“Nikki likes it on the kitchen counter”
“Caroline likes it on the dryer”
“Noel likes it on the floor”
Powerful women.
…
In COM 641 we’ve talked about events and experiences and the how they are/aren’t experienced/viewed depending on what medium is/isn’t used. Prof Roy mentioned that when we perceive that we have “seen” an event, or “know” what happened, a most of what we have “seen” or “know” is only what the media has presented to us. While the media’s grip is still quite strong in dictating what “events” actually are, all that other stuff we talk about it class is quickly gaining momentum; user driven content (blog, twitter, facebook, etc), social media.
We are now the ones dictating what constitutes an event. At least, we’re trying. It seems to be a weird tug of war; a love/hate relationship between large media outlets and user generated content. While I believe there are still strong powers calling the shots on what ultimately gets air time, what doesn’t, and in what order, it is much more unpredictable and unstable of a system than it was even five years ago.
People know this. Those with even a single strategic bone in their body are hard at work trying to spin the system and all its unstableness in their favor, trying to get the media to buzz the way they want. This is nothing new, PR firms have been manufacturing events for ages, with varying degrees of success. But what it is was user manufactured event…? Capturing the social media world has thus become the golden ticket.
Some go about it cleverly, others state their intentions loud and clear. Case in point: (see also, first three lines of this post)
“Well this game has to do with your handbag, where we put our handbag the moment we get home for example “I like it on the couch”, “I like it on the kitchen counter”, “I like it on the dresser” well u get the idea. Just put your answer as your Status with nothing more than that and cut n paste this message and forward to all your FB female friends to their inbox. The bra game made it to the news. Let’s see how powerful we women really are!!! REMEMBER – DO NOT PUT YOUR ANSWER AS A REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE, SIMPLY PUT YOUR ANSWER AS YOUR STATUS, THEN FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR FRIENDS .”
Bold added by yours truly… Really? Could we beg for media attention with any more dignity? October, breast cancer awareness month, the reason behind this, has just begun, so we have yet to see if they will succeed in harnessing the media. I would guess that they will, at least a tad, after all, I am blogging about it. And powerful women can do anything. Especially when a facebook message tells them to. Hooray for user generated content.
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obligatory disclaimer – I am in no way saying that increasing cancer awareness is bad thing. However, I feel the jury is still out on the effectiveness of a media blip over controversial statuses in the effort to cure this disease.
obligatory disclaimer #2 – I really do like it. I don’t know what I would do without my purse.
AlissaJean.com 
I for one am quite beside myself with joy at what I see as the decentralization of media. I think it will still be quite a bit of time before the masses get to the point where they will be aware of the difference between the objective truth of the circumstances of a so-called “event” and the media’s subjective communication of that “event”. But however long it takes I think it will happen. The internet is God’s gift to us, or at least that’s how I see it. I think the advent of user generated content on the web could very well results in a huge power shift from mainstream media companies to myriads of spokespeople in all sorts of markets and niches. Of course, all the power could end up back in the same hands as it is now… but when Ashton Kutcher beats CNN in a Twitter showdown you know that, for now at least, it’s anyone’s game.