Ellen DeGeneres' Use of Social Media - Research Paper Example

Introduction Ellen DeGeneres has significantly assisted in changing the conversation concerning the LGBT community in the US and other areas all over the globe. When the Defense of Marriage Act became law in 1996, Ellen DeGeneres declared her sexual orientation in her popular show, Ellen. After she made her orientation public, she was strongly condemned by the religious and sponsors withdrew their advertising from her show; additionally she found herself on the cover of Time magazine for her gay orientation. Regardless of the new legislation as well as criticism that as directed as Ellen, her career was not ruined by her declaration. After her sitcom was cancelled, the comedian endeavored to rebuild herself as a successful lesbian woman and within a short time; she began hosting her own talk show that permitted her to discuss any topics she wished to (Brunsdon & Spigel, 2008). Ellen’s career has prospered and among other activities, she has been the host of the Emmys and the Oscars, she produces her own fictional television show on NBC and is the spokesperson for various companies. According to Van Krieken, celebrity is a status or quality characterized by a an ability to get attention that will create value from the fact of being widely known (2012, p. 10). Based on this definition, it is clear that Ellen is a celebrity as she is broadly accepted by the US public and has developed to become among the most influential celebrities who fight for equality using social media platforms. Ellen has been able to make the issues that surround sexual equality more visible through social media while at the same time advancing cultural and social change in America. Ellen DeGeneres’ social media channels Ellen DeGeneres uses numerous social media platforms that include her website which contains all the information that one may seek to know about her such as getting tickets to her shows, past episodes, the celebrity guests she hosts, inspirational experiences as well as musical performances among others (Bacal, 2011). The website also allows visitors to buy items from The Ellen Shop and connect to other social media sites and pages. On the other hand, her Facebook page has been verified and is liked by more than eleven million Facebook users. Her Twitter account s also verified and has approximately forty two million followers with more than ten thousand tweets. Ellen also uses YouTube and her channel has more than subscribed viewers with the most viewed video of Sophia and Rosie singing being viewed more that seventy million times. Ellen DeGeneres also has a FourSquare account that allows people who attend the live taping of the Ellen show to check in. More than eleven thousand people have checked in to the Ellen show, and upon check in, they are given special discounts in the Ellen Shop. Ellen DeGeneres is also on Pinterest where her account has more than three hundred thousand followers with the content being split into several boards and more than three thousand having been pinned. She also has an Instagram account that has posted approximately one thousand photos and has more than three million followers. Even though Ellen DeGeneres is also on Tumblr, the number of people she interacts with is not clear. Finally, Ellen DeGeneres also uses GetGlue that is a platform which resembles FourSquare, however, rather than checking into a location, people check in when the show is running. Connections All of Ellen ReGeneres social media platforms are connected in one way or another through the website, for instance, the website is connected to Facebook, her YouTube channel is connected to Facebook, her Tumblr account is linked to YouTube and so on. Some of the connections are one way, for instance her YouTube is connected to Instagram, but the Instagram account is not connected to YouTube, her Facebook account is connected to twitter but not the other way round and similarly the connection between GetGlue is one way. It is important to note that all her social media accounts and platforms can be accessed through her website and once a specific social media is selected, a person is connected back to the Ellen website. The website contains all the information about Ellen DeGeneres as well as her show and any purchases that a visitor may intend to make. The direct connections between the social media platforms and the website are beneficial to the activities that are carried out by Ellen DeGeneres. Objectives There are a number of goals that are associated with Ellen DeGeneres use of social media including ensuring people are aware of The Ellen Show and what it is about; and this objective targets the current and potential viewers. Van Krieken states that attention is a valuable resurce and celebrities should be considered as attention traps as they generate possibly huge and ever increasing degrees of attention (2012, p. 59). When considered in this perspective, the social media platforms associated with Ellen degeneres further seek to gain more followers and likes so that she can be able to pass her message to a broader and more diverse audience. These two goals seem to complement each other as social media can be utilized to bring more people to the show while the show can be used to create more traffic for the social media platforms. The third goal of using social media pages and platforms are interactions as well as engagements with the audiences of all the social media platforms which may include contests, photo captions and call to action occurrences among others. Through interaction with people from various backgrounds and communities, a connection is created that may not exist in any other place. This is consistent with the FIRO theory that claims that behavior associated with control inclusion and openness are influenced by personal feelings and beliefs connected to a sense of significance and likeability in regards to personal interactions. Her tweet on how she had exchanged emails with Hillary Clinton (https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/651129624101912576) is also consistent with the FIRO theory of inclusion and connection as she states how they communicate on a regular basis. Even though Hillary is a politician and Ellen is an entertainer, Ellen wants to create a connection between them through inclusion. Ellen further attempts to create some inclusion and connection