Generation Like Documentary & Questions
In the digital world, whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, there’s a truism that’s both uplifting and scary…”You are what you like.”
How does this documentary alter your understanding of the way you use social media?
I have developed a deeper understanding of the value of a ‘like’ and the ways in which social media producers push fans to promote products for free. Much like print advertising, I realise there is research involved in planning promotional material to be released at a specific time and in a certain way to attract the intended demographic, but I did not realise the power of Facebook and the ease at which this information is available to social media producers.
After watching the documentary I looked at some of the 900 likes on my own Facebook profile. By liking pages and certain posts, I am giving power to the promoters in exchange for being kept informed of bands playing at my favourite venues, sales happening at my favourite stores and festivals taking place in my city. Looking at the ‘suggested likes’ list on my profile, I realise Facebook knows a lot more about me than I originally thought. It knows where I live, it knows what type of music I like and what restaurants I’ve been to. As mentioned in the documentary, Facebook allows individuals like myself to create demographic profiles that are an easy and incredible marketing tool for brands.
I agree, I am what I like. I always think twice before posting certain images or comments. I am wary of the dangers of over-sharing. It is scary, but I feel unless I cut myself off completely from social media and all of the positive things it offers then I have no choice but to embrace it.
What connections can you make with the role of a Social Media Producer?
The role of a Social Media Producer has become clearer after watching employees of The Audience describe how they create the profiles that represent celebrities the way they would like to be viewed and in a way that will help them gain the most fans. The successful fan gathering technique of attaching unknown musicians with ‘famous’ online celebrities with huge preexisting fan bases is obvious, but it works.
The SMP’s admit that they research the target audience, research how they use social media and then use the audience to sell the product. The highly controlled release of content in relation to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire film and the way that affected audiences one year from the film’s release, proves the success of building the non-organic fan base that young teenagers are unaware of.
What ideas does this documentary raise in regards to the event your group is planning and the task of achieving participatory engagement?
We will need to research our audience and create a calendar of content that will be released online in the lead up to the event. I would like to take away the technique of releasing information to create the controlled ‘slow burn’ of excitement.
As we are not an established brand or celebrity that will continue to provide their audience with interesting information about gigs after the event, it is important to give the audience something back for their engagement. Although we will be relying on family and friends to start our support base, we still owe them a ‘thank you’, whether that be the finished documentary that we will share with them or a musical momento to thank them for their attendance.
Perhaps we can even adopt the idea of providing them with a reward for liking or sharing. As our funds are limited we will need to be creative with the prizes, but I think it will still be possible to foster support using this method. People love free stuff.
We may also need to attach ourselves to other successful social media individuals or brands if we can somehow relate them back to our concept. Perhaps it could be a music store, a venue like the Cherry Bar or a community radio station like PBS or RRR.