Tumblr and Transmedia Storytelling

Preview of The Hunger Games’ ‘Capitol Couture’ Tumblr – Source: http://dcinstyle.com

“Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.” (Jenkins, H 2007)

Films and television show promotions have become a familiarised part of transmedia storytelling as it captures the involvement of fans, whom readily engage with official promotional material and also create their own original media and content. The widespread use of social media platforms has allowed official and fan-produced transmedia to share the same media spectrum. An example of transmedia storytelling in this aspect was the campaign for The Hunger Games through Tumblr. Tumblr specifically has helped facilitate the transmedia process as it allows content such as images and videos to be easily shared via re-blogging, which is its core function and defining characteristic. Through re-blogging, it allows followers to add notes someone’s blog, allowing a continuation of the story they are telling. Thus, these fans have the power and ability to spreads news about the film’s latest marketing campaigns faster than the traditional promotional avenues. Re-blogging also transforms turns officially produced transmedia into a personalised message, giving fans the feeling that they are receiving updates from a fellow fan, rather than a studio’s marketing department.

However, transmedia storytelling on Tumblr does not simply stop at officially produced content. Fans can also create their own original media and content such as fan fiction and fan art in relation to the Hunger Games (or anything really) which they are able to tag key terms and users can track down tagged key terms to find posts to re-blog, like, share, and even follow other users which is common amongst fandoms. One of the core elements of transmedia campaign for The Hunger Games was the ‘Capitol Couture‘ Tumblr, which allowed fans to delve into the strange, unique fashion of the Capitol and featured content such as fashion guides, cover stories and character profiles. The Capitol is a very significant location in both the novel and film, though it does not spend much time there. By revealing the style of the Capitol, fans are able to gather new insights and understandings of the lifestyle of its citizens without spoiling anything. The Tumblr campaign also facilitated fan interaction and participation as ‘District Style Challenges’, where winners of these contest would receive a $750 Nordstorm gift card and get their work featured on the campaign’s Tumblr, and fan content was reblogged in the ‘Citizen Activity’ section.

In conclusion, Tumblr has great power as a transmedia storytelling platform as it heightens the audiences’ engagement, understanding and enjoyment of films and television shows through promotion across multiple platforms.

Reference List
1. Jenkins, H 2007, ‘Transmedia Storytelling 101’, Confessions of an Aca-Fan, March 22 <http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html> viewed 18th April 2014
2. Kohnen, M 2012, ‘Creating a Spark: Official and Fan-Produced Transmedia for the Hunger Games’, antenna, May 11, viewed 18 April 2014 <http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2012/05/11/creating-a-spark-official-and-fan-produced-transmedia-for-the-hunger-games/>
3. McGrath, B 2012, ’44 Ways ‘The Hunger Games’ Social Media Campaign Increased the Movie’s Odds of Success’, Portent, <http://www.portent.com/blog/social-media/hunger-games-social-media-campaign.htm>
4. Transmedia Storytelling Ltd., ‘Transmedia Storytelling’, viewed 18th April 2014 <http://www.tstoryteller.com/transmedia-storytelling>

Tumblr and Produsage

The creation of shared content in interactive and collaborative communities takes place in a networked and participatory environment which has broken down the barrier between producers and consumers. It enables all users to become both producer and user, also known as the produser. Produsers engage in the untraditional form of content production known as ‘produsage’ – “the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement.” (Bruns, A 2007)

Source: http://produsage.org/

According to Bruns, there are  4 key characteristics of produsage:

1. Organisational shift – A shift in the creation and generation of content from individual and teams as producers to a wide community of participants.
2. Fluid movement – Between leaders, participants and users of content whose abilities range from professional to amateur.
3. Unfinished – Artefacts are no longer just products in the traditional sense. It will always be unfinished as it is always under development and can be continuously improved.
4. Permissive – Engagement is based more on merit rather than ownership. Frequently employ copyright system which prohibit unauthorised commercial use but still allows the continuation and collaboration of improvement on content.

