Owned by big corporation with their own prosperity in mind, mass media has truly become a part of our lives in any way possible, but the internet has given us the choice to to once again decide what we like.
A great example is YouTube. Originally a way to upload user content, it has some what been taken over by mass media corporations such as Vevo, but it has also been a great tool to share information, and normal people to share their thoughts and creativeness.
It does offer everyone a means to share their thought, though sometimes it'd be better for those people to not share anything, such as the case of Alexandra Wallace, a stupid girl who attended UCLA and made some racist comment on YouTube against Asians. While that's not good, many people replied to her video with their own opinions. A very funny and creative reply was by an aspiring comedian David So. A very funny individual who was given the opportunity to make people laugh through YouTube.
While pop culture is not always a bad thing, we can't let it decide our thoughts, we have to be the ones to decide it.
Corporate ownership of the media outlets and the never-ending drive for growth and profits is indeed an important part of the pop-culture / social media equation.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point in describing how the increasing ease with which people are gaining access to meda production and distribution might offer alternatives to past models. But the last time I checked, Google still owns YouTube. I'm not sure what that means but it would seem that Google values increasing profits just as much, if not more, than providing the people a platform to express themselves and hopefully get BIG by going viral.