‘Yesterday
you said today! Just do it!’ wise words from Shia LaBeouf, which ultimately
led him to becoming the greatest motivational internet meme. We are all trying
to chase after the latest trend or be a part of the ‘in’ crowd. We need to stay
up to date with the latest memes that our scouring across the globe, or the most recent celebrity feud
over complete nonsense. Either way we want to know what’s happening, what’s hot
and what’s not. Social media tends to push people in a diaspora fashion to the
newest trend. We all remember Bebo and Myspace were the hottest thing ten years
ago but where are they now? Lost in the graveyards of social media. But much
like the Chinese fled to the United States and Australia for economical wealth
(Ma Mung, 2005). We fled to Facebook and Instagram to stay apart of the current
trends or even to make money from advertisement on the social media sites. Of
course our need to disperse wasn’t life threatening, whereas the Jews fleeing
Egypt was (Ma Mung, 2005). They still retained their identity and narratives
throughout their slavery and poverty for the centuries they remained in Egypt
(Kuttainen, 2015). We keep our own networked narratives, through our network
history, as we move from site to site, post to post, and like to like; we
retain our identity even as it evolves from our original Myspace page to our
most recent picture upload with 20 hashtags. We continue to write our online story
through experiences we share with others, to the billions of cat videos
uploaded to Youtube every day. Each website we view, each breadcrumb we leave
behind us, grows our story.
References
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Space: Networks, Narratives, and the making
of place, week 7 notes [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Ma Mung, E.
(2005). ‘Diaspora, spatiality, identities’. In Comparative European research in migration, diversity and identities.
Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Image Reference
Shaneblog. (2010). Flickr: Myspace. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shaneblog/4596358203/
Shaneblog. (2010). Flickr: Myspace. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shaneblog/4596358203/
Blog Comments:
ReplyDeleteI think it’s true that there is a need and a want to be a trend setter and poster but what about the online observers strolling through the streets at a leisurely pace (Prouty 2009). It’s true that if the posters left the observers would also go as nothing would be observed. That being said I think there is more to the process of moving from one network to another, than just trend.
Your photo mentions that people are still on Myspace and to be honest I was quite shocked, so I did some research. Myspace has 50.6 monthly user as recorded in January this year, this brings the why question. Why are people still using Myspace? If the posters go to seek tender places to post and the observers go to continue to observe the posters. Who is left and why have they not left?
Reading references:
Richard Prouty (October 28, 2009) A Turtle on a Leash Retrieved from: http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html