🤷‍♀️🚫🙋‍♀️🙅🥛🕵️‍♂️👨‍💼🚫💌🟪😴⏰🚨‼️🚘 was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” but in emoji form…

But 😥 how it feels so real, 🤥 here with no 😣 🔢 near Only you, 😊 and you can 🦻 me When I 🗣️ softly, 🐌. 👫👬 me closer 🤏 🕺. 🤘 headlights on the 🛣️. Lay me 👎 in 🛏️ had a 🐝 day today. 👖👖👖 🫄🍼 . 👵 seamstress for 🈺 the 🤘🫵, Pretty eyed, 🦜☠️ 😼, you’ll marry a 🎤 🤦‍♂️. 🙆, you must have seen 💁‍♂️ 🕺 in the 🏖️ . And now 💁‍♀️ in me, always with me, 🤏 🕺 in my 🤜.

IM:310 Social Media — Emoji Post was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Blog #11 — Emoji Story 4/24/24

My day today, in emojis.

🛌🌅🥱🛏️🪥 🐈‍⬛🚶🏽‍♀️🏃🏽‍♀️🏋🏽‍♀️🍳🍌🥯🚶🏽‍♀️🚿🧼👚👖💻🚶🏽‍♀️🏫📓📝📝📝🚶🏽‍♀️🏣 🍽️ 🌭🍟🍈🍍🚶🏽‍♀️🏠🛋️📺💻👩🏽‍💻👩🏽‍💻👩🏽‍💻🚶🏽‍♀️🧋🚶🏽‍♀️👩🏽‍💻👩🏽‍💻👩🏽‍💻🚶🏽‍♀️🚗⛳️🏌🏽‍♀️🏌🏼‍♂️🚗🏬🪑🍽️🍽️🪑🥂🚗🏠🛋️🎬🎥🍿🍦🪥🥱🛏️🛌

I woke up and saw my cat, before getting ready and going to the gym. After that I went to the gym, after I walked back I showered and did some homework before walking to class. After class, I went to eat lunch at Baker before walking back to my dorm. I watched TV before starting all my homework, and I worked on that for a while. In the middle of my homework, I walked to Fisher Cafe and got a drink. Later that day, I played some golf and went out to dinner. To end the night, I watched a movie and had popcorn before getting ready for bed.

Blog #11 — Emoji Story was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

But fate, with its unpredictable ways, had already set the stage for a ⚔️of wills and desires. For lurking amidst the waves 🌊, beneath the shadow of the Jolly Roger 🏴‍☠️, sailed⛵️ a crew of notorious pirates, led by the cunning Captain Blackbeard🧔🏻. Their 🚢, the Black Pearl, was feared across the seven seas. As Jack 📈ed his course towards the elusive 🏝️, unaware of the ⚠️ that loomed on the horizon, Blackbeard and his crew plotted their next loot. Their 👀 gleamed with greed as they set sail, their hearts filled with the promise of untold 💸.

🏙s turned into 🌃s, and nights into days, as Jack navigated the treacherous 🌊, guided by the ⭐️ and his unyielding determination. At last, the silhouette of the 🏝️ emerged on the horizon, shrouded in mist and mystery. With bated breath, Jack approached the island’s shore, his pulse quickening with anticipation. He ⚓️ his 🚢 and stepped onto the sandy🏖, his eyes scanning the dense foliage for signs of the hidden 💰.

However, fate had other plans, for no sooner had Jack set🦶 on the 🏝️ than he found himself surrounded by the menacing figures of 🧔🏻 and his crew. Their sunlight⚔️ gleamed in the ☀️, their faces twisted into sinister smiles. With a swift motion, Blackbeard seized Jack’s 🗺, his eyes narrowing with greed as he deciphered its cryptic markings 🔍.

“So, this is the 🔑 to the 💰,” he growled, his voice like thunder. “Well then, it seems we owe you our thanks, lad.”

Before Jack could react, he was bound, his fate hanging in the balance like a ship caught in a storm ⛈. The 🏴‍☠️s, with their prize in hand, set off towards the heart of the 🏝️, leaving Jack behind to ponder his dire predicament. Jack was not one to surrender to despair, though💪. With a 💪 born sense of desperation, he struggled against his bonds, his mind racing with thoughts of escape. Inch by inch, he loosened the 🪢 s that bound him, until at last, he was free.

