This question came my way today: Is there any good thing about gossiping about celebs? When does being a fan go over into being too fanatical? Some people say the only thing they have in common with others is discussing celeb gossip -- what does that mean about the relationship? Celebrity gossip isn’t that different from reality TV. Some people call it voyeurism, but I think we have to readjust our perspective based on the way technology is integrated into everyday life. A lot of technology gets designed for one purpose and then used by the public quite differently. I don’t have a moral issue with this kind of hacking (both technologically and philosophically.) How it gets used tells us a lot about people. Cameras probably weren’t invented for exposing people's private lives any more than TV was designed to watch people subjecting themselves to humiliation (although humiliation is one of the eye-of-the-beholder things.) The same is true for celebrity gossip and … [Read more...]
Celebrity Gossip: One Man’s Reality is Another Man’s Show
The Digital Social “Me”
I sat with a group of educators, marketers, public relations professionals, investor relations professionals, and web developers yesterday talking about how to develop a graduate level program focused on social media. This was especially interesting because as the only psychologist, my vantage point was quite different. Where marketers talk about metrics and stats in media use, I wonder about how people interpret or make meaning out of the experience. To me, the metrics might show if the net result is positive or negative but they don't illuminate much under the hood. I always enjoy it when I get to see a different way of looking at something or thinking about something by talking with smart people. The discussions also reinforce my opinion that effective media applications come from a multi-disciplinary foundation. One topic of discussion was, what does a program focused on social media even mean? What is social media? Is it the same as Web 2.0? Is it part of Web 2.0? Will … [Read more...]
