The Voice

The Voice has a significant place in the social and historical context of race relations and representation in Britain, launching in 1982 in the wake of the Brixton race riots. It is also the perfect case study to further develop our understanding of Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory we studied last lesson.

The Voice - background and notes

The Voice, founded in 1982, is the only British national black weekly newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GV Media Group Limited, and is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. The paper is based in London and is published every Thursday. 

The first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982. Its cover price was 54 pence, and was only sold in London.

You can read more background from The Voice website here.

The Voice: social and historical context

In 1981, the Brixton race riots shone a spotlight on race relations in Britain. 

The Voice emerged in 1982 partly as a result of these riots – both due to the need to offer a voice and representation to black Britons and also due to a business loan from Barclays Bank. The bank was keen at the time to improve their reputation with the black community due to investments in Apartheid South Africa.

Social context - The Battle for Brixton documentary

The Voice analysis: production values

The Voice offers a strong contrast to Teen Vogue with significantly lower production values across its digital operations – website design, video content and social media. However, the growth of digital technology means that the Voice can effectively compete on the same playing field as Teen Vogue, albeit targeting a niche audience.

Watch this video on influential black women in business and compare it to Teen Vogue’s video content – similar in ideology but very different in production values (note the view count too):

The Voice: representation

The Voice was launched to cater for the interests of British-born black people. Applying Gilroy’s work on “double consciousness”, it could be argued that the Voice was launched to give black audiences an opportunity to see the world through their own eyes rather than through the prism of white, often-racist mainstream British media.

The Voice: industries

The Voice is owned by Jamaican media organising the Gleaner company and published in Britain by GV Media Group. It is a significant contrast to Teen Vogue and the international giant Conde Nast.


Recently, in a similar move to The Guardian's request for donations, The Voice asks its readers to support the publication by paying donations via PayPal. This raises interesting questions regarding the financial viability of online news media and particularly niche publications such as The Voice (or indeed Oh Comely).


The Voice: case study blog tasks

Language and textual analysis

Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice homepage?

The main key convention on the voice is the top bar menu consisting of; news, sport, lifestyle, entertainment, faith. People can click on the different categories and consume them. Also there are polls such as, racism in the England game which was posted two weeks ago. This shows that the voice does not regularly update their website. 

2) How does the page design differ from Teen Vogue?
The voice has a very low budget compared to Teen Vogue's due to them having a higher readership and circulation. The Voice also targets a very niche population

3) What are some of the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content, values and ideologies of the Voice?
The items that are listed at the top menu bar are: News, Sports, Lifestyle and Entertainment. News being the first option at the top menu bar indicates its importance to The Voice due to it being the main source of its readership.

4) Look at the news stories on The Voice homepage. Choose three stories and discuss how they have presented the news from an angle or perspective that reflects The Voice's role as a voice for black Britons.

Football tournament held to remember murdered teen

This shows how black representation has changed over the years as you can see the football team showing sympathy for the young black teen by honouring him. Several years ago, black people weren't even recognised on the news and were rather ignored by the white people living in Briton. 

Collective helping black women tech founders secure funding expands to London
This subverts black female stereotypes as they are normally seen as fragile and quiet. However in this news story, you see three empowering black females expanding their organisation around the world starting with the UK. These female Tech founders have shown how intelligent females can be and raised many female voices to also make a change to their media representation. 

Second World War veteran inspires younger generation to reach their full potential
Neil Flanigan who served the royal air force during the Second World War has become an inspiration for  young adults as he talks about young teens having the capability of reaching their full potential. Black people had trouble reaching out to a global audience to encourage people do better as they were normally silenced by the majority. 

5) How is narrative used to encourage audience engagement with the Voice? Apply narrative theories (e.g. Todorov equilibrium or Barthes’ enigma codes) and make specific reference to stories on the homepage.
The Voice uses Todorov's equilibrium in every news they publish stating the equilibrium or the disequilibrium. they also create enigma codes to keep their audience engaged with their future news or to get a greater insight in the current ones. 

Lifestyle section

Now analyse the Lifestyle section of the Voice and answer the following:

1) What are the items in the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section and what does this suggest about the Voice audience?

