Mediation and Collective identity

1. Can you personally relate to the idea of creating identity using the media? Are there any characters or media personalities who you feel represent you?

Personally I don't feel like i am part of any specific sub-culture or can relate to a collective identity. I believe that being part of a certain collective identity isn't as important to my generation as it was to previous ones. There are so many different categories to put yourself in now that the significance of it has dramatically reduced since the 60s. Where it was largely 2 large rival groups, the Mods and the Rockers.

  
    2.    Can you think of any examples of Collective Identities being heavily influenced and define themselves by the media? Particularly youth sub-cultures that are often defined by the type of media they consume:

Street culture can be largely influenced by the media and can reflect what the media portrays them (and vice-versa). For the example during the London Riots, Social Media was used to orchestrate looting. Also the portrayal of the protestors in the mass media could of angered them even more leading to more people attending the riots. Also sub-cultures such as Emo's that are defined by the music that they listen to.

   3.      Are there identities that are often constructed then perpetuated by the media?

'Lad Culture' is something that has been heavily featured on online social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. Im not sure if it was created by these media sources but it is a culture that has been reinforced by sites such as the Lad Bible.

   4.    How can these media identities influence others?

The media can publicise things that we aren't aware of that people decide to latch on to.  For example, the 

   5.   In an Internet ‘We Media’ world how can we use the media to create identities?

Sites such as Youtube allow users to create content for everybody to view. As the popularity of the site is so huge and content creators have so much influence and power over the viewers it allows for role-models to be formed. People such as Zoella have such a huge loyal fan base that aspire to be like her that the fans become categorised and recognise themselves as Zoella fans. People with similar interests are able to communicate with each other through the comment section and also other social media sites, thus allowing for groups to be formed.