Hi everyone! Welcome back and this is my last blog post!! Today I will share a mini parody done by our group and talk about UGC.
Mini Parody
Our group selected the Uses and Gratification theory as the topic.
We used different examples of social platforms to show how people use media to satisfy their needs.
Instagram:
“Capture and share the world’s moments” is the slogan of Instagram but we think that people only show the perfect perfect moments instead of their daily life. They post photos only when they are with full makeup or after photoshop, like the photos that the 2 girls liked in the first scene. Those people try to get attention by posting good-looking selfies, and those who “liked” and pay close attention to the beauty bloggers show their desire to be pretty.
Twitter:
Some users post eye-catching posts online in order to get more “likes”. “Likes” became a symbol of popularity. That is why people want to make videos that can seek attention. In scene 2, the two girls went undercover to expose the dark side of the society. This is news that will not be officially reported and the two “reporters” wanted to be famous by exposing this to the public. This shows how they use media to satisfy their own needs.
WhatsApp/TikTok:
The third scene is a girl sharing a video to her friends and they will then share to their friends. Eventually, everyone will be watching the same thing. Information is easily spread through social platforms. This facilitates people’s communication as people nowadays prefer online interaction instead of face-to-face conversation, which fulfills people’s social integrative needs.
What is UGC?
User generated content (UGC) is content created and posted on online platform such as Facebook, Youtube and Instagram by anyone.
It provides additional information of different social issues to the users. As the content shown on traditional TV will be filtered, some sensitive topics may be blocked. People will be able to know more about those issues only through social platforms. Also, “first hand” news tend to be published through social media rather than traditional TV. There are lots of preparation work needed before a TV news broadcast but with the advanced technology, any netizen can be a reporter reporting “news” to the public. They can simply just start a live broadcast through social media and share what they see immediately. Apart from that, a wide variety of entertaining shows is provided by UGC. Except the soap opera, more choices are given such as vlogs, mukbang and make-up tutorials. It is definitely more attractive than the mainstream traditional TV.
People can express their opinions freely through UGC with little or even without restrictions but it caused the problem that there will be many fake news. It is hard to determine the credibility of online news and posts. Rumors may be spread and crisis caused. The news reported through traditional TV program are being verified that they are relatively reliable. Some people may think that the news is biased to the government. Despite this, traditional TV programs are still more trustworthy than the online ones as anyone of us can post “news” and be a “reporter”. That is also why Wikipidea is not that dependable as everyone can change the content. Both online and official resources have their disadvantages, we should have our own judgement instead of being over dependent on any resources.
Mainstream TV shows are my only entertainment when I was younger. I enjoyed watching cartoons or even the soap opera. But when I got to have my own smart phone, I seldom turn on the TV. I can watch whatever I want through different online media. Even if I missed an episode of a show, I can watch it online. I no longer have to sit in front of the TV at a specific time, waiting for the start of the show. And I have discovered that there are limitations on the content shown through mainstream traditional TV so UGC would be a better choice.
Hope you enjoy reading this and our parody!! Finally no more blog post HAHAHA!
Josie's Blog 
Josie, my worthy adversary! Hahah! I am messing around mate… Anyway, first of all, hats off to you for creating such an elaborative post. Your points are clear and concise. The point you made about people secretly wishing that they were pretty if they were to follow beauty shows actually has a certain amount of truth to it! It is just like how people watch shows to get an experience they can’t get in real life! You are made to be a psychologist with that kind of thinking lad! Moreover, I agree with the promptness of netizens in sharing the situation through social media, but as you discussed it is highly unlikely that it might be unreliable. Usually those who live stream an ongoing event will be watching whatever that is unveiling along with the rest of us who are watching his streaming. Although there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop some problems like tsunamis and earthquakes( both of which are usually live-streamed), it helps us be aware of what is going on! And what do you mean, when you were younger? You are barely 13 years old :p HAHAHA! Anyway, it was a wonderful experience working with you in the video making! Have a wonderful year ahead and I hope you do not stop writing! You are really good at it!
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Hello Josie, great post as usual. The skit that your group did was very relatable as social media tends to encourage the users to share as much as possible to their friends and family. We do not need much face to face interactions as compared to the past, where we need to meetups or phone calls to satisfy our social needs. The gratification we receive by viewing short and funny clips is enough to get people to share it to everyone. There is a major problem with this though, as false news and misinformation can easily be spread very quickly. The freedom of UGC also contributes to this, as without censors there is no limitations to what users can post. Anyways nice video by your group, hope we all do well for this blog post assignments!
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