Social Media and Social Life Winter 2024

The landscape of personal communication has changed over time due to both social dynamics and technological advancements. Nancy Baym's work "New Forms of Personal Communication", explores these shifts in great detail, providing insight into the emergence of new forms of interpersonal communication in the digital age. Also, she examines in-depth analyses of the complex ways that technology affects human connection, communication, and relationship formation. The way intimacy is changing in digital spaces is one important point she makes. The lines between the public and private domains have become more blurred due to social media (TikTok, YouTube, etc), messaging services, and online discussion boards, which have redefined what it means to share one's experiences and feelings. The dynamics of online communities and the creation of digital identities are also covered by Baym's insights. She studies how people use virtual environments to create their online identities...

 I have decided to choose the second articulation to explore in regards to these examples, discussing how media modes of productions are simultaneously a mode of communication, modes of affect, and a mode of accumulation.   Firstly, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses can be seen as a mode of accumulation in the sense that it shifted power dynamics. What I mean by this is the fact that it undermined the authority of the Catholic Church and challenged the existing power structures. This example can also be seen as a mode of communication because it helped to spread his ideas into the public sparked conversations among the public, which helped to communicate his message. Finally, it can be seen as a mode of affect because it created strong feelings among the public that pushed people to take action.  The second articulation can also be related to the meme "OH LAWD HE COMIN." Firstly, it relates to mode of communication because the meme itself is used as a form of communication to spr...

 When examining the historical impact of Martin Luther's 95 Theses and the contemporary phenomenon of the "OH LAWD HE COMIN" meme, it becomes evident that both instances showcase the power of technology in facilitating the spread of ideas and content. In Luther's time, the printing press served as the social media of the 16th century, enabling the rapid dissemination of his challenging propositions against the Catholic Church's practices. The printing press revolutionized communication by allowing printed words to reach a broader audience, transcending geographical boundaries and igniting debates that eventually led to significant societal and religious changes. Luther's theses, propelled by this technological advancement, catalyzed discussions on morality and religious authority, fundamentally altering the fabric of society. Fast forward to the present day, and we witness a similar phenomenon with the "OH LAWD HE COMIN" meme. This internet sensation...

  Blog post assignment #4 There are three articulations that I can look through when reviewing both articles.  The first lens is about the message and the technological means to distribute a given message.  There are specific roles such as the production, distribution, and consumption of the media.  The second articulation is about how the media creates meaning and creates emotion based off of the message.  Finally the third articulation reflects on how media spreads through culture and society.  With this articulation there is more to the orioles of the producer, distributor and consumer.  The producer is creative and this helps the distributor circulate the message which then goes to the consumer whose job is to receive the message.   Reflecting on these three articulations I would argue that the reading “Long before twitter” uses the first type of articulation.  The printer press was able to help spread the message that was being spok...

Within every social media platform is a sense of the unknown and inability to distinguish between what's real and what is fake. It is very simple for people to only portray certain aspects of their lives in order to glorify their lifestyle and seem influential. Most popular social media influencers utilize the ability to manipulate what the public sees on social media in order to make themselves seem more likeable to their followers. This relates to Baym's discussion of "mediated interaction" in Chapter 1, explaining how posts to social media do not convey enough information to know the truth behind someones lifestyle as opposed to what they want the public to see (Baym, 2016). Similar to many others in modern society, I have experienced this many times within my use of social media. One specific time was when I was looking up workout routines on TikTok to build muscle. I came across an influencers account who claimed she was able to gain 10 pounds of pure muscle afte...

 I will be focusing on the third articulation and its relation to Martin Luther's 95 Theses and the "OH LAWD HE COMIN" internet cat meme. The third articulation explores how media was created and how it obtained its virality. Additionally, it explores how this spread of media influenced and impacted cultures and societies. Looking at Martin Luther's 95 Theses as the first example, Luther produced hundreds of copies of his writing by hand. They were produced in many different languages (mainly Latin and German), allowing people from all around to read his writing. The writing was shared by hand and people would pass copies of his work to friends and family in order to spread Luther's Theses. This act of sharing a viewpoint not accepted by the majority sparked a place for people to converse and changed the current social culture Luther was living in. Production: hand-created copies of text; Circulation: copies were shared and passed along by friends; Consumption: co...

Social media has become an important part of social life and with this it has become a job for some individuals known as “influencer marketing”. People can now use platforms such as Instagram and YouTube to reshape consumer behavior. This connects to the course when looking at Baym’s notion of “mass self-communication” as creators have interactive relationships with brands and their own audiences. Standage also discusses the idea of social media as “sharing media” which ends up blurring the lines between what consumption and creation actually is. Many videos now are “sponsored” videos, where the creative aspect is affected by needing to influence the audience to buy a certain product. Standage states that “Users of such sites more than passively consume information, in other words: they can also create it, comment on it, share it, discuss it and even modify it”. No one is simply watching videos, they are consuming information that allows them to want to purchase the items, discuss the ...

