Nayla R's Learning Journal

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Ecosystem and eWOM - LJ9

The readings this week were very interesting, as I've never heard of the term "eWOM" before. However, it's played a big role in my life despite being unbeknownst to me. I always read through reviews and online opinions before buying a product online. I've used RateMyProfessor.com when choosing classes and avoid places that have been rated badly by visitors on Google Maps. I've also given certain TV shows a try based off of what I see people say on Twitter or Tiktok. These are only a few examples of the many ways I've unknowingly relied on eWOM. While Erkan and Evans found that "people usually receive the eWOM information from their friends and acquaintances in social media", I find that I don't have a preference (Erkan & Evans, 2016). I do not feel more or less influenced by celebrities (as opposed to family and friends). For me, neither and both of their opinions can matter. I only take advice (at least when it comes to eWOM) from peop...

Social Media & The Entertainment Industry : LJ8

This week's readings were very intriguing because it's something I think about often. Social media has affected the entertainment industry in various ways. Streaming services are starting to ruin the "going out and seeing a movie" experience, with digital media driving "46% of movie box office revenue, despite making up just 14% of studio marketing budgets" (Malnar, 2020). Likewise, music streaming services and traditional ways of promoting and showing music are being affected by social media. Record labels are already beginning to shift away from focusing on streaming services, saying "With an expanding number of partnerships including Facebook, Tiktok, and Snap, among others, social media is already a meaningful nine-figure revenue stream for us and is growing at a faster rate than subscription streaming (Ingham, 2020). I believe there are pros and cons to this advancement. Before social media, famous people usually had c...

Laws and Ethics : LJ6

Part 1: Social Media Laws and Ethics I thought these two chapters on laws, regulations and ethics were a great read. The chapters emphasize the gray area that new technologies reside in when it comes to the law. I especially found the section that broke down Facebook's Terms and Conditions to be very eye-opening. As Lipschultz says, "too frequently, users click to gain access without reading and understanding terms, which specific rules covering vague areas of the law" (Lipschultz 2021). I fall into this category. It's hard to completely blame Facebook for their invasiveness, when I as a consumer turn a blind eye. While knowing this will not affect my use of social media (since I was made already aware of their invasiveness), it does make me question the ethics even further. I believe that Facebook keeping content that consumers purposefully deleted is wrong and all the information gathered under their "data policy" is completely unethical to document. Par...

Images and Messaging : LJ5

Focusing on Flickr this week was very refreshing, as it's not a social media platform that I hear or think about that often. I remember that I used to use Flickr when I was a kid (around and thought I wanted to be a blogger or photographer. It was cool to get back on the site and see how things have changed. It was intriguing to read about the impact that Flickr has had on how we as a society view photos, since Flickr was in the photo-sharing game long before Instagram. It marked the beginning of the shift in how we take and experience photos as well. "The everyday image becomes something that even the amateur can create and comment on with relative authority and ease" (Murray, 2008). The average person can now become creators of content as well as let go of the hierarchy surrounding photography. In explaining that "the nature of photography now is it's in motion" the Journal of Visual Culture highlights the shift in how we view photos (Murray, 2008). I thi...

Innovation and Investment: LJ 4

Reading the articles about social media trends was very interesting. In the coming year, I think that social media will continue to shorten our attention spans because Tiktok will continue to rise in popularity and short-form videos are being preferred by algorithms on social media platforms like Instagram. As for Meta, I am not the hugest fan. It sounds like the beginning to sci-fi dystopian movies like Ready Player One . I'm also not a huge fan of anything that further separates people from reality. Although I love social media, the internet and technology, I acknowledge that it has an effect on the real world. It hinders conversations and keeps us from looking up. Meta seems like something that would only further complicate things. Yes, you can go see a concert in the Metaverse with your favorite artist in front of you, but why not see it in real life? To me, it wouldn’t feel the same as seeing them at an actual concert. Seeing Ariana Grande in the Metaverse is the same as seei...

Metrics and Analytics: LJ3

Reading Chapter 6 has given me more in-depth knowledge on topics I had previously known about. I found it very interesting how much goes on behind the scenes for companies that are trying to grow on social media. While companies "want visitors to respond to each post" they "also seek higher levels of engagement through liking comments of others and making comments" of their own (Lipschultz 2021). Reading page 165 specifically made me think of interactions I see happening online everyday. Companies use "trendy" words and try to speak like they are human, and not a corporation. Social media has made these companies decide to speak informally and like they are our friend (probably to make us feel they are more "relatable"). I always found it to be cringe-worthy and very strange. It also highlights how social media has changed the landscape for things in the real world. Another interesting part to this reading was the statistics on social media i...