Wednesday, November 3, 2010

First tears and now for Hilary's answers

Two items in the Herald Sun give an insight of the effect (and uses and gratifications) of the social media network in current times. One item discussed the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's proposed attendance at a meeting in a secret venue  in Melbourne this Sunday ,7 November 2010. (Deery & Dunn, 2010, p. 7) In the forum, the US Secretary of State will answer questions, from an audience targeted at mainly under 35 year olds, that are posted on Face book, Twitter and on a video link; it is a live broadcast shown on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation' s network. This inclusion of  the Twitter and Facebook social media audience shows how important this porion of the general public has become.

The second item concerned an episode of a the television serial, Packed to the Rafters, in which one of the main characters dies in a traffic accident. The article chronicles the anger, grief and frustration of the followers of this serial, with their frustrations published on the social media sites. Members of the caste of the serial said the reaction shocked them. Hugh Sheridan, the actor who portrays one of the charcters, said his Twitter site had thousands of  messages, with a range of emotions from shock to tears within minutes.  (Cantanzarita & Shearer 2010, p.13)

These two items show the strenghts of the social media First, in accessing and having dialogue between a visiting powerful, international politician and a targeted section of the general public; the second is an illustration of that section of the general public targeting the industrial media, represented by a television station.


Cantanzarita, K & Shearer, G 2010, "Soap death hits hard" Herald Sun,  4 November 2010.
Deery, S & Dunn, M 2010, "Hilary hopes to have the answers" Herald Sun,  4 November 2010.

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