Websites and Social Media

The purpose of a magazine

The purpose of a magazine is to distribute news and information that are relevant to the interests of a general or a specific target audience. It is also a way for sellers to advertise their products for potential buyers and consumers in magazine articles. The reason why advertisers sell their brand and products through magazines is because since magazines are read by a lot of people, it will be noticed and people will become potential buyers and consumers. The main article that is selling the product may contain hidden messages that will persuade the intended audience to buy the product. We can link this to Stuart Hall's Reception Theory, which states that messages in the media are encoded by producers (the creators of the product (the brand)) and are decoded by the consumers (the audience). Specifically in this case, if the target audience buys the product, it is called a hegemonic reading, as the audience fully accepts the media product and its values.

The purpose of a social media account

The purpose of a social media account is that is allows users to connect with other people, including their family and friends and to create content. User can create content by sharing photos, videos and expressing their thoughts and opinions about a particular topic of interest. Social media is also used to spread and share awareness about a certain news topic that affects people or something that interests a certain audience that it is intended for. Examples of different social media sites that are most commonly used in today's world are Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and TikTok. These sites allow users to create their own content and have the ability to see other content from other influencers as well. These people are called Prosumers (consumers and producers). They are called this term as the both produce content and consumer content by other creators. The term 'Prosumer' was coined by Alvin Toffler in 1980 in his book "The Third Wave", a reference to what he believed to be the current era in human history, the Post - Industrial Age, where everyone distributes and produces their own content, as well as consuming other content from other creators, hence the term 'Prosumer'.

The screenshot you see above is from the official Instagram account from the BBC. The BBC is a British news site which shares different news stories or topics from a variety of genres, from climate change or natural disaster or celebrity news. It follows the traditional conventions of a news site, as they share and spread different news stories from around the world. The account has 25 million followers, meaning that it is one of the most followed news accounts and accounts that are the most followed in general. They share new posts everyday, meaning that viewers see different news topics daily. This means that the viewers are seeing the news every day through this account.

The screenshot you see above is the Instagram account of American actress, singer and businesswoman Selena Gomez. Currently, she is one of the most followed, if not the most followed woman on Instagram, with a record breaking 400 million followers. She posts a variety of different photos, ranging from selfies, new products from her makeup line Rare Beauty to photos from the set of either her cooking show "Selena + Chef" or her Hulu tv show "Only Murders in the Building". Like any typical celebrity, she has social media accounts to expand her audience to be more wide and global, as more people may be interested in buying her makeup products or more people will start to watch her Hulu tv show. Celebrities use social media (most commonly Instagram) to connect and engage with their followers, who are interested in their favourite celebrities lives and like or love their new movies, tv shows, songs or the products that they are selling.

The screenshot that you see above is the Instagram account for Disney Studios. Disney studios is a production company that distributes movies and tv shows and is a major division of the The Walt Disney Company. They share posts about the new movies and tv shows that they had produced, and are distributing, for example the live action remake of the " The Little Mermaid" . They also share new photos about new tv shows that will be released on Disney+, a video-on-demand streaming website which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The account follows the traditional convention of a production company account, posting new updates about the movies and tv shows that will be distributed and released by the production company.