Reaction to Generation Like - Essay Example

Journalism, mass media, and communication Generation Like Generation Like fusses about social media demeaning contemporary youth behavior. I believe this PBS Frontline Documentary is fussing over social media because it poses the same new social risks that parents worried about during Elvis Presley and The Beatles’ eras. Social media is a phase of social trends similar to the ones faced by previous generations, particularly contemporary parents. At the same time, PBS came up with a means of getting into the debate by engaging the sinister methods corporate marketers like Hollywood imply themselves in this phase.

One of these methods is clearly turning dedicated fans into designated but minor marketing agents (PBS 2014). Generation Like is an interesting means of investigating a world of social media endorsements like tweets and Facebook likes and the way they slowly turn into currency for social media interactions. In the process, such endorsements create a new breed of advisers that unapologetically seeks to form a risk-free public view. Reaction to Generation Like The fact that modern youths have developed a strong relationship with technology is not new.

This relationship ostensibly has fewer roles with computers when it comes to privacy. In Generation Like, Douglas Rushkoff resumes his decade-old view of the human relationship with technology to come up with new intriguing facts (PBS 2014). For instance, the celebrity craze in social media amongst youths and methods used by promoters to crunch information in an effort to convert enthusiastic adolescents and young grownups into brand disciplines are evident. Rushkoff says, “You are what you like,” which sums up the abundant quantitate of data present in social media today.

The readiness of adolescents to endorse something popular box office hits like “The Hunger Games” expresses their intense desire to encounter the film in any form. This way, it becomes simpler for such Hollywood firms to trace and take advantage of each move. I agree with Rushkoff that internet personalities can produce the same viral impact as socialites. Internet personalities achieve this impact by using their fan bases for interrelated purposes. This way, the act of popularization turns into a marketable outcome on its own.

Actors use the same reasoning and Generation Like does not fully tackle this point despite its impact and relevance in social media (PBS 2014). For instance, Ian Somerhalder from the Television series Vampire Diaries meets with a consultant in the documentary. In the process, Somerhalder is blown away at how the number of followers on his Twitter account surpasses his audience in Vampire Diaries. In this example, the documentary uses Somerhalder as an example of internet personalities who achieve the same viral effect socialite sponsors achieve on branding in social media.

Conclusion Generation Like is an interesting means of investigating a world of social media endorsements and the way they slowly turn into currency for social media interactions. As a result, such endorsements create a new breed of advisers that unapologetically seeks to form a risk-free public view. The social aspect of the effects of tweets and Facebook likes today is more or less harmless. However, the element of insensitive commercialism raises multiple questions that Generation Like loosely explores.

AstroTurfing, which is present in this type of commercialism, highlights a specifically worrying and sobering point. The point is that an adolescent with a developed keen following in social media often receives parental encouragement.