Collective Identity Christmas Work

Find and list 5 websites that allow readers/users/contributors to create or participate in a collective identity. You are required to provide a discussion of how a specific collective identity is constructed/expressed on each of these sites (including a theoretical discussion of any relevant issues). You should seek to be as detailed as possible, use appropriate terminology and link to specific aspects of contextual study.

Links To Websites

Facebook
MySpace
Blogger
YouTube
Flickr

Through the development of technology such as Web 2.0, the ability to create collective identities through resources such as social networking sites has been made considerably easier. As well as social networking sites, it has also been made easier to create collective identities using websites with other types of user generated content, for example You Tube or Flickr. Along with the ease of use of these types of sites, the fact that it is now possible to access the web anywhere and anytime adds to the popularity of creating a collective identity via the web.

Facebook

The predominant use of Facebook is to interact and connect with other users worldwide, and is a way in which individual users can construct a profile portraying aspects of their identities that they wish to share with other people. By selectively choosing specific aspects of their personal identities to share with people online, an online identity is created by the user, which people can identify and find out more about the person. Although this is how an individual identity is formed through the use of this website, collective identities can also be formed through features such as groups and fan pages that can be accessed through the site. By joining a group or becoming a fan of something that is of particular interest to the user, and also other users on Facebook, a collective identity is formed through people having these similar interests and connecting with each other by joining the same groups. This supports the theory of Louis Althusser and his idea of interpellation, where the media shouts out to you. In order for a user to become interested in joining a particular group or becoming a fan of something, the title must be of interest and catch the attention of the user, thus shouting out to them and encouraging them to join and become part of a group who share similar interests. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital can be applied to Facebook. An individual can create an online profile for others to see using embodied and objectified cultural capital in order to gain more “worth” in society or in a social group through what they include on their profiles, for example the interests they highlight, or the favourite bands or films that the particular individual enjoys. In order for this to help the individual to gain a higher place in society or in a social group, they will only put information that they feel other people will ‘agree’ with, for example, they may not put something on their profile that they feel will make them appear “uncool” to others.

MySpace

MySpace is another example of a social networking site; however a large aspect of this site is the ability for musicians to create profiles and upload their own music for other users to consume. The musical content of this website is just one aspect, and in a similar fashion to Facebook, users are able to create their own profiles and select areas of their identity that they wish to share with other users of the site. The music sector is a prime example of how a collective identity is created through different users around the world. Music genres are a popular way in which people express their identities and so a collective identity is easily created through fans of the same genre, or specific band or artist, joining groups or leaving comments about the media they are consuming, because they all share the same interest. As with Facebook, Louis Althusser’s theory of interpellation can be applied to this website because the content needs to shout out to its potential consumers in order for them to want to consume what is on the website, and then comment on what they have heard. Again, Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital can be applied here. Because a MySpace profile's look can be changed more than that of a Facebook profile, cultural capital can again be shown by the users of this site. In order to create more "worth" for themselves, a user will selectively choose how their profile looks, and also what they choose to include within that profile, be it photos or interests etc.

Blogger

Blogger is a site where its users are able to create lengthy entries on topics of their choosing. Other site users are then able to become followers of different blogs that contain topics which interest them. The difference between social networking sites and blogging sites is that blogging sites are where users can write substantial amounts on a specific topic whereas a social networking site is where users can interact using smaller amounts of written communication. A specific example of collective identity through the use of Blogger is our media studies class, where a group of students have become users of the site in order to communicate the work we are producing in class. This collective identity we have with each other is not necessarily our interest in using site, but the interest we share in the subject we all study and the work we produce and post onto the site. In some respects, cultural capital can once again be applied here, due to the fact that the work the group are posting all relates to our coursework production, and we need the moderater to approve of what we have done. If the moderator approves of the work we have posted then our cultural "worth" will again be enhanced.

YouTube

YouTube is a site where users can upload their own videos for other users to watch, rate and comment on. Users can also subscribe to channels that contain content that interests them, and this is one of the ways in which a collective identity is created through the use of this particular Web 2.0 site. Because of the development of Web 2.0, it is through websites such as YouTube that anybody has been able to turn from a media consumer to a media producer. This gives a much more accurate representation of today’s society because people are able to create their own material, portraying things from their own point of view, showing the real world from a different perspective, rather than large production companies producing texts that they think provides an accurate representation. As well as a collective identity being created through the channels available for people to subscribe to, the comments people leave also add to this collective identity. If people are interested, or not as the case may be, in the video they have just consumed, they may choose to leave a comment containing their thoughts and opinions on the video concerned. Although this may be for or against the video concerned, the fact that a discussion may be created and the fact that users felt inclined to leave a comment in the first place suggests that there is a collective identity between the different users that have all rated or commented on a specific video. It could again be argued that YouTube also links to the interpellation theory of Louis Althusser, because as with Facebook, the content of the videos featured on YouTube needs to call out to the users of the website in order for them to watch the be encouraged to watch the videos featured.

Flickr

Flickr is a Web 2.0 site that is similar in nature to that of YouTube, however rather than videos, users upload their photos. Users of the site can also look at the work of specific people who have uploaded their work onto the site. By tagging the photos that they upload onto the site, a collective identity is formed because other people may have tagged their photos as the same thing, and so when another user of the site conducts a search using a key word, a group of photos with the same tags will be the result of the search. As well as this, the comments that are left or the ratings that other users give photos again represent a collective identity. Users will generally only comment or rate photos that specifically interest them for whatever reason, and so whether the comments are positive or negative towards the specific piece that is concerned, a collective identity is expressed because of the fact that they have chosen to comment on the same photo as other people. Again, as with YouTube, the theory of interpellation as put forward by Louis Althusser can be applied to this website, because in order for the collective identity to be portrayed, the photos on the site have to attract the attention of the users of the site, in theory calling out to them.