TEDWomen 2010
Johanna Blakley: Social media and the end of gender
Filmed:
Readability: 4.7
1,490,974 views
Media and advertising companies still use the same old demographics to understand audiences, but they're becoming increasingly harder to track online, says media researcher Johanna Blakley. As social media outgrows traditional media, and women users outnumber men, Blakley explains what changes are in store for the future of media.
Johanna Blakley - Media maven
Johanna Blakley studies the impact of mass media and entertainment on our world. Full bio
Johanna Blakley studies the impact of mass media and entertainment on our world. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
I'm going to make an argument today
0
0
2000
00:17
that may seem a little bit crazy:
1
2000
3000
00:20
social media and the end of gender.
2
5000
3000
00:23
Let me connect the dots.
3
8000
2000
00:26
I'm going to argue today
4
11000
2000
00:28
that the social media applications
5
13000
2000
00:30
that we all know and love, or love to hate,
6
15000
3000
00:33
are actually going to help free us
7
18000
2000
00:35
from some of the absurd assumptions
8
20000
2000
00:37
that we have as a society about gender.
9
22000
3000
00:40
I think that social media
10
25000
2000
00:42
is actually going to help us dismantle
11
27000
2000
00:44
some of the silly and demeaning stereotypes
12
29000
3000
00:47
that we see in media and advertising
13
32000
3000
00:50
about gender.
14
35000
2000
00:52
If you hadn't noticed,
15
37000
2000
00:54
our media climate generally provides
16
39000
2000
00:56
a very distorted mirror
17
41000
2000
00:58
of our lives and of our gender,
18
43000
2000
01:00
and I think that's going to change.
19
45000
2000
01:02
Now most media companies --
20
47000
2000
01:04
television, radio, publishing, games, you name it --
21
49000
3000
01:07
they use very rigid segmentation methods
22
52000
3000
01:10
in order to understand their audiences.
23
55000
2000
01:12
It's old-school demographics.
24
57000
2000
01:14
They come up with these very restrictive labels to define us.
25
59000
4000
01:19
Now the crazy thing
26
64000
2000
01:21
is that media companies believe
27
66000
2000
01:23
that if you fall within a certain demographic category
28
68000
3000
01:26
then you are predictable in certain ways --
29
71000
2000
01:28
you have certain taste,
30
73000
2000
01:30
that you like certain things.
31
75000
2000
01:32
And so the bizarre result of this
32
77000
2000
01:34
is that most of our popular culture
33
79000
2000
01:36
is actually based on these presumptions
34
81000
2000
01:38
about our demographics.
35
83000
2000
01:41
Age demographics:
36
86000
2000
01:43
the 18 to 49 demo
37
88000
2000
01:45
has had a huge impact
38
90000
2000
01:47
on all mass media programming in this country
39
92000
2000
01:49
since the 1960s,
40
94000
2000
01:51
when the baby boomers were still young.
41
96000
3000
01:54
Now they've aged out of that demographic,
42
99000
3000
01:57
but it's still the case
43
102000
2000
01:59
that powerful ratings companies like Nielson
44
104000
2000
02:01
don't even take into account
45
106000
2000
02:03
viewers of television shows over age 54.
46
108000
3000
02:06
In our media environment,
47
111000
2000
02:08
it's as if they don't even exist.
48
113000
2000
02:10
Now, if you watch "Mad Men," like I do --
49
115000
2000
02:12
it's a popular TV show in the States --
50
117000
3000
02:15
Dr. Faye Miller does something called psychographics,
51
120000
3000
02:18
which first came about in the 1960s,
52
123000
3000
02:21
where you create these complex psychological profiles
53
126000
2000
02:23
of consumers.
54
128000
2000
02:25
But psychographics really haven't had a huge impact on the media business.
55
130000
3000
02:28
It's really just been basic demographics.
56
133000
3000
02:32
So I'm at the Norman Lear Center at USC,
57
137000
3000
02:35
and we've done a lot of research over the last seven, eight years
58
140000
3000
02:38
on demographics
59
143000
2000
02:40
and how they affect media and entertainment
60
145000
2000
02:42
in this country and abroad.
61
147000
2000
02:44
And in the last three years,
62
149000
2000
02:46
we've been looking specifically at social media to see what has changed,
63
151000
3000
02:49
and we've discovered some very interesting things.
