Frontline’s ‘Generation Like’ is a social media documentary that discusses user expression through social media and how this functions as a marketing tool. Facebook’s ‘like’ function, Youtube’s ‘views’ and ‘subscribers’, Twitter’s ‘followers’ and ‘re-tweets’, all contribute toward a database that creates intelligence for marketing strategies. Generally the openness of the internet and the ability young people have to express themselves is referred to as empowering and although that might be true, it also creates masses of corporate wealth. Social media users’ innocence to the significance of user expression tools in terms of corporate wealth, highlights a weakness in the receptivity of brand domination, as well as hides the fact that it is the users that are actually marketing the products. This reminds me of Axel Bruns’ produser theory, in which he explains how developments in the online network position the consumer with the ability to produce content. One particular part I found interesting in ‘Generation Like’ was the suggestion that the term ‘sell out’ doesn’t exist in the same capacity that it used to. A ‘sell out’ used to refer to someone that took on brand sponsorship and promoted it in their content for advertisement purposes, receiving an income in return. This used to be viewed as betraying who you are and the reasons you became famous. This documentary indicates that having the ability to promote brand sponsorship, is now typically viewed as an achievement. This demonstrates how changes in the network effect online media practices.

To form connections between ‘Generation Like’ and this studio, I can see that the network can be used through the functionality of social media to redefine online video practice. For example, the immense sense of achievement and also career opportunity instigated through a high number of ‘likes’ or ‘follows’, influences media producers to create content that is more likely to be seen and appreciated, which is often, controversial material or silly behavior. In addition, the documentary indicated that to be successful online is to use social media to promote one’s career, in order to develop enough of a following (social media network) that can be sold/used to sell. This correlates with online video practice in the sense that it is becoming more about promotion rather than distribution. This lays importance on utilising the user expressive tools of social media in online video practices in order to not get left behind. The documentary describes the way kids consume media through ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ (and the advertising pathways that result from this process) as “the biggest transformation in the way companies communicate with consumers, in history. Finally, after watching this documentary I am reassured about my decision to study at university (as discussed in another blog post) as being designed to encourage innovative changes or development to media practices, rather than create standard linear content that is distributed via media platforms. Innovative ideas such as the invention of user expression online, clearly have a massive influence on the world of media.