whether it's a product launch, a behind-the-scenes look, or a Q&A session, live streaming allows brands to connect with their audience in real time.

Interactive Videos: Imagine a video where viewers can choose the storyline, click on products to learn more, or even make a purchase - all without leaving the video. Interactive videos are making this possible, creating an immersive experience that keeps audiences engaged longer.

How Social Media Agencies Are Leading the Way

Navigating this complex landscape requires expertise, creativity, and a deep understanding of the ever-changing digital world. This is where social media agencies come in. At Eagon Entertainment, we specialize in crafting video marketing strategies that resonate with today's audiences.

Strategic Storytelling: We believe that every brand has a story to tell, and video is the most powerful medium to tell it. Our team of creative professionals works closely with brands to develop compelling narratives that capture their essence and connect with their audience on an emotional level.

Data-Driven Decisions: In video marketing, creativity must be balanced with data. We use advanced analytics to understand what works and what doesn't, ensuring that our clients' video content is not just creative but also effective in driving results.

End-to-End Production: From ideation to production to distribution, we handle it all. Our in-house team of videographers, editors, and social media experts work together to produce videos that are not just visually stunning but also optimized for each platform.

The Future of Video Marketing

As we move further into 2024, one thing is clear: video marketing will continue to evolve. With new technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 5G, the possibilities for video content are endless. Social media agencies will need to stay ahead of the curve, experimenting with new formats and platforms to keep their clients at the forefront of digital marketing.

At Eagon Entertainment, we're excited about the future of video marketing. We're committed to helping brands navigate this ever-changing landscape and leverage the power of video to build stronger, more meaningful connections with their audiences.

Conclusion

Video marketing is more than just a tool - it's a game-changer. In 2024, brands that embrace video and partner with forward-thinking social media agencies will not only survive but thrive in the digital world. If you're ready to revolutionize your brand's engagement, let's talk.

https://www.eagonentertainment.com/

[translucio]

EMBARRASSING to admit this but like........... rdr2 has probably Affected me more than any other game ive played recently.. like genuinely its made me Feel things more than my typical level of emotionality or lack thereof. ive only cried twice in the span of over a year (thanks to testosterone + depression + my baseline emotional intelligence of a dried out pencil eraser). the first time was a few months ago when i had an anxiety attack / nervous breakdown after a long day of extensive socialization and overstimulation. the second was when arthur died in this game.

and the world of the game is so beautifully rendered that it reminds me of why i love nature. its renewed my passion for hiking and being out in nature in general.

the writing/characters/story, environment design, and careful simulation through small mechanics all combine into something so vivid that its made me experience real life more vividly. its a reminder of why im so passionate about games and game design. if extremely ridiculous and cheesy

[taylorafergus]

Live Streaming is changing the (video) game - Week 10

Video games are inherently active and social mediums of which have become well-established sources of entertainment and distraction. Everyday life consists of both labour and leisure; It is a place whereby people are regularly required to navigate and steer through "deeply political, culturally productive, sociotechnical systems" (Taylor 2018, pg. 11). These consoles and gaming systems thus provide individuals with an outlet that is both healthy and socially accepted by which they can tune out the 'real world' in using the platforms as a means of escapism (Taylor 2018, pg. 11). 

Video games span across the gamut of available mediums - from "arcade systems, to home consoles, to handheld[s]... and mobile devices" (History.com editors 2017). In today's climate, these gaming experiences have also moved online onto live streaming platforms such as Twitch, Youtube, Facebook Gaming, and Microsoft Mixer. More and more players are opting to live stream their gameplay which "range in [both] size and nature, from intimate communities with fifty viewers to massive broadcasts with tens of thousands" per session (Kaytoue et al. 2012, pg. 1181: Hamilton et al. 2014, pg. 1315).

Figure 1. Nintendo 3ds Gif. Source; Giphy c. 2020.

Further, the gaming scene has been irrevocably been met with changes in their demographics and the number of members within their community over the last few decades. The 'gamer' persona is typically exemplified as a young, white or East Asian male of middle-class (Hardwick 2020). Hardwick continues that whilst the notion of playing games is most commonly associated with the aforementioned stereotype, “[game]play transcends age, gender and cultural boundaries” (Hardwick 2020).

Figure 2. Video Games Gamer GIF. Source; Giphy c. 2020.

Through the rapid proliferation and evolution of technology, "gamers have been met with a wealth of ways to reinvent themselves with an online identity and [to] create a cult-like social community following. Online platforms such as Twitch present any gamer with the opportunity to grow an audience and community through a smooth live streaming experience" (Debating Communities and Networks IX Conference 2018). Game live streaming has ultimately become a new form of entertainment genre and networked broadcast of which can serve as an assembly location for player and gaming communities. The use of games and live streaming thus contributes to the formation of digital communities. These gaming communities consist of ‘gamer-spectators’, a culmination of gamers, game casters, and game cast viewers by "bring[ing] together online communities to reshape interactions of play with audiences" (cited in Johnson and Woodcock 2019, pg. 673:681). The process of streaming one's gameplay holds some similarity with the ‘modding’ communities surrounding video games (cited in Johnson and Woodcock 2019, pg. 672) – which entails the alteration of game-related content by fans as objects of fan enthusiasm (Sotamaa 2010, p. 243).

Henry Jenkins, an American media scholar, believes that 'knowledge communities' are the "voluntary, temporary, and tactical affiliations, defined through common intellectual enterprises and emotional investments... [that is] held together through the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge” (Jenkins 2006, p.136). In relation to the gaming community, this 'knowledge community' occurs when players, viewers and users create, disseminate and share gaming-related information and content through external platforms such as Facebook groups, wikis, fan pages, blogs, and Tumblr fan pages. These behaviours and actions consequently contribute to the user's sense of social identity and belonging as the status of membership to these communities are developed through their "personal investment in the community, [and] yielding feelings of the right to belong and community identity" (Hamilton et al. 2014, pg. 1318).

Figure 3. Scott Mccall Tv Teen Wolf GIF Source; Giphy c. 2020.

These live streaming platforms have given gamer-spectators a platform to “gather ‘en masse’" (Boyd 2012, p. 74) allowing them to “strongly unite over [a shared] something” - consequently developing and sustaining a sense of social identity and community in ways games have previously never been able to achieve (Hillman et al. 2014:1, pg. 287).

References:

Boyd, D 2012, ‘Participating in The Always-On Lifestyle’, in M Mandiberg (ed.), The Social Media Reader, New York University Press, New York, pp. 71-76

Debating Communities and Networks IXConference 2018, 'Inclusivity of the Modern Gaming Community and the Reinvention of Online Gaming Identity through Streaming Platforms', Networked Conference, viewed the 22nd of May 2020, <http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2018Bentley/2018/05/07/inclusivity-of-the-modern-gaming-community-and-the-reinvention-of-online-gaming-identity-through-streaming-platforms/>

Hamilton, W, Garretson, O, Kerne, A 2014, 'Streaming on twitch: fostering participatory communities of play within live mixed media', Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on human factors in computing systems, 26 April 2014, viewed the 23rd of May 2020, pp. 1315-1324

Hardwick, T 2020, ‘Lecture 10. Gaming communities, social gaming and live streaming’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Modules via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 20th of May, viewed 23rd of May 2020

Hillman, S, Procyk, J, Neustaedter, C 2014:2, '‘alksjdf;lksfd’: Tumblr and the Fandom User Experience', Proceedings of the 2014 conference on designing interactive systems, 21 June 2014, viewed the 23rd of May 2020, pp. 775-718

History.com editors 2017, 'Video Game History', History.com, September 1st, viewed the 22nd of May 2020 <https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games>

Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York

Johnson, M, Woodcock, J 2019, 'The impacts of live streaming and Twitch.tv on the video game industry', Media, Culture & Society, July 2019, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 670-688

Kaytoue, M, Silva, A, Cerf, L, Meira, W, Raïssi, C 2012, 'Watch me playing, I am a professional: a first study on video game live streaming', Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on world wide web, 16 April 2012, viewed the 23rd of May 2020, pp. 1181-1188

'Nintendo 3ds GIF' [GIF], in Giphy c. 2020, Video Game, Giphy, viewed the 22nd of May 2020, <https://giphy.com/gifs/ricardoch-nintendo-3ds-xTiN0GwG6QAh1yjzEs>

'Scott Mccall Tv Teen Wolf GIF', in Giphy c. 2020, Gaming Community, Giphy, viewed the 23rd of May 2020, <https://giphy.com/gifs/tw-stiles-stilinski-allison-argent-RnpcG3iarYgxO>

Sotamaa, O 2010, 'When the Game Is Not Enough: Motivations and Practices Among Computer Game Modding Culture', Games and Culture, July 2010, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 239-255

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp. 1-23

'Video Games Gamer GIF' [GIF], in Giphy c. 2020, Video Games, Giphy, viewed the 23rd of May 2020, <https://giphy.com/gifs/videogames-y0NFayaBeiWEU>

[whatsthedraw]

What’s the Draw: Internet Fandoms, Chatrooms, and Teenage to Young Adult Fans of Cartoons

The Discord Universe server, first established in 2017 and linked to Discord through an /r stevenuniverse Reddit page, has nearly 1000 members as of 2021 and dozens of different channels dedicated to art, writing, fan-discussions, and general socializing. The userbase is aged 13 and older, and mainly comprised of cartoon fans from teenage years to their late 20s, and a minority in their 30s.

[The Discord Universe link page.]

Although the stigma of adults enjoying “overly optimistic, cutesy and one-dimensional” animation like Disney and Cartoon Network shows seems to persist past the 80s and 90s, and into present day, the size of the server and similar online spaces is a testament to the growing popularity of all-ages cartoons among older teen and adult audiences. [1] According to Den of Geek, cartoon shows such as Steven Universe, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power were among the top-searched fandoms in 2020. [2]

Thanks to the Internet, rapid connection with other fans can yield thriving communities like Discord Universe. However, some researchers point out that the internet medium itself affects areas like participation and social relationships and is unlike real-life meetups. [3][4] Still, fans have embraced the internet as a social platform and perhaps unknowingly adapted their communities around its functions.

By examining theory in fan-studies, the factor of the online medium, and the public perception of cartoons, one might gain a small insight into the ways in which the teen to young adult cartoon fans in Discord Universe define their relationship to the media they interact with.

1. Heckleton, Jeff. “The Double Edged Stigma Faced By Western Animation.” The Artifice, Oct 27, 2017. https://the-artifice.com/stigma-western-animation/

2. Burt, Kayti. “Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020.” Den of Geek, December 7, 2020. https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/tumblrs-top-fandoms-of-2020/

3. Barak, Azy., and Blau, Ina. "How Do Personality, Synchronous Media, and Discussion Topic Affect Participation?" Journal of Educational Technology & Society 15, no. 2 (2012): 13-15, 22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.15.2.12.

4. Islam, Gazi. "Virtual Speakers, Virtual Audiences: Agency, Audience and Constraint in an Online Chat Community." Dialectical Anthropology 30, no. 1/2 (2006): 74-78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29790755.

