Category: Media & technology

All the blog posts about technology, media, Internet, social media, and memes, including academic essays written during my studies in Spain, Belgium and Canada. Filter all by language: English, Spanish or Catalan.

Social media for news is dead

Canada’s Bill C-18 is a cautionary tale for news organizations that rely on social media to generate referral traffic.

As a journalist and digital media professional with expertise in social media management that wants to apply my skills in news organizations, these are difficult times to find a job.

Canada, where I lived and worked for more than four years now, is a cautionary tale for news organizations around the world on what can happen when most of your traffic relies on third-party social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, and is suddenly gone.

There was a time when Twitter was a reliable source for journalists to find and share information.

Facebook (and Instagram) were also a good place to find breaking news between pictures of your exes and invitations to that school reunion you didn’t want to attend. Facebook (now Meta) was investing in journalism, particularly local news, with their Journalism Project.

That ‘golden era’ for news content on social media was long gone before Elon Musk bought Twitter and Zuckerberg turned to vertical short video to compete with TikTok, but recent events have accelerated this shift.

Continue reading “Social media for news is dead”

TUBECON 2015: The idols of Finnish teenagers are now on YouTube

Tubecon, in Helsinki (Finland), is the biggest YouTube related event in Scandinavia. Read more about it and the success of YouTube in Finland in my article for the Foreign Correspondents’ Programme.

Kids don’t watch TV anymore; they watch YouTube instead. This statement is becoming common in many countries worldwide and Finland is not an exception: recent data show that 18% of Finns between 15 and 39 years of age watch YouTube every day.

The (Finnish) national YouTube community is in a continuous growth: 357 YouTube channels have more than 10,000 subscribers and 45 channels have got over 100,000 subscribers. Most of these channels are Finnish-speaking. Victor Potrel from YouTube HQ in London said that such a large community for a language of 5.5 million speakers is a unique phenomenon for the online video platform.

These channels represent a wide offer of diverse content. Video creators are developing a strong engagement with their audiences both through their videos and through social media profiles. “Is like meeting a friend”, Potrel said.

This strong engagement is what made Tubecon a reality: in 2013, some of the most successful Finnish YouTube creators were setting regular meet-ups with their fans, but when attendance to these informal gatherings was reaching 2,000 people, they realized that there is a need for a more structured event allowing a larger capacity. Tubecon was on the making.

Continue reading “TUBECON 2015: The idols of Finnish teenagers are now on YouTube”

#ffbcn: La fábrica de las ‘start-up’ de Barcelona

El 17 de septiembre se celebró el acto final de fàbrica futur barcelona (#ffbcn), una iniciativa del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona y la Obra Social “La Caixa” que pone el punto de mira en el futuro, incentivando diez proyectos de futuro de diez jóvenes emprendedores en diez ámbitos distintos. Hablamos con Bibiana Ballbé, comisaria de #ffbcn, y con tres de los participantes en #ffbcn.

Continue reading “#ffbcn: La fábrica de las ‘start-up’ de Barcelona”

I WANT MY MTV: Where did the “M” for “music” go?

The foundation of MTV as a “mood enhancer” and the replacement of music videos for reality TV-shows in the recent years.

In contemporary societies, the media is not only considered an entertainment or a source of information, it is part of human life and how humans socialize.

The media that people consume says a lot of who they are. For instance, political views are fairly reflected on the political views of the media outlets consumed. Media also influence interactions of humans on their daily activities. Think, for example, on how much of the topics on your daily conversations with friends or acquaintances are related to media or on how media influences current debates on social and political issues. As much as media seems inseparable from people’s life, it’s closely related to contemporary history, which is fairly reflected in the media.

Mass media and mass popular culture is assumed to be commercially motivated and is difficult to determine whether it reflects audience interest or intentionally shapes and manipulates them, according to the interest of those who produce it.

Celebrities are the myths of this time and many memories people has come from a song, a movie or even a TV channel.

