What am I hoping to learn from this course?

Think of the last time you decided to buy something online.  Illustrate the process that led you to that purchase with the purchase funnel or the decision journey.  Is there any part of the process that does not fit?  If so, how would you conceptualize the process?  What is the value of the purchase funnel or the decision journey?

When it some to online shopping, it’s something that comes to me naturally. I tend to do this even when I don’t necessarily have the money for it right now. I usually tend to only buy clothes online as I have a good idea of how the fit for clothes are. I don’t buy from websites that don’t have actual in-person stores. The reason behind this is because, one I don’t know how any of the sizes run and fit. Two because if something comes and I don’t like it or doesn’t fit, I don’t want to go through the hassle of shipping it back when I can easily to go their store to return or exchange. For bigger purchases such as electronics and such, I go in store to purchase them. When it comes to pricier items, I do all my research to find the best price and item. I don’t want to get my hopes up about something but then it comes and isn’t how it was described. Plus, if it’s electronics that I’m buying, I don’t want to wait another 3-5 business days just to get it. 🙂

In the book, Ashlee Humphreys describes both the purchase funnel and decision journey. Humphreys describe the purchase funnel as “a primarily rational decision process… where consumers do extensive information search before purchase” (Humphreys 192). “Decision journey model, purchases are not always so rational, and consumers can be triggered to buy something without much thought…” (Humphreys 194).

The last time I bought something online was just recently. Ever with COVID-19 and quarantine, I have had a lot of time to do some online shopping, with the lack of funds of course. But looking at how the book described both the funnel and the journey, it is something that I have been doing, and I didn’t even notice. The only time I do online shopping is when they have deals and savings. I specifically wait for when they have a % off and free shipping. Something that I do think is different for my personally is using both processes. I go in thinking, “I’m going to buy these 2 shirts and nothing else.” As I continue shopping and looking for these items, they also have the “customers also bought” section, which lures me down a whole new rabbit hole. I then come out with 5 items, 3 of which weren’t even planned. The last 3 that were spontaneous because it looked good with the 2 shorts, is something that can fall under decision journey.

From my understanding, it seems like they are two different process that happen asynchronous. I think that is something that can be seen differently. I believe that both process can happen together, possible even one after the other, like I have discussed. I think it is important to value both of these processes. There is good in doing research before buying anything online or in-store. But there is also good and excitement of buying things on the spot, spontaneously. It can be a surprise factor when you go back to show others like, “oh my good, look what I also got to go with this.” Sometimes the thing that you spontaneously bought can help or improve whatever you were buying in the first place. It all comes down to how you want your experience to be overall when shopping.

Humphreys, A. (2016). Social media: enduring principles. New York: Oxford University Press.

Prompt 1:  Compare three celebrities with a social media presence that represent at least two different gender identities (man, woman, transgender, cisgender, gender non-conforming, etc.).  Collect and analyze data from their social media performances and evaluate the comments from others to these three celebrities online.  What are the differences, if any, between the three celebrities emerged?  Why do you think there are (or are not) differences? What conclusions can be drawn about gender performance and social media?

The three celebrities that I have chosen are Jordan Torres, @officialjt, Sydney Sweeney, @sydney_sweeney, and makeup artist Leslie Quezada, @leeexlieee. I decided to choose three celebrities who have more of a social media presence than being the exact definition of “celebrity”. The one with the most social media following is Sydney Sweeney, who is an actress on HBO’s show Euphoria, with 1.2M followers. I wanted to do it this way to show that even influencers who aren’t necessarily big celebrities yet, still get criticized. I narrowed in just focusing on their social media profiles on Instagram to get a better view and understanding to better analyze.

The first person that I started analyzing was Jordan Torres. When trying to gather some date on his comments, I realized that a majority of his posts had the comments turned on. The ones that do have the comments on are ones that he would post on his Insta-story about. He posts the photo on his story saying to comment on certain emojis, or just plain leave a comment. And those posts specifically are the ones where he is either shirtless or has less clothes on. Jordan is a built, attractive man which is why it’s no wonder that he would promote those specific posts of himself. I also feel that because of that fact that he knows he is attractive, he turns off the comments so that he won’t get any hate or vulgar comments. He is a very humble person and tries to motivate his followers, which is why he knows what comes from being an influencer. He does not want to go through those types of comments because he doesn’t want any negativity in his life. He also doesn’t live on social media. From past posts and stories, he would go on excursions and just enjoy life without the pressure of social media.

Sydney Sweeney’s and Les Do Makeup’s social was very different. They were comments about how pretty or good she looks in her posts. They agree with what she captions the posts. Fans are exclaiming how much they love them and inspire them. For Les, she gets comments about being a new mom, especially when she posts photos with her son, Gael. They don’t have comments turned off for their posts. What I did notice was that there wasn’t a lot of hate comments or trying to tear them down. This doesn’t mean that they don’t get any in their Direct Messages, but that is something that is not seen, unless posted by them.