The Voice deliberately chose those sub headings as it interests the audience the most due it being a very common 'click' when reviewing someones lifestyle. This suggests The voice's audience aren't that different than the majority as they have similar interest. 

2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?

"Honourees aplenty at 2019 Black Magic Awards"
"Black male grooming brand secures investment to support its growth"
"How to podcast and influence people"

3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?

The lifestyle section of The Voice differs from the Teen vogue due to Teen vogue targeting young females therefore, The Voice can have variety of lifestyle subheading as it targets a wider population.  

4) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?

Black stereotypes are reinforced since the Voice lifestyle still reflects the same media representation that the Black people believe is not true. For example, the sub menu of the lifestyle section does not mention anything about their culture instead reinforce typical stereotypes of what people enjoy and are concern about. 

5) Choose three stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?

Trailer for Pixar's First film with Black lead is here

The Voice here is supporting the success of a Movie with the first black lead. The ideologies created are that Black people are becoming more and more successful in the film industry. Also Pixar are now being more diverse which is reinforced in the The voice lifestyle section. 

Honourees aplenty at 2019 Black Magic Awards

This is reflecting the values The Voice have over the black community, and how they want them to be heavily represented in their magazine, this feature is showing how they want to celebrate black people for their heavy success in 2019.

Black male grooming brand secures investment to support its growth

Story of his launch went viral gaining international media exposure and a loyal following of customers who felt inspired by his story. This again emphasises the success of Black people in the media and how they are changing other people views about their appearance in the business market.  

Feature focus

1) Read this Voice news story on Grenfell tower and Doreen Lawrence. How might this story reflect the Voice’s values and ideologies? What do the comments below suggest about how readers responded to the article? Can you link this to Gilroy’s work on the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?
This reflects the Voice's values and ideologies as Black people are regarded as less important than white people.  Doreen Lawrence suggests that if there was white people instead of black in the Grenfell Tower, there would of been more of an effort put in  control the situation and the fire brigades union would of been more aware of the scenario.  Applying Gilroy's Theory on diaspora, he suggests that black people were never welcomed in the society and were always told 'to go home'. This reflects Doreen Lawrence's point on Black people not having the same privilege at white which corresponds to Gilroy's theory of not belonging here. 

2) Read/watch this Lifestyle feature about the Black Magic Awards. How do the article and video content reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice? What do you notice about the production values of the video interviews?
Firstly, the production value of the video is poorly recorded as the audience can see alot of blank space behind the person. This suggests that the Voice have a very low budget. The Article reflects the values and ideologies of the voice as it raises awareness for the success of Black people which is rewarded by them doing awards. 

3) Read this feature about the Young, Gifted and Black Awards. What does this story suggest regarding how The Voice is trying to change the representation of black people in British media? 

The voice is trying to change the view of 'double conscious' by representing black people in  a positive light. It recognises and celebrates students who have passed top grades in their GCSE and SATS as role models, to inspire them to aim higher and show education is the route to achieve their goals and career success.

Audience

1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice website? Consider demographics and psychographics.
I believe the target audience for The Voice is people around their 40s due to them appealing to black people who came from their home town to America. There are also debates that The voice are yet to figure out who their target audience is since they haven't been doing a great job on their website and their production work.

2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).
Personal identity can be applied since some of the news published on The Voice are relatable for example, Sterling's commentary on the racist act he endured in football. Another audience is Blumbers and Katz user and gratification theory. Most likely surveillance would be applied to The Voice as they give an insight of what black people are accomplishing in the world since it does not get recognised that much. 

3) Give examples of content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.
It is clearly aimed at a black audience from all the featured articles, it is mainly focusing on stories that would relate to a black audience. Also, it shows how they aim to target a niche audience with stories such as, "Ocean race to promote St Lucia as yachting destination", this shows how they aiming for people interested in travel, but again reinforces how they targeting black people with the carribean country St Lucia.

4) Studying the themes of politics, history and racism that feature in some of the Voice’s content, why might this resonate with the Voice’s British target audience?
Themes such as politics, history and racism resonate with the Voice's British target audience because i believe black people are most affected by these topics and they have now created strong opinions about these themes which need to be heard across the world.

5) Can you find any examples of content on the Voice website created or driven by the audience or citizen journalism? How does this reflect Clay Shirky’s work on the ‘end of audience’ and the era of ‘mass amateurisation’?

