#13 Media as Practice
I have a shorter edition of the newsletter this week, and it’s a themed one. I’ve been reading ‘Media as Practice’, which tries to understand what people do in relation to media in different situations and contexts. I thought I’d take three examples I’ve seen recently and show how it relates to culture and brands. Here’s what has caught my attention in the past week.
⚡️Fast culture (something popular/trendy this week)
Dolly Parton started a meme out of nowhere and the internet is obsessed. Everyone from Mark Ruffalo to the Friend’s characters has shared their version.
These four platforms all offer different contexts and therefore our media practices as producers, performers and audiences are all different. This meme encapsulates perfectly the cultural norms of social networks and makes visible the fact that we perform identity and develop public profiles within the constraints of each platform.
How is this useful: Knowing the explicit and implicit norms of each platform leads to better communications. That’s why it feels off to see an ad that is not designed for the context we see it in: it’s not respecting the cultural norms of how we behave in relation to that media and what we expect from it.
🌎Slow culture (change in behaviours or values in society)
More on media as practice. Social platforms have created specific behaviours through their particular cultural, and Evan Spiegel (Snapchat’s CEO) recently shared his “pyramid of communication technology” at a conference :
‘In the broad base of this pyramid of communication technology, we find ‘self-expression’. This is what Snapchat is all about, talking with your friends, which is something everyone feels comfortable with doing. As the pyramid gets narrower, you have the next layer which is ‘status’. Social media in its original constructs is about status, presenting who you are and showing people that you’re cool, getting likes and comments. That’s less accessible to the broader base of humanity and has a narrower base of appeal. And at the top of the pyramid, which I think is represented by Tiktok, is ‘talent’. People who have spent a couple of hours learning a new dance, or think about a new creative way to tell a story. They are making media to entertain other people, and I think that’s even narrower.’
Source: @JGCatalano
With this pyramid, Spiegel is explaining the practice of media according to each platform, and we can get a better grip on the distinctive types of social process enacted through media-related practices. Design is communication, and TikTok’s UI and UX already put talent first: the #foryoupage shows the best content for you, optimised through an algorithm, and you don’t even need an account or need to follow specific people to enjoy it. Instagram’s Explore tab also wants to serve that purpose, but clearly isn’t the principal functionality of the app.
The learning for brands: there are social cues hiding behind drivers and desires of our media practices - understanding them helps us make sense of the new configurations that spread.
🖌Unusual pattern (two unrelated things coming together)
Virtual pop star Hatsune Miku will be playing in Coachella 2020. She is a computer-generated “vocaloid” powered by software.
She’s so popular in Japan that a compilation of Miku tracks was the number one album in 2010, and she opened for Lady Gaga back in 2014. She’s going to be playing a full 2-hour set, and here you can see a video of her playing live to an audience in the city of Sapporo (I was particularly interested in how people behaved at their shows - they seem just as thrilled and excited as watching any human performer)
The interesting bit here is that anyone can buy the software of Hatsune Miku, use it to create a song in her “voice,” and upload the track to the internet. It’s not only entertainment, but she (or should I say “it”?) is also media designed for practice: you can go to one of her shows and also create a part of it.
For brands: our media production can be designed and created intentionally for distribution and reappropriation, which is fundamentally different from creating a brand asset that aims to stay “pure” and untouched. Social dynamics will emerge when creating something for repurpose and remix.
Thanks so much for reading, and if you want to share any thoughts on this week’s edition, just hit reply to this email and I’ll get back to you, or connect with me on Twitter.
Cultural Patterns is a newsletter by Florencia Lujani about culture, creativity and strategy. If you’ve enjoyed it, consider subscribing :)