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The Role of Digital Textuality in Social Seeding

Research Paper for Emac 6374 Remi Osi Spring 14

The Role of Digital Textuality in Social Seeding Marketing promotions and campaigns have been going on even before the advent of the internet. Stories have been told with the intention of drawing in customers, selling a product or service, or carrying out a campaign. However, with web 2.0 the options are greater than ever to use well-crafted compelling content to send a message to the world. This is usually the job of Social Media Managers, Digital Marketers and PR specialists. But one might ask isnt it all just social media? Tinkering with Facebook posts and twitter hashtags shouldnt be rocket science. True, it isnt. But it isnt exactly a breeze either. It takes more than knowing how to click buttons, drag and drop content and share online. It is possible to produce a lifetimes worth of content, post it on Facebook, Twitter and every social platform and not get a single meaningful engagement from potential audiences. So what makes the difference? This is where Digital Textuality comes in. The concept has a lot of applications for online content creation and digital marketing and promotions. Every digital object has multiple layers and on the technical side of things we can drill down until we get to the binaries, the 1s and 0s that make up the bits on all digital content. But I will like to concern myself with the surface layers of digital textuality objects, which take multiple media forms, which are encountered by audiences, viewers and the people whose attention we hope to capture. Particularly I focus on the process by which content is produced for certain online platforms; enter social seeding.

What is Social Seeding? This is an online marketing process where quality content is showcased on highly visible platforms like blogs, social aggregation sites, social communities, portals, email and even messaging services. (Copypress, 2011) The central idea is to know what to share, when to share and where to share and for whom to share. All digital marketing processes require this skill. It is why companies employ Social Media Managers to lead strategies on marketing campaigns instead of just hiring anyone who can post on Facebook. But what do these managers need to know as far as online content is concerned and why does it matter? Social media has become a powerful medium. Every market is represented online. People are actively engaging so it makes sense for anyone looking to get the worlds attention to get on the web. Platforms like Instagram which was launched in 2010 but now has more than 15 million users will convince any skeptic. Every moment counts. Or at least so it seems through the eyes of social media users. (Hochman and Schwartz, 2012). However, knowing how online content works is not enough. Knowing how to string words together to tell a compelling story, when to post a how-to video instead of an instructional text-based blog or how to use sound to convey a particular feeling to viewers is a means to an end; meaningful engagement. This is the bottom line for organizations, whether they are for profit or not for profit. Portfolio Creative Process I had these thoughts in mind in creating my portfolio. For my text object I had to go with something that would require more than just the viewers ability to read. Reading can be fun if the content is engaging but with the level of distraction we encounter today with messages been aimed at us from every direction, online reading can be a tasking process.

So I tried to incorporate something different, something that will require more attention from the reader but will not be too tasking. So I went with the trivia. Short simple questions that not only make the reading process faster and easier but also gives the reader information she may not have known. Another element that is important in creating digital content is the medium. The platform one chooses to use will determine how the content is constructed. The assessment questions we used in class also threw more light on this. Does the piece take into consideration the affordances of the medium? Inklewriter, the platform for my text object has a choose your own adventure style which worked well for the trivia scenarios. This meant I had to limit the length of text in each frame to make it easier to follow. For my image object, in retrospect, the first version did not really work as far as rich engagement is concerned. The slideshow was a digital component but the whole piece was not as interactive as it could be. Also Photosnack, the platform I used did not allow for much flexibility. I could have focused more on embodiment, that is using more signs and symbols to pass across meaning. (Ryan, 2004) As it was there was no certain narrativity to it as a clear story could not be deciphered from the random slideshow images. For the final version I added more narrativity by giving the viewer the option of interacting with the image and getting deeper into the larger conversation I hope to spark by introducing the characters in my stories. With the Gradient Blender App, I created a large collage with images of the characters combined with images depicting their work (mostly logos). I then made it interactive by linking to more engaging content about the individuals. This method works great for online campaigns as various digital properties can be linked from one central piece. The audience does not have to click around on the web looking for more information and content on a particular subject, a

lot more time is saved. This is the kind of responsive content creation that makes a social seeding process successful. The sound image speaks to a certain level of connection with an audience that may not be possible any other way. Hearing voices and connecting with peoples passion, pain or experiences. This is why when non-profits create campaigns they mostly focus on using real stories told by real people. The connections forged with such pieces are real and more engaging than anything stock media can create. I went this route by using sound clips of the individuals speaking about themselves and their passion. The same goes for video pieces and how they can connect with audiences. If Idan Africa (my central story idea) were an organization it will be a not for profit, social entrepreneurship driven entity. This kind of focus is premised on the organization s ability to spread the message and create innovative solutions to social problems. The stories need to be told, people need to hear and engage with the organizations goals for it to make any impactful change. Engagement is key. So creating online content people want to view and follow through on is highly important. Democratization of Online Creation Media production hasnt always been this easy and accessible. Before the online space became so vibrant only large organizations and traditional media professionals could afford to create multiple content pieces to advance businesses or causes. Surely there have always been the need for smaller players to create content to engage with audiences but not until now has the landscape accommodated media production on the scale that it is being practiced today. There are no more barriers between producers and the audience or between professionals and amateurs. (Muller, 2009) We can say that the dimensions of social seeding have changed. There are many opportunities to be

successful with content creation in the digital age but there are also so many ways to botch the process. This is why learning Digital Textuality in the way that this class has afforded is very helpful. I have learnt not only how to create digital content but to create it systematically, critically and in an intellectual way that really matters.

References Copy Press. (2011). What is social seeding? Retrieved April, 20, 2014 from http://www.copypress.com /blog/what-is-social-seeding/ Hochman N., Schwartz R. (2012) Visualizing Instagram: Tracing Cultural Visual Rhythms. The Workshop on Social Media Visualization (SocMedVis) in conjunction with The Sixth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM-12). Dublin, Ireland. Muller, E (2009). Where Quality Matters: Discourses on the Art of Making a YouTube Video, in Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau (eds) The YouTube Reader, Stockholm: National Library of Sweden Ryan, M. (Ed.). (2004) Narrative across media: The languages of Storytelling. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.