EMILY'S BLOG

Being a student, it sometimes gets difficult to maintain a balance between my study and work life. In the current age, it is crucial for me to engage with social media because if I don’t then I feel left out. All of my friends and even my family members are present on social media and it is the only place where we get to connect with each other on daily basis. This is why I keep on checking my social networks numerous times throughout the day. Sometimes, I do it in the middle of studying, whereas sometimes I do it while sitting with my family members. The two social networks that I am mostly engaged with are Facebook and Instagram. I constantly scroll through the feed and keep on posting the posts that I like to share with my friends. Due to my deep love for books, my Instagram is mostly full of reels and posts regarding book reviews and new books. I also like to share posts regarding Dark Academia aesthetics. To an outsider, it might seem like that I am entertaining myself by spending time on social media. However, if I reflect deeply, the act of scrolling and posting is not just a time pass. It falls into the domain of the labor that goes completely unnoticed. Social media is not just a platform that I use for entertainment or for connecting with others, it is also a platform where my time, attention, and personal data are being used to generate profit. However, the question is the even after putting so much labor into social media, am I adequately rewarded for my labor?

Labour in the Morning

My day starts with the hope labour. I perform this labor even before I get out of my bed. Every night, I set up a series of alarms that I turn off the next morning. So when it comes to the initial labor of my day, I perform the hope labour which is based on my aspiration to become a social media sensation. I upload my own picture with an inspiring message on social media and share it with my social media followers. I aspire to become a social media celebrity with millions of followers so I start my day by working on my dream. I have seen many students start from scratch and gain professional success just by making proper use of social media. I too believe that I will be able to achieve professional success from social media in the future. However, I have to work hard on my achieving my dream as I have to select the proper caption, the catchy hashtags, and create a perfect post for maximum engagement. Sometimes, I have to take hundreds of pictures and select the attractive ones from them so they can instantly get attention of social media users.

Labour during the Midday

The labor that I perform during the midday is basically the emotional labour which is dependent on the reaction that I receive on my post. If I get nice reacts and comments from my followers, my emotions are quite high but if the post is criticized or ignored by my followers, I tend to feel low. There is also the relational labour that I perform while connecting with my followers. I respond to their nice comments by thanking them and answer their criticism with confidence. As I am a student, both the emotional and relational labours hold strong effect on me. I am not able to pay proper attention to my studies or teacher’s lecture when I am emotionally disturbed or when I am engaging with my followers.

By the End of the Day

I perform the labour of self-fashioning in the evening when I pay special attention to my brands and reflect upon the things that could help my brand get better. I know that social media networks generate billions through my engagement and through the data that I put into these networks but the devastating fact is that I don’t get proper reward for this labor. Whether I perform hope labour, emotional labour, relational labour, or labour of self-fashioning, I do not receive the compensation for this labor that I truly deserve.

During my childhood, I heard about this concept of the world transforming into a global village. However, being a child, I was really confused as to how this world can turn into a global village. Well! I saw this concept turning into a reality with my own eyes when social media became a crucial part of our lives. A person sitting in New Zealand can easily converse with another one in Bangladesh just because of the social media. At first, technology just played the role of bringing people closer but with the passage of time, it started to make other contributions to human society.

Airbnb and Social Movement

Watching Airbnb’s advertisement leave a positive influence on our mind. It triggers some sort of emotional response that is unexplainable. The ad starts with a woman sitting on her couch in New York in 2012. She is watching news regarding the destruction caused by the Hurricane Sandy. She suddenly picks up her laptop and starts typing an email to Airbnb. She then introduces her idea to Airbnb. She writes that as thousands of people have lost their homes due to Hurricane Sandy, she is willing to list her apartment for free in order to help the effected people. She then sends this email. A girl from Airbnb in San Francisco reads this email and gets inspired. She adds one line to the email and then sends forwards it to the Airbnb headquarters. The line that girl from San Francisco adds demonstrates her eagerness to take the initiative as thousands of people were suffering at the moment. Later on, a couple knocks on the door of the very first woman who sent the email to Airbnb. They nervously look towards each other and wait. The woman, who actually initiated this social movement, opens the door and warmly welcomes them inside her home. This ad conveys the message that one inspiring idea creates a movement that is built by any single person. In this case, the first woman called “Shell” was the one to come up with the inspiring idea. This idea then spread like an epidemic and turned into a nationwide movement.

