Heroes and Cult of the Celebrity on Facebook

        Facebook has many different dimensions. Heroes and the cult of the celebrity both are represented. Heroes from the Facebook game Heroes and Villains to a Facebook page dedicated to a favorite superhero.  The cult of celebrity is also available in different forms on FaceBook.  There are very famous people, actual celebrities on Facebook. There are also people that do acts of violence, or acts so out of the ordinary that for a short time they are a passing celebrity.  There are websites just about pictures and comments that are posted.

       The theory of people having heroes to fill some need they have would describe some the heroes chosen by Facebook subscribers. People have chosen several different heroes and people to be celebrities.  Facebook helps us keep in touch but it also is a way of spreading information and pictures faster than ever before.  For example if I see a picture or a video of someone singing and I like it I can post the video to my Facebook page.  A friend on my Facebook may post it to their page or share it with everyone on their friends list. By the end of the week that video could spread all over the nation and the singer a celebrity.  Although the status of the singer being famous could be just a short period of time.

          Celebrities post comments and photos on Facebook. They also post what they are doing and people  read daily what they post. The insight I gain from this is people are looking for other people to inspire them to reach for whatever they desire to accomplish.  Being a hero today does not necessarily mean you’re a hero, the person could just be well known for doing something or just well known. A person could be famous one day and the public will move on to the next person in a very short time.    Presently people do not seem to distinguish between a hero and a celebrity.  Facebook has helped change the way society views what a hero or celebrity is in society now.

References

Browne,A. 2009,Jan 24. Facebook heroes and villians free train and cheats Retreived from

          http://voices.yahoo.com/facebook-heroes-villains-free-train-cheats-2559533.html          

Browne, R. (2005)Heroes and Heroines.Popular Culture. The University of Wisconsin Press

The cult of celebrity.(2007,March7) Retreived from http://www.mycultlife.com/the-cult-of-   

         celebrity/

 

Assignment 1-4-3

Facebook Rituals and Stereotyping

         Facebook has not only rituals posted but people have daily rituals of using it. There is more than 500 million people that use Facebook and on average a person has 130 friends (Anderson, 2011).  Daily people log onto Facebook as a daily ritual. There are also several rituals listed on Facebook. Memorials for loved ones as part of the funeral ritual posted on Facebook has become a way for people to share with everyone on their friend list pictures  and  milestones of their loved ones (Freedman,2012). There are birthday walls for people to list birthdays to celebrate and Facebook will notify you of any of the people on your friend list having a birthday.

        Karen Anderson in the 2011 article “The Serial Kvelller and 11 other Facebook stereotypes” describes 11 stereotypes of people who use Facebook. This is article put labels on the style in which people choose to post on Facebook. Example the person that post where they are and what they ate is labeled the status –conscious status updater. 

       Facebook also has stereotyped nations with the like button feature (Kilian, 2011).  According to Abc news the data collected from all the different nations like buttons go hand in hand with that particular countries stereotype. American top like choices are Fast food restaurants. Ireland top like choices were beer and Britain and UK were chocolate and sweets (Kilian, 2011). 

         Facebook can be used as a tool for people to enhance already longstanding rituals; Facebook is used to send invitations, share births and deaths. The ability to include several people in the ritual that normally would not normally participate, even if it is just a comment.

There are many different stereotypes associated with Facebook. These include the people that use it and the statistics that are collected from using it.  The insight into using Facebook as part of society’s rituals is being able to reach a large audience of people. Invitations and notifications can be received by the stroke of the key board. Support and comfort from friends and family can be received.  Stereotyping to some extent can help with marketing to different people around the world.

References

         Anderson,K.(2011,February 23) The serial kveller and 11 other facebook stereotypes. Writer Way. Retrieved from http://writerway.com/2011/02/23/facebook-stereotypes/

        Freedman, S.(2012,February 24). In a new ritual, many find solace online.The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/us/on-religion-in-a-new-ritual-many-find-solace-online.html

       Kilian,A.(2011,July 23). Facebook rankings reflect national stereotypes. abc News. Retrieved from  http://abcnews.go.com/International/facebook-rankings-reflect-national-stereotypes/story?id=14127438

