Charlotte Willis
What would once have been an intimate handwritten letter between two people, at some point or another has evolved into the instantaneous email that we receive in our multiplicity of inboxes every day, often several times daily. The recent trend towards internet dating however, has taken on a whole new dimension. In an era where it is commonplace to own your own blog, facebook page, Ebay/Amazon/Coles shopping account, the online dating profile sits comfortably at home among a continually rising 69 per cent of Australian internet users . The shift towards online profiles, in particular internet dating, has risen from the hidden depths of cyberspace, once occupied by the desperados and the introverted, and has now become commonplace; a billion-dollar industry attracting thousands of members each day within Australia alone.
This article investigates the evolving world of internet dating and the capacity for each individual to exercise complete control over disclosure of the self within this now ubiquitous practice. Strategies of self-presentation among online dating participants, exploring how they control their online presentation of self in order to accomplish their ultimate goal of finding a partner will be explored. The article will examine the choices each individual makes when constructing (and reconstructing) their online persona, and the potential for creativity and selectiveness when managing an online profile, operating unashamedly under a notion of “possible selves” , whereby members ‘self consciously go through a process of careful creation and re-creation while engaging in the continuous, dynamic process of cognitive negotiation and re-negotiation’. How far will individuals go to manipulate their ‘real online selves’ in order to be more appealing for potential viewers? Furthermore, operating within such an aesthetically reliant culture, where extreme dependence and preoccupation is placed upon the visual image, just how easily are those who view another’s profile misled? With the ease of misinterpretation merely the click of an uploaded photo away, how effortless is it to recreate and over-edit the ‘online self’ for various viewers? Where do we, as a contemporary culture, draw the line between light tweaking and shameless deception within the consumption of internet dating?
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Oct 28, 2010
RIP? What the Digital Revolution Means for Media
EJ Gamboa
The digital revolution is here. And it has brought about remarkable changes, threatening to separate us permanently from the familiar world of brick and mortar stores, paper books, and mass media. Many businesses have suffered. Many newspapers have folded. The revolution, dynamic as it is, has not been kind to everyone. And it is far from over.
In this bold, new world, our trust in mass media is steadily dropping, and the speed of social network growth can be matched only by the pace at which our technologies advance. These changes have come together to transform media as we know it, and rewrite the rules that media professionals have lived by for decades.
This isn’t just about the age-old debate concerning the death of print, which finally appears near a resolution. It’s about more than the package through which content is published and distributed. It’s about timeliness, convenience, networks, social currency, “viralogy”, the technologies that make it all possible, and the way journalists can no longer hope to break news before someone on the web does.
Indeed, the digital revolution is an immediate and imposing threat – not to the existence of media, but to its archaic system of best practices. Journalists and other media professionals must adapt to burgeoning technologies, and the radically changing social and marketing conventions spurred by the proliferation of social networks and digital publishing software.
These professionals do not have to be made redundant by a cult of amateurs armed with social media, large networks, the new wave of mobile phones, and an ever-growing technical understanding of the digital landscape. But they must embrace the very culture that threatens them in order to survive.
The digital revolution is here. And it has brought about remarkable changes, threatening to separate us permanently from the familiar world of brick and mortar stores, paper books, and mass media. Many businesses have suffered. Many newspapers have folded. The revolution, dynamic as it is, has not been kind to everyone. And it is far from over.
In this bold, new world, our trust in mass media is steadily dropping, and the speed of social network growth can be matched only by the pace at which our technologies advance. These changes have come together to transform media as we know it, and rewrite the rules that media professionals have lived by for decades.
This isn’t just about the age-old debate concerning the death of print, which finally appears near a resolution. It’s about more than the package through which content is published and distributed. It’s about timeliness, convenience, networks, social currency, “viralogy”, the technologies that make it all possible, and the way journalists can no longer hope to break news before someone on the web does.
Indeed, the digital revolution is an immediate and imposing threat – not to the existence of media, but to its archaic system of best practices. Journalists and other media professionals must adapt to burgeoning technologies, and the radically changing social and marketing conventions spurred by the proliferation of social networks and digital publishing software.
These professionals do not have to be made redundant by a cult of amateurs armed with social media, large networks, the new wave of mobile phones, and an ever-growing technical understanding of the digital landscape. But they must embrace the very culture that threatens them in order to survive.
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