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University of Maryland University Campus
Mass Communications and Media Studies
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Social media has taken the front seat to the various means of media communication in an industry that is constantly evolving due to the fast-paced technology industry. Society is heavily influenced my information they gather through these channels when it comes to real-world news items, celebrity news, or as consumers. These media channels have opened a whole new world to marketers and businesses in ways to share their messages. Due to this growth, there has been an increase in the many theories that are being studied on the effects that media has on its society, culture, and audience. The articles below helped increase my understanding of media on a psychological level. What is the core purpose behind media outlets such as Twitter or Facebook? What are businesses hoping to accomplish by having a strong social media presence? The various studies help the readers understand the influences that mass media has on a person’s lifestyle and daily habits.
Cavender, Kurt. “Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice.” Cultural Studies (2013): p656-p659.
Author Kurt Cavender shares the views of various researchers who have studied the effects that different social media channels have on its audience. Furthermore, rather than asking how Facebook or Twitter are being used, one researcher (Bruno Latour) wants to understand what habits are formed because of these social media channels and the influence they have on our day-to-day productivity. There are many theories discussed such as; object-oriented media theories, system-oriented media theories, and a new theory introduced by Latour known as actor-network theory (ANT). Latour introduced ANT as “a method for following the circulation across space of people and objects as actors make up their worlds”. The main takeaway is that “social practice occupies an intersection between the semiotic and the material, that the movements of actors within media have both symbolic value and material implications in society.” Media and its traditional term is evolving which is highlighted in the journal article to help readers understand the impact of media and society.
Saat, Rafeah, Selamat, Mohamad. “The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Information Richness on Trust.” Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting Vol. 8 No. 3 (2014): p67-p81.
The authors of this study set out to test the effects that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has on the success of a business. This concept “describes the relationship between company and society.” The article focuses on how a new culture of communicating has been created through the internet which allows companies to share their CSR message with society. The authors designed a study to further understand the benefits of CSR through the Media Richness Theory (MRT), where companies can share their messaging through this avenue. The study is designed to help readers understand if sharing CSR through social media channels results in sales or if consumers become skeptical of the company’s mission and building trust in consumers. The study helps us understand how audiences receive and interpret messages through media.
Bechmann, Gotthard, Stehr, Nico. “Niklas Luhmann’s Theory of Mass Media.” Society Vol. 48 Issue 2 (2011): p142-p147.
In this paper, the authors study Niklas Luhmann’s theory of mass media and its true reality. Originally, Luhmann set out to prove the public’s suspicion of mass media as the basis of his research but shifted his beliefs as he got further into his research. The authors highlight that Luhmann’s thoughts about mass media is that they “do not present an image of a reality that they have distinguished but rather they themselves create the reality which they communicate daily as news, reports, advertising.” But this reality is what Luhmann refers to as “manufactured reality” that is circulated selectively by mass media. Further on, Luhmann widens his research to view mass media communication from the end users point of view to better understand the effects of mass media on our culture.
