OSP: Taylor Swift CSP - Audience and Industries

Background and audience wider reading

Read this Guardian feature on stan accounts and fandom. Answer the following questions:

1) What examples of fandom and celebrities are provided in the article?

Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters, Beyoncé’s Bey Hive, Taylor Swift’s Swifties, and Nicki Minaj’s Barbs.

2) Why did Taylor Swift run into trouble with her fanbase? 

When the presale for Taylor Swift’s tour turned into a battle royale for fans locked out of Ticketmaster’s system, frazzled Swifties voiced their disappointment. Ticketmaster and Swift quickly apologized, with the singer calling the process “excruciating”. Ticketmaster ended up testifying in Congress in a hearing about consolidation in the ticketing industry.

3) Do stan accounts reflect Clay Shirky's ideas regarding the 'end of audience'? How? 

Yes, stan accounts now have rthe power to act as publishers and report in place of professional joiurnalists. Mass amateurisation- if anyone can be a publisher, anyone can become a journalist

Read this Conversation feature on the economics of Taylor Swift fandom. Answer the following questions: 

1) What do Taylor Swift fans spend their money on? 

Albums, merchandise and concert tickets.

2) How does Swift build the connection with her fans? Give examples from the article.

Parasocial relationships- By handpicking fans for “secret sessions” before album releases (often held in her own home) and hosting post-show meet and greets, over the past 16 years she has carefully built the illusion of these relationships as reciprocated friendship

3) What have Swifties done to try and get Taylor Swift's attention online? 

The Taylor Nation twitter account engages with fans who have shared screenshots of merchandise receipts, pictures of themselves with multiple copies of albums, or particularly over-the-top displays of emotion and creativity. This sets a baseline of what it takes to get their – and Swift’s – attention.

4) Why is fandom described as a 'hierarchy'? 

For Swift fans, these hierarchies are heavily tied to practices of consumption, including the purchasing of concert tickets.

5) What does the article suggest is Swift's 'business model'? 

Swift’s business model is largely built on fan desire to meet her. How do you meet her? You prove you are the biggest fan – and you’ve made the sacrifices (and spent the money) to show it.

Taylor Swift: audience questions and theories

Work through the following questions to apply media debates and theories to the Taylor Swift CSP. You may want to go back to your previous blogpost or your A3 annotated booklet for examples. 

1) Is Taylor Swift's website and social media constructed to appeal to a particular gender or audience?

Yes it its targeted towards her fans who are interested in all her other projects and eras. She has done this by adding as microsite with tour dates. She has also adds her past album covers to make her website more nostalgic

2) What opportunities are there for audience interaction in Taylor Swift's online presence and how controlled are these? 

She has a verified fan account where they post all things that fans can do to show their love for her (tour tickets, merch)

3) How does Taylor Swift's online presence reflect Clay Shirky’s ‘End of Audience’ theories? 

Fans create fan edits and create communities online. This reinforces mass amateurisation and that consumers now have publisher status thanks to platforms like twitter

4) What effects might Taylor Swift's online presence have on audiences? Is it designed to influence the audience’s views on social or political issues or is this largely a vehicle to promote Swift's work? 

I would say both, fans look to her for guidance for example the election. Taylor swifts opinion and endorsement is what fans needed to know who to vote for. To add to this, Taylor Swift uses social media to promote her tour and merch- reinforces capitalist ideals

5) Applying Hall’s Reception theory, what might be a preferred and oppositional reading of Taylor Swift's online presence? 

Preferred- she cares about her fans as she shouts them out and posts updates regarding tours and albums

Oppositional- she only cares about making money from her fans as she constantly posts new dates of her tour for her fans to buy. She also releases new merch encouraging fans to buy them

Industries

How social media companies make money

Read this analysis of how social media companies make money and answer the following questions:

1) How many users do the major social media sites boast?

2.96 billion monthly active users worldwide

2) What is the main way social media sites make money? 

Advertisers who use the platform to reach customers

3) What does ARPU stand for and why is it important for social media companies? 

Average revenue per user- useful to compare ARPU numbers with rivals in the same industry. It indicates which is doing the best job of maximizing revenue from its subscribers or users.

4) Why has Meta spent huge money acquiring other brands like Instagram and WhatsApp? 

Every acquisition Meta has made since, whether it was $1 billion for Instagram or $19 billion for WhatsApp, was conducted with the same goal in mind.- Growing Meta’s user base to the point where it reached critical mass

5) What other methods do social media sites have to generate income e.g. Twitter Blue? 

Verified checkmarks were once given to prominent or important accounts to show that their identities had been verified and could be trusted. Under the new system that Musk implemented in 2023, however, checkmarks became a symbol that users had subscribed to X Premium. X Premium subscribers receive benefits including editable posts, fewer ads, longer posts, and more robust security measures. This service costs $8 or $84 per year.

Regulation of social media

Read this BBC News article on a report recommending social media regulation. Answer the following questions:

1) What suggestions does the report make? Pick out three you think are particularly interesting. 

• Social networks should be required to release details of their algorithms and core functions to trusted researchers, in order for the technology to be vetted.

• Adding "friction" to online sharing, to prevent the rampant spread of disinformation.

• forcing social networks to disclose in the news feed why content has been recommended to a user

2) Who is Christopher Wylie? 

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie- Christopher Wylie revealed how Cambridge Analytica used millions of people's Facebook data for targeted campaigns

3) What does Wylie say about the debate between media regulation and free speech? 

In most Western democracies, you do have the freedom of speech. These platforms are not neutral environments. Algorithms make decisions about what people see or do not see. What we're talking about is the platform's function of artificially amplifying false and manipulative information on a wide scale.

4) What is ‘disinformation’ and do you agree that there are things that are objectively true or false? 

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people- yes i agree that things can be objectively true for example 'Earth is a sphere' is objectively true and no ones pereception can change that.

5) Why does Wylie compare Facebook to an oil company? 

No matter how much Facebook try to tackle misinformation, it is a by-poduct of their business model regardless of all there efforts.

6) What does it suggest a consequence of regulating the big social networks might be? 

It push more people on to fringe "free speech" social networks

7) What has Instagram been criticised for?

The way "perfect" images on Instagram can affect mental health and body image

8) Can we apply any of these criticisms or suggestions to Taylor Swift? For example, should Taylor Swift have to explicitly make clear when she is being paid to promote a company or cause? 

Yes, i do believe Taylor Swift should disclose her paid sponsership posts becasue it could change how people interact with them. It also comes across as disingenuous as she is getting paid for consumer interaction.