_______________________________________________________________________

Many authors describe fandom not as a strictly consumer culture, but a transformative culture. Fans absorb material, construct their own meaning, and use this outlet to voice societal concerns through fanworks or community, including those concerns present in the source. In other words, by emphasizing what they do and don’t like through discussion or creations, this is a “patchwork” reflection of personal and societal values. Some, like Henry Jenkins, frame this in an idealistic manner, claiming that it reflects the hopes and dreams of the community. [5] Another view asserts that fandom is like a ‘shadow economy’, parallel to capitalist society, in which fan-works and source knowledge function as the ‘capital’. [6] Like Jenkins’ idea, fans then rework certain values in the outer society, reflected in their fan works. Others yet, like Nicolle Lamerichs, claim that emotional connection primarily drives fandom as an ‘extension of personal elements', not just fan-creation, and that it’s a way of making sense of the world through felt and shared experiences. [7]

[A typical show-centered discussion, as seen in the server.]

In the case of the Discord Universe community, fandom seems to exhibit all three ideas. The existence of an entire column of art-channels with different works, lively show-discussions that are rewarded with conversation, and plenty of commentary on social issues all are regular happenings. However, there’s no telling if another group, especially on a different platform than Discord, might influence what counts as participation in fandom. 

[The many different channels filed under the ‘discussion’ and ‘creative’ categories in Discord Universe.]

Five different participants in the Discord Universe server were interviewed with loose guidelines regarding their favorite cartoons, the age they started watching, and if they felt any significant impact in their everyday life past enjoyment of the show itself, in order to find how the fans might define themselves.

Although a lower starting-age was expected, the fans indicated they watched most of the current favorite cartoons in their teens and 20s. A few older respondents mentioned starting their favorites closer to their 30s.

Regarding personal impact from fandom, the most common responses seemed to fall into 4 different categories: Sense of Community, Creative Outlet, Escapism and Other Positive Associations, and an Impact on Social or Societal Views.

Some mentioned they felt a sense of “nostalgia” or “happiness” watching certain shows, and they felt connected to the “kid experience” or certain family members. Others mentioned meeting friends or significant others from shared enjoyment. Another recurring answer was that watching some shows put them “in touch with aspects of self,” grew more accepting of “new perspectives and life situations,” and changed views about “socially internalized homophobia and transphobia”.

The last category, Creativity, although mentioned once in the form of feeling “motivated to make fan-pieces” is most evident in the server itself. The posts in the art channels are often fan-expression, but not always. While fan-work is not the sole determinant of fan-status, it seems to hold particular importance in this particular group of visual media fans, given the existence of many different categories. [7]

The types of responses given, reflecting nostalgia and escapism, appear elsewhere in research. In one study regarding adult opinion of Disney movies, those who enjoy them often cited the reason as being ‘nostalgic, engaging, and reassuring.’ The author also suggested that adult enjoyment of this media might act as a ‘surrogate for memories of childhood’ which they may want to revisit. [8] In the case of those who cited feeling nostalgic or enjoying childhood experiences through the eyes of an animated character, it’s reasonable that one might turn to all kinds of cartoon media with familiar themes, not just Disney.

5. Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture, New York: Routledge, 1992, 23-24.

6. Lewis, Lisa A. "The Cultural Economy of Fandom," in The Adoring Audience, 2002, 38-57. doi:10.4324/9780203181539-9.

7. Lamerichs, Nicolle. "Conclusion: Prospects for Fan Studies." In Productive Fandom: Intermediality and Affective Reception in Fan Cultures, 17-19. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018. doi:10.2307/j.ctv65svxz.15.

8. Mason, James Robert. “Disney Film Genres and Adult Audiences: A Tale of Renegotiated Relationships.” PhD diss. University of Leeds, 2017. 268-276.

_______________________________________________________________________

The Internet gives voice to those who might not otherwise be able to express themselves, which is one oft-apparent aspect of fan-creation [9]. According to research by Azy Barak and Ina Blau, the internet text-chat environment gives introverts more confidence to talk, even about more sensitive issues, and creates an ‘equalizing’ effect for users, regardless of status, race, gender, and appearance.[10]

Between “developing new characters and selves” through constructed profiles and nicknames, and navigating the norms that might get others to respond, the internet seems to govern how online fandom spaces operate rather than the other way around. Those who fail to meet the ‘netiquette’ of the chat area often go unanswered or kicked out. Additionally, there are often dozens, if not hundreds of lurkers in every chatroom. Each message is sent not just to the participants, but also to a larger, silent background audience, which gives a sense of a larger publicity than the immediate group. In talking in general-chat, there’s less expectation of intimacy than, say, a direct-message, which can open up a space to have low-stakes discussions and bring anonymity to participants. [11] [12]

While there is often a distinction between the real world and the constructed internet persona, sometimes users might freely blend their identities, as in Discord Universe on occasion. The internet medium, however, makes this a choice rather than a necessity, centering the creation and sharing of works and fan-discussion one of the primary functions of the group. Additionally, instantly banishing any nay-sayers, internet-trolls, or anyone else who doesn’t follow the established social norms, the fandom ‘in-group’ can near-effortlessly be maintained. The medium of the internet therefore creates quite a difference in curating a certain type of community of like-minded individuals, which may be more difficult in a real-life setting.

A writer for Vocal Media, Nina Bi, states that the boundless possibilities in animation, easy enjoyment, and nostalgia tend to draw adults to all-ages types of cartoons. [13] Despite the alleged outside stigma, there does seem to be a trend in late-teenage to adult enjoyment of cartoons for their complexity and entertainment value, at least in Discord Universe. The server provides an outlet for transformative works that express opinions reflective of society, allows for socialization and friendships, and has a unique culture reflective of the internet age. In other words, seemingly just like any other fandom in our current understanding.

9. Lewis, Lisa A. "The Cultural Economy of Fandom," 38-57.

10, 11. Barak, Azy., and Blau, Ina. "How Do Personality, Synchronous Media, and Discussion Topic Affect Participation?" 13-15, 22.

12. Islam, Gazi. "Virtual Speakers, Virtual Audiences,” 74-75, 78.

13. Bi, Ninfa. “The Reasons Why Adults Are Still Watching Cartoons.” Vocal Media, 2017. https://vocal.media/geeks/the-reasons-why-adults-are-still-watching-cartoons

Bibliography:

Bi, Ninfa. “The Reasons Why Adults Are Still Watching Cartoons.” Vocal Media, 2017. https://vocal.media/geeks/the-reasons-why-adults-are-still-watching-cartoons

Burt, Kayti. “Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020.” Den of Geek, December 7, 2020. https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/tumblrs-top-fandoms-of-2020/

Heckleton, Jeff. “The Double Edged Stigma Faced By Western Animation.” The Artifice, Oct 27, 2017. https://the-artifice.com/stigma-western-animation/

Barak, Azy., and Blau, Ina. "How Do Personality, Synchronous Media, and Discussion Topic Affect Participation?" Journal of Educational Technology & Society 15, no. 2 (2012): 12-24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.15.2.12.

Islam, Gazi. "Virtual Speakers, Virtual Audiences: Agency, Audience and Constraint in an Online Chat Community." Dialectical Anthropology 30, no. 1/2 (2006): 71-89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29790755.

Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture, New York: Routledge, 1992, 279-290.

Lewis, Lisa A. "The Cultural Economy of Fandom," in The Adoring Audience, 2002, 38-57. doi:10.4324/9780203181539-9.

Lamerichs, Nicolle. "Conclusion: Prospects for Fan Studies." in Productive Fandom: Intermediality and Affective Reception in Fan Cultures, 231-40. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018. doi:10.2307/j.ctv65svxz.15.

Mason, James Robert. “Disney Film Genres and Adult Audiences: A Tale of Renegotiated Relationships.” PhD diss. University of Leeds, 2017. 

[anotheraldin]

Spiritual Pornography

In reading the Seerah, one finds that the lectures of the Prophet of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), while definitely a cornerstone of his message, would often tend to be short and sparse. What one finds much more often is the organic, face-to-face interactions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) with his companions (may Allah be pleased with them all). Whether it took form in vocalized personal interactions among small gatherings, displaying the proper methodology through deed, or merely allowing interactions and discussions to transpire while remaining silent in a show of tacit approval, the Sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was much more nuanced than mere speeches. In one specific narration, it’s mentioned that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) never gave a long lecture except for one specific, memorable day wherein he described (in detail) all the prophecies of future events to transpire. In another narration, one finds that the Friday sermons of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would tend to never extend beyond roughly twenty minutes. And the trend persists throughout the books detailing the society of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and his companions (may Allah be pleased with them all).

And this is indeed quite an important point worth reflection upon, especially in the modern context of social media and the Dawah scene. It would come as no point of contention that part of the modern spiritual awakening of the Muslim youth, in particular the Western Muslim youth (but now quickly spreading all across the globe), has been due to social media and internet usage. The very same medium used by said youth for purposes other than spiritual and intellectual enlightenment. It is an unfortunate reality, but one nonetheless worth mentioning so that benefit can potentially be derived therein, that among the chief purposes served by the internet for the average youth today is for different forms of lewd entertainment, including pornography. While the correlation between the two (that of social media and pornography) may seem irreverent at face-value, it isn’t without merit to discuss the possible similarities that one may find between the two, and the possible traps that the culture of social media Dawah may fall into through the unintended imitation of the prior in its appeal and marketing. Discussions which, ultimately, may lead to bringing about fruitful resolutions to some of the various noted shortcomings currently encompassing our feeds.

In reading the many articles, journals, and research studies published on the issue of pornography, one finds that increasing the consumption of such material correlates specifically with the rise of violence perpetrated against women (and men in certain cases), the breakdown of families, and the increase of mental and psychological disorders among various other ills. While the causes may vary further, it would be safe to presume that the disconnect fostered through the viewing of detailed, intimate relations void of any emotional connections or organic explanations definitely serves to create a barrier in one’s understanding of the true nature of the aforementioned intimacy. When the only images of women persisting in the eyes of men are those that serve to treat them as the objects of their pleasure, it is no surprise that the objectification of women increases drastically within the audience.

When men begin to associate women more with the actresses they view on computer screens performing explicit sexual acts and less as the physical presences surrounding them in the form of mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters – fulfilling emotional and intellectual voids (among the intimate ones provided by their wives) – they naturally begin to suffer in understanding the reality of women, and as a result, giving them the proper respect and status they are due. Naturally, even the intimate relationship that one would have with a spouse begins to suffer as the expectations begin taking the form of what’s viewed on the screen, one that would have a relationship begin and end with only the act of intimacy, as opposed to a more organic understanding of what it means to have the privilege of intimacy in light of the various responsibilities present in maintaining such a relationship. This ultimately leads to the breakdown of marriages, and only increases mental trauma within the victims of the act (both the viewer, and the spouse).

In attempting to understand the post-modern culture of the current Dawah scene, one can’t help but draw a distinct connection between the natures of pornography, in its botched attempt to mimic an organic relationship, with that of the modern marketing of spirituality through the various media tools present with that of an organic spiritual growth in one’s knowledge and guidance. As a culture, even outside of the realms of spirituality, one can pinpoint the shift in the wholesale adoption of technology, and the often adverse effects it can produce within one’s life. Whereas people would find themselves having deep conversations, reading the facial movements those one addressing them alongside listening to the words being conveyed, it is now difficult to find a single gathering without the presence of a smartphone. Where once people were heard and understood, it has now become a task simply to find oneself being acknowledged among his or her peers.