64
154000
3000
02:53
All the people who participate in social media networks
65
158000
2000
02:55
belong to the same old demographic categories
66
160000
3000
02:58
that media companies and advertisers
67
163000
2000
03:00
have used in order to understand them.
68
165000
2000
03:02
But those categories mean even less now
69
167000
3000
03:05
than they did before,
70
170000
2000
03:07
because with online networking tools,
71
172000
2000
03:09
it's much easier for us
72
174000
2000
03:11
to escape some of our demographic boxes.
73
176000
2000
03:13
We're able to connect with people quite freely
74
178000
3000
03:16
and to redefine ourselves online.
75
181000
2000
03:18
And we can lie about our age online, too, pretty easily.
76
183000
3000
03:22
We can also connect with people
77
187000
3000
03:25
based on our very specific interests.
78
190000
2000
03:27
We don't need a media company
79
192000
2000
03:29
to help do this for us.
80
194000
2000
03:31
So the traditional media companies, of course,
81
196000
3000
03:34
are paying very close attention to these online communities.
82
199000
3000
03:37
They know this is the mass audience of the future;
83
202000
3000
03:40
they need to figure it out.
84
205000
2000
03:42
But they're having a hard time doing it
85
207000
2000
03:44
because they're still trying to use demographics in order to understand them,
86
209000
3000
03:47
because that's how ad rates are still determined.
87
212000
3000
03:50
When they're monitoring your clickstream --
88
215000
2000
03:52
and you know they are --
89
217000
2000
03:54
they have a really hard time
90
219000
2000
03:56
figuring out your age, your gender and your income.
91
221000
2000
03:58
They can make some educated guesses.
92
223000
2000
04:00
But they get a lot more information
93
225000
2000
04:02
about what you do online,
94
227000
2000
04:04
what you like, what interests you.
95
229000
2000
04:06
That's easier for them to find out than who you are.
96
231000
3000
04:09
And even though that's still sort of creepy,
97
234000
3000
04:12
there is an upside
98
237000
2000
04:14
to having your taste monitored.
99
239000
3000
04:17
Suddenly our taste is being respected
100
242000
2000
04:19
in a way that it hasn't been before.
101
244000
2000
04:21
It had been presumed before.
102
246000
2000
04:24
So when you look online at the way people aggregate,
103
249000
3000
04:27
they don't aggregate
104
252000
2000
04:29
around age, gender and income.
105
254000
2000
04:31
They aggregate around the things they love,
106
256000
2000
04:33
the things that they like,
107
258000
2000
04:35
and if you think about it, shared interests and values
108
260000
2000
04:37
are a far more powerful aggregator of human beings
109
262000
3000
04:40
than demographic categories.
110
265000
2000
04:42
I'd much rather know
111
267000
2000
04:44
whether you like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
112
269000
3000
04:47
rather than how old you are.
113
272000
2000
04:49
That would tell me something more substantial about you.
114
274000
3000
04:53
Now there's something else that we've discovered about social media
115
278000
2000
04:55
that's actually quite surprising.
116
280000
2000
04:57
It turns out that women
117
282000
2000
04:59
are really driving the social media revolution.
118
284000
3000
05:03
If you look at the statistics --
119
288000
2000
05:05
these are worldwide statistics --
120
290000
2000
05:07
in every single age category,
121
292000
3000
05:10
women actually outnumber men
122
295000
2000
05:12
in their use of social networking technologies.
123
297000
3000
05:16
And then if you look at the amount of time
124
301000
2000
05:18
that they spend on these sites,
125
303000
2000
05:20
they truly dominate the social media space,
126
305000
3000
05:23
which is a space that's having a huge impact
127
308000
3000
05:26
on old media.
128
311000
2000
05:28
The question is: what sort of impact
129
313000
2000
05:30
is this going to have on our culture,
130
315000
3000
05:33
and what's it going to mean for women?
131
318000
2000
05:35
If the case is that social media
132
320000
2000
05:37
is dominating old media
133
322000
2000
05:39
and women are dominating social media,
134
324000
3000
05:42
then does that mean that women
135
327000
2000
05:44
are going to take over global media?
136
329000
2000
05:46
Are we suddenly going to see
137
331000
2000
05:48
a lot more female characters in cartoons
138
333000
2000
05:50
and in games and on TV shows?