with her audience and fans through promotion of “ED on Air”, (http://ellen.tv/1KUJYjo) which is her new brand that deals in home furniture and decorations. Her attempts to create some connection and inclusion is demonstrated when she offer a gift card worth 150 dollars fo shopping on Ed on Air. The engagement and interaction also creates a fourth goal, entertainment; since Ellen DeGeneres is a fun personality and her show is entertaining, it is important for this aspect to be integrated with social media. The people who follow and like Ellen’s social media pages would want the information they see on her show to be consistent with what is on the pages. When they access hilarious jokes, funny picture along with encouraging stories when watching her show, they will also want to get the same kind of content on her social media pages together with some extra information. This can be seen in her tweets such https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/660516786610180096 where she captions a photo stating “Good thing they carved that pumpkin or they might have never found that baby.” Content analysis When the content being posted on the social media pages is considered, it can be classified into various categories. As it can be expected, information related to the show as well as appearances by different guests to up most of the posts while audience and follower interactions come in second. As The Ellen Show typically posts on Pinterest more than any other social media platform, majority of the posts on these social media platform are random posts or those that are liked the most. Other posts that are common on Pinterest include audience and follower interactions as well as news. In regards to the posts that can be seen on twitter, most of them are related to entertainment and jokes, and since majority of the same content is on her show, it is not surprising that it found on twitter. An example of this is the tweet about Ellen Degeneres dancing backstage with Ariana Grande (https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/660222274742579200). However, it is surprising to note that Ellen DeGeneres does not have a direct interaction with the followers of her show’s twitter account unless they are celebrities. Additionally, from analysis of the tweet account and its activities through time, it can be concluded that the show, through its twitter account, does not retweet or reply directly to its followers, nevertheless, at one time or another, it likes tweets that are posted by followers (Olorunnisola & Douai, 2013). On the other hand, her personal page has significantly more interactions with her followers compared to her show’s account. Effectiveness Ellen DeGeneres has almost forty two million followers on Twitter and used the account to promote messages that touch sexual equality. She has tweeted on the presidents action to protect LGBT employees from being discriminated against at their workplaces. She further encouraged them to append their signatures to The People’s Brief to the Supreme Court, petitioning them to support marriage equality. Moreover, she also shared a link from the White House that explained an Executive Order by the President that added gender identity to protected categories. Ellen maximizes on her forty two million followers and she does not simply talk about issues associated with sexual equality, instead, she also encourages and inspired people to become outstanding in the society. Based on the impression management theory, Ellen DeGeneres has been able to attain interpersonal goals through the way she presents herself while strategically managing the impressions that different people may have about her. Impression management may be used for meaningful ends and even though people such as Ellen may act in a manner that advances her own self interest, she also regulates her information so that she can protect and support identities of others, make they feel better and assist them to deal with challenges. Activities associated with impression management can include prosocial conduct and altruistic goals. There are number of motivations that influence impression management inclusing influencing othet people and gaining rewards. Giving the most appropriate impressions results in positive material and social outcomes. In the case of Ellen Generes, social outcomes may include assistance, friendship, approval as well as conveyance of a competency impression in the workplace which may result in desirable material rewards. Another motive of self-presentatoon is expressive and this Ellen has been able to construct an image of herself that claims personal identity and presents her in a way that is consistent with that image. When an individual is not allowed to express herself, the reaction is negative, typically through defiance. People are usually against those who hinder self-presentation expressiveness through embracing various strategies of impression management including ingratiation, that uses flattery to highlight positive aspects and enhance social attractiveness, and intimidation. Through the use of her social media, Ellen DeGeneres has been able to master the art of impression management, and use it to further her cause. Apart from advocating for the LGBT community on legal issues, Ellen also offers a platform for other categories of people including the average celebrities in order to discuss issues and details surrounding sexuality as well as other issues that are important to society such as breast cancer (https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/659448370285580288). For instance, through Ellen DeGegeres’ show, UTLA Beauty made an incredible and generous contribution to the Breast Cancer Awarenes Month which Ellen DeGeneres had been supporting and promoting.  