I believe that there are differences because of how society sees men and women in social media. Especially on Instagram, where it has “tricked” people into thinking that one type of body or face is attractive. That is a conversation that we as a society need to have because it has lead to a lot of self hatred within this generation. “Through blogs and self-branding, women have built both cultural and social capital by developing online followings that cross over into traditional media.” (Humphreys 143). This is similar to what Les Do Makeup has done. She started on YouTube making content that then lead to sponsorships and having her own brand and merchandise. I think overall, the reactions that celebrities or influencers face online come from how we view men and women in society. We need to change as a whole how we view people and start to see them more as human beings than sex objects.

Humphreys, A. (2016). Social media: enduring principles. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Prompt 2: Select from one of the participatory subcultures (Wikipedia, Fan Fiction, Remixes, Mash-Ups, or Parodies) and find one or two cultural artifacts that fit within the participatory subculture chosen. Analyze the cultural artifact(s) in regards to the model of culture, language, and method of cultural transmission.  What aspects of culture are being transmitted through the artifact?

There are a lot of subcultures within social media, and online in general. I am choosing to do Mashups. I am also thinking about doing crossovers as they can fall under mashups since they are mashing two or more shows into one show. When I think of Mashups, I think more of song and music mashups. It wasn’t until recently that that definition can mean more than one thing. It could mean a mashup between two character villains from famous comics or tv shows. An example I saw was a mashup of The Joker from Batman and Green Goblin from Spider-Man.

There are a lot of cultural artifacts that can fall under Mashups and Crossovers. According to Kendall and Schmidt, in Social Media, ” a mashup is when two or more cultural products are combined into one”. A mashup that I chose to analyze is an annual video that a YouTube channel, Pop Danthology, does at the end of every year. Daniel Kim, the creator behind these videos, mashes up between 20 – 40+ songs that were very popular throughout that year. It was such a success, which is why we continued to do so for so many years. Even so that he started doing mashups for certain times such as Summer Mashups, using the popular pop songs during the summer, to make a smash hit. These mashups aren’t ones that are very publicized or known about to many people. People tend to look them up on YouTube as they aren’t made for everyone. Youtube does something similar to these creators as well. Youtube does YouTube Rewind, an annual recap of what the year had in store. Whether it be pop culture, politics, or any trends that were very popular within that year. YouTube Rewind has become very publicly known by everyone when the end of the year comes around. Sometimes YouTube itself gets backlash from it as they don’t include certain popular YouTubers in the video. Or if the video itself is just plain “lame” and doesn’t meet expectations that everyone has for YouTube. Sometimes I find myself criticizing it like this as well, since I know how great these Rewinds can be.

Within these types of cultural artifacts, I think the culture that they are trying to get at are Pop Culture. Pop culture is very prominent within the media, whether it be popular action movies, pop music, or anything going on within a celebrity’s life. These types of aspects are what shape pop culture. So when making these kinds of mashups, it makes sense that they only tend to gravitate towards Pop music than say Country or House music. The same goes for crossovers. Networks tend to merge their most popular shows into one to make them each more known. They wouldn’t really do so with lesser known or popular shows within their network. They want to market as big as they can with their most successful shows.

Humphreys, A. (2016). Social media: enduring principles. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Prompt 2: Are relationships experienced in social media contexts “real” and in what sense?  What makes a relationship authentic?  What criteria would you suggest are important in answering this question?

When it comes to relationships as a whole, it tends to be very complex and complicated. Then add it to social media, and that in itself brings its own problems. Sharing your life on social media can take a toll on yourself and then adding another person to it can make it harder. The whole issue of privacy comes into play. Exactly how much of your life and relationship do you want to show the world. If and when you do share your life, followers will always have an opinion. So when it comes to the whole “real” aspect of a relationship on social media, it’s a bit tough. Sometimes it can seem like the couples have a perfect relationship and life. These couples will also have to reiterate that they’re lives aren’t perfect and that they do not show everything online. So in the context of “real”, it could be subjective to which couple you are interacting with. Real for everyone means something different.

The authenticity of relationships shouldn’t be measured by how and what they choose to post on social media. That is something that is between the parties involved in the relationship. The fans or followers of any social media relationship should not be a factor as what makes their relationship authentic. Because once couples start to become influenced by their fans, it can hurt the relationship. That’s not to say that followers can “check” them for anything else that they might post that might not be ok. But when it comes to people’s personal lives, that is not something that you should be putting yourself in the middle of. 

When trying to answer these types of questions, it is always a good thing to not look at them from a comparison point of view. Because if you do that, then you will end up in this constant circle of going back and forth mindset like, “maybe I should so this” “they should try doing this”. Once you get in that mindset, it could get a little unhealthy for yourself if you are always comparing yourself to others. More people need to be able to appreciate themselves for who they are and not try to be someone else that they see on social media. As mentioned before, couples may not be showing their whole lives on the internet. You may not know what else is going on in people’s lives. Just because they post a selfie of them on Instagram does not mean they are having the time of their lives. People tend to be very critical, especially when it comes to online scrutiny. People should also look at how long they’ve been following certain people and what they do show online. People do tend to post a lot of their lives online in a genuine manner, that it is easier to grasp of what their lives are. I feel like this can also factor in when people are interacting with these couples.

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