In relation to Tumblr, it fits all 4 characteristics of produsage. According to Sampson, Tumblr’s user-friendly interface allows for rapid dissemination of content, which enables certain content to quickly become ‘viral’ as it spreads between users rapidly and eventually, the wide online community (DeSouza, M.E. 2013). Major companies have begun to turn to Tumblr to further promote their products and services such as Apple (for iPhone 5c), adidas Originals and Coca-Cola. Tumblr facilitates fluid movement between leaders, participants and users of content as bloggers range from major companies, professionals (in their respective fields such as art) and amateurs (people who blog as a hobby). Tumblr is an unfinished product in a sense that it is always under construction, there will be continuous developments in the website’s design and functionality. Their application on both iOS and Android are also continuously Tumblr is permissive as it does employ a copyright system, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA), which prohibits any form of copyright infringement, but ironically also supports the continuation and collaboration of improvement on content through its simple posting and re-blogging function, which allows content to be easily altered or republished.

Reference List
1. Bruns, A 2007, Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation, Proceedings Creativity & Cognition 6, Washington, DC, viewed 14th April 2014
2. DeSouza, M.E. 2013, “A Case of the Red Pants Mondays: The Connection Between Fandom, Tumblr, and Consumption, Major Papers by Master of Science Students.Paper 3., viewed 14th April 2014 <http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/tmd_major_papers/3>
3. Snurb 2007, Welcome to Produsage.org., viewed 14th April 2014 <http://produsage.org>

Reflecting on BCM110

Source: http://diningforwomen.org/

As 6 weeks of blogging for BCM110 (Introduction to Communication and Media Studies) has come to an end, it’s time to do some reflection time. To put it simply, BCM110 was my favourite, by far the subject I enjoyed the most. The lectures were so interesting and fun, it was enjoyable to delve more into the world of media and learn more about what happens behind the scenes. Everything I knew about the media was not what it really was.

During the BCM110 course, we explored ‘Media Mythbusting’ – these lectures really caught my attention. Out of all these lectures, I believe I learnt the most from Week 3 and 4. Week 3 was the consideration of representation and the possibilities of ‘semiotics’ – the signifier and the signified, the connotations and denotations. I think that week was one of the most interesting as we were allowed deconstruct and analyse advertisements, looking past what the image or video simply shows and focusing on what the image intends for us to see and what meaning it evokes in our minds. In my blog post for Week 3, I studied Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ sketches videos. Before researching, I had no idea that it had received such criticism. It seemed like a ‘feel-good’ video and from what I saw in comments and social media, it generated a good response. However, through that week’s blog post, I’d learnt that there’s always more than what meets the eye – we just have to look a little closer and dig a little deeper to form our own meaning and interpretation. In my opinion, Week 4 was one of the hardest to grasp yet most important lessons I have learnt in BCM110 – media ownership. Until then, I had not realised the entire extent of the media’s control and its limitations on what we see and hear in the news, whether it is printed, televised or digitised. It’s even worse that due to the concentration of media ownership, which sees all information highly controlled and uniform in content whereas it should be less regulated and more diverse in opinion. This is a major concern for Australia, as according to McAllister, we have one of the highest concentrations of media ownership in the world (Pusey and McCutcheon, 2011).

Throughout my weekly blogging for BCM110, I’ve learnt a lot that my knowledge of the media concepts were not very accurate. Attending the lectures, researching for my own blog posts and reading the blog posts of my fellow BCM students have all taught me and helped shaped my understanding and perceptions of the role of the media in our society and lives.

Reference List
1. Pusey, Michael and McCutcheon, Marion 2011, ‘From the Media Moguls to the Money Men? Media Concentration in Australia’, Media International Australia, No 140, pp. 22-31, viewed 14th April 2014

Are you keeping up with the Kardashians?

Source: https://ca.celebrity.yahoo.com/

On 14th October 2007, Channel E! debuted their latest smash-hit reality television show ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ which followed the personal and professional lives of the famous Kardashian and Jenner family. Back then, no one really knew who they were but what little was known, it was not positive. So how exactly did they manage to snag their own reality television show? The family’s notoriety came from one of the daughters, Kim Kardashian. Kim was best friends with hotel heiress and socialite Paris Hilton but made headlines when her sex tape with R&B singer, Ray J, was released to the public. Though this was negative publicity for the family, momager Kris Jenner decided to make the most of the situation as she believed she “had to make some lemonade out of these lemons fast. Real fast…” and that her “job was trying to take my kids’ 15 minutes and turn it into 30.”

