Our new topic is Online, Social and Participatory Media - or OSP for short.
There's just one CSP to study here - Marcus Rashford and his online presence. This is an in-depth CSP and needs to be studied with reference to all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) and all relevant contexts.
But before we study Marcus Rashford in detail, we need to look at the rise of social media influencers and the impact this has had on media, society and culture.
The rise of influencers
The rise of influencers is a major change in media and culture due to technology, the internet and social media. Influencers give brands a new and powerful way to reach audiences but critics think that social media stars are taking advantage of their relationship with their followers.
User-generated content
Influencers exist because of changes in technology and the internet. This created social media sites like YouTube and Facebook and led to the rise in user-generated content.
User-generated content (UGC) is any content—text, videos, images, reviews, etc.—created by people, rather than brands.
UGC means audiences can be producers as well as consumers – we create and share media as well as viewing it.
How do influencers make money?
YouTuber Zoella (Zoe Sugg) started a blog at home and within a few years gained millions of followers and turned her online presence into a major financial opportunity.
It is estimated at one point Zoella made £15,000 a month from YouTube pre-roll advertising, up to £20,000 each for promotional videos or Instagram posts plus money from books and a beauty product range with Superdrug.
Influencers and their impact on media and culture
Are influencers having a positive or negative impact on society, media and culture? You need to be able to form your own opinion on this question. To help you, watch the following video from the BBC on how influencers make money and see if it changes your views:
Here's the extended 28-minute Panorama if you'd like to see more:
Extension - Bad Influencer: Belle Gibson & The Great Insta Con
The danger with user-generated content is whether we can trust what we see on social media. Belle Gibson was one of the first lifestyle influencers but ended up in a controversy over faking cancer diagnoses to promote her posts. This is a preview of a BBC3 documentary on Belle Gibson and the Great Insta Con:
1) What years did YouTube, Twitter and Instagram launch?
2) What is the definition of an influencer?
3) Give an example of an influencer and how many followers they have. Try and add some additional information, brand associations or other statistics if you can.
4) How big is the influencer industry according to the article?
5) What are the problems associated with being an influencer?
6) Why is it suggested that audiences actually like being sold products by influencers?
7) What representation of beauty is often found on Instagram or other influencer sites?
8) What is YOUR opinion on influencers? Are they a positive or negative influence on our society and culture? Why?
Our second Videogames Close-Study Product is another phone/tablet game: Kim Kardashian Hollywood.
Again, this is an in-depth topic so we need to make sure we have studied this product across media language, audience, industry and representation. Kim Kardashian Hollywood: notes Language Gameplay The gameplay for Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is explained in detail in the app store or Google Play store:
Join KIM KARDASHIAN on a red carpet adventure in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood! Create your own aspiring celebrity and rise to fame and fortune!
CREATE YOUR OWN STAR and customize your look with hundreds of style options, including Kim Kardashian’s personal picks!
⋆ STAR in a huge interactive adventure as you encounter other celebs, dedicated fans, persistent paparazzi… and even hang out with Kim herself!
⋆ RULE THE RED CARPET as an A-list movie actor, cover model, fashion designer and more – what you do is up to you!
⋆ TAKE OVER L.A. in a virtual world complete with exclusive clubs, upscale boutiques, and luxury homes! Travel to New York City and Miami!
⋆ DATE AND DUMP CELEBS at the best parties and hottest clubs! Flirt and become the next huge celebrity power-couple!
⋆ BRING YOUR FRIENDS ALONG FOR THE RIDE using Game Center and Facebook – help each other rise to fame, compare styles, send gifts, and see who can be the biggest star!
Game trailer: Gameplay example: Kim Kardashian: Hollywood - Narrative and objectives The aim of Kim Kardashian Hollywood is to work your way up the celebrity scale from Z-List to A-List. As you play you will interact with a range of real and fictional characters in the United States and around many of the world’s most glamourous and famous locations. As you progress, there are collectibles and missions that will allow you to develop the status of your customisable character. Your ranking is determined by your position on the Top Stars list in Hollywood. They are sorted into six different lists, Unlisted being the lowest rank to the A-list being the highest rank. You rise up in ranks by gaining fans. The goal of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is to gain as many fans as possible by doing well on projects, getting attention from Starnews, and dating to get to the A-list.