It’s in this shifting culture that the modern social media based dawah circuit was able to flourish. It was through the constant sharings, the likes, and the thumbs ups that brought about the advent of the various institutions and individuals today which market the faith. And it must be clarified on the offset that this, in and of itself, isn’t negative. In a world where the youth of the Muslim community find themselves growing further isolated from their peers off the screen, finding refuge within the internet and various online communities is a reality that cannot be ignored, nor prevented. It’s indeed necessary for positive change that one uses the tools present in order to further the positive narratives that will ultimately serve to fill the spiritual, moral, and emotional voids that the youth face today in major part due to the lack of positive peer relations.

Yet with that being stated, it becomes imperative to highlight the various ills which may arise (and most certainly do) from the consumption of one’s faith primarily through these inorganic means. Just as pornography tries to mimic the very real intimate relationship one has with his or her spouse, succeeding in some aspects while dangerously failing at others, so too does the current state of the propagation of religious ethics and mores (primarily through social media in the void of other organic means of connecting with one’s faith) bring about potentially dangerous ends for the viewer. Just as pornography attempts to mimic the pleasure of relationships brought about through intimacy while ignoring everything that comes before or after, so too do these online lectures, seminars, (and even sometimes physical conferences) often ignore the realities of the audience before and after their presence at said venue.

Both serve primarily in providing fleeting elation (whether physically or spiritually) while being unable to address the audience after said experience ends. A spouse, unlike pornography, for example, can answer to the emotional needs of a person as often he or she would share the same experiences or be able to relate, knowing both the person and the situation thoroughly. Similarly, a lecture often cannot provide the answers to a person’s particular dilemma and crisis of faith the way a local Imam, family member, or close friend could, knowing better both the person in particular and his or her situation in detail. Nor can the lecture actively provide innovative solutions, involve third parties, work together to solve the problems in a person’s personal life that a faith based organic community could with one of its own.

This, among many other problems therein, can lead to numerous dangerous problems for the viewer. Just as pornography may negatively impact the mental state of a person by creating false narratives to be idolized, so too can a person often find themselves deeply decontextualized from the lecture they’re consuming once it comes to their own personal lives and scenarios. Just as pornography serves to make the audience idolize or objectify the characters acting therein, so too can such a culture of Dawah provide a false image of the person on the other side of the screen. Just as an audience might stare at a female porn-star through lenses of lust while ignoring the very real fact that she’s a woman, a human, so too can the audience forget that their favorite lecturer or speaker is, at the end of the day, a human.

A person watching pornography doesn’t realize the very real issues from which his or her favorite porn-star might be suffering. This person doesn’t know the depression faced by these actors (or even mainstream actors and personalities), the constant medication they regularly have to take in order to cope with their often miserable lives. This person might not understand what it feels like to be suicidal, a feeling often acted upon by people within the adult entertainment industry. This person doesn’t realize the absolute numbness that some of these actors feel while acting, having to disassociate themselves completely from the abuse they’re forced to bear, if not for which they wouldn’t be able to mentally and physically cope with their existence.

And quite the same, a person watching a lecturer give a speech doesn’t realize the very real issues being faced by said speaker. While the person in front of the camera may be idolized for his (or her) emotionally driven motivational talks on prayer and fasting, he himself might be struggling to pray and fast regularly. While the person in front of the camera might be idolized for his talks on properly dealing with parents, he himself might be rude and ill-mannered to his parents. While the person in front of the camera may be idolized for his talks on the nature of marriage, love, and spousal values, he himself might be struggling in his own marriage, or even facing divorce and worse. And ultimately, while the person in front of the camera may be idolized for exhorting others to stay away from sins and everything which would harm themselves or those around them, he may not be living up to the same standards in his own life. And that’s the reality of being human that’s often ignored through the filtered mediums of communication such as social media.

These points present only some of the numerous comparisons able to be drawn through the analogy, yet demand reflection therein. And ultimately, while it may help to better understand the factors that lead to the numerous problems surrounding Muslim social media (and the Dawah culture in general), one must strive to provide potential solutions alongside presenting the problems. And in this case, as in many others, the burden to bring about positive change, rests on the shoulders of the many different individuals and groups that comprise the entire community as a whole.

The first being the people given the responsibility of organizing and spreading the Dawah within their communities. This includes members of the Masjid board, organizers of conferences, the Imams hosting speakers and Dawah groups, and more. It is incumbent on them to realize the positions of responsibility they hold in guiding their flock over which Allah has made them responsible. Just as Musa (عليه السل��م) first questioned his brother Harun (عليه السلام) over the responsibility he had been given in maintaining the children of Israel when they started following the wretched among them and worshiping the golden calf (Surah al-A’raaf v.150-151), so too will these people be first questioned on the Day of Judgement over their responsibilities and whether they carried them out properly or not. Whether they protected their flock from the various trials which surrounded them, from the various wolves which surrounded them, or whether they turned them loose, and allowed the disease of corruption and evil to fester within their communities. They shall either be among the righteous leaders under the shade of the Almighty on the Day of Judgement, or under his unsheathed wrath.

The second being the community at large. The burden of responsibility to bring about positive change rests on the shoulders of each and every single mature individual within the community to his or her capacity. Just as Musa (عليه السلام), after questioning and supplicating for his brother (upon finding him having carried out his responsibilities justly and not being the cause of the corruption) criticized and admonished his people at large for taking the calf as an idol to be worshiped (v.152), so too must it serve as a reminder to the community at large, each and every single individual listening or watching lectures, attending seminars and conferences, not to idolize anyone or anything beyond their human stature. Ultimately, it is Allah that is worshiped, and not the individuals presenting His message. And the nature of worship, as defined by the Qur’an in the descriptions of the Jews (in their taking their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah) through the explanation of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) therein, is to revere the individuals and personalities presenting the faith so much that they actually become barriers in the path of proper worship by holding themselves more weight than the words of Allah and that of His final messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

Among the revered principles between the people of knowledge and understanding is to be enlightened enough to take the good from wherever it may come, and to be critical enough to recognize and reject the bad from wherever it may come, and to persist in seeking the truth. It is incumbent on the masses in general to rise to such a level of enlightenment and criticism that they not be led astray out of ignorance from the path of Allah, because ultimately, that will not serve as an acceptable excuse in front of the one that gave the people their intellect to begin with such that they could recognize Him, and be humbled through it into complete obedience and servitude.

People need to strive to become the likes of Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him), whose search for knowledge and guidance led him, before anything, to a source of corruption. He initially came across a priest who would steal money from his congregation, and after his passing, Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) informed the people of this man’s crimes. Yet had he, at that moment, become disillusioned with the pursuit of knowledge and guidance because of the corruption he encountered in his path from a revered figure of guidance, he would ultimately remain bereft of the blessing of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)’s company. So he persisted, and it was the mercy and guidance of Allah that allowed him to do as such. He persisted and persisted until he found himself as a slave. Once the son of a nobleman, he spent years in servitude to a Jewish man of Madinah, simply waiting for the guidance he sought, remaining as optimistic as he did the day he escaped the clutches of ignorance as a child. Such are the people whom Allah blesses, and such are those whom Allah guides. It needs to be instilled within the Muslim community that their expectations of the road to knowledge and guidance will be filled with hurdles, and these hurdles may even take the shape of guides and teachers in their path – but they must persist like Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) – and seek sincerity, a renewal of purpose. They must reconnect with their original intentions in seeking this knowledge, that they may be guided by Allah. And should they persist, no doubt Allah will guide them and envelop them in His everlasting mercy. Allah will replace for them the corruption with purity, and ultimately – Allah will unite them, just as He did Salman (may Allah be pleased with him), with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) at the fountain of al-Kawthar.

And finally, the responsibility rests on the people involved in the dissemination of the Dawah material itself, particularly the popular faces and groups that sell people their faith. It is incumbent on them to realize the positions they hold, not only in front of their audience, followers, and fans, but ultimately – in front of Allah. There needs to be a constant reassessment and purification of intention on part of these speakers and groups. It must be constantly remembered that the positions of influence with which they’ve been blessed are positions of privilege and responsibility, not that of a birth right (a quality expressly asserted by the children of Israel, and for which they were severely criticized in the Qur’an). They should do well to remember that if they impart unto the collective memory of the masses their own personalities or products instead of the words of Allah and that of His Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), that they are committing a heinous crime. Just as the final group of people to be questioned and criticized by Musa (عليه السلام) were the actual criminals (v.155), the people responsible for building the calf and gathering the masses around its worship, so too will those people and groups who gather the masses around the worship of their own personalities and cults (consciously or otherwise) do well to remember that they’re building a calf in the place of the Almighty. And finally, they would do well to heed the advice of their Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) when he warned of the first people to be tossed into the hellfire will be the scholar who didn’t practice what he or she preached. Speakers and groups should strive to make themselves the first people positively affected by their own speech and manifesto, lest they find themselves on the rungs of hypocrisy in the hereafter. If they find themselves unable to hold the same standards they preach, then they should find within themselves the strength and courage to abandon their posts of influence and organization lest they bring about more harm than benefit in this life and in the next, firstly to their community and flock, and ultimately, to themselves.

-Muzammil Ahmad.

[neptunecreek]

If Privacy Dies in VR, It Dies in Real Life

If you aren’t an enthusiast, chances are you haven’t used a Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) headset. The hype around this technology, however, is nearly inescapable. We’re not just talking about dancing with lightsabers; there’s been a lot of talk about how VR/AR will revolutionize entertainment, education, and even activism. EFF has long been interested in the potential of this technology, and has even developed our own VR experience, Spot the Surveillance, which places users on a street corner amidst police spying technologies. 

It’s easy to be swept up in the excitement of a new technology, but utopian visions must not veil the emerging ethical and legal concerns in VR/AR. The devices are new, but the tech giants behind them aren’t. Any VR/AR headset you use today is likely made by a handful of corporate giants—Sony, Microsoft, HTC, and Facebook. As such, this budding industry has inherited a lot of issues from their creators. VR and AR hardware aren’t household devices quite yet, but if they succeed, there’s a chance they will creep into all of our personal and professional lives guided by the precedents set today.  

A Step Backwards: Requiring Facebook Login for Oculus

This is why Oculus’ announcement last week shocked and infuriated many users. Oculus, acquired by Facebook in 2014, announced that it will require a Facebook account for all users within the next 2 years. At the time of the acquisition Oculus offered distressed users an assurance that “[y]ou will not need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift [headset].” 

There’s good cause to be alarmed. Eliminating alternative logins can force Oculus users to accept Facebook’s Community Standards, or risk potentially bricking their device. With this lack of choice, users can no longer freely give meaningful consent and lose the freedom to be anonymous on their own device. That is because Oculus owners will also need to adopt Facebook’s controversial real name policy.  The policy requires users to register what Facebook calls their “authentic identity,” — one known by friends and family and found on acceptable documents—in order to use the social network. Without anonymity, Oculus leaves users in sensitive contexts out to dry, such as VR activism in Hong Kong or LGBTQ+ users who can not safely reveal their identity.