With a newfound resolve, Jack set off in pursuit of the 🏴‍☠️, his eyes blazing with determination.

Through dense jungles and treacherous terrain, he tracked their every move, drawing ever closer to the heart of the 🏝️ and the 💰 that lay within. At last, he reached the entrance to a hidden cave, where Blackbeard and his crew had gathered to claim their prize. With nerves of steel, Jack crept closer, his 🫀 pounding in his chest like the beat of a war 🥁. As he peered into the darkness of the cave, he saw the glimmering ✨ 💎 of the 💰, illuminated by the flickering light of torches 🔥. But he also saw something else — a gleaming 💣, rigged to explode at the slightest touch. With a quick and daring maneuver, Jack disarmed the 💣, his 👐 moving with the speed of ⚡. Then, with a triumphant shout, he burst into the cave, his ⚔️ flashing💥 in the darkness.

Caught off guard by Jack’s sudden appearance, 🧔🏻 and his crew sprang into action, their ⚔️ clashing with Jack’s in a fierce battle. But Jack was fueled by a righteous fury😤, his blows 🌧 ⬇️ upon his foes like thunder. With each swing of his 👱‍♂️⚔️, he fought with the strength of a hundred 👱‍♂️, his determination unyielding as the ocean 🌊s. And when the 💨 settled, it was Jack who emerged victorious, the 💰 safely in his possession.

As he sailed away from the 🏝️, the ☀️setting on the horizon like a golden coin, Jack knew that his adventure was far from over. For though he had claimed the 💰, the true riches lay in the memories of his journey, and the knowledge that he had faced his fears and emerged victorious against all odds.

And so, with the wind in his sails and the ⭐️s as his guide, Jack sailed towards new horizons, his spirit as free as the endless 🌊. And as long as there were adventures to be had and 💰 to be discovered, he knew that his story would live on, a legend whispered🤫 on the 👄s of 👨‍✈️ and 😴 alike.

Emoji story(blog post 11) was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Ever wondered what happens if you suddenly start sharing every tiny detail of your life on Facebook? Well, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to find out. For the last day, I transformed into “The Oversharer.” I took the task of being an “Oversharer” from the experiment list, and adjusted it slightly to get a bigger audience pool rather than just from my mom or dad. The results? More surprising and revealing than I expected!

Here’s What I Did:

Instead of my usual one-post-a-day or one-post-a-week habit, I cranked things up — big time. I shared everything: what I had for breakfast, the song stuck in my head, even how I felt about the weather every couple of hours. Think of it as a live diary, open for everyone on my friend list to see, comment on, and like (or not).

I wanted to understand how my friends would react. Would they engage more because I was sharing more? Would they get annoyed and tell me to take it down a notch? I also kept an eye on the likes and comments and checked if people were whispering about my oversharing spree in DMs.

The Reaction:

The start of the day was fun. Friends engaged, laughed, and played along. My post about playing in a golf tournament got 30 comments of “good lucks,” and “have fun.” I posted about how sick I was of the weather, all the rain and wind, and got lots of “me too” responses or “where’s spring/summer.” Later on in the day, the novelty was wearing off — for them and for me. Comments started to dip, and a few likes still trickled in, but the ‘haha’ reactions were definitely up.

By the end of the day, a couple of friends had messaged me privately, half-jokingly asking if everything was okay or if I had been hacked. My posts began to feel like that one joke at the party that got told too many times. Not so funny anymore.

According to Nancy Baym’s insights on social norms in digital spaces, communities establish their own rules for what’s okay to share and how often. This experiment was a real-life test in crossing those lines. What became clear is that there’s a fine balance on social media between sharing and oversharing. Our digital communities expect this balance. When it’s disrupted, it doesn’t just change how others view us, it can change how we view ourselves.

I also realized how platform features influence our perceptions. Facebook’s timeline and notifications mean that every post potentially interrupts someone else’s digital routine. When you post too much, you’re not just filling up your own timeline — you’re filling up everyone else’s.

Discussion:

Honestly, it was exhausting. Not just creating all those posts, but also the emotional rollercoaster of watching reactions roll in (or not). I felt exposed and a bit vulnerable, sharing so much that I typically keep private or at least filter through a bit more discretion.