Assignment 1-4-2

Facebook Theories

        Facebook has the popular belief that the primary use is to keep in touch with friends and family. There are more than 150 million Americans using Facebook (Consumer reports 2012). The company has made the service easy to use; many of us share photos, events and accomplishments in our everyday lives. The fact is Facebook does in fact help us keep in touch and find people we would not otherwise keep in touch with. However, Facebook collects data on the sites we visit and the sites people choose to click the like button. Even if you have chosen only to reveal the information to friends the data is transferred. Facebook is able to sell this information for profit (Consumer reports 2012). People also tend to make poor choices of what information to share.  Some entries have described where people are going to go and where they are going to be there.  Information normally people would not share outside of the people the trust. Unfortunately the user did not set the privacy controls and it is shared with anyone who happens to view it (Consumer reports 2012).

       One of the most common myths is that Facebook is used most by college kids. Originally Facebook was released only to the creator’s college friends.  In 2010 two-thirds of the 134 million user in the U.S. was 26 years and older.  Facebook is being used in several different countries by all age groups. The fastest growing group being middle aged females (Kirkpatrick,2010).

      Insights gained from this information; to set your privacy settings, not to share anything you that may comprise your safety, and when making choices on Facebook to like something someone is waiting to count it.

References

Facebook & your privacy. Consumer Reports,24-31.(2012, June) Retrieved from

         http://0-web.ebscohost.com.olinkserver.franklin.edu/ehost

Kirkpatrick, D (2010,September 26). Five myths about Facebook. The Washington Post.

        Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-   

        dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092304440.html

American Icons Influence

      Barbie is the one of the most common American icons for American little girls.  Barbie was a big part of playtime with friends. Barbie has been a part of playtime with girls for several decades. Children could choose a career, sports, fashion or Bride Barbie.  For many of the young girls, Barbie introduced the concept we can do anything, we are not limited in our choices.

           The second icon that was most impressionable in my house and several others is Elvis Presley. Memories of watching his last concert and movies on television and hearing his music through the house are common throughout my childhood. Growing up with an Elvis Presley fan, his music was the first kind of rock n roll I heard and danced to. Recently I took my mother to visit Graceland where Elvis lived. Visiting Graceland was a trip of a lifetime for her. Most of the trip she was on the verge of tears, stating she never thought she would get to see it. Elvis Presley even currently has several visitors to Graceland and people from all over the world come to visit.

         The final icon is Judy Garland. Judy Garland had a beautiful singing voice. In her career the movie Wizard of Oz made her famous.  Every year since I can remember the Wizard of Oz is shown on TV and we would look forward to watching the movie and singing along with Judy Garland.  Judy Garland made an impression as she sang and danced with grace. The Wizard of Oz is still popular today and now I watch it with my children and grandchildren.

Social Internet Networking

     

       Popular culture is what influences your choices and the way you live. Popular culture is made from television shows, music, advertising, internet and the media. Television shows can influence the way you view politics, new products and also be entertaining. Everyone has memories of different television shows that we watched at different ages and can remember that time in our lives and what it was like.  Commercials reach every age group and play a large part in what we purchase. Music has the same effect for most people, when you hear music from your past it will take you to that time in your life.
   Social networking is the newest form of popular culture. The first internet social networking site to become popular was My Space, Facebook, You Tube and Twitter. These sites enable everyone to communicate with large amounts of people at one time. People display current events in their lives, post party invitations and show pictures and videos.
       Popular culture is very important in business for a number of reasons. In my current position there is a need to reach our targeted population to be able receive the entire reimbursement. The company utilizes one of the social networking sites to reach our members with updates and information.  Information that is communicated can help the people we serve also use their benefits to their best advantage.  In the future as new technology is introduced and new ways to communicate with people become available the healthcare industry will need to utilize these avenues. Hopefully we will be able to find ways to utilize the new technology to reach an even larger amount of people.

      Facebook the social internet networking site would be an example of a pop culture artifact. People, of all ages and generations know the name Facebook. Even the baby boomer generation either has an account or knows Facebook. Facebook has the ability to allow businesses as well as individuals to build profiles. Facebook has recently started to upgrade features. To the left top of the Facebook page there are now advertisements endorsed by your people on your friend list. Wal-Mart is an example of the advertisement if a person on your friend list checks that they like Wal-Mart that will post at the top left of your Facebook page. The reason to choose Facebook in my opinion has been an influence on our current popular culture an continues to be.