Logging in to Facebook on an Oculus product already shares with Facebook to inform ads when you logged in to a Facebook account. Facebook already has a vast collection of data, collected from across the web and even your own devices. Combining this with sensitive biometric and environmental data detected by Oculus headsets furthers tramples user privacy. And Facebook should really know—the company recently agreed to pay $650 million for violating Illinois’ biometric law (BIPA) for collecting user biometric data without consent. However, for companies like Facebook, which are built on capturing your attention and selling it to advertisers, this is a potential gold mine. Having eye-tracking data on users, for example, can cement a monopolistic power in online advertisements— regardless of how effective it actually is. They merely need the ad industry to believe Facebook has an advantage. 

Facebook violating the trust of users in its acquired companies (like Instagram and Whatsapp) may not be surprising. After all, it has a long trail of broken promises while paying lip service to privacy concerns. What’s troubling in this instance, however, is the position of Oculus in the VR/AR industry. Facebook is poised to help shape the medium as a whole and normalize mass user surveillance, as Google has already done with smartphones.

Defending Fundamental Human Rights in All Realities

Strapping these devices to ourselves lets us enter a virtual world, but at a price—these companies enter our lives and have access to intimate details about us though biometric data. How we move and interact with the world offers insight, by proxy, to how we think and feel in the moment. Eye tracking technology, often seen in cognitive science, is already being developed, which sets the stage for unprecedented privacy and security risks. If aggregated, those in control of this biometric data may be able to identify patterns which let them more precisely predict (or cause) certain behavior and even emotions in the virtual world. It may allow companies to exploit users' emotional vulnerabilities through strategies that are difficult for the user to perceive and resist. What makes the collection of this sort of biometric data particularly frightening, is that unlike a credit card or password, it is information about us we cannot change. Once collected, there is little users can do to mitigate the harm done by leaks or data being monetized with additional parties. 

Threats to our privacy don’t stop there. A VR/AR setup will also be densely packed with cameras, microphones, and myriad other sensors to help us interact with the real world—or at least not crash into it. That means information about your home, your office, or even your community is collected, and potentially available to the government. Even if you personally never use this equipment, sharing a space with someone who does puts your privacy at risk. Without meaningful user consent and restrictions on collection, a menacing future may take shape where average people using AR further proliferate precise audio and video surveillance in public and private spaces. It’s not hard to imagine these raw data feeds integrating with the new generations of automatic mass surveillance technology such as face recognition.

Companies like Oculus need to do more than “think about privacy”. Industry leaders need to commit to the principles of privacy by design, security, transparency, and data minimization. By default, only data necessary to core functions of the device or software should be collected; even then, developers should utilize encryption, delete data as soon as reasonably possible, and have this data stay on local devices. Any collection or use of information beyond this, particularly when shared with additional parties, must be opt-in with specific, freely given user consent. For consent to be freely given, Facebook should provide an alternative option so the user has the ability to choose. Effective safeguards must also be in place to ensure companies are honoring their promises to users, and to mitigate Cambridge-Analytica-type data scandals from third-party developers. Companies should, for example, carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment to help them identify and minimize data protection risks when the processing can likely result in a high risk to individuals. While we encourage these companies to compete on privacy, it seems unlikely most tech giants would do so willingly. Privacy must also be the default on all devices, not a niche or premium feature.  

We all need to keep the pressure on state legislatures and Congress to adopt strong comprehensive consumer privacy laws in the United States to control what big tech can get away with. These new laws must not preempt stronger state laws, they must provide users’ with a private right of action, and they should not include “data dividends” or pay-for-privacy schemes.

Antitrust enforcers should also take note of yet another broken promise about privacy, and think twice before allowing Facebook to acquire data-rich companies like Oculus in the future. Mergers shouldn’t be allowed based on promises to keep the user data from acquired companies separate from Facebook’s other troves of user data when Facebook has broken such promises so many times before.

The future of privacy in VR/AR will depend on swift action now, while the industry is still budding. Developers need to be critical of the technology and information they utilize, and how they can make their work more secure and transparent. Enthusiasts and reviewers should prioritize open and privacy-conscious devices while they are only entertainment accessories. Activists and researchers must create a future where AR and VR work in the best interests of the users, and society overall. 

Left unchecked, we fear VR/AR development will follow the trail left by smartphones and IoT. Developers, users, and government must ensure it does not ride its hype into an inescapable, insecure, proprietary, and privacy-invasive ecosystem. The hardware and software may go a long way towards fulfilling long-promised aspects of technology, but it must not do so while trampling on our human rights.

from Deeplinks https://ift.tt/3huOKbw

[sayantandodo]

The Biggest Internet Trends between 2020-2025 and the Journey of SkillPal.

The growing inclination of companies for developing customer-centric strategies to deliver superior customer interaction is expected to drive the market growth. Furthermore, the rising adoption of the Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) by marketers has enabled them to seamlessly reach customers through multiple digital devices and promote cross-selling and upselling. DXP allows users to in building and delivering optimized, integrated user experiences across various digital channels. The capability of DXPs to collect and analyze the customer buying behaviour and unify customer data obtained from multiple touchpoints to create a centralized view is also a significant factor driving the market growth. Moreover, integration of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, and Machine Learning (ML) have enabled vital solution providers to upgrade their DXs, thereby driving the demand for digital experience platforms across multiple applications.

It’s one of the most interesting, as well as challenging, times to be working in the marketing domain. Catching attention and connecting with today’s digitally-savvy consumers to drive the message home is no mean feat. Teaching and learning is the new stream for growth. People these days are freak about online expert platforms. Education has changed its flow now. Any person can be a mentor and anyone can be his or her student. Industry experts came to build a new reputation. They provide life-changing ideas to set new goals. SkillPal is the new platform to pour knowledge in people’s mind. A person who loves to get edutainment from the internet can easily ask for a short video from an expert mentor of SkillPal. People who want to learn anything from the web can come to SkillPal. It is a platform where you can get mentors from different fields and set your skill upwards. Skillpal will help anybody to gain knowledge with edutainment. Expert mentors will help to review the skills and set the goals. SkillPal democratizes celebrity and industry-leading knowledge sharing for fans and aspiring talent through personalized, bite-size video advice and live guidance. If someone ever wanted to get his or her song chorus reviewed by a famous musician or your social media content by a marketing thought leader? You can now with SkillPal. We are India’s first make their industry leading expertise accessible to aspiring talent in that industry.

At its core, the vision of us is to bring Indian teachers and expert mentors make their industry leading expertise accessible to aspiring talent in that industry to their fans. Any expert listed on their portal can monetize their fame by recording short messages for their fans. The Owner and investors planned to build a reputation by providing education through entertainment to the common people. It is quite expected that the fans will grab the opportunity to get proficient personalized video messages from attractive Mentors with good skills. It is the committing time to put the popular teachers into our bag. Experts generate knowledge and People love them to do extraordinary things which give education and entertain the users. Challenges are manifold-- today’s consumers have several touchpoints to make shopping decisions, attention spans are dwindling, and competition is stiff. Further, segmentation is complex than ever before as the same consumer can purchase a product from a high or low-price range. For instance, the same customer who prefers the lowest fare flight could also purchase the latest version of Apple phone or watch. And it’s clear, amidst these rapidly changing customer expectations, conventional marketing dictums no longer hold. This new era has placed new demands upon marketers. They not only need to be creative to deliver relevant messages but need to deliver it to the relevant customer through the relevant touchpoint. This requires marketers to arm themselves with the right tools and be on the top of emerging trends.

The cloud-based segment for the market to account for the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the growing preference for cloud-based DXPs due to the rapid deployment capability and reduced investments in physical infrastructure. Owing to their wide-ranging benefits, Various enterprises prefer cloud services. For instance, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) adopt the cloud model, as it helps reduce initial IT costs, such as the costs of hardware setup and power consumption, and requires less physical space. Large enterprises can benefit from cloud services, as they can host their large number of applications in the cloud network, which eases application management. The cloud deployment type offers customers a usage-based service model with the pay-per-use facility. Moreover, cloud deployment provides various benefits to enterprises such as faster performance, quick responsiveness, improved collaboration, and greater agility, without having to operate a server infrastructure. Furthermore, the cloud-based DXPs have enabled companies to access the platform from multiple devices such as laptops, smartphones, and desktop computers to deliver customized content based on customer buying behaviour, preferences, and historical transactions.

AI-first approach: It’s been a while that AI and machine learning have been at the top of every marketing trend list, and rightly so. From enabling more accurate, real-time analytics and measurement; improving customer experience and support; optimizing product line pricing strategy to minimizing customer churn, AI and machine learning bring massive benefits to marketing.

The rise of voice marketing: The increased use of voice assistants has opened a new door of opportunities for marketers. As it allows for contextual interactions with users, voice-enabled technology is being viewed by marketers as a tool that can help them take personalization to a completely new level altogether.

Virtual Reality will make a big impact: As marketers continue to look for tools to offer more engaging, interactive and personal experiences, virtual reality emerges as a clear winner. By allowing for engaging storytelling, virtual reality enables users to connect with a brand with emotional intensity unimaginable with traditional media. It places the brand closer to the customer and reinforces brand loyalty. Leading automobile makers and smartphone manufacturers are already at the forefront in using virtual reality for delivering 360-degree interactive experiences.

Data will drive key marketing decisions: Mass, untargeted broadcasting will become passé and data will be at the heart of marketing strategy. Data is around us everywhere, which gives us key insights into customer expectations and buying patterns.

Blockchain’s potential will be explored: Blockchain is the latest buzzword around and is being touted as a technology that can bring dramatic transformation to a wide range of industries. Marketing is no different. With blockchain, marketing can address some of its biggest concerns and challenges. Resolving privacy concerns, increasing transparency in terms of identifying bots and building consumer trust are some of the key areas where blockchain’s potential is being evaluated currently.

The first thing that strikes me about education is knowledge gain. Education gives us a knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something better. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life. People debate over the subject of whether education is the only thing that gives knowledge. Some say education is the process of gaining information about the surrounding world while knowledge is something very different. They are right. But then again, information cannot be converted into knowledge without education. Education makes us capable of interpreting things, among other things. It is not just about lessons in textbooks. It is about the lessons of life. One thing I wish I can do is, to provide education for all: no child left behind and change the world for good!! SkillPal is one of the best platforms for providing education. In SkillPal there are so many mentors from different fields. They will come to the students via the internet or web to provide knowledge and help them to grow up. Interested candidates will ask the mentor for a video session and the expert will send a suitable message to the candidate in 7 days.

It is important that you must start the process of finding a mentor by assessing your vision for your career. Don’t narrow yourself just to the skills you are yet to learn, or the feedback you were given during your last performance appraisal. Think bigger picture. Do you have a tricky relationship with a colleague or client, and is this hindering your progress? Is fear or a lack of confidence holding you back? Remember, your chosen career mentor will be someone you trust, therefore they will keep everything you say confidential, so don’t limit your thinking at this stage. Welcome to SkillPal. Here you can get any kind of mentoring from industry experts.