Traditionally, aspects such as religion, family or work defined people’s identities, but this has gone in favor of different aspects such as leisure activities, consumer lifestyles and, specially, mass media. The media is partly responsible, furthermore, on how leisure or consumer lifestyles are defined. It is a big part of people’s identity, with several commonalities produced from shared experiences through mass media. It also defines collective imagery and memories: celebrities from the media are the myths of this time and many memories people has come from a song, a movie or even a TV channel, all different kinds of media. Continue reading “I WANT MY MTV: Where did the “M” for “music” go?”

Experimental Documentary: from the script to the video blog

Critical analysis over the processes of production and reception of experimental documentaries.

The video installation Script, by Brazilian artist Veridiana Zurita, was featured in Possible Futures (October 10-26th, 2013), the last activity of VOORUIT100, a six- month celebration for the 100th anniversary of Vooruit, the historic building in the city of Ghent (Belgium), currently used as a music venue, cafeteria and arts centre.

Script explores the relations between two women, a mother and a daughter. The daughter is Zurita and her mother is a psychoanalyst, based in Sao Paolo (Brazil).

The project is based in the meeting of these two women during two weeks, when they both recorded themselves on video while playing their social, familiar and affective roles, exploring themselves and the relation to the other. Continue reading “Experimental Documentary: from the script to the video blog”

VICE: The Hipster Media Empire

The business model of VICE Media Inc., from its foundation in 1994 to its expansion, in late 2013, through partnerships with Viacom and more.

Looking for a definition to hipsters, this is roughly what you’ll get: “Hipsters are hard to define”. Urban Dictionary gives, nonetheless, a fairly precise definition:

“Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter.”

Further, the definition includes: “Hipsters reject the culturally ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers”. Mainstream media products are usually rejected by this sub-culture, too, and hipsters were seeking for media products that appeal to their interests. That is how hipsters found VICE and VICE editors found a fleet of needy consumers worldwide.

VICE's timeline
What is VICE? Screenshot from the SlideShare presentation (full presentation bellow).

In 2008, The Observer interviewed Shane Smith, VICE‘s co-founder, about the story of the magazine: “We wanted to be the first international voice for the universality of youth sub-culture,” Smith said. Continue reading “VICE: The Hipster Media Empire”

“Tu, tu, tothom!”

A study on TV-show ‘Alguna Pregunta Mès?’ (APM?), Joana Brabo’s phonetic poem “Tu, tu, tothom” and the phenomenon as a viral meme.

What in this paper will be considered a meme, it was not originally considered a meme in the media and social context from where it was developed, in Catalonia (Spain). However, the Catalan phonetic poem Tu, tu, tothom and its landing into mass media and popular culture through television, Internet and social media, meets the characteristics Richard Dawkins described for memes in 1976 book “The Selfish Gene”.

This meme belongs to a different media and social context, which the reader may not be familiar with, so, before start describing it, I should briefly introduce its main actors Continue reading ““Tu, tu, tothom!””

“El futuro más presente” de la música y la cultura en Internet

¿Hay un desinterés por la música, el cine y la cultura? Se lo pregunté a Lyona, scannerFM, waaau.tv y 365díasdefestivales.

En los últimos años se habrán reducido los beneficios de salas de cine o tiendas de discos pero ¿realmente hay un desinterés por la música, el cine y la cultura? Si echamos un vistazo a nuestros ordenadores vemos que no. Sólo que ahora todo ese contenido se encuentra, más fácilmente, en otro sitio. Ese sitio es: Internet.

Dejando a un lado las webs de descarga ilegal y gratuita de películas y música en que algunos colectivos de internautas han sintonizado con un sentimiento de que es posible ahorrarse pagar si hay una rendija que lo permite, encontramos blogs, páginas web y perfiles en las redes sociales donde artistas emergentes comparten su trabajo para darse a conocer.

Continue reading ““El futuro más presente” de la música y la cultura en Internet”