I’m focusing on the second articulation, entailing looking at how media modes of production are simultaneously modes of communication, affect and accumulation. For the examples given, Martin Luther’s 95 theses as discussed by Standage served as a mode of communication in order to spread the information across Europe while also serving as the mode of affect by having an emotional impact on people, as it challenged the religious beliefs at the time. This allowed for it to have its “mode of accumulation” as the popularity of Luther’s ideas contributed to his power. This allowed him to gain followers and supporters.  This can be connected to the “OH LAWD HE COMIN” internet cat meme, as it’s variability is presented the same way. The mode of communication in this case was done through platforms such as Twitter and Reddit where people were able to view the meme. The mode of affect was for amusement and humor, as the large size of the cat created people to share the meme more as people th...

The idea of articulations within media ecologies is one important topic we investigated. The relationships between media messages, their technological mediums, and the people involved in their production, distribution, and consumption can be examined through the lenses provided by these articulations. Additionally, they clarified how media production functions as a vehicle for the accumulation of power and wealth as well as a channel for emotional and embodied experiences and communication. The Protestant Reformation was sparked by Martin Luther's 95 Theses, which he wrote in the sixteenth century and which drastically altered the political and religious climate of Europe. By looking at the first articulation, we can observe how the Gutenberg printing press's technological innovations helped spread Luther's message criticizing the practices of the Catholic Church through print. Luther used this medium to reach a large audience and act as a change agent, igniting controversy...

I chose the third articulation for my response. OH LAWD HE COMIN Internet cat meme involves media artifacts and messages spreading through culture and communities and generating virality across different media platforms. The meme originated as a playful modification of a chart illustrating cat body-fat indexes. Emilie Chang's post on the Facebook group sparked creativity within the community, leading to the birth of the "Chonk" meme. Once the meme was created, it quickly spread across social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit. The meme's reception was characterized by widespread engagement and participation from online users. People not only consumed the meme but also actively contributed to its propagation by creating their own variations and derivative works. The example of Martin Luther also reflects the third type of media articulation. Luther effectively conveyed the message of the Reformation by using printing technology to produce pamphlets and books to sp...

     Through Martin Luther's 95 it represents not only a historical turning point but also a fascinating case study in the power of ideas, technology, and human agency to shape society. As I reflect on Luther's bold critique of the Catholic Church's practices, I'm struck by the courage and conviction it must have taken to challenge such entrenched authority. Moreover, the role of the printing press in disseminating these ideas underscores the transformative potential of technology in amplifying voices and sparking movements. Luther's actions, coupled with the collaborative efforts of printers and supporters, remind us of the collective power we wield to challenge the status quo and effect change. In today's digital age, where information spreads rapidly and globally, the lessons of Luther's Reformation continue to resonate, inspiring us to question, challenge, and advocate for a better world.      In contrast to Martin Luther's 95 Theses, which circulate...

  I have chosen to discuss the first articulation, understanding the relationship between the media message and its contents; the way in which this content is received and the ways in which the message is carried across all types of media. Martin Luther created ideas and a theses, later turning it into documents, the 95 Theses. Martin Luther understood that creating physical copies of his text, and giving them away; with the combined efforts of word of mouth, more people could be in touch with his documents. To his great surprise however, these documents blew up in popularity, and went ‘viral’. His documents provided insights to real issues that other individuals were aware of, creating the importance of sharing it to their peers, and in turn created popularity around Martin Luther’s text.  In “OH LAWD HE COMIN” , the internet cat meme, its popularity, and relationship to its distribution came from the use of social media, rather than physical copies of a document. This intern...

  I have chosen to focus on the first articulation in media assemblages and ecologies when looking at media texts going viral, specifically in this case that will be Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and the “OH LAWD HE COMIN” internet cat meme. The first articulation focuses on relationships between different aspects that can go into media such as the actual content, the way that the message is carried, and the different ways that individuals are involved in the creation and sharing of the media text. When it comes to the first articulation, we can see that Martin Luther came up with ideas and then created this document highlighting them and then was able to spread the message (which became extremely popular as more copies were created and shared between different individuals) through physical copies of his document. First, Martin Luther created the text and shared it without thinking about the possibility of it becoming popular, and then other people who were interested in the issue cont...

Hello everyone! In this post a will be discussing the second articulation in  Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century was started by Martin Luther's 95 Theses, which explains the concept of how media is produced, distributed, and consumed. First of all, Martin Luther composed the 95 Theses as a scholarly work intended for discussion inside the Catholic Church. He invited intellectuals to discuss his ideas by posting them on a church door. Second, Luther's ideas were widely disseminated thanks in large part to the printing press. Gutenberg’s invention allowed the printing of the 95 Theses and their widespread distribution throughout Europe. This indicated that Luther's books were read b y common readers as well as academics. Luther's theories also sparked a great deal of discussion and controversy. Many people who disapproved of the Catholic Church's policies found resonance in his challenge to the institution's authority and the...