This advertisement makes it evident that digital economy not only transforms the ways of earning money but it transforms the entire society. I still remember when Covid-19 vaccine was introduced; Uber and Careem were offering free rides to people going for vaccination. In their article The California Ideology (1995), Barbrook and Cameron talked about the concept of “techno-utopianism”. It is mentioned in the article that “Unable to surrender wealth and power, the white people of California can instead find spiritual solace in their worship of technology”. In the Airbnb advertisement, the people are indeed finding spiritual solace through technology. One woman thought of using technology in order to do good for the society in the times of crises. She ignites a spark and soon her initiative spreads like fire throughout the nation. In Barbrook and Cameron’s article, there is a notion that technology will eventually turn this world into a utopia by eliminating all of its problems. Airbnb’s advertisement is one such example of this notion. The possibility of technology’s role in making this world a better place for future generations cannot be denied.

The Airbnb advertisement is more than a just a video. It gives serious message to the people around the world regarding the use of technology for humanitarian purpose. In the current age, people mostly use technology for connecting with each other, entertainment, or getting informed. However, this video makes us realize that technology can also be used to fulfill our social responsibility towards the people around us. Although we have entered into the era of machine, it doesn’t mean that we can’t remain human anymore.

Brands have completely redefined the idea of advertising. I still remember that during my childhood, brands only used to promote their products through TV advertisements, billboards, or printed ads on newspapers. However, things have transformed with the passage of time as news media platforms have also started publishing the branded content.

One such example of this advancement can be seen on the website of Forbes, which is basically a global media company. There is an article published by the title “Indeed Rising Voices Sets The Gold Standard For Brand-Funded Entertainment: Here’s How” that sheds light on how Indeed as a company engages in social advocacy. If we take a quick look at this article, it will seem like any other news article. However, upon a closer-read, it becomes evident that this article is about Indeed’s initiative of providing an opportunity to the BIPOC filmmakers so they can confidently and comfortably share their stories and perspectives. In collaboration with 271 Films and Emmy-award winner Lena Waithe’s Production House, Indeed’s Rising Voices has produced around 30 short films and is currently working on the 4^th season. The amount of work done by Indeed’s Rising Voices proves its credibility in the field of filmmaking. It can be said that Indeed is not only paying for the content of this article but also funding a program through which it can support the filmmakers belonging to underrepresented community. This article might be about brand promotion but it’s more about incorporating that brand into the cultural discourse.

The expert in branded content, Jonathan Hardy writes in his book that “Media and marketing communications are merging. Marketers like Red Bull are becoming broadcaster and publishers, while media increasingly incorporate brand-created or brand-sponsored content”. Through these words, Hardy points towards the association or interdependency that is developing between media and marketing. There are certain important factors due to which brands tend to market their content through news media. The first factor is that due to the credibility of the media houses, the readers also tend to trust in their perception regarding the marketed brand or product. Secondly, the brand is not marketed in the form of an advertisement but these news media platforms tend to present a complete story regarding that brand’s contribution towards the society. For instance, in the case of Indeed, Forbes is trying to highlight the element how Indeed has empowered the BIPOC filmmakers. If you take a look at different articles pertaining to McDonald’s, you will also find the similar concept. There are numerous news articles that highlighted McDonald’s role in supporting the communities during the Covid-19 period by adopting different strategies. Moreover, McDonald’s also took the initiative against Russia’s attack on Ukraine by wrapping up its business from Russia.

Although this transformation from traditional promotion of brands to introduction of branded content has impacted the dynamics of advertising, we cannot say how it will end up in the future. Brands are not the only ones that are benefitting through this new form of advertising as the media houses are also earning more money through this form of promotion. Now the question is that whether we should believe everything that is written in the paid content published by these media houses or should we use our own judgement. Where the normalization of branded content has made advertising interesting, it has also made it more complicated for the customers. Even if the brands are marketing themselves through credible platforms, they are doing this by paying money which makes it difficult to believe the words of these media houses. This problem can only be resolved by ensuring transparency. Even if branded content is being published, it is important for the media houses to give proper introduction of the person who is behind that content.

Ariel has been creating meaningful advertisements for many years. Recently, the company has started focusing on empowering women or promoting gender equality. Just a few months ago, an advertisement of Ariel India with the caption “How Strong is your home team?” went viral on social media. The advertisement is basically in Hindi language but one can easily understand it with English subtitles. The advertisement shows that a girl is sitting in her office and is immensely busy. She is not only talking on her cellphone but also managing her professional work at the same time. On her cell phone, that girl is giving instructions regarding home chores such as: “turn off the water heater”, “Pia’s night suit is on the third shelf”, and “the green night suit”. She is also giving instructions to her office staff. In the meanwhile, her boss arrives and she puts her phone down but forgets to turn it off. The boss, who is also a woman, addresses that girl by the name “Aish” and congratulates her for going to Singapore for the training. The girl named Aish (her actual name is Aisha in the advertisement) thanks her boss and tells her that she just received the email but she might not be able to make it. The boss feels surprised and asks Aisha the reason for not taking the trip as it was a huge opportunity both for Aisha and her employees.