Characters Characters are NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) that appear in goals or locations and the storyline as you progress in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. These exclude NPCs you meet in the game that you can date or network with. These types of contacts are randomly generated according to each individual game. The characters in Kim Kardashian Hollywood are a mixture of real VIP characters and fictional characters. There are 100s – you can see a few opposite. In your pursuit of celebrity some of the fictional characters work with you and some actively try to ruin your journey by beating you to A-List. Settings There are a range of locations in the game that try to mirror the stereotype of the celebrity lifestyle of an A-lister:
Narrative: special events
Special Events are temporary goal arcs that are available only during Weekend Events in the game. By completing them, players can not only earn Cash Cash, XP XP, Energy Energy and Star Stars, but also Special Event stars. These regularly happen and keep the game fresh. It also means established players keep coming back to the game to see what the latest updated events are.
By collecting Special Event stars, players can unlock exclusive rewards and Kustomize items. The Kustomize screen, also known as your wardrobe, is the screen where you can customize your character to your liking. You can purchase tops, dresses, pants, skirts, shoes, hairstyles, facial features, nail colours and fashion accessories like bags, jewellery, and tattoos.
You can change your look whenever you like. The game encourages players to "keep on top of current fashion to maximise your fans!"
Audience
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is incredibly popular. It has been downloaded over 50 million times and generated $200 million plus. Why do audiences like it? One way of understanding why audiences choose certain media texts is Blumler & Katz's Uses and Gratification Theory. Uses and Gratification Theory states that audiences consume media products/texts for at least one of the following reasons:
Diversion, escapism or entertainment – escaping from normal life.
Personal relationships – fulfils their need for companionship. This is particularly true of social media products, online gaming and online communities. It can also apply to audiences developing an affection for certain stars or characters.
Personal identity - seeing your own lifestyle, interests or ambitions reflected in a media product; reinforcing your own identity.
Surveillance – using media to find out about the world around them.
Which of these apply to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? Watch this video of Buzzfeed staff trying to play the game:
Representation
There are some key questions we need to consider regarding representation in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood:
How are women represented?
How is celebrity represented?
How is race/ethnicity represented?
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood contains quite controversial representations of women, celebrity and race/ethnicity. It has been criticised for offering a representation of women focusing on appearance, modelling and dating as a way to be successful. Similarly, celebrity is represented as something to aspire to even without an obvious talent or ability. On a more positive note, the game has been praised for its representation of race, ethnicity and sexuality – with the game offering a diverse range of characters.
Industries Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was developed by Glu Mobile, a highly successful mobile game developer and publisher. It was released in June 2014 and was marketed heavily using the Kim Kardashian brand. With social media promotion, the game quickly shot to the top of download lists and iTunes app store charts.
Media convergence The game design means that there is a great deal of media convergence. Media convergence is the merging of different media texts. How does Kim Kardashian Hollywood involve media convergence?
The game: TV Show and social media channels are referenced in game. Player encouraged to engage online and gain bonus items for sharing on Facebook etc.
Social media: Game appears on Kim’s actual social media platforms. Also, need to tweet in game.
TV Show: Game appears on Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes. TV Show is also referenced in game.
Marketing and promotion Watch this TV advert for the game: Glu: monetising Kim Kardashian: Hollywood The game is free to download but makes huge amounts of money from in-app purchases and subscriptions. Players need to buy energy to complete tasks (or wait 30 minutes for energy to replenish). They can also buy subscriptions:
Gold: 49.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)
Silver: 19.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)
Bronze: 4.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)
Small print Due to the addictive nature of the game and the potential to spend huge amounts of money on in-app purchases, the developers place warnings in the app store before purchase:
PLEASE NOTE: - This game is free to play, but you can choose to pay real money for some extra items, which will charge your iTunes account. You can disable in-app purchasing by adjusting your device settings. - This game is not intended for children. - Please buy carefully. - Advertising appears in this game. - This game may permit users to interact with one another (e.g., chat rooms, player to player chat, messaging) depending on the availability of these features. Linking to social networking sites are not intended for persons in violation of the applicable rules of such social networking sites.
Videogames case study 2 - Kim Kardashian: Hollywood blog tasks See Google Classroom for Ms Fowler's questions.
Grade 8/9 extension tasks: reading and response If you finish the questions on Google Classroom, try the following extension tasks:
