OSP Taylor Swift: Audience and Industry

 Audience


Background and audience wider reading

Read this Guardian feature on stan accounts and fandom. Answer the following questions:

1) What examples of fandom and celebrities are provided in the article?

Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters, Beyoncé’s Bey Hive, Taylor Swift’s Swifties, and Nicki Minaj’s Barbs.

2) Why did Taylor Swift run into trouble with her fanbase? 

Swiftest complained about being locked out of the ticket master system 

3) Do stan accounts reflect Clay Shirky's ideas regarding the 'end of audience'? How? 

Yes, the fans are no longer just consumers but both consumers and producers as they make their own content based off these artists ie. Army’s overwhelming police submission sites with BTS performing during the George Floyd/BLM protects 


1) What do Taylor Swift fans spend their money on? 

Albums, merchandise and concert tickets 

2) How does Swift build the connection with her fans? Give examples from the article.

“Secret sessions” in her own home - a pre-show meet and greet, as well as surprise gifts to her fans homes 

3) What have Swifties done to try and get Taylor Swift's attention online? 

Merchandise receipts from recent merchandise releases, multiply copies of albums and over the top displays of emotion and creativity 

4) Why is fandom described as a 'hierarchy'? 

Heavily tied to practices of consumption, where if you buy the most paraphernalia then you are a better fan 

5) What does the article suggest is Swift's 'business model'? 

It’s is consumption based and she preys on her fans emotions to receive this 

Taylor Swift: audience questions and theories

Work through the following questions to apply media debates and theories to the Taylor Swift CSP. You may want to go back to your previous blogpost or your A3 annotated booklet for examples. 

1) Is Taylor Swift's website and social media constructed to appeal to a particular gender or audience?

Her merchandise consists of vinyls, CDs and cassette tapes, illustrated a wide ranging age of audience however majority of her fans are women 

2) What opportunities are there for audience interaction in Taylor Swift's online presence and how controlled are these? 

She interacts with her fans online, responding to comments for example 

3) How does Taylor Swift's online presence reflect Clay Shirky’s ‘End of Audience’ theories? 

She bases everything she does off her fans, her fans create a fandom(producers/consumers)

4) What effects might Taylor Swift's online presence have on audiences? Is it designed to influence the audience’s views on social or political issues or is this largely a vehicle to promote Swift's work? 

She speaks out about any republican ideals, cementing herself as a liberal - therefore influencing her fans to take a democratic stance in the political sphere 

5) Applying Hall’s Reception theory, what might be a preferred and oppositional reading of Taylor Swift's online presence? 

Preferred - A creative, down to earth artist 
Oppositional- A business mogul who preys on her fans emotions towards her 

Industries

How social media companies make money

Read this analysis of how social media companies make money and answer the following questions:

1) How many users do the major social media sites boast?

Facebook - 2.96 bn monthly users 
Twitter - 2019 330 m monthly users 

2) What is the main way social media sites make money? 

Advertising 

3) What does ARPU stand for and why is it important for social media companies? 

Average revenue per reader 

4) Why has Meta spent huge money acquiring other brands like Instagram and WhatsApp? 

More people to sell things to through advertising 

5) What other methods do social media sites have to generate income e.g. Twitter Blue? 

The check mark symbolises that users have subscribed to X premium instead of being trusted accounts ie politicians or celebrities 



Regulation of social media


1) What suggestions does the report make? Pick out three you think are particularly interesting. 

Regulation of social media is a wide spread worry and topic 

2) Who is Christopher Wylie? 

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

3) What does Wylie say about the debate between media regulation and free speech? 

The report also suggests social networks should display a correction to every single person who was exposed to misinformation, if independent fact-checkers identify a story as false.

4) What is ‘disinformation’ and do you agree that there are things that are objectively true or false? 

False information that is intended to mislead - yes I agree that there are things that are objectively true and false 

5) Why does Wylie compare Facebook to an oil company? 

it is a harmful by-product of the current design and there are social harms that come from this business model.

6) What does it suggest a consequence of regulating the big social networks might be? 

The platforms have a dirty to regulate hate speech and other harmful content since they have such a big impact on our everyday lives 

7) What has Instagram been criticised for?

Its effect on body image and mental health - promoting one type of body image over any others 

8) Can we apply any of these criticisms or suggestions to Taylor Swift? For example, should Taylor Swift have to explicitly make clear when she is being paid to promote a company or cause? 

She talks about very liberal causes but it is not obvious in any way that she is being paid or endorsing these movements and or companies 


A/A* extension tasks

Read Deconstructing Taylor in Media Magazine MM51 which covers representations, postmodernism and the relationship between Swift and her fans. You can find this in our Media Magazine archive.

Read this Guardian article on teenagers and phone addiction. Do you recognise what it is discussing?

Read this Guardian article on the Online Harms Bill. What does it suggest regarding regulation of social media companies?

This Guardian article also explores the mental health implications of social media. Do you think that strict regulation of social media should happen?

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