  In this blog post, I’ll be discussing the first articulation concerning message, technological means, and agents with respect to two dis tinct media ecologies which, despite a few hundred years’ separation, are structurally quite similar given the way the concept of ‘virality’ plays into them. The first media ecology I’ll be dealing with is that which Martin Luther took advantage of to spread his 95 theses to spark the Protestant Reformation in the 16 th century, and the second ecology is the one which gave rise to the “OH LAWD HE COMIN” internet cat meme of 2018-2019.     The diffusion of Gutenberg’s printing press around the 1440s (Standage, 50) enabled the large-scale reproduction of texts, a practice which was previously slow, exclusive, and expensive as it was only done by hand within monasteries or universities. Most notable among the kinds of texts produced were pamphlets, a medium which, given its lightweight and portable constitution, could be spread far ...

  When we scratch beneath the surface of the story of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, we find an incredibly deep role of technology in their creation in his case, the printing press. This was 16th-century social media. These were the theses that Luther wrote to dispute the church, which sold indulgences for, to him, it was just not moral. More than what he actually said, this spreading like wildfire challenge was also in part due to how he said it, printed words. This made it possible for his ideas to be known internationally and that very many people were reached within a very short period. This was a far cry from in ages past when ideas trickled out through word of mouth, or at best, through hand-copied texts that would be re-copied a few select times. And this completely changed with the invention of the printing press; now the ideas could travel further and rise to discourses that eventually changed society and religion so essentially. Now, let's jump to our time and look at the...

       The first articulation applies to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses gaining popularity via “a decentralized person-to-person media system whose participants took care of distribution” (Standage, 53-4). Supporters who copied his work and local printers produced his messages. Traveling merchants, traders, and preachers who brought his work to other towns all played distributor roles. His consumers were anyone who read his pamphlets or, in the case of illiterate people, just purchased them.       The pamphlet medium limited synchronous communication since those who responded needed to do so in their own print works or pamphlets. That said, they did spark real-time debates among consumers, such as families who read them together. The multimedia aspect of news ballads and woodcuts made messages more engaging and accessible.       On the other hand, the “OH LAWD HE COMIN” cat meme prompted social media users to respond in real-time, w...

Martin Luther performed a revolutionary media ecology in which he used print to spread information. When he posted his 95 Theses, he did not foresee the power of sharing. I will reflect on how the 95 Theses and the “OW LAWD HE COMIN” cat meme bore a media ecology in which the third set of media articulation is demonstrated in those two instances. The printing of the 95 Theses brought about its distribution within communities. Its translation to German also contributed to its widespread as not only Latin-speaking academics and clergymen could understand it but also a wider public. Luther soon understood the power of print as he wrote his later publication, “Sermon on Indulgences and Grace,” in simple, direct German to address a larger audience about corruption in the church. The ongoing print arguments between him and the other church members saw it acceptable for the public to also engage in debate. The “OW LAWD HE COMIN” meme and other cat memes articulate a media assemblage of soci...

  Martin Luther's 95 Theses manifests the second articulation concerning how media modes of production are simultaneously a mode of communication, a mode of affect and a mode of accumulation. The widespread dissemination of Luther's theses created a symbolic meaning for his criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church. Such a mode of communication combined the social practice of disseminating his message through the advent of the printing press. This drove a symbolic meaning to Luther's theses of public hope for a future of reform. As Standage writes "the surge in the popularity of the pamphlets, the vast majority of them in favour of reform, served as a collective signalling mechanism" (p.61). Such dissemination of the theses as a symbolic meaning of hope for the future linked hopeful emotions among the public. The modes of affect manifested in this example represent the growing public condemnation of the Church and the growth in public belief and hope for reform. The...

  Focusing on the articulations of how media spreads in culture over time and space, the "OH LAWD HE COMIN" cat meme is an example of a participatory culture where users actively engage with and contribute to media content. Users would create their own versions of the meme or simply repost it for others to see. However, this meme also sparked controversy due to its use of African American Vernacular English. The Monterey Bay Aquarium faced backlash for using similar language in social media posts. This engagement illustrates the complexities and contradictions of participatory culture, including issues of cultural appropriation and power dynamics. In addition, Martin Luther's multimedia campaign during the Protestant Reformation demonstrates how media can shape public opinion, mobilize support, and drive cultural change across geographical boundaries. Luther and his supporters used pamphlets, news ballads, and woodcuts to disseminate their ideas widely and rapidly, engagi...

     Martin Luther's 95 Theses exemplify articulation assemblage through their content critiquing the Catholic Church's practices, their dissemination via the printing press, and the roles of Luther and other agents in their distribution. Luther's propositions, challenging indulgences and questioning papal authority, formed the core message that ignited debates across Europe. The printing press served as a pivotal technological medium, enabling the mass production and widespread circulation of the theses beyond Luther's local sphere. Luther himself acted as the primary agent, initiating the production of the theses, while printers, publishers, and supporters of the Reformation movement played crucial roles in amplifying their reach. Together, these elements formed an intricate assemblage that catalyzed the Protestant Reformation, reshaping the religious landscape of Europe and illustrating the interconnectedness of media content, technology, and human agency in histor...