During the conversation, the viewers can see that Aisha’s cell phone is placed on the cabin wall between both of the women. At first, Aisha is not able to answer her boss but when her boss insists, Aisha states that the trip will take her an entire week. She glances at her phone and then claims “I don’t know if the team will be able to manage”. Her boss understands Aisha’s glance and moves near the phone. She then asserts “Even you learnt all this work, right? Your ‘team’ will learn too!” As the phone is still on, Aisha’s husband hears the entire conversation between two women. Aisha is then called into a meeting but her husband falls into a deep thought. When Aisha returns home with groceries, she calls her husband’s name and finds him in the washroom where he is busy putting clothes into the washing machine. Feeling surprised, she asks her husband what is he doing and he tells her that he is training for her Singapore trip. He then gets up, walks towards Aisha and says “Even you learnt all this work, right? Your ‘team’ will learn too”. The advertisement ends with Aisha training her husband to do the laundry.

The interesting aspect of this advertisement is that it goes against most of the elements of the popular feminism. According to Sarah Banet-Weiser, popular feminism is the form of feminism that compels women to solve problems that they experience as individuals. The Ariel’s ad depicts a working woman who is not able to go on a business trip because she also has the burden of domestic chores. This is not an individual issue but a collective issue experienced by majority of the working women in eastern society. In the countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, men are considered the patriarchs of the family so they only earn money. It is not in their nature to help out at home. However, this advertisement by Ariel India is promoting feminist movement #ShareTheLoad so that gender equality can be maintained even in domestic chores. Another point of popular feminism is that usually the idea of empowerment is linked to the act of consumerism. However, in this ad, a deep message is conveyed in order to bring the social transformation. This ad is not about empowering women by purchasing a bag of Ariel but it gives a thought-provoking message to its viewers.

The media industries in China (my home country) have always remained under discussion by the world’s top media researchers due to its suffocating structure and government’s strict control over its operation. There is no doubt that China’s media industries are considered to be the leading media industries in the world. However, the major problem with China’s media industries is that they are heavily influenced by socialism due to which a significant portion of media industries is closely monitored by the government. The media industry is lenient in case of advertising and distribution but the editorial content always remains under serious scrutiny. The independent coverage is allowed only in the circumstances if it is not a threat to the political or social stability. According to the international organization, Reporters without Borders the Chinese President Xi Jinping can be regarded as “planet’s leading censor and press freedom predator”. The report further states that Chinese government not only plans to dominate the news coverage of their own country but they also want to create an international media order that is “heavily influenced by China”. Beijing plays crucial role in preventing Chinese people from getting access to international news by adopting different strategies such as restricting the use of satellite receivers, using jammers for shortwave broadcasts, limiting the rebroadcast, and blocking the websites from which the people can get any sort of international news. As far as the Chinese news channels run by overseas corporations are concerned, they are blocked by the Chinese government in the mainland China because they are not state-owned channels. However, this does not mean that Chinese people do not have access to news websites in English language. They can access these websites but as usual, the Chinese government keeps a close watch on these websites and retracts the information that is against the policies of the Chinese government.

McChesney’s Democratization of Media

Through his definition of democratization of media, McChesney argued regarding a form of media that encourages empowerment of the public, promotes inclusiveness, and contains noncommercial and nonprofit components. Although China’s media industry is severely criticized for not allowing people the freedom to express their political views, there are some elements of Chinese media that fit inside the media framework introduced by McChesney. The media platform called the People’s Daily Online is a digital branch of the People’s Daily newspaper. The reason due to which People’s Daily Online democratizes the Chinese media is that despite being owned by the Chinese government, this online media platform contains the interactive feature. The People’s Daily Online not only provides news on different aspects of Chinese society but it also encourages its readers to provide their opinion on its news through social media. This media platform has its profiles on four different social media networks including: Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. By watching the posts of People’s Daily Online through these social media platforms, the Chinese people not only engage with each other but also leave constructive comments for the betterment of their society in the comments section of these social networks.

In addition to state-run media platforms, there are certain media platforms in China that have been introduced by the private entities. One such famous Chinese platform is Taobao Live that was introduced by Alibaba group. Taobao Live is an online streaming app that enables the retailers and customers to connect with each other. The live sessions conducted through the Taobao app not only offer the customers but also the brands with an interactive experience as they are able to sell their products while entertaining the customers.

Due to the hybrid model of media industries in China, McChesney’s concept of democratization of media is not fully applicable in this country but there are certain aspects of media organizations that do fall within the parameters of this concept.