‘Generation Like’ Four Corners Documentary- Integrated Media 2-Week2

1. How doe this documentary alter your understanding of the way you use social media?
– Makes you feel that you’re being used. Companies are doing little advertising work, it is the social media users that are sharing their brands for them. The way companies use peoples data for their benefit. Celebrities have teams dedicated to posting on their behalf. They have a timetable for when they post certain material. The young boy in the documentary that is known as a skater became popular on youtube because of the videos he posted that didn’t relate to skateboarding, but related more to him doing ‘funny’ things on the street. There is a kid at the skate park that is better than the more famous skateboarder but because he posts funny videos he is more popular and has gained sponsors for his skateboarding through his online personality.

2. What connections can you make with the role of a social media producer.
As written above, companies that are dedicated to posting on behalf of celebrities, they know their audience because they have so much data on their audience from their Facebook likes, comments etc so they know how and when to market to certain people. They have an actual schedule on when they post certain material to keep people interested.  Companies plan their tweets and their posts months in advanced and their posts aren’t spontaneous at all. The way the companies showed famous people in other famous peoples videos even, to generate a combined fan base and benefit both people. 

3. What ideas does this documentary raise in regards to the event your group is planning and the task of achieving participatory engagement?
It makes us think more intensely about the planning involved in generating involvement within the public and making something seem desirable to interact with.