[flannelsfloorboardsandflavo-blog]

Laugh at This: Exploring the Comedic Value of the Laugh Track (Rationale)

By: Michal Cylwik

Goals: The purpose of my audio project was to examine how the sound of laughter contributes to the overall comedic tone and nature of any given phrase, conversation, action, scene, or any piece of media as a whole. In order to demonstrate the effects that laughter can have on creating a light tone and a humorous environment, I noticed that within television comedies exists a dichotomy between multi-camera sitcoms which are written and performed in a way that incorporates the audience into the medium versus comedies that are performed and produced to imitate real-life humorous interactions. By omitting audience reactions from media where it’s normally present and by integrating audience reactions into film where it’s normally absent, I intended to demonstrate the effects of audience laughter on the viewer’s perception of the humor.

Affordances: My project’s focus on sitcoms required me to use video as the medium because so much of comedy can be conveyed through action and physicality. This visual aspect works in conjunction with the actual content of the words and the comedic stylings of the performer in order to create a multimodal form of entertainment and commentary. Originally, I wanted to explain the history of live audiences in television and then argue the ways in which the presence of audience reactions impacts the viewer. However, as I started to gather material, the time constraint forced me to focus my project, so I decided to demonstrate specifically how a laugh track (or lack thereof) can change the interpretation of a conversation or an entire artifact. My first attempt at this was to download a scene from a sitcom that does use a laugh track and use Audacity to separate the dialogue, music, sound effects, keynotes, and audience reaction so that I could mute just the laugh track and play the scene without it. This became an issue because I learned that separating instrumentals from vocals was possible because the software could recognize the difference in frequency of instruments versus a human voice, which would make separating the spoken dialogue from the laugh track incredibly difficult. Luckily I was able to find some clips on Youtube (courtesy of the channel SBOSS) that had the sitcoms with the laugh track already extracted from it. I was disappointed that I couldn’t physically edit a video like that, however I knew that adding laugh cues would be possible. I used iMovie to put this project together which I knew would suffice because I only had to insert title cards and then lay an audio track (laugh cues) over a movie clip. When composing the laugh track over the police station scene from Manchester by the Sea, I found a dozen sitcom laugh tracks (ranging from 3 seconds to 40 seconds) available on iMovie and using the split tool I was able to extract specific laughs and crowd dynamics and integrate them into dramatic beats of the conversation.

Audience: My audience for this project is for people who have strong opinions either for or against laugh tracks in sitcoms. My experience is that most people my age and younger tend to find the laugh track jarring and unsettling while others can point to an easy argument that suggests that a laugh track is able to coerce the receiver into believing that certain dialogue is funny or even appropriate. I believe that both sides have interesting arguments and I think each format has its own affordances and limitations.

Decision Making: When deciding what I wanted to include in my multimodal argument, I originally wasn’t planning on including any examples of a sitcom with its original laugh track intact. However, I came across “The Marine Biologist” episode of Seinfeld and I felt that the final scene was a strong indication of how comedic tension can be manipulated when the performer is receiving audible feedback on their delivery as they say their lines. Michael Richards demonstrates this perfectly with the amount of time he lets pass between the big reveal of the golf ball and his response. In that time, the audience is roaring in laughter and the energy is almost palpable through the screen as both the viewer and the characters are waiting for Kramer’s response. Richards is able to feed off that reaction in order to deliver his punchline at the exact moment when the tension is at its highest, and when he releases that tension with his line, the audience laughs even harder. While that displayed the affordances of an audience reaction in a sitcom, one of the Friends laugh-extracted scenes that I found online was able to highlight how the absence of laughter can entirely change the tone and context of a conversation. Ross is having a casual and friendly argument with Rachel and Phoebe throughout this episode, but the self-defense instructor he’s talking with in this clip has no context for his inquiries, which are pretty creepy and unsettling without the laughter of an audience who understand the characters and know that Ross is kind of a wimp who would never physically hurt his friends. What I was most excited to approach creatively was adding laugh track cues to a very serious scene. While my project in its entirety lays out an argument, the remix I made of Manchester by the Sea with a laugh track was where I was able to make the most creative choices in constructing an audio artifact. I chose one of the heaviest scenes from one of the most depressing movies I could think of and when I thought of Lee learning that he’s not going to be held liable at all for his irresponsibility that resulted in the death of all his children, I saw all the silence and the dramatic beats between lines as an opportunity to make every phrase in that scene come off like a joke. The somber atmosphere of this film (and particularly of this scene) juxtaposed with a hilarious roaring audience can draw a strong reaction for the audience that I felt supported my argument about the impact of audience laughter. Finally, I decided to frame some of the media arguments that I presented with commentary from industry professionals. CNN’s The 2000s is a documentary series that has two episodes that focus solely on television in the 2000s, the decade in which the traditional multi-camera sitcom began to grow obsolete within the industry. Jim Parsons has won 4 Emmys for his role on The Big Bang Theory, which does have a laugh track, so his commentary about the unique elements of performing comedy in front of a studio audience was fitting for my example of how a performer in a sitcom is able to capitalize on that aspect. Meanwhile, Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond one of the most successful multi-camera sitcoms of the last 25 years, explains that the entire method of production and filming is affected by the live audience and I felt that was a good transition from arguing the strengths and benefits of a laugh track before my project considered the other side of this argument where I demonstrate how the omission or addition of a laugh track can drastically manipulate viewers’ attitudes.

Theory/Course Readings: McKee’s article “Sound Matters: Notes Toward the Analysis and Design of Sound in Multimodal Webtexts” was our first assigned text of the unit and it was her assessment of the elements of vocal performance in multimodal texts that inspired me to explore one specific vocal sound: laughter. McKee describes that when words are spoken, listeners “adhere to how those words are said. Thus, meaning is carried…by the vocal qualities,” which supports her overall argument that the vocal sounds of the speaker are just as important in creating meaning with the listener as is the content of the speech (McKee, 340). Once I realized I wanted to do a project about laughter, the other reading that I felt related to my topic was Ong’s “Orality, Literacy, and Modern Media”. Ong describes an important relationship between sound and speed. This relationship is unique only to sound and speed because “sound exists only when it is going out of existence,” which is a relevant concept to my theme of comedy because the pace of dialogue exchanged between characters in a sitcom varies based on whether or not the actor is engaging with and expecting an audience reaction between lines (Ong, 85).

Reflection: As a lover of television and specifically sitcoms, my stance had always been that even though some quality comedies used laugh tracks, it was mostly a crutch which allowed the development and production of multi-camera sitcoms to be so cheap and reliable since the genesis of television. My original intention was to just have some editing fun with this project because ultimately I felt my stance on this particular issue wouldn’t change much (laugh tracks = forced; no laugh track = organic). However, my research led me to better understand that the addition of audience reactions, while only audio, still increases the multi-modality of the artifact because the audio and dialogue within the cannon of the program is in essence a different medium than the sounds of the audience reacting. I also learned how laughter communicates a specific emotion that is almost contagious in its ability to ignite laughter from others which makes sense to me because I’ve always thought that comedy is most effective when it’s a shared experience, therefore laughter is an audible reaction that is heavily impacted by the tone of the surrounding environments. These two realizations that I came to while working on my project led me to this conclusion: while the inclusion of studio audience reactions often works to manipulate viewers’ opinions on the quality of humor in sitcoms, the laugh track can also welcome viewers to participate vicariously via the studio audience in the multi-modal experience of television.

Bibliography:

McKee, Heidi. “Sound Matters: Notes toward the Analysis and Design of Sound in Multimodal Webtexts.” Computers & Composition, vol. 23, no. 3, Sept. 2006, pp. 335–354. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2006.06.003.

Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: the Technologizing of the Word. Methuen, 1982.

“The 2000s.” Netflix, CNN, 2019.

[mediacalling]

The New Facebook Algorithm: Secrets Behind How It Works and What You Can Do To Succeed

The Facebook algorithm is constantly evolving in order to provide a better experience for users.

But few changes to the algorithm have sparked as much interest and conversation as the recent ‘meaningful interactions’ update, in which Facebook said it would be prioritizing posts that create meaningful conversations, especially those from family and friends.

The reaction to this update was one of curiosity and worry from brands, publishers, and Facebook Page managers, wondering whether or not their organic reach would once again take a hit, causing them to reach an even smaller percentage of their audience on Facebook.

We were lucky enough to get an inside look at the brand new Facebook algorithm for 2018, directly from an exclusive News Feed webinar for publishers (thanks to Matt Navarra and Ned Berke).

Here’s everything we know about how the Facebook algorithm works and what marketers and brands can do to thrive on Facebook in 2018.

Let’s dive in!

How the Facebook algorithm and News Feed works (2018)

When a user visits Facebook, there are thousands of potential posts that might be displayed in their News Feed. The sophisticated algorithm takes these posts and arranges them according to how likely the user would interact with the content, starting with the content the user would most likely interact with.

That’s the basic theory, at least. Let’s take an even deeper look.

In the recent Facebook News Feed webinar, their team broke the algorithm down into four, very simple components:

Inventory (content available)

Signals (considerations about content)

Predictions (considerations about person)

Overall Score

These four key algorithm factors serve the sole purpose of providing Facebook users with a better overall experience.

Signals are what we as brands and marketers can focus on in order to have our content seen by more users on the Facebook News Feed.

Previously, Facebook used all sorts of signals to determine which posts would be shown to users:

Now, the algorithm will use signals that heavily favor “active��� interactions such as comments and shares:

One reason why Facebook will be prioritizing posts from family and friends over public content from Pages is that they believe a person-to-person connection is more valuable than a person-to-page connection.

In other words, content from friends and family tends to spark more “active” engagement from users.

As Alaura Weaver writes in her Medium article on the importance of story-driven content, “Instead of focusing on what makes content popular and attention-grabbing, we need to focus on what makes content personal and conversation-worthy.”

Understanding each of the top signals and ranking factors in the Facebook algorithm is the first step in creating content that ranks well.

Top ranking factors in the Facebook algorithm

When considering the types of content that Facebook will favor in the News Feed moving forward, it’s important to distinguish between “active” and “passive” interactions.

Active interactions such as sharing, commenting, and reacting will hold much more weight than “passive” interactions such as clicking, viewing, or hovering.

Let’s take a look at each active interaction in a bit more detail.

1.  Commenting

The signal at the very top of the new Facebook algorithm in 2018 is comments.

As Adam Mosseri, Head of News Feed, wrote in a January press release:

“Page posts that generate conversation between people will show higher in News Feed. For example, live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook–in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos”

However, it’s important to clarify that using “engagement bait” to goad people into commenting will actually result in a demotion of your posts in the News Feed.

Facebook Page admins should continue to focus on posting relevant and meaningful stories that do not use engagement bait tactics. More on that later in the post!

2. Sharing

Directly behind commenting in the new Facebook algorithm for 2018 is sharing.

In the graphic above on “signals” you might have noticed that Facebook mentions two types of sharing:

People sharing links or content within Messenger

Engagement with a publisher post shared by a friend

In other words, Facebook is placing a great deal of emphasis on posts that are shared publicly as well as privately.

The other key thing to notice here is that it’s no longer enough just to have someone share your post. Facebook will now favor shared posts that spark conversations among friends.