This little adventure into the world of oversharing showed me that while social media can be a fantastic tool for connecting, it also demands a certain level of self-awareness and respect for communal norms. It’s about finding that sweet spot between sharing enough to stay connected, but not so much that friends start tuning you out — or worse, worry about you. In the grand scheme of things, oversharing on Facebook reminded me that sometimes, less really is more.

IM310: Social Media Blog Post — Norm Breaching Experiment was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Blog Post #11 — Social Media Norm Breaching Experiment 4/14/24

Experiment: The Oversharer

Method: For 24 hours I texted my roommate, Emily, and consistently asked her about what she was doing and updated her on things I did. I chose her because even though we live together, we don’t communicate outside of face-to-face conversations.

Results: It went exactly how I expected. It started with me texting her about work or class and she responded normally. As it went on, Emily started texting me more throughout the day and continued our conversations. Even though we are friends and do talk, I got this new side of her where I learned more about what she was doing in the day as she texted me back. I told my other friend, Abbey, about the experiment and she texted me saying, “Emily — haha kate is texting me so randomly, it’s making me chuckle.” After telling her about the experiment she laughed and understood the spontaneity, but now we text slightly more often after the experiment about random things.

Discussion: The question is though, why is that weird? Why is texting my friend about her day considered “random” if we talk every day? I find I text my friends very little. Now, the norm of communication is primarily Snapchat by sending pictures back and forth, with little to no conversation. I find it interesting that the societal norm of communication is, in fact, no conversation whatsoever. “People show feeling and intimacy, have fun, and build and reinforce social structures even in the leanest of text-only media. As a consequence of people’s enthusiasm for digital social interaction, developers have created ever-richer means for us to communicate.” (Baym 67) Apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook have allowed consumers to think they have more friends than they do. I know I Snapchat or like people’s photos whom I haven’t talked to in years, but that number count under followers communicates to people that I am friends with all of them. Social media has taken the effort out of friendships. While I do think it’s very useful to stay connected with loved ones, it sets a standard that If I send someone a picture of my face once a week we’re still considered “friends.” If I like and comment on someone’s post I haven’t seen since my high school graduation, can we count that as a meaningful interaction? Why is it that the new societal norm for friendship is to take the easy way out with social media rather than texting them? Earlier today I thought about texting a friend from home to start a conversation. My immediate thought was, “Wait no that can be weird, why would I text them?” I don’t want to text my best friend of 15 years because starting a conversation with her over text and not Snapchat “would be weird.” It will be interesting to see if there’s another shift in this communication. Social media is only starting earlier and earlier with the new generations and normal phone calls are already outdated. Is texting the next one to go?

Inspiration for experiment:

https://socialmediacollective.org/2011/07/29/the-oversharer-and-other-social-media-experiments/

Citation:

Nancy K. Baym, Personal Connections in the Digital Age. 2010

Blog #11 — Social Media Norm Breaching Experiment was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I ultimately decided to do this challenge over the others listed, because I oddly enough already sort of do this with my boyfriend. We do medium/long distance (2 hours apart) and so we communicate over the phone, primarily through phone calls and Facetime, but during the day we text back and forth more. We both know each other’s schedules, quite well, but still find comfort in letting the other person know what we are up to and, in a weird way, feel like we are bringing the other person along with us. So, since I could not do this with him, I chose to do this experiment with my mom. I started this morning, April 9th, when I woke up and texted her things like “headed over to give my tour” “going to DTJ with Briah and Lillian!” “Just got back and got a good parking spot 🔥” “out of meeting, lunchtime now” “time for class, ugh” and so on. She liked or heart-reacted to all of these messages, responding to some but not all. She is an elementary school teacher so she does not get a lot of free time, but she has an Apple watch, so she was still able to see my updates and react timely. I also included pictures of my coffee, my outfit, my kitty, etc in my updates.

She and I are very, very close, and while we don’t communicate step by step every day sending updates and texts that don’t require an immediate response is a fairly normal thing for us to do.

