No, the Wendy’s Twitter is not your friend.
Want to see what people are up to? Choose one or more of Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and you’re in the know. Social media networks are abundant with user generated content and make it easy to connect with your friends, like Wendy’s.
Now you may be thinking, “But Wendy’s isn’t a real person, it’s a brand!” Herein lies the problem: we’re made to think the digital world is largely controlled by the users, but anyone and anything can be a user. To better understand the context of this fight for power, we’re hopping in the time machine.
The year is 2006. Low-rise jeans are in. Tom Cruise is relevant. Around this time, I was creating my Facebook account and making my first post. I remember feeling empowered and free, unrestricted by boring grown-ups who didn’t understand the “MySpaces” or the “YouTubes”.
Manuel Castells wrote about this period of transition from “mass communication” networks, like newspapers and TV, to the “mass self-communication” present on the internet and mobile networks. The former behaves like a one-way street while the latter allows for multi-directional interaction. According to Castells, the new media allowed a redistribution of power due to the self-generating and self-policing nature of the internet. Yet “self” isn’t restricted to everyday people; it includes everyone and everything that wishes to participate online.
Castells described the panic of power players like brands and political figures to keep up with the transition to new media, but that doesn’t apply today. Instead of quaking in their boots, these actors have maintained a large chunk of power by taking advantage of the internet’s accessibility. Sure, Karen and Bill can create Twitter accounts, but so can Burger King and Samsung.
Even politicians engage comfortably with social media while also being able to buy ads on the same platform. In October 2020, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed herself on Twitch playing a popular video game with other well-known streamers. This type of personable interaction is only becoming more frequent as we even see political campaigns turned into explorable islands on Animal Crossing.
As things are, it doesn’t seem that “mass self-communication” networks have amplified the people’s voice. Rather, there are now more diverse ways to be advertised to and influenced by the same power holders as before. The next question is, are we okay with this?