139
335000
3000
05:53
Will the next big-budget blockbuster movies
140
338000
4000
05:57
actually be chick flicks?
141
342000
3000
06:00
Could this be possible,
142
345000
2000
06:02
that suddenly our media landscape
143
347000
2000
06:04
will become a feminist landscape?
144
349000
3000
06:08
Well, I actually don't think that's going to be the case.
145
353000
3000
06:11
I think that media companies are going to hire a lot more women,
146
356000
3000
06:14
because they realize this is important for their business,
147
359000
2000
06:16
and I think that women
148
361000
2000
06:18
are also going to continue to dominate
149
363000
2000
06:20
the social media sphere.
150
365000
2000
06:22
But I think women are actually going to be -- ironically enough --
151
367000
3000
06:25
responsible for driving a stake through the heart
152
370000
3000
06:28
of cheesy genre categories
153
373000
4000
06:32
like the "chick flick"
154
377000
2000
06:34
and all these other genre categories
155
379000
2000
06:36
that presume that certain demographic groups
156
381000
3000
06:39
like certain things --
157
384000
2000
06:41
that Hispanics like certain things,
158
386000
2000
06:43
that young people like certain things.
159
388000
2000
06:45
This is far too simplistic.
160
390000
2000
06:47
The future entertainment media that we're going to see
161
392000
3000
06:50
is going to be very data-driven,
162
395000
2000
06:52
and it's going to be based on the information
163
397000
2000
06:54
that we ascertain from taste communities online,
164
399000
3000
06:57
where women are really driving the action.
165
402000
3000
07:00
So you may be asking, well why is it important
166
405000
3000
07:03
that I know what entertains people?
167
408000
2000
07:05
Why should I know this?
168
410000
2000
07:07
Of course, old media companies and advertisers
169
412000
2000
07:09
need to know this.
170
414000
2000
07:11
But my argument is that,
171
416000
2000
07:13
if you want to understand the global village,
172
418000
2000
07:15
it's probably a good idea that you figure out
173
420000
2000
07:17
what they're passionate about, what amuses them,
174
422000
3000
07:20
what they choose to do in their free time.
175
425000
3000
07:23
This is a very important thing to know about people.
176
428000
3000
07:26
I've spent most of my professional life
177
431000
3000
07:29
researching media and entertainment
178
434000
2000
07:31
and its impact on people's lives.
179
436000
2000
07:33
And I do it not just because it's fun --
180
438000
3000
07:36
though actually, it is really fun --
181
441000
2000
07:38
but also because
182
443000
2000
07:40
our research has shown over and over again
183
445000
2000
07:42
that entertainment and play
184
447000
2000
07:44
have a huge impact on people's lives --
185
449000
3000
07:47
for instance, on their political beliefs
186
452000
2000
07:49
and on their health.
187
454000
2000
07:51
And so, if you have any interest in understanding the world,
188
456000
3000
07:54
looking at how people amuse themselves
189
459000
2000
07:56
is a really good way to start.
190
461000
3000
07:59
So imagine a media atmosphere
191
464000
3000
08:02
that isn't dominated by lame stereotypes
192
467000
3000
08:05
about gender
193
470000
2000
08:07
and other demographic characteristics.
194
472000
2000
08:09
Can you even imagine what that looks like?
195
474000
2000
08:11
I can't wait to find out what it looks like.
196
476000
2000
08:13
Thank you so much.
197
478000
2000
08:15
(Applause)
198
480000
6000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Johanna Blakley - Media mavenJohanna Blakley studies the impact of mass media and entertainment on our world.
Why you should listen
As the Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center (a media-focused think tank at the University of Southern California) Johanna Blakley spends much of her time exploring how our entertainment interacts with our political, commercial and social habits. She is especially interested in the surprising impact of intellectual property rights on innovation, organizing conferences around the lack of creative ownership in fashion as well as technology and the ownership of creative content.
Blakley has worked across a huge variety of media platforms -- producing for the web on a large scale, conducting gaming research, coordinating events for film festivals and executing consumer research on entertainment and politics. Drawing on this vast body of experience, she also lectures at USC and helped develop their masters program in Public Diplomacy.
Johanna Blakley | Speaker | TED.com