After telling her that night that I was texting her so much, throughout the day because of this little social experiment, she didn’t come out and say that she thought my behavior was weird or that she was annoyed by this (which I thought she might), but rather that she thought I was bored or wondered if I was like skipping out on a class. I was obviously glad to hear that she was not bothered by my absurd amount of unnecessary text updates.

In connection with my experience with Baym and his book Personal Connections In The Digital Age, I took away the ideas of perspective, conformity, and adaptation. From my mother’s perspective, I was oversharing or maybe had too much time on my hands, and from my perspective, I was afraid that maybe I was bothering her, but I knew that this was something I had to do for school. With the idea of conformity, and also with this being a more short-term experiment, I don’t fully think that there was much conformity, but towards the end of the day my mom had started to send messages like “just left school,” “home with Tarzan (our cat's name), accompanied with a picture of him, and “here’s what’s for dinner.” While these are just a few, short messages, she did sort of fall into the norm that I was setting for our text communication style.

Through what I have learned in this class, as well as my previous communications classes, and then combined with my application and real-world practice with this concept, I was really able to see and realize that we create norms, and with that power, we have to ability to change, adapt, and also get rid of social and communicational norms, that have been set prior. For my case, specifically, I think that texting applications are open for interpretation as everyone has different text habits, slang terms, and norms set from person to person. I would not text my boyfriend in the same tone or manner as I would text my parents, as I would text my boss. I feel like this is something that is understood across the board, too.

Norm Breaching (blog post 10) was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Blog #10 — Spreadable Media 4/7/24

https://www.tiktok.com/@accountwashackedwith50m/video/7335149483182886176?lang=en

Crazy enough, the most viral video I’ve seen over the past month was a 12-second-long TikTok. Creator @Pray4Gabs filmed chocolate-covered strawberries on a bed with Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love” playing in the background. After further research through comments on similar videos, the original video was deleted after reaching 115 million views and 50.1 million likes. The link above is a reupload of the same video but, as I was searching, there were tons of videos just like it either of reuploads of the same video or people trying with their own strawberries, just to get a taste of that fame.

Jenkins talks about spreadability in his book, “Spreadable Media” which makes sense after hearing the title. He refers to “Spreadability as the increasingly pervasive forms of media circulation and potential for audiences to share content for their own purposes.” (Jenkins 3) Sticky content is also referenced in this book as “material that people want to spread.” (Jenkins 4) But what made this particular content become so widespread and shared? It comes from 2 different parties. The first is the consumer. People on TikTok are attracted to the short, sometimes not making sense, funny videos they can like and share with their friends. The first couple of people seeing it thought it was funny and gave it a like without thinking. The video then goes into the hands of TikTok which notices the video getting views and blasts it onto algorithms for more and more people to see. With this method, TikTok can decide what is shared and goes viral and what doesn’t after seeing how a small group of people respond to it.

The participatory culture also plays a factor in its spreadability. “As material spreads, it gets remade: either literally, through various forms of sampling and remixing, or figuratively, via its insertion into ongoing conversations and across various platforms.” (Jenkins 27) This plays a big role because as I was searching for the video under Caldwell’s song, I found 5.4 million posts. This was either people copying the trend or putting their own spin on it. I saw videos of different fruits, POVs, and influencers all under this sound all referencing the infamous strawberry video. TikTok is such an interesting place because it doesn’t follow the normal guidelines of company engagement. Sure, companies post on their own page and make content but a lot of the time it’s a random video by someone with 200 followers that’s blowing up with the new viral video. Spreadability has changed. TikTok has changed the audience that interacts with the media. We’ve turned from a “slow-culture” to a “fast-culture” (Jenkins 96) where everyone is always searching for the next stimulant on their phones. I would be surprised if in the next month a new video surfaces and becomes the next “viral hit.”

Blog #10 — Spreadable Media was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This video is a great example of a spreadable video.

The video is short and simple with a clear structure and message.

The video is brief and it has a simple and clear running narrative. The different puppets are wondering what the mysterious ticking noise is, but they keep singing to the beat of the ticking noise. Eventually, the puppet portraying Ron Weasly finds the ticking noise, and it is a bomb. Then they all blow up, except for Voldemort who has the last frame. The situation is humorous and it’s easy to understand and find funny.

The way the puppets sing is also very catchy. The characters repeat their name numerous times, so this tune can easily get stuck in the head of the viewer. The mysterious ticking is also catchy.