Through her post on facebook, where she stated “I could feel the love this family had for each other. I’m happy I could give them more to love.” (https://www.facebook.com/ellentv/videos/10153851958442240/), the FIRO theory can be seen at play as Ellen DeGeneres invites people diagnosed with breast cancer to her show and surprises them. She demonstrates hr concern and support for those affected by breast cancer through donations and making them feel they are not alone. She tries to include herself in supporting and donating to assist those with breast cancer, which is an aspect that can be associated with the FIRO theory. She wants to include the health of women in the agenda of her show as it is watched all over the world and doing so will ensre that more people provide their support for various issues that she supports. In a different episode of The Ellen Show, Sam Smith, a singer, was invited to discuss the release of his new record, and Ellen begins the show by congratulating him on how he had made his sexual preferences public before he released his record (http://www.ellentv.com/videos/0-vofri0wn/). The singer explains how he initially came out when he was younger, but made his sexual preference public prior to the release of his record since he wanted the public to be aware of his story before they listened to his songs. The singer states how he intends to be everyone’s spokesperson as there are numerous girls and boys all over the globe who are dealing with issues of identity. Therefore, through her social media platforms as well as her show, Ellen has been able to provide a safe haven through various experiences thereby demonstrating that people are equally, irrespective of their sexuality (Bhalla, 2011). Even though Ellen utilizes her talk show as well as social media platforms to communicate other people’s experiences, she also uses it to put across her own messages. Ellen DeGeneres also fosters parasocial relationships through social media with the aim of expanding her social network in a manner that negates likelihoods of rejection while encouraging the public to identify with her. Regardless of the fact that parasocial relationships at one-sided, through her social media platforms. Ellen DeGeneres has been able to create a connection with her likers and followers who express various feelings including gratitude, affection, loyalty as well as encouragement towards her. Parasocial relationships are critical to viewers and are in numerous was beneficial as a consequence of the support they gain from the relationship. Numerous people with various issues including those who are seriously ill consider interaction with Ellen once a day as an opportunity to see a friend stress free and gaining strength from their connection with the celebrity. People with parasocial relationships typically show their appreciation towards their preferred personas for assisting them to get through difficult times. Furthermore, some of the people consider the personas as assisting to considerably shape their personal identities. The support provided by the parasocial relationships is of significant benefit to viewers who take part in them and with new social media approaches, the relationships are the best way of expansing a person’s social networks. Ellen DeGeneres further uses her social media platforms as well as her talk show as a means of responding to criticism she receives on the basis of her sexuality. Lately, Ellen has been celebrated for using various channels in response to an anti-gay pastor who had stated that she celebrates her sexuality and marriage, as well as guests as a means of attracting young girls. She responded to this claim and clarified to the pastor; along with the public that she is in a marriage and that she wishes people were considerate and thoughtful towards each other. In one of her tweets she states “I hope somebody tells Nick Jonas I’m taken.” (https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/657297859209900032). Since the current contemporary society greatly worships celebrities, it can be significantly conducive for gay rights and social change when valued celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres are outspoken and respond positively to criticism (DeGeneres, 2000). She further uses her social media platforms to recognize people in the society who has done exceptional things like the fireman who saved a puppy from a burning building. She goes on to post a photo of the fireman and state “This is the face of bravery. A firefighter who saves a puppy from a burning building. I'm so grateful to you.” (https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/659492586978062336). Ellen’s positive effect on the gay and lesbian community continues to be recognized in AfterEllen which is a popular website centered on depictions of bisexual and lesbian women within the media industry. Even though the site is not allied to Ellen DeGeneres, the titles demonstrates the significant influence that the celebrity continue to have on the LGBT community through coming out publicly and being a lesbian personality in the eye of the public. The website suggests that lesbians became more prominent in the media after Ellen acted as a role model by publicly declaring and embracing her sexuality. Among the lesbian media portrayal included in the AfterEllen website and also endorsed on Ellen DeGeneres Twitter account is One Big Happy, a new television show produced by Ellen and addresses the issues of a lesbian making choosing to have a child with her male friend. Even though Ellen does not necessarily promote a gay agenda, the show she produces demonstrates that she actually supports lesbian relationships. The show intends to have a positive effect on LGBT community through ensuring that lesbian depictions are more noticeable and common. Conclusion Lesbian depictions are usually ignored by the media, and through production of this show, Ellen utilizes her personage to ensure lesbians are more visible and thus has been able to normalize the lesbian way of life. Ellen DeGeneres is prominent and highly supported by the people of America as she has inspired numerous people through her fight for equality using different social media platforms. She has been able to make sexual equality a visible issue, and thus has been very instrumental in advancing cultural and social changes in America. References Bacal, R. (2011). If it wasn't for the customers I'd really like this job. Casselman, Ontario: Bacal & Associates. Bhalla, G. (2011). Collaboration and co-creation. New York: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Brunsdon, C., & Spigel, L. (2008). Feminist television criticism. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. DeGeneres, B. (2000). Love, Ellen. New York: Quill. Olorunnisola, A., & Douai, A. (2013). New media influence on social and political change in Africa. Hershey, Pa.: IGI Global (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, USA). Van Krieken, R. 2012, Celebrity society. Routledge, London. Read More