POST ELEVEN: EOTO ONLINE INFLUENCERS

 In the recent years, the rise of online influencers has grown dramatically. With the start of Youtube in 2005, it came the beginning of the start of online influencing and the creation of the job. As Youtube's popularity grew, so did creators on the website. People like Smosh (Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox), Ryan Higa, Michelle Phan, and many others quit their day jobs to make their money only from Youtube. Once people realized that this was a possibility there began a wave of influencers, not only on Youtube, but on other platforms like MySpace. After these influencers gained social media and online fame, they also began to gain fortune. These people would buy expensive cars, expensive homes, and expensive clothes. This fact drew people in, seeing that they started out as regular people, just like themselves, but now thanks to commissions from Youtube, sponserships from companies, and other financial offers, these people were self-made millionares. 

As time went by, more websites began to offer money and fame in exchange for content. This went from Facebook to Instagram to the latest one, Tik Tok. These influencers have grown to have bigger audiences than ever. For example, Charli D'amelio is one of the biggest names on Tik Tok with almost 100 million followers on that app alone. She has gone on to be in commercials, have interviews and photoshoots with magazines, and even have her own drink at Dunkin Donuts named the Charli. This all came from her talent as a Tik Tok dancer along with her positive attitude and promotion of equality for all types of people. 

 

However, social medias do not always find ways to keep these online influencers. Vine was one of the biggest social media platforms of its time, with over 200 million active users. Many influencers came from vine like David Dobrik, Cody Ko, Logan and Jake Paul. All of these influencers found that since Vine did not offer any sort of payment from the company to the influencers, the app wasn't worth spending hours on content. Many of the big influencers left the site for Instagram or Youtube months before Vine was officially shut down in 2016. Vine was bought by Twitter after they had lost so much money from losing their biggest influencers. Tik Tok almost went down the same route, however, in 2020, they created the Tik Tok creators fund, which allowed them to pay their influencers. 

Sources:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-twitter-shutdown

https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-youtube-in-photos-2015-10

POST TEN: EOTO - CORD CUTTING

Despite its name, cord cutting does not refer to the actual cutting of cords. Cord cutting is a term that refers to the decline of cable television and the rise of streaming television and internet content. This phenomenon has grown increasingly popular over the years, including this one."According to new research from eMarketer, the cable, satellite and telecom TV industry is on track to lose the most subscribers ever. This year, over 6 million U.S. households will cut the cord with pay TV, bringing the total number of cord-cutter households to 31.2 million." These numbers were provided by an article posted on techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez, titled "Pandemic accelerated cord cutting, making 2020 the worst-ever year to pay for TV." This phenomenon has grown so much that there is now tons of communities of "cord cutters" that have started in person groups, Facebook page groups, and even websites on how to cord cut effectively. cordcuttersnews.com is a perfect example of these websites. They give articles on streaming guides, payment deals, and reviews of varying services. 

There is also a community of people called cord nevers. These are people that have never owned cable television and have only gotten their content online or from streaming services. The in between of the cord cutters and the people who only have cable are the cord shavers. These people cut down their cable costs by switching to cheaper packages and purchasing a few streaming services.

So, why is cord cutting happening? One of the major factors is the increasing prices of cable television packages. It also might have to do with the limited reaches of the cable networks. In response to these problems, there are cheaper, more accessible streaming services available. Also, with the invention of smart TVs, it is easier to access the subscription services in gathering places like the living room. Along with the more accessibility of streaming, these services have created original content and even offer free trials, which is an extremely high selling point. 

How do you know if you should make the switch and join the community of cord cutters? It is not as big of a step that most people expect. One of the biggest signs of switching is if you already own most of the subscription services. It also helps if you already have cheap prices on your internet and good internet connection. In some cases, cord cutters have complained about paying more in total for internet and each subscription. Another big sign is if you have multiple people in your home watching TV, it gets pricey to have multiple cable boxes, yet many of the streaming services allow multiple people to watch different things at once. Lastly, one of the biggest signs is if your favorite content to watch is streaming only content or content you can access through those services.

Sources: https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/

https://www.consumerreports.org/streaming-media/how-to-decide-if-cord-cutting-is-right-for-you/

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/the-beginners-guide-to-cord-cutting-2020/?source=home

 

POST NINE: PRIVACY

 Privacy is one of those things where you always assume that your information is being kept private. For example, when you create a password for a website and it is censored by not showing the actual password, but dots that represent the characters. This, of course, keeps your password hidden from people glaring at your screen. Another example might be if you archive a previous post from your Instagram account. This keeps the post, comments, and likes hidden from any followers and non-followers that might come upon your page. However, this password and the Instagram post is not truly private. These two items are kept by the websites that you enter them into, giving the website the power to retain the information. For something like Instagram, the stakes vary because it could just be a fun, lighthearted post to something as serious as the location in which you live. For other websites that require passwords, like bank sites, the stakes are very high seeing as they have tons of information on you and your money. Of course, it is against the law to use that information, give it out, keep it, etc. However, that does not always stop companies. 

 

In 2019, Facebook faced a court case involving the platform keeping personal records and past search histories within a database and keeping that internal privacy information private. "Facebook faces multiple court cases in the U.S. and the prospect of a $3-5 billion FTC fine for its privacy breaches." (Forbes). These multiple court cases have proven that the information that Facebook is given is not considered to be safe. 

 

In the Juan Enriquez Ted Talk titled Your online life, permanent as a tattoo, he speaks of how this information is not private and will be "immortal." These are referred to as "electronic tattoos" and makes you think about the decisions that you trust the internet and various websites for. 

 

Sources: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/05/31/facebook-loses-in-court-over-privacy-emails-as-zuckerberg-votes-to-keep-full-control/?sh=4dccd9c9560c

https://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_your_online_life_permanent_as_a_tattoo?language=en