Because Harry Potter is so popular and the video is humorous and catchy, viewers will want to share it with their friends and family.

This video was uploaded 17 years ago, so it was a very early viral video. When YouTube was gaining popularity Harry Potter was at the peak of its content. This video in some way was extremely popular because of that. Lastly, this video helped pave the way for the viral content that we see today.

Spreadable Media- Harry Potter was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I will be honest, at first, I was having a hard time deciding what video I was going to use. I still do watch YouTube videos and will use the application for small tasks, like maybe finding out the proper way to pronounce a word, or I would watch a very niche video tutorial on how to do something on Adobe Photoshop. There are a few individuals that I still follow and watch, but by no means are they attempting to post viral, universal content, but more vlog-style, chit-chat, follow-me-around videos.

I also was unsure of the true meaning of the word spreadable, and luckily was able to utilize the book to help me out there. In the Introduction chapter of, Spreadable Media, the authors offer readers a better understanding of this term, what it suggests, and what it is not. They say, on page three, that the term spreadability “refers to the potential- both technical and cultural- for audiences to share content for their own purposes.” So, this word does not mean trendy, and the content that falls under this category may not be of a topic you agree with or are even interested in, but it has this sense of ‘spreadableness’ and therefore takes off.

This specific video, like I mentioned is posted by a 25-year-old man by the name of Jimmy Donaldson. He is, confidently, the most popular YouTuber as he is both the most-subscribed individual and most-subscribed channel on the platform. His net worth, as of 2024, was calculated to have reached over $500 million. A large part of the content that he posts involves giveaways or elaborate challenges for money, that are very high energy and high production, and nothing that is of interest to me. Ironic that I am using his content for this assignment then, but that just goes to further prove my point. No matter what content he shares it is going to spread. The individuals or accounts that have the most likes and subscribers will be able to have a better time spreading their content because there is already a heightened set of eyes and ears, and in YouTube’s case, thumbs.

Most of the time there must be a strategy, and marketing tactics involved to perfectly crack the algorithm and post a video that will get the most views likes, and shares. However, there was not a flashy or even descriptive title, it wasn’t in all caps, and there was no “clickbait” as the cover image, it was literally just an egg. Simple, and dare I say stupid stuff spreads online like wildfire. About five years ago, there was this close, plain picture of a brown egg on a white background that was posted to Instagram. As of March 2019, the post had over 53 million views (which I’m sure has increased). A bit most recently, on TikTok, a short clip of a bowl of chocolate-covered strawberries earned 20 million likes, last, I had checked.

Content that is not suggestive, cannot be twisted or taken out of context, and is just downright random often becomes conversational, and can often create trends, or inspire copycat accounts.

After reading Chapter 2 of Spreadable Media, I was able to better see why sort-form, sometimes spur-of-the-moment content like this can spread quicker than thought-out, high production, video content. The book claims that “appraisal is a negotiation between different systems of evaluation” and that these systems also decide the value of a thing and how that value can be measured more across the board. In many of my communications courses, we discuss how powerful language is, verbal and non-verbal. And how we, as people, have the power to change language, place alternative meanings to different things, and create these systems and situations where we value and access them. The successfulness of online media is measured quantitatively through numbers of likes, shares, comments, saves, and views and I want to circle back and acknowledge again that yes, this specific video does have an absurd amount of views and likes, specifically, but when it’s broken down and evaluated, the production quality is not high, it has no meaning that views can take away, its less than 15 minutes, and its center focus is around eggs. I think that if there was not a monetary reward of $10,000 given at the end of the video, there would not be nearly as much interest, and I also think that if in between each round of the challenge, the contests were still alive in the game were unable to throw eggs at the losers, there would be even less interest. People, I included love to watch other people fail, be embarrassed, or get hurt (in a non-serious manner) because it makes us feel stronger or better than them. I am sure that there are plenty more videos that fit the criteria that our book brings up, as well as the ideas that I mentioned, but I hope that you were able to improve your understanding of spreadable media.

Resources:

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (n.d.). Introduction, Chapter 2. In Spreadable Media, New York University Press.

Spreadable Media (blog post 9) was originally published in #im310-sp24 — social media on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.