For example, if I share a post from Buffer’s Facebook Page and my friends start to comment on my shared post within the feed, then that post will continue to be shown to other people, increasing the post’s reach.

But if I share a post from Buffer’s Page and it receives no comments (or reactions) from my friends, then Buffer’s post will begin to be demoted in the News Feed.

Keep a close eye on those shares moving forward!

3. Reacting

The third main signal that Facebook will factor into their algorithm moving forward is reactions. 

While not as strong as comments or shares, reactions remain a form of “active engagement” that will help brands’ posts reach more people within the News Feed.

We can’t expect everyone to share or comment on posts and so reactions are a great tertiary way for Facebook to judge the quality of the content. And according to Mark Zuckerberg in a recent Facebook post, quality is a crucial piece moving forward:

“The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good”

Here’s a quick recap of what we know so far1This is a slide from the Facebook webinar.:

Let’s dive into a few actionable takeaways for brands!

What brands can do to succeed on Facebook

We know that, as brands, we need to focus on meaningful interactions. But what does that look like in action? Here are a few ways to ensure that your Page finds success in 2018.

1. Focus on content that connects people

Focusing on content that connects people through meaningful interactions may look and feel similar to your current Facebook strategy, but it’s a fundamental shift in how we might approach content moving forward.

Instead of creating content, for your brand, that people interact with, we need to start creating content, for the people, that will spark enough emotion to generate a comment or share.

Creating content for the people requires us to truly understand our audience on a deep level:

What are your audience’s challenges?

What are your audience’s motivations?

What does your audience love to interact with?

What does your audience care about?

At Buffer, for example, I’ve found that our audience cares deeply about improving their marketing and social media skills in an actionable way. That simple piece of knowledge helps to guide every single piece of content we create for social media.

From videos:



To links to our blog:

Each piece of content that we share to Facebook serves a specific purpose: sparking emotion in our target audience so that they feel compelled to comment on or share our content with someone who might also find it interesting.

2. Post content that naturally creates meaningful interactions

There are some types of content that naturally spark more meaningful interactions among users. Video is one of those types of content, and it can have a powerful impact on your Facebook success.

In the recent Facebook News Feed update, Adam Mosseri provided an eye-opening stat:

“Live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook–in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos. Many creators who post videos on Facebook prompt discussion among their followers, as do posts from celebrities”

Produced videos already perform better than both links and images in terms of engagement on Facebook, and now Facebook Live videos perform better than everything!

Check out this awesome example of Facebook Live video from Kohl’s where they teamed up with Tone It Up to bring viewers an interactive workout:



This video sparked more than 36,000 views, 115 comments, and 80 shares all while providing their audience with a memorable experience.

3. Activate niche communities through Facebook Groups

More than one billion people around the world use Facebook Groups. And more than 100 million people see Groups as the most important part of their experience on Facebook.

Groups are the perfect way to build an active and engaged community around topics, issues, and causes that they care about. Whether it’s social media marketing, traveling, fashion, or anything else, there’s a huge group of people out there waiting to connect with like-minded people.

The real secret to Facebook Groups is the fact that they generate conversations among your audience and connect people from all over the world.

That’s why we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in the usage of groups and messaging apps over the past several years. In the sea of News Feed content, groups and message apps offer people a more private and personal way to share their thoughts, ideas, and opinions.

By creating a Facebook Group for your community, you are providing an open space where people can collaborate.

Over to you

It sure is an exciting time in the world of Facebook!

I truly believe that the recent changes to the Facebook algorithm are a good thing for both users and brands in the long run.

Now is a perfect time to hone in on your Facebook strategy and work to develop meaningful content and an engaged community. With time and patience, I am sure you will continue to find success with your Page.

I’d love to hear any thoughts or questions you might have, too! 

Feel free to drop us a comment below anytime.

The New Facebook Algorithm: Secrets Behind How It Works and What You Can Do To Succeed posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com

[mariemary1]

The New Facebook Algorithm: Secrets Behind How It Works and What You Can Do To Succeed

The Facebook algorithm is constantly evolving in order to provide a better experience for users.

But few changes to the algorithm have sparked as much interest and conversation as the recent ‘meaningful interactions’ update, in which Facebook said it would be prioritizing posts that create meaningful conversations, especially those from family and friends.

The reaction to this update was one of curiosity and worry from brands, publishers, and Facebook Page managers, wondering whether or not their organic reach would once again take a hit, causing them to reach an even smaller percentage of their audience on Facebook.

We were lucky enough to get an inside look at the brand new Facebook algorithm for 2018, directly from an exclusive News Feed webinar for publishers (thanks to Matt Navarra and Ned Berke).

Here’s everything we know about how the Facebook algorithm works and what marketers and brands can do to thrive on Facebook in 2018.

Let’s dive in!

How the Facebook algorithm and News Feed works (2018)

When a user visits Facebook, there are thousands of potential posts that might be displayed in their News Feed. The sophisticated algorithm takes these posts and arranges them according to how likely the user would interact with the content, starting with the content the user would most likely interact with.

That’s the basic theory, at least. Let’s take an even deeper look.

In the recent Facebook News Feed webinar, their team broke the algorithm down into four, very simple components:

Inventory (content available)

Signals (considerations about content)

Predictions (considerations about person)

Overall Score

These four key algorithm factors serve the sole purpose of providing Facebook users with a better overall experience.

Signals are what we as brands and marketers can focus on in order to have our content seen by more users on the Facebook News Feed.

Previously, Facebook used all sorts of signals to determine which posts would be shown to users:

Now, the algorithm will use signals that heavily favor “active” interactions such as comments and shares:

One reason why Facebook will be prioritizing posts from family and friends over public content from Pages is that they believe a person-to-person connection is more valuable than a person-to-page connection.

In other words, content from friends and family tends to spark more “active” engagement from users.

As Alaura Weaver writes in her Medium article on the importance of story-driven content, “Instead of focusing on what makes content popular and attention-grabbing, we need to focus on what makes content personal and conversation-worthy.”

Understanding each of the top signals and ranking factors in the Facebook algorithm is the first step in creating content that ranks well.

Top ranking factors in the Facebook algorithm

When considering the types of content that Facebook will favor in the News Feed moving forward, it’s important to distinguish between “active” and “passive” interactions.

Active interactions such as sharing, commenting, and reacting will hold much more weight than “passive” interactions such as clicking, viewing, or hovering.

Let’s take a look at each active interaction in a bit more detail.

1.  Commenting

The signal at the very top of the new Facebook algorithm in 2018 is comments.

As Adam Mosseri, Head of News Feed, wrote in a January press release:

“Page posts that generate conversation between people will show higher in News Feed. For example, live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook–in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos”

However, it’s important to clarify that using “engagement bait” to goad people into commenting will actually result in a demotion of your posts in the News Feed.

Facebook Page admins should continue to focus on posting relevant and meaningful stories that do not use engagement bait tactics. More on that later in the post!

2. Sharing

Directly behind commenting in the new Facebook algorithm for 2018 is sharing.

In the graphic above on “signals” you might have noticed that Facebook mentions two types of sharing:

People sharing links or content within Messenger

Engagement with a publisher post shared by a friend

In other words, Facebook is placing a great deal of emphasis on posts that are shared publicly as well as privately.

The other key thing to notice here is that it’s no longer enough just to have someone share your post. Facebook will now favor shared posts that spark conversations among friends.

For example, if I share a post from Buffer’s Facebook Page and my friends start to comment on my shared post within the feed, then that post will continue to be shown to other people, increasing the post’s reach.

But if I share a post from Buffer’s Page and it receives no comments (or reactions) from my friends, then Buffer’s post will begin to be demoted in the News Feed.

Keep a close eye on those shares moving forward!

3. Reacting

The third main signal that Facebook will factor into their algorithm moving forward is reactions. 

While not as strong as comments or shares, reactions remain a form of “active engagement” that will help brands’ posts reach more people within the News Feed.

We can’t expect everyone to share or comment on posts and so reactions are a great tertiary way for Facebook to judge the quality of the content. And according to Mark Zuckerberg in a recent Facebook post, quality is a crucial piece moving forward:

“The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good”

Here’s a quick recap of what we know so far1This is a slide from the Facebook webinar.:

Let’s dive into a few actionable takeaways for brands!

What brands can do to succeed on Facebook

We know that, as brands, we need to focus on meaningful interactions. But what does that look like in action? Here are a few ways to ensure that your Page finds success in 2018.

1. Focus on content that connects people

Focusing on content that connects people through meaningful interactions may look and feel similar to your current Facebook strategy, but it’s a fundamental shift in how we might approach content moving forward.

Instead of creating content, for your brand, that people interact with, we need to start creating content, for the people, that will spark enough emotion to generate a comment or share.

Creating content for the people requires us to truly understand our audience on a deep level:

What are your audience’s challenges?

What are your audience’s motivations?

What does your audience love to interact with?

What does your audience care about?

At Buffer, for example, I’ve found that our audience cares deeply about improving their marketing and social media skills in an actionable way. That simple piece of knowledge helps to guide every single piece of content we create for social media.

From videos:



To links to our blog:

Each piece of content that we share to Facebook serves a specific purpose: sparking emotion in our target audience so that they feel compelled to comment on or share our content with someone who might also find it interesting.

2. Post content that naturally creates meaningful interactions

There are some types of content that naturally spark more meaningful interactions among users. Video is one of those types of content, and it can have a powerful impact on your Facebook success.

In the recent Facebook News Feed update, Adam Mosseri provided an eye-opening stat:

“Live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook–in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos. Many creators who post videos on Facebook prompt discussion among their followers, as do posts from celebrities”

Produced videos already perform better than both links and images in terms of engagement on Facebook, and now Facebook Live videos perform better than everything!

Check out this awesome example of Facebook Live video from Kohl’s where they teamed up with Tone It Up to bring viewers an interactive workout:



This video sparked more than 36,000 views, 115 comments, and 80 shares all while providing their audience with a memorable experience.

3. Activate niche communities through Facebook Groups

More than one billion people around the world use Facebook Groups. And more than 100 million people see Groups as the most important part of their experience on Facebook.

Groups are the perfect way to build an active and engaged community around topics, issues, and causes that they care about. Whether it’s social media marketing, traveling, fashion, or anything else, there’s a huge group of people out there waiting to connect with like-minded people.

The real secret to Facebook Groups is the fact that they generate conversations among your audience and connect people from all over the world.

That’s why we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in the usage of groups and messaging apps over the past several years. In the sea of News Feed content, groups and message apps offer people a more private and personal way to share their thoughts, ideas, and opinions.

By creating a Facebook Group for your community, you are providing an open space where people can collaborate.

Over to you

It sure is an exciting time in the world of Facebook!

I truly believe that the recent changes to the Facebook algorithm are a good thing for both users and brands in the long run.

Now is a perfect time to hone in on your Facebook strategy and work to develop meaningful content and an engaged community. With time and patience, I am sure you will continue to find success with your Page.

I’d love to hear any thoughts or questions you might have, too! 

Feel free to drop us a comment below anytime.

.footnoteContent a{ font-size: 1.3rem !important;} Thank The New Facebook Algorithm: Secrets Behind How It Works and What You Can Do To Succeed for first publishing this post.

