Time: 55 minutes
Summary: Douglas Rushkoff followed several American teenagers to explore the complicated relationship between young consumers and the big-name brands that are constantly working to target them. Today, “likes,” “follows” and “shares” are the arbiters of cool. Now consumers are also the marketers, and teens are able to create and interact with culture in ways never before possible. These teens say that social media makes them feel empowered. For them, you are what you like. It is a part of their identity.
Companies know how to take that data, and turn it into money. The people who are handing over the data because they’re hitting like or they’re telling all their friends, "Will you please come like me?" don't know what the value of that is.
But, the efforts of a snack food or soft drink company to win “likes” and “follows” isn't seen as something to avoid or critique, but rather a self-promotional opportunity gain more likes for themselves. In fact, the more kids participate, the more they appear to absorb and express the values and agendas of the marketers. After all, the key to success is to bring a social media fan base along with you. Likes and views can be a ticket to fame, a path to a career or even way out of poverty
I want to see The Merchants of Cool which was Rushkoff's film from earlier talking about marketing when corporations needs to chase down kids to find out whats cool and then market that tot them. Now, teens are putting themselves online for anyone to see. They tell the world what they think is cool starting with their own online profiles. Likes, follows, retweets, and favorites have become the social currency of this generation.
I really enjoyed the video, it was very well made and the people in it have interesting stories. However, its also sad to me to see kids spending a large amount of their time on gaining followers and acting stupid for likes and popularity. I think that companies like The Audience are great and I aspire to work for people like them. I do agree that social media is very important and everyone needs an online presence in this time period. But, Rushkoff is right in that people especially teens need to be informed about the way this works and that they are doing marketing work for little to no money.
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