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All The World Is A Story

November 20, 2011 By 3 Comments
2011-11-20-tree-in-book-square-250w-storybook

Transmedia storytelling is rapidly becoming the new ‘must have’ in marketing and entertainment.  Its adoption is slowed, however, by the confusion over what exactly it is.  Like most things, there are lots of definitions, but with transmedia storytelling, it’s easy to be distracted by the promise of the wide array of tools and get caught up in the romance of ‘building out a storyworld,’ — and end up overlooking the substance.  Good transmedia storytelling starts with the story. The story doesn't live in the storyworld.  The story starts with and lives in the brain.  The brain is the vehicle for engagement.  Successful transmedia storytelling provides the brain with multiple vehicles for participation.  Participation creates immersion because we ‘buy in.’ It is a renewable energy source because it creates the motivation for continued engagement. If you mention ‘Transmedia Storytelling’ to aspiring artists, their eyes light up and their minds fill with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Psychology, Transmedia Tagged With: , , , ,

Hating Selena Gomez

July 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber

I don't hate Selena Gomez.  I didn't know who she was until I read the news reports about death threats and flows of vitriolic Tweets from Justin Bieber's female fans.  In fact, I admire her talent and  anyone willing to work that hard work, especially at a young age.  But from the eyes of passionate teenage Bieber fans, I do understand how some might feel the rage of rejection and lash out against the cold harsh world of reality by inappropriately targeting Ms. Gomez. Parasocial affection for Bieber turned into rejection-rage for Selena In 1956, Horton and Wohl published a seminal paper on parasocial interaction.  Parasocial interaction is the illusion of a real life, face-to-face, reciprocal relationship with someone you've seen in the media but don't actually know, such as a performer like Justin Bieber.  This is not a psychological aberration.  The evolution and ubiquity of Internet access, social networking sites, smartphones, YouTube channels, and the rawness of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Culture & Society, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , ,

5 Reasons Why Sharing Regrets Online Can Help

April 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Life is full of choices. When things don't go as we plan or hoped, we feel regret. It is a common and universal experience. At the risk of stating the obvious, regret is considered a negative emotion. But unlike other negative emotions, such as sadness, regret can be more difficult to manage because it involves self-blame--regret is about lost opportunities and possible selves. The regret can be painful and enduring. Online sites like SecretRegrets.com can help because, as we've discussed in previous posts, the human brain doesn't discriminate against virtual environments when it comes to social connection. Research shows that the depth of our regret is often related to our ability to achieve closure (Beike, Markman, & Karadogan, 2008). We can get closure by finding a 'second change'-having future opportunities to make a new choice. For events that cannot be changed and where the circumstances are not repeatable, closure is harder to get. Psychological closure happens when we … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Culture & Society, Emerging Technologies, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

From the SxSW Panel: Does the Internet Make You Happy?

March 18, 2011 By 2 Comments
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I had a great time participating on a panel at the SxSW Interactive Conference with moderator and organizer Anastasia Goldstein, along with Catherina O'Gorman (Think Love.org), Kevin Hansen (SecretRegrets.com), and Veer Gadwaney (DailyFeats.com) . (See the visual map of the panel discussion in a previous post). Here is an overview of my comments: Our panel asked the question: Does the Internet make you happy? My answer was ‘No.’ Let me tell you why. First, happiness is not about the tools. Second, happiness comes from within. We have to get over asking what does technology “does to us” and start asking what we, as humans, are trying to do—individually and as members of a global community—and how technology can help. When I say happiness comes from ‘within,’ I’m talking about the brain. Humans are subject to “impact bias” which means that we always think things and events are going to make us happy, but that isn’t the case. Most of what we … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Positive Psychology, Psychology Tagged With: , , ,
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