[mystudenttalk-blog]

How Journalism Affects a Mass Audience

By Alix Boyd

In the twenty-first century, news has become readily available through many different outlets. In my opinion, news broadcasts and even newspaper articles are no longer the most reliable source for valid and informative news. With the development of social media, interactive talk-shows and blogs, public opinion and the importance of the story is no longer left to be decided upon by a variety of manipulated news channels. In other words, the ability to address the public has become widely available and the public sphere is taking advantage of this. In his article “The Double-Edged Sword: The Effects of Journalists’ Social Media Activities on Audience Perceptions of Journalists and Their News Products”, Jayeon Lee outlines what it means to be a journalist. He states that, “The traditional role of journalists as outlined within normative theories is to provide objective and accurate reporting without distorting or intervening in the news”. (p. 313) Lee also goes on to discuss a theory produced by O’Sullivan (2005) which states the reason social media news has more of an impact on its viewers than a regular news outlet. In a social media setting, many have the ability to discuss their views with the masses but in a more personal way. The news found on social media is not bound to a strict story but instead, relies upon users to take that story and comment on it, add their own judgment and produce something more emotional and relatable than a typical news outlet. O’Sullivan calls this “masspersonal” communication. (p.313) In other words, the art of journalism has become unpopular when compared to social media news outlets.

In my opinion, journalism still has the capability to be captivating and interesting to its audience. It definitely has the ability to entertain the idea of masspersonal communication in many circumstances. Webster’s dictionary defines a journalist as: A. A person engaged in journalism; especially: a writer or editor for a news medium B. A writer who aims at a mass audience When addressing this definition of journalism, it is apparent to me that journalism is often part of but not limited to major news outlets. In my opinion, journalism has more to do with the art of public address and addressing, much like the definition states, a mass audience. It is not strictly based upon a written piece of work pertaining to a news story. Instead, the work of journalists has the ability to be crafted into a wide range of forms and mediums in order to please its audience. In the twenty-first century, journalism has taken on many different forms, some I would argue extremely effective to its audience members.

On October 13th, 2017, an article was circulated in the New York Times in relation to gun laws in the United States. The article written by The Editorial Board and titled “Gun Carnage Is  a Public Health Crisis” spoke of the Las Vegas shooting (2017) and the ability government had to prevent that situation. The article provided evidence to support the argument against guns in the United States and was extremely informative and factual. The article, found on The New York Times website, was easily accessible and quite short and precise. However, it lacked a personal relationship with its audience. Although it paid reference to some events that many had personally experienced, the article was quick to ignore the emotional impacts of these acts. It also lacked personal commentary and judgment which many audience members do crave. This type of journalism may be reliable and credible but does not give each audience member what they are necessarily looking for when reading a public address piece. When comparing a written piece like this to social media where opinions vary and many diverse arguments are formed, it is easy to see which may be favoured. However, when comparing a social media news outlet to a form of journalism more socially accepted and interesting, both may be evenly appreciated by its audience members.

When addressing and informing an audience, the act of communicating and how the speaker/writer is communicating is extremely important. In Charles Horton Cooley’s books Human Nature and the Social order (1902) and Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind (1909), Cooley examines the concept of communication. To Cooley, communication was “the mechanism through which human relations exist and develop - all the symbols of the mind, together with the means of conveying them through space and preserving them in time. It includes the expression of the face, attitude, and gesture, the tons of the voice, words, writing, printing, railways, telegraphs, telephones, and whatever else may be the latest achievement in the conquest of space and time.” (Sullivan, p. 27) Cooley mentions that communication is often provided through the use of certain technology of the time. In the twenty-first century, communicating a message has been made possible through a wide variety of new technological advances including cellphones, computers, and televisions. These advances often please the audience member in different communicative ways. Through these technological advances, new forms of media and journalism have been able to arise. In my opinion, effective journalism and public address caters to all audiences including those who are not satisfied with simply picking up a news paper or finding their story sources on a mainstream news website. To me, journalism and public address is effective when it is produced in a satirical manner with speech and in some cases, visuals. When journalism is done in this way, it provides a different outlet for public opinion and identifies issues without such harsh language and without strictly focusing on factual evidence within the manner. In this form of journalism, a journalist may experience a connection to his/her audience through emotion as well as factual information.

The comedian Jim Jeffries does a comedic bit titled “Gun Control” (2015). Like the article written by The Editorial board for The New York Times, this comedic bit criticized the failure to impose new gun laws after major shootings within the United States. Although this bit was featured on a comedy network on television and was performed by a comedian, I feel this was a more affective piece of journalism on the topic of gun laws than the “Gun Carnage Is a Public Health Crisis” article. The reason behind my this though mainly lays in the aspect of effective communication outlined by Cooley. Jeffries had the ability to take a serious manner and make it entertaining for all audiences. Because it was not a written piece for the public sphere to read, he had the ability to add his own emotion through his tone of voice and word choice. Some of his emotion catered to his anger for the governments inability to be proactive in creating new gun laws and some of his emotion sprang from his true concern for his country. However, all this emotion assisted in his argument and also, added inexcusable humour. In this case of public address and journalism, Jeffries had the ability to affect a mass audience by satirizing a common interest and disturbance in the United States. Much like The New York Times article, Jeffries added facts that informed his audience of the truth behind his argument and address. He did not shy away from exposing the reality behind gun danger and even took some time in his comedic speech to criticize the people who appreciated gun laws and did not feel the need for them to be changed. Much like on a social media platform, Jeffries shared his views openly which is why I believe the response to his address was so positive. The inclusion of facts and emotion brought his version of journalism and reporting to a new level. Many comedians are like Jeffries in the way that they make news and public issues comical, however, some use more than words to convey their opinion.

In types of journalism such as talk shows, more than just a matter of speech is important. Communication is still a vital role in conveying messages appropriately and accurately to audience members but during comedic and satirical talk shows, other aspects of technology and media influence are heavily relied upon. On The Late Show starring Stephen Colbert, Colbert does a comedic bit which, again, pertains to gun laws. Titled “Stephen Colbert Takes The Gloves Off: Gun Control”, the sketch exposes the United States governments inability to act efficiently to prevent tragedies which include guns. He gives facts based on the governments involvement in gun laws and indicates their stupidity in denying any tragedy prevention implementations. (2016) Unlike “Gun Control” by Jim Jeffries and “Gun Carnage Is a Public Health Crisis” written by The Editorial Board on The New York Times, this type of journalism used different aspects of media to convey meaning. Instead of solely focusing on his power of speech, Colbert used media tactics to influence his argument and also had humour. For example, Colbert used newspaper headliners leading up to the vote on gun laws in the senate to show the votes failure and to expose, what he feels, is the despair of his society. He compared these headlines to one revolving around the famous celebrity and singer, Justin Bieber, which showed the irrelevance and, as he described, the hopelessness he felt. The use of outside media in his talk show was important for many reasons; one being the audiences relationship to this outside media. Colbert took common journalism that is often seen as irrelevant or boring and made it a part of something comedic, enjoyable, and still educational. Colbert used a variety of materials and tactics to make his level of journalism fun and exciting to his audience. Colbert’s message still came across to his viewers and I would assume he made an impact to many including me.

In the case of Stephen Colbert and his piece on gun laws, there were many gratifications to the viewers and active audience members - more than each article and bit listed in this blog. Although Colbert invited his audience to appreciate his argument and experience judgment in relation to it, he did not provide all gratifications of new technology. I felt most satisfied watching and reacting to his news outlet because of all the different tactics he used to supply his data. However, it is still understandable why social media would be a more acceptable to and appreciated by audience members. In the case of social media, many have the ability to experience what they did through each form of news outlet provided in this blog. Instead of only thinking about their connection to the piece though, they can respond to it and create posts in relation to it.

Overall, I believe that different forms of journalism have proven effective and influential. Journalists can vary in their tactics to amuse their audience which is why journalism is an art to be appreciated. I do not argue with the idea that social media is a more effective and personal outlet for news. However, I will argue that journalism and certain journalists ideas and tactics of public address can have a similar impact on the viewer as social media. Audience members may experience gratifications from television shows or written news articles that they may not experience from social media and vice versa. It is all a matter of perspective on the case.

References Colbert, S. (2016, Jun 22). Stephen Colbert takes the gloves off: Gun control. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buFbk5fQCRc

Jeffries, J. (2015, Oct 9). Gun control. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=0rR9IaXH1M0

Lee, J. (2015) The double-edged sword: The effects of journalists’ social media activities on audience perceptions of journalists and their news products. In Journal of computer- mediated communication. (Vol 20, pp. 312-329). Bethlehem, PA.

Sullivan, J. (2013). Effects of media messages. In Media audiences:Effects, users, institutions and power. Sage publications: United States of America. (pp. 25-52)

The Editorial Board. (2017, Oct 13). Gun carnage is a public health crisis. The New York Times.

[j0e-org]