Now 7 years, 9 seasons and 3 spin-offs (with 2 more set to air) later, with many appearances in tabloid  magazines, it’s safe to say that everyone knows who the Kardashian’s and Jenner’s are and all about their lives. The reality show is a excellent example of the mediated public sphere and its concerns in the 21st Century. The public sphere is defined as —

“A domain of our social life where such a thing as public opinion can be formed [where] citizens… deal with matters of general interest without being subject to coercion… [to] express and publicize our views.” (Habermas, J 1997)

Keeping Up with the Kardashians rose to fame in the public sphere as it not only explores the families’ personal and professional lives but also fame, sex, drama and materialism. The reality show exemplifies that the mediated public sphere and its concerns are accurate — it has become too trivialised, too commercialised, too spectacular (instead of rational), too fragmented and too apathetic about important public issues. It shows the little concern that we have for the political and social issues our world is facing, that we are so consumed by the spectacle of celebrity and fame that we only absorb what grabs our attention, what we want and like to hear such as gossip. Although viewers do not learn or gain much from watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, it is up to the viewer’s discretion as to how they react and what they take away from the show because underneath all the layers of ‘show’, it does also portray a close-knit family bond.

Fun fact — President Obama bans his kids from watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians!

Reference List
1. Dimelow, G 2011, Keeping Up With The Kardashians: TV’s Face Of Evil, Sabotage Times, 27 June, viewed 7th April <http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians-tvs-face-of-evil/#_>
2. McKee, A 2005, Introduction to the Public Sphere: An Introduction, Public Sphere: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 1-31, viewed 7th April

Welcome to the Tumblr Fandom

Since its creation in 2007, Tumblr has increased greatly in popularity and has fast become one of the fastest growing social media platforms. At the moment of this post, Tumblr hosts more than 178 million blogs and has generated more than 8.1 billion posts. It received mainstream attention when Yahoo! acquired the website in May 2013. Tumblr allows individuals from all around the world to interact with each other based on mutual social connections or shared interest. Posts found through the tagging of key terms, and users can track down tagged key terms to find posts to re-blog, like, share, and even follow other users. This is important to the propagation of fandoms (communities that surround musicians, television shows, movies or books).

Tumblr has become an ideal tool for the creation of online fandom communities. One of the key reasons for this includes the fact that content can be ‘re-blogged’ with straight from the dashboard, thus allowing users to  produce high volumes of posts without stopping. In effect, there is a consistency amongst the consumption of images, content and media while also promoting consumption to others and simultaneously establishing one’s self as a producer of content. Thus, these users become ‘prosumers’. Also, the user-friendly interface allows for rapid dissemination of content, facilitating the ability of certain content to quickly become ‘viral’ as it spreads between users rapidly and reaches a large population of the online community (Sampson 2012). Another key reason is Tumblr’s dialogic nature. All Tumblr users have an ‘Ask Box’ function, where others are able to send questions to another user with an option of anonymity. This function can be disabled by the users. The re-blogging of posts also encourages dialogue as users can add their own comments onto posts they find interesting, especially if they are a part of a fandom.

In conclusion, it is apparent that social media has a large impact on human interaction, especially on the propagations and behaviours of fandoms. In his early examination of the online Buffy fandom, Josh Stenger (2006, 26) notes that various social media platforms have “exponentially increased opportunities for fans to find one another and to express and cultivate their devotion to a series, character, or actor.” In particular, Tumblr has greatly assisted in the cohesion of these fandoms, due to unique features that allow for the easy identification of other fans through search and tagging features. It also provides a user-friendly interface that facilitates the promotion and consumption of both popular and cultural commodities.

Reference List
1. DeSouza, M.E. 2013, “A Case of the Red Pants Mondays: The Connection Between Fandom, Tumblr, and Consumption, Major Papers by Master of Science Students.Paper 3., viewed 3rd April <http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/tmd_major_papers/3>
2. Hillman, S, Procyk, J & Neustaedter, C 2014, “Tumblr Fandoms, Community & Culture“, Drink The Cool Aid, viewed 3rd April <http://www.drinkthecoolaid.com/wp-content/uploads/tumblr-user-v4.pdf>
3. Marquart, E 2010, “Microblog Sensation: The Growing Popularity of Tumblr“, 3PM Journal of Digital Research and Publishing, viewed 3rd April <http://doczine.com/bigdata/1/1367398810_11d537e866/3pmjournal_2010s2.pdf#page=71>
4. Unknown, Tumblr About Section, 2007, Tumblr Inc., viewed 3rd April 2014 <http://www.tumblr.com/about>