I think the lack of Production value of The Voice reflects the era of 'mass amateurisation' because the increase availability of editing software and the digital media exhibits that there is no need for professionalism needed to make a decent content for the viewers, For example the 'Black Music Awards'.

Representations

1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?

The audience are positioned to respond positively as it presents its audience the opportunity to see the world through their own perceptive, rather than living behind the eyes of dominated white British people.

2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying? Why?
The representation in the Voice is not an example of Gilroy's concept of 'double consciousness' as it doesn't follow the mainstream therefore, the media supports Black peoples views and values rather than changing it to seem unrealistic.

3) What kind of black British identity is promoted on the Voice website? Can you find any examples of Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” or “unruly multiculturalism” here?
The kind of black British Identity that is promoted on the Voice website is that it gives a voice for the black British community. So it promotes Black British people. An example of "liquidity of culture" is that there was a news story which was about a person in Jamaica. 

4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?

The preferred reading is it represents black people in a positive ways as it highlights the struggles they have faced and the accomplishments they have made. It brings unity towards the Black British community. However, the oppositional reading may be that due to the poor production values and the many clickbaits, are the Voice really making a change.

5) Do you notice any other interesting representations in the Voice website? For example, representations or people, places or groups (e.g. gender, age, Britishness, other countries etc.)

A interesting representation in the Voice website is it doesn't inform any news that includes a white person. The Voice is only focused on bring a voice to the black community and neglects all other races.

Industries

1) Read this Guardian report on the death of the original founder of the Voice. What does this tell you about the original values and ideologies behind the Voice brand? 

It exhibits the original values and ideologies behind the Voice brand of giving a voice to the black Britons who were born and raised here however, they never truly felt they belonged here due to having to access to human rights. It also shows they need to learn how to adapt to the society with the changing use of technology and creating a website to unite everyone.

2) Read this history of the Voice’s rivals and the struggles the Voice faced back in 2001. What issues raised in the article are still relevant today? 

The Voice's early sales were poor, but it was buoyed by job adverts from the newly aware London boroughs, which were willing to pour in money to satisfy their consciences, regardless of the response. Sales eventually rose, and by the start of the 1990s the Voice had its circulation officially audited at 45,000 - a figure which was proudly printed on the front page each week above the masthead. 

3) The Voice is now published by GV Media Group, a subsidiary of the Jamaican Gleaner company. What other media brands do the Gleaner company own and why might they be interested in owning the Voice? You'll need to research this using Google/Wikipedia.

The Gleaner company also owns 'The Weekly Gleaner' carrying news of interest to the West Indians in the United Kingdom, the paper offers coverage of important issues and events in both the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.  They also own : The Weekend Star, first published in 1951, reviews of Jamaican music, dance, theatre, and culture, Hospitality Jamaica is about tourist industry news. The Star is an afternoon tabloid. "The people paper", it provides investigative reports, news, special columns, and stories.

4) How does the Voice website make money? What is your opinion of the 'asking for donations' approach that The Voice is now using?

Through advertisement and sponsoring other brands which is supported through the website's feed.

5) What adverts or promotions can you find on the Voice website? Are the adverts based on the user’s ‘cookies’ or fixed adverts? What do these adverts tell you about the level of technology and sophistication of the Voice’s website?

The low production value reflects the lack of budget The voice has therefore, promotion and adverts are very fixed compared to Teen Vogue which had cookies allowing you to see their recent averts repeatedly.

6) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make profit?

In my opinion, The voice is surviving on public service through the donations and the sponsoring so it not really a vehicle to make just profit because if it was, they would of become obsolete by now.

7) What examples of technological convergence can you find on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content?

There is a news article featuring a video interviews and The Voice also do have a YouTube channel.

8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?

The growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice as it increased its population and due to this , The voice have a better understanding of their niche audience they are trying to appeal to.

9) Analyse the Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as MailOnline or Teen Vogue)? Are there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?

In Contrast with Teen Vogue, The Voice offers more clickbait on their twitter feeds and its mostly based on images and videos.

10) Study a selection of videos from the Voice’s YouTube channel. How does this content differ from Teen Vogue? What are the production values of their video content?

Due to The Voice's low budget, they are not able to produce content at a better standard than Teen vogue as it lacks production Values. For example the 'six influential Black people' video had many irrelevant objects and disturbing written work on the Whiteboard which didn't correspond to the video at all.

OSP: Paul Gilroy - Diasporic identity

OSP: Paul Gilroy - Diasporic identity

There are several important theories we need to learn and apply to our Online, Social and Participatory media unit.

These include Clay Shirky's End of Audience theories, Stuart Hall's work on representation and reality and Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory of black diasporic identity.

Notes from the lesson

Stuart Hall: representation and reality

Stuart Hall suggests individuals each have their own conceptual map – effectively what we use to decode and understand media texts.

Building on this, Hall outlines three approaches to understanding the relationship between reality and representations: 

Reflective approach: the media simply mirrors (or reflects) the real world. This is a limited approach that minimalises the power or complexity of the media.

Intentional approach: the producer of the text constructs the world as they see it and the audience accepts those values encoded in the text. This is effectively the dominant or preferred reading (reception theory) and leaves no room for the negotiated or oppositional reading.

The constructivist approach: this was Hall’s preferred approach and closely matches reception theory with preferred and oppositional readings. This suggests concepts and signs do have some shared meanings but they are not all inherent and can be interpreted by the audience in a number of ways (dependent on their own ‘conceptual map’).

Paul Gilroy: black diasporic identity

We first explored Paul Gilroy’s theories of black diasporic identity when studying music video.

This is the idea that black identity is informed by diaspora – literally the ‘scattering of people’ across the world. He suggests this creates a “liquidity of culture” that means black identity is formed by journeys across seas, not the solid ground of a home country or culture.

Importantly, Gilroy sees this identity as impossible to reverse – there can be no return to the place of origin as the experience of slavery and displacement can never be “rewound”.

Gilroy: black British identity

The Voice newspaper was formed in 1982 to create a voice for the black British community. Gilroy wrote of the dominant representation of black Britons at that time as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation”.

Gilroy suggests diaspora challenges national ideologies and creates “cultural tension”. This tension helps to create the diasporic identity but often comes with negative experiences such as exclusion and marginalisation. 

More succinctly, Gilroy sums this up as the white racist’s question to BAME people: “Why don’t you just go home?”

BBC controversy

Gilroy wrote about this in the 1970s and 1980s but it's been in the news much more recently. The BBC found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty's response to Donald Trump suggesting congresswomen should 'go home' to the countries in which they or their parents were born. The original clip and full article can be found below:





Paul Gilroy and Russell Brand

In 2017, Paul Gilroy took part in Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast, exploring ideas and modern culture. Watch the following two extracts and consider how Gilroy’s ideas reflect recent events and media culture.

Extract 1: 17.50 – 25.45
Extract 2: 44.30 – 48.08

Paul Gilroy - blog task

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?
He has consistently argued that racial identities are historically constructed – formed by colonialization, slavery, nationalist philosophies and consumer capitalism. 
2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

Gilroy is saying that racism isn’t caused by race, racism causes race. Racism is not caused by the clash of two or more races – racism is not a natural phenomenon. Instead, Gilroy states that racial difference and racial identities are the product of racial oppression.

3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

Ethnic absolutism is a line of thinking which sees humans are part of different ethnic compartments, with race as the basis of human differentiation. Gilroy is opposed to ethnic absolutism as it is counter to his argument that racism causes race.

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

the country a group have been forced to leave will always be the place that defines the cultural or ethnic identity for those individuals.

5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?
At the time, the dominant representation of black Britons was as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation.”

6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?
negative experiences of exclusion, exposure to regressive ideologies and marginalisation will also create an identity which is then shared within the diasporic community and perhaps from the origin country.


7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.
Cultural identities are still connected in diasporic communities through media platforms such as Netflix , and Amazon prime etc. They may also read the news and stay aware of whats happening in their home country. 

8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?
Gilroy suggests that slavery is important in diasporic identity because it had the most impact on Black lives and altered the reality of how black people are living today. Slavery was an event which created diaspora and no one can go back and change the damage it has caused. 


9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?
Double consciousness provides more ways of understanding the world, but it places a great strain on black Americans as they consistently feel they are looking at themselves through the eyes of others; there is a ‘two-ness’ within the identity of the black American which is unreconciled.

10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

The trailer challenges black female stereotypes as you see three empowering females working for NASA. It also challenges the 'double conscious' since they are not phased by anyone else's input about them instead they are proving everyone wrong through their intelligence.

OSP: TEEN VOGUE- INDUSTRY AND MEDIA

Industry: Conde Nast

Teen Vogue is owned and published by Condé Nast, an American media organisation that publishes around 20 magazines including Vogue, GQ and Wired. The company targets a wide range of different audiences – 164 million consumers across its brands.

In March 2018, Condé Nast announced the launch of Influencer Platform Next Gen, a digital campaign that links advertisers and content creation. The goal is to “connect to a new generation of audience”.

Income sources

Teen Vogue’s main source of income is through selling advertising space online – adverts that are targeted using browsing history. 

However, they also monetise their customer data and loyalty, encouraging readers to register online for updates, offers and access to the ‘Insider’ area of the website. This data can then be sold to other companies or used to attract ‘advertorial’ or sponsored content. 

Teen Vogue also makes money through YouTube with plenty of 1m+ views on their video content. This is an example of digital convergence – a traditionally print-based product moving into multimedia and accessible on one device.

Finally, they run events such as the Teen Vogue summit and US tour.


Teen Vogue: fashion industry player

Although Teen Vogue has been creating headlines for its political content in recent years, it is also an important part of the fashion industry. Both editorial content and advertising is designed to create a strong desire in their audience for products featured. This links to Condé Nast’s role as a major media company interested in maximising profit.

Some argue that Teen Vogue’s more diverse coverage offers a form of public service through its political coverage. But are features criticising capitalism hypocritical when the brand is owned by a media giant like Condé Nast?

Teen Vogue: Industry and social media blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Teen Vogue Industry and social media' and work through the following tasks to complete the final aspects of your Teen Vogue case study:

Industry: Condé Nast

1) Research Teen Vogue publisher Condé Nast. What other magazines do they publish and how much money did they make last year?
The magazines that Conde Nast publish are Vogue, Glamour, Wired, House and Garden and many more. The amount of profit they made last year was about 4m.


2) What are Teen Vogue’s main sources of income?
Teen Vogue's main source of income is through selling advertising space online- adverts that are targeted using browsing and history.However, they also monetise their customer data and loyalty, encouraging readers to register online for updates. Teen Vogue also makes money through YouTube with plenty of 1m+ views on their video content. 


3) How are traditionally print-based products like Teen Vogue diversifying to create new income streams?
Teen Vogue has diversified to create new income streams through creating online platforms for example Youtube. The have generated over 1 million views every video.

4) Why is sponsored content and ‘advertorial’ particularly important in media linked to the fashion industry? 
The way the company makes some of their profit through sponsoring while also providing good content for their readers to enjoy, this is particularly important in media linked to the fashion industry. 

5) Do you view Teen Vogue’s content as a form of public service media or is Condé Nast simply interested in clicks and profit?
Conde Nast main focus is making profit and is simply interested in  clicks and popularity. 


Closure of print edition research

Read the following short articles to learn the background to Condé Nast's decision to close the print edition of Teen Vogue in 2016 and then answer the questions below:

BBC: Teen Vogue: How will going online-only affect readers?
New York Times: Condé Nast Ends Teen Vogue’s Print Run
Folio: Your Teen Vogue Hot Takes Are All Wrong

1) Why does the BBC suggest “Teen Vogue’s digital game is strong”?
Six million Facebook likes. A huge following on Snapchat. Three and a half million Twitter followers. There's no doubt Teen Vogue's digital game is strong.

2) What does the BBC suggest is responsible for the Teen Vogue website’s success?
i'ts headlines are light and relatable, with many written in the first person. They do a great job of making many of us go 'Ooh that sounds interesting' - *click*.

3) How did Teen Vogue justify the closure of the print magazine?
The company will also close the quarterly print edition of Teen Vogue, which emerged this year as a voice of resistance against President Trump.

4) In the BBC article, David Hepworth suggests there is a risk to going digital-only. What is it?
Once you let paper go you're just another website. You're just more space junk floating around out there."

5) How do online-only publications make money?
the only revenue you make is from advertising and the value of online advertising has been falling for years."
Teen Vogue say they are "aggressively investing in the brand" and pointed to the "tremendous audience growth across its digital, social and video platforms this past year".

6) What does Sarah Penny suggest regarding audience consumption for print and digital – and how might it be changing for Generation-Z?
"Print is a very difficult medium to sustain particularly within this Generation-Z readership," she says.
"They're really the first demographic to have grown up with a digital presence from birth so naturally have an incredibly strong affinity with online consumption - even more so than millennials."

7) What does the New York Times say Conde Nast is known for?
Condé Nast, a company once known for its lavish spending and its visually rich glossy magazines, continues to move away from its former identity.

8) The New York Times states that Conde Nast expects to bring in less revenue in 2017 than 2016… by how much?
The company will also reduce the number of yearly issues of Condé Nast Traveler and W from 10 to eight, while Bon Appétit will publish 10 times a year instead of 11.

9) The Folio article also looks at the switch from print to digital. Pick out a statistic that justifies the digital-only approach.
TeenVogue.com has surged from around 2 million monthly visitors to nearly 9 million. In other words, Teen Vogue’s ascent from lip gloss authority to bastion of left-leaning social criticism was almost entirely unrelated to its print magazine.

10) Finally, Folio also highlights some of the aspects we have studied elsewhere. Pick out two quotes from the article that link to our work on the Teen Vogue audience, representation or design.
“Teen Vogue has experienced tremendous audience growth across its digital, social and video platforms this past year.  We are aggressively investing in the brand and all of its consumer touchpoints,” - This indicates how media in general is evolving and getting bigger.

“In one of my interviews, one of the questions was, how do you grow Teen Vogue from 2 million to 10 million a month? And [adding politics] was largely the answer.” - Picardi


Social media analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Teen Vogue's social media presence:

1) Look at the Teen Vogue Twitter feed (you don’t need to sign up to Twitter to see it but may need to log-in at home). How many followers does Teen Vogue have?
Teen vogue has 3.3m followers

2) Now look at the content. Classify the first 20 tweets you can see using the sections on the Teen Vogue website: News & Politics, Fashion, Entertainment, Beauty, Lifestyle, Wellness and Homecoming. What does the Twitter feed focus on most? Does this differ to the website?
Teen vogue mostly incorporates beauty in most of their tweets for example facial and body problems girls face nowadays and how to prevent it. The tweets are there to help there feminine users rather than entertain them. 

3) How are the tweets and headlines written? Can you find examples of clickbait?
Most of the tweets have a one line statement which includes a link to an article that sends you straight to the website. 
4) How does the Twitter feed use videos and images?
The article that are attached in the tweets portray an image representing a little summary of the article which makes users immediately interested. 

5) Analyse the Teen Vogue Facebook page. How many ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ do they have?
5,885,552-Likes
5,789,011-Followers

6) Click on the Videos link on the left-hand menu. What type of content do the videos feature? Does this differ to the website or Twitter feed?
The Videos on facebook mostly feature politics and Lifestyle. This differs from content shown on twitter as they are many clickbaits on teen voguwes twitter feed. This may be due to teen vogue having less followers on twitter. 

7) Now look at the Events tab to explore past events. What are these events and what do they tell us about how audiences interact with the Teen Vogue brand?
Most of the events were Summits or Teen Vogue meetups. This tells us that the audience interacts with the Teen Vogue brand by personally.

8) Go to the Teen Vogue Instagram page. How many followers do they have on Instagram?
2.7 Million Followers

9) How does the Instagram feed differ from other social media channels?
The Instagram feed is just filled with pictures and quotes from the celebrities involved in teen vogue's content. However, it differs from other social media channels as they don't really focus on Headlines or articles instead interest their audience with their female celebrities involved. 

10) What examples of digital convergence and synergy can you find on Teen Vogue social media including the Teen Vogue YouTube channel? (E.g. opportunities to engage with the brand across different platforms). 
The examples of digital convergence and synergy that i found are all the social media tend to show the same content on all media platforms. For example the trump stories are mostly significant in all social media. This is so that all people consume the same media content that are registered in