Viral Visual Content Checklist

How to create the Viral Visual Content every time?  Wouldn’t it be great if you could create visual content that is guaranteed to go viral every single time? This is every digital marketer’s dream, right? And who says dreams can’t come true?  The truth is that there  are  some things you can do to help make your visual content more viral-worthy.  Though the success of your visual content depends on many variables – such as your   social standing  ,   current events   and   trending topics, the quality of your content,   and, well, sometimes   good old-fashioned luck   – scientists have begun studying what makes some content so popular and other content slip under the radar.    Ellen DeGeneres  ‘s Oscar selfie, the most retweeted entertainment tweet of 2014, fits perfectly well in this scenario.   If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever.   #oscars   pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap    — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow)   March 3, 2014       And what they’ve found makes for incredibly interesting reading, since some of the patterns and trends they’ve picked up on are easily replicable.  But we’re not saying we can make your social media campaigns a brilliant success with just a couple of tips and golden nuggets; running a good campaign is an art, (supported by science), and a good campaign manager will always modify and tailor their campaign in response to unpredicted events and changes of circumstance.      With this in mind, and in order to help you give your visual content the best opportunity of making social media waves, we’ve listed some of the science behind the successful visual content.   1. Colors and Shareability     Saeideh Bakhshi   is a research scientist at   Yahoo! Labs’ Human-Computer Interaction group  , and has spent her career studying why some images capture people’s attention on social media and others don’t.  Using an array of social media data and image-analysis tools, Bakhshi looked at the link between an image’s dominant colors and how many times it gets shared.  The   study  , published last year, whilst Bakhshi was still a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech, analysed one million images on Pinterest.  This analysis involved determining an image’s main color using pixel analysis and then corroborating these results with human-based evaluation experiments on   Mechanical Turk  .  What Bakhshi found was that images composed predominately of the colors red, purple, and pink were the most likely to be repinned or shared. While blue, black, and yellow were less likely to make an impact.          The color palatte       However, before you rush off and make all of your images red, purple, and pink, there’s an important caveat: Bakhshi’s results are, in her words, “platform-dependent”.  In other words, though her findings are certainly very interesting, it’s hard to use them to make sweeping generalizations. The majority of Pinterest users are female, and most of the images shared concern cookery, crafts, and home décor, meaning that the platform’s demographics and most popular topics and boards may (and probably did) influence her results.  On Instagram, for example, photos which feature faces are often more popular than those which don’t. Whereas, on Flickr, nature shots are very popular.  The thing to take away, then, is that, if you’re running a campaign on Pinterest, or targeting females interested in arts-and-crafts, cookery, or interior design, it may be a good idea to opt for a red, purple, and pink palette. If not, it would be a good idea to read up about the   psychology of color  , since color seems to be very important when it comes to an image’s shareability.   2. Emotional Engagement    Buffer recently   surveyed   more than 800 people in order to find out how they felt about 23 viral images and a group of non-viral images from   Imgur  .  They found that all of the viral content had three elements in common, irrespective of the age and gender of the individual viewing them.  The first of these was a  positive feeling . Images which expressed a number of positive feelings (including joy, interest, anticipation, and trust) were found to have a higher number of views. So don’t make your images too downbeat.       This little guy would make most people chuckle    Secondly,  emotional complexity  seemed to play a vital role in an image’s popularity. Images that had gone viral were found to evoke a diverse array of both positive and negative emotions than non-viral images. The upshot is that, if you’re looking to make an image go viral, you want to try to make it emotionally ambiguous, albeit with a positive slant.       Does this can make you feel happy, sad, or both?    And finally, a key differentiator between viral and non-viral images was an  element of surprise . Images which catch those who view them off guard, or which have some sort of visual twist are also associated with high sharing levels.       “The Dress” sparked outrage and debate when no one could agree on what colour it actually is: white and gold, or blue and black?       Granted, creating images that tick all of these boxes is hard. But nobody said this was going to be easy.   3. Filter for Instagram Success    Research suggests that images uploaded to Instagram which have had filters applied are   21 percent more likely to be viewed   than those which don’t. Moreover, filtered images are   45 percent more likely to receive comments than their unfiltered counterparts  .  But, beware: not all filters are created equal. Filters which make the images they’re applied to appear “warmer” (such as Mayfair) get the best results, while “colder” filters have less of an impact.             And saturation effects, too, can negatively impact views; while age effects were found to generate fewer comments.  But this doesn’t mean you should  always  apply warm filters and avoid saturation effects. Alas, things are never that simple.  Your filter must complement your photo, and bring out its best features. Play around with different filters and, if it looks good to you, go with it – it’ll probably look good to everyone else. There’s some great advice on how to choose which filters to apply   here  .  The best thing to do is monitor your own posts and see what’s working well for you. Test, measure, analyse, tweak, adapt, repeat.   4. Target Top-Sharing Demographics   The New York Times conducted an in-depth research study to probe what types of people are likely to share content online.  Their report, “  The Psychology of Sharing  ”, combined qualitative and quantitative data extracted from 2,500 mediums to heavy social sharers in order to identify which types of people share content online.  They identified six distinct personalities likely to share content:    The Altruist  shares content via Facebook and the email that she/he thinks others will find helpful, enlightening, or which she/he perceives as raising awareness for a worthy cause.   The Careerist  shares content related to their vocation and often does so via LinkedIn.   The Hipster  shares content via Twitter and Facebook though avoids email sharing; the content she/he shares is often of a creative nature and reflective of their identity.   The Boomerang  enjoys provoking a reaction, and share using all channels in order to get validation from others.   The Connector  is relaxed and thoughtful, and shares content through Facebook and email in order to stay in touch with contacts.   The Selective  uses email to share informative content in a personalised fashion.   So, when it comes to choosing the images you’re going to share, it’s worth keeping these personalities in mind. Try to make your images appeal to one or more of these groups, and make them easily sharable via their preferred platform(s). And try to identify which type of sharers are likely to be common in your online following and tailor your visual content toward them.   MavSocial is the premier social media visual content management & publishing platform for brands and agencies. Try our FREE Small Business Edition for your business   here  .

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How Consumer Brands Used Twitter Tactics to Get the Big Game Followers on Their Side

The Super Bowl has transcended from being a mere exciting sporting event to be one of the most anticipated nights for marketers to advertise and engage with prospects for conversions. Records show that there has been a 75% increase in the average rate for a 30-second ad spot over the past decade. Marketers invest a lot to score brownie points with fans. With the responsiveness of millions of viewers, it is a night that may make the marketers’ dream of scoring big with consumers come true.

Brands, in order to successfully engage with the viewers beyond this 30-second slot on TV, are experimenting extensively with social strategies as well as creative content. They are devising out-of-the-box ways to drive the ROI from their investment on ads. They also focus on a long-drawn brand loyalty that can be achieved through consistent customer engagement.

Every year, Super Bowl offers plenty of key takeaways for brands, be it small, medium, or big. We analyzed some of the ads to cull out some key pointers that can be a critical learning for all marketers.

Advertisements that make brands have a long-term impact

Over the past few years, digital engagement around the Super Bowl has boomed. Smart brands are investing in their marketing by engaging the fans over the course of the whole season. This holds true in case of campaign-based advertising as well. According to a report, brands who had the full versions of the TV ads online before the match are expected to receive 2.2 times more views and 3.1 times more social shares when compared to ones who wait until the game ends. Sponsorships also go a long way in creating a brand value for consumers.

Also, ads that can connect with the consumers at an emotional level are prone to live longer in the collective memory for a very long time. These ads, in comparison to an average TV spot, have a longer shelf life. In addition, ads during the Super Bowl provide an insight as to the larger public feeling of the year. Brands, who best capitalize on the Super Bowl season, invest immense amount of time and money for strategizing and refining their message to capture more attention. For instance, the Budweiser ad this year, ‘Born the Hard Way’, made some headlines as it was broadcasted at a time when the country is faced with the immigration restrictions of Trump. Although the ad was made long before the actual pronouncement of Trump and had nothing to do with the political scenario, it still had a huge impact as it showed the struggle of German co-founder of Anheuser-Busch, who started a brewery in 1857 after immigrating to St. Louis.

Hence, it goes without saying that one of the biggest draws of the Super Bowl is the commercials. Missing out on the $5 million commercials means missing out on the pop culture conversation that surrounds them for weeks or longer.

In recent years, some advertisers have taken to releasing their ads on YouTube in the weeks leading up to the game. Does this approach benefit the social media conversation around the ad, or is the anticipation of watching the commercials live during the game better for engagement?

Andrew Caravella, VP of Strategy and Brand Engagement at Sprout Social explains to MarTech Advisor, “When we pulled Twitter volume data to compare how 2016’s pre-released and live-premiering ads fared on Twitter, it showed that, while pre-releasing ads extends the buzz, it doesn’t lead to huge spikes in conversation or make an ad more successful during the big day.” He shares some detailed insights based on this Twitter data about three leading brands – Tide, Airbnb and Mr Clean -- that used Super Bowl LI to their advantage through the below infographic, where he explains the tactic the brand used to get the best ROI from their big game engagement.

Andrew’s detailed analysis of the three brands is as follows:

Brand example: Tide

“Tide did a fantastic job of generating discussions prior to the game by releasing multiple spots starring Rob Gronkowski and his lack of dry cleaning skills. Once the game started, however, they debuted a totally new commercial starring Terry Bradshaw and his barbeque sauce-stained shirt. It was clear on social that this was an immediate hit, and just after it aired, people started talking about it. Tide took the surprise and delight route this year – going above and beyond to entertain people and give them a platform to interact with. This took brand engagement to a whole new level, and I predict we’ll see other brands taking this route in upcoming years.

Brand example: Airbnb

“Diversity and inclusion is a theme coming from multiple brands, Airbnb included. The homestay network used the Super Bowl LI to launch their #weaccept social responsibility initiative to “provide short-term housing over the next five years for 100,000 people in need.” Their CEO and brand accounts tweeted extensively during the game, and #weaccept was trending within a half hour after the commercial aired, proving it to be a strong social media campaign with 49,984 tweets about the brand and its #weaccept announcement. Overnight and the next morning, the brand’s total tweet volume came to 143,776, with 46,320 of those messages coming after the conclusion of the game. The lesson here? If you really want to keep the conversation going, it pays to tap into an idea larger than your brand itself.

However, because the commercial only used Airbnb’s logo and never said the company’s name, there is a possibility that the message will be lost among people who aren’t Airbnb customers. When creating a message that can serve as a powerful conversation piece, brands should ensure they are drawing enough connection to ensure stickiness of the message.

Given the few brands that have taken this approach, it’s safe to assume they weighed that possibility and feel strongly enough about the stance to move forward with confidence and, hopefully, are prepared to address any naysayers appropriately.

Brand example: Mr. Clean

“Mr. Clean interacted with practically every participating brand on the Super Bowl night with 50,587 tweets coming rushing in. There was a total of 135,829 tweets about the commercial and its engagement with other brands and consumers on Twitter throughout the night and next morning. They commented on a variety of commercials ranging from Honda to GoDaddy, and committed fully to developing the character of Mr. Clean with such tweets: like, “Thanks! I was a little embarrassed to show off some of my moves, but I’m glad you like it” (original).

Wonder why @Honda didn’t use my yearbook photo in their commercial? #MrClean #SB51 http://pic.twitter.com/tVd1rVf7PH

— Mr. Clean (@RealMrClean) February 6, 2017

@KLikethepresi Thanks! I was a little embarrassed to show off some of my moves, but I'm glad you like it. #MrClean #SB51

— Mr. Clean (@RealMrClean) February 6, 2017

“Mr. Clean’s ad was certainly talked about, they encouraged conversation to continue on Twitter by developing his character on social in brand-to-brand and brand-to-consumer interactions. While we give the brand credit for clear intentions and a solid game plan, but a caveat to this approach is that it may come across as trying too hard. Some social commentary on Mr. Clean post-half time indicates fans think they may be getting a bit overzealous. Authenticity is a huge asset on social, but so is a bit of careful curation – finding the balance is essential.”

Changing the rules of the game

Most big brands look to leverage sporting events as a move to outdo their competitors. However, for small businesses, ho can’t pour in monies to get their product/s promoted, it is important to flex the traditional approach, and come out with a novel idea. For instance, Volvo, in 2015, came up with a social media effort of giving away a brand new car to interesting tweets made while watching a commercial of any car during the game. This creative strategy helped Volvo save money, while promoting one of their models. So, while others spent $4 million for displaying their ad, Volvo reached out to its audience at a cost of $37,125 per car (total number of cars given away was 5).

Refining the storyline for engaging customers

All ads broadcasted during the Super Bowl season involve a great deal of refinement in their messaging content, which is often overlooked by the audience. In order to produce the best content, advertisers test out a variety of messages. The storyline is a critical metric when it comes to engaging with the customer, as stories provide context to the information being disseminated. Smart marketers have shared and highlighted the story of their company as well as its products and services. In addition, advanced analytics have helped brands to measure the sentiment of the audience in real-time for maximizing viewer engagements.

Super Bowl LI has offered plenty of lessons for all marketers. Like the game itself, the marketing takeaways are universal. Advertisers have demonstrated the fact that a lot of planning and thought goes into making a good ad content. While the Super Bowl provides great opportunities to brands, don’t think your brand can sustain the momentum from just this single event. There are numerous fests, sporting events, and seasonal occasions, which will allow brands to drive better revenue by keeping in mind these basic, yet essential takeaways from this year’s game.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor