Monday, February 22, 2010

Transparency in Social Media

1.) Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional prodution values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY??
Amateur user-generated content will continue to gain popularity. Advertising, film, and television are all professionally developing content to purposely appear less than professionally produced. This method of production parallels user-generated content that has developed through social media.
The Office is a popular television show that emulates user-generated content by using film techniques that give the appearance of a low budget documentary. Though the show is professionally cast, filmed, and scripted, the overall impression is that is was done by amateurs.
Films like Cloverfield, shown above, and Paranormal Activity are shot to appear like home videos or reality television, an amateur filmmaker "accidentally" capturing important video on a camera. This new trend in production exemplifies the idea that professionals are purposely choosing to use the style of user-generated content to appeal to the audience.
Advertisements such as this one for Sonic are also utilizing a method of production that appears user-generated (and therefore low-quality). Advertising is being completely revolutionized by technology. Because of this, advertising producers need to develop a brand new approach to advertising. In the case of this Sonic commercial, they are choosing to follow the popular trend of YouTube video.

It can be assumed that eventually the professionally produced media will meet somewhere in the middle with the lower-quality media produced by the users. Professionals mirror the user-generated style because that it is what an audience addicted to social networking has come to expect. However, it seems unlikely that professional production will cease to exist entirely. Instead it will level out, as user-generated content becomes more advanced through the use of technology. Eventually, it will no doubt become difficult to tell the difference between the two.

2.) Find a news article and write down tags you would use to define what the article is about. Now go to Digg or another tagging site and see how others have tagged it. What did you learn from the differences or similarities in tagging.
The New York Times reports that Tuft University applicants are now able to submit youtube.com videos as application supplements.

To Impress, Tufts Prospects Turn to YouTube

We would tag this article as: TUFTS UNIVERSITY, YOUTUBE.COM, COLLEGE APPLICATIONS, USER-GENERATED VIDEO.
Given tags are: TUFTS UNIVERSITY, ADMISSION STANDARDS, RECORDINGS AND DOWNLOADS, COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET.

The given tags were more technology- oriented. The New York Times's tags also covered a broader spectrum (for example "computers and the internet" instead of "user-generated video"). This is most likely due to the fact that Tuft's technological supplement to their application is so revolutionary. The tags we selected would offer more narrow search results.

3.) Why is transparency such an important concept in the Social Media world? Is it MORE or LESS important in the offline world?
Why?
Transparency is an increasingly important concept in our technologically advanced world. As the internet become more advanced (and therefore people get farther and farther away from the original source), it is more difficult to trust the information they're receiving. In order for the readers to believe an individual site, there needs to be an overall trustworthiness and transparency for all websites, and the entire Internet. Though transparency is crucial in both the online and offline world, the assumed transparency of online media increases the necessity for the actuality. In other words, because enough people assume that they can trust the online world, it is extremely hazardous if there is a low level of accountable communication.

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