Reflections,Social,Media,dysto marketing Reflections of Social Media dystopia abound in Black Mirror

Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie

0 0 1 858 4584 Punch Comms 104 33 5409 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin-top:0cm;mso-para-margin-right:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0cm;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}The digital sector and socialmedia in particular has come a long way in five years. The speed of evolutionhas been nothing short of spectacular; MySpace the early pioneer and wunderkindhas gone from hero to zero in less time than it took for the world to work outthere was something a bit fishy going on at the News of the World. Like thatgreat bastion of the old print media world, MySpace’s time has come and it hasbeen discarded by a consumer generation fascinated by novelty and constantlysearching for the next social media fix. Some would argue that the demise ofMySpace is simple Darwinism; survival of the fittest where MySpace proved to beanything but an athlete and certainly there is merit in that argument.The other competitors are stillgoing strong, with Facebook a good couple of lengths clear of Twitter andYouTube, but now nervously looking over its shoulder at the new challenger, notjust Google, but Google+ no less. Only time will tell when the race is won orindeed if the race will ever end; more likely the race continues until more andmore die from exhaustion and new challengers spring to the front.The social media future is as yetunknown, only a bona fide genius (or madman) would profess to have a blueprintfor what the landscape will be next year, let alone in five years from now.However, a potentially prophetic vision of what that future could be wasrecently portrayed with customary acerbic bite by Charlie Brooker, in hisexcellent series Black Mirror onChannel 4. From his early career as a video game reviewer, to the Ten O’clockshow (via some of his finest misanthropic work in The Guardian, the excellentScreen Wipe series on BBC2, and series of book deals), Brooker has more thanfulfilled his apprenticeship as an observer of society. More than observer in fact, Brooker could layclaim to have his finger on the media pulse of society today, and particularlythe youth fascination with social media. With tens of thousands of Twitterfollowers and a passion for video games, Brooker cannot be accused of knockingit without trying it. He has immersed himself in all things digital, all thingssocial and all things media, which is why his portrayal of such dystopianfutures has such resonance in Black Mirror.The first episode was setsquarely within the confines of modern day Whitehall and Thames House,combining the post-Spooks fascination for the security services with politicalblackmail, terrorism and a splash of celebrity royalty. It was pulp fiction atits best and as a coup de gras, included a most preposterous scenario in whichthe fictional Prime Minister of Great Britain had to defame himself in congresswith a pig, in order to rescue a celebrity princess. It was over the top andridiculous, more silly and preposterous even than Spooks itself. However, therole of social media and consumer appetite and demand for salaciouscelebrity-obsessed trash was the star of the show. Thanks to YouTube, Twitterand the appetite created, once the story had got out via YouTube and Twitter,it reached unstoppable Tsunami levels, leaving the Prime Minister only oneoption – to satisfy the mob and consummate his porcine obligation. Thecrescendo delightfully illustrated a population glued to their television setsto watch the bestial act, revelling in their fix and yet, as the reality atwhat they had demanded to consumer became clear, increasingly disgusted bytheir habit. Subtle it was not, but a relevant and timely portent all the same.The second episode was a moregentle affair, but delivered a much clearer vision of a dystopian future,brought about by society’s demand for novelty and the quick fix. Timedperfectly to run immediately after the X Factor final, the second episodeportrayed a future in which society peddled exercise bikes to earn virtualcredits that in turn would be elicited from them by the advertising Big Brotherin the form of virtual clothing or hairstyles for their virtual double. Therewas no escape from Big Brother; in their habitation cells, advertising messagesand live feeds from salacious channels or talking heads from X Factorcontestants were constant – the penalty for skipping the advertisements beingthe removal of significant hard-earned credits. Big Brother knew everything; ifa user closed their eyes to avoid the horrific pulp fiction, the advertisementsimply paused until their eyes were open again, taking the advertising sector’scurrent obsession with providing “eyeballs” to the extreme.The finale concluded with theabandonment of innocence and morality, as a nation and their virtual doubles,obsessed with celebrity through the X Factor styled Hot Shots, gave in to theinevitability of their addiction. It was dystopian and depressing in theextreme. It was delivered with the subtlety of a sledge-hammer, but equallywith the wit and passion that is synonymous with Brooker’s work to date. WhetherBrooker is a genius or mad man we have yet to learn, but the social mediatsunami is only gathering speed. When the wave breaks only time will tell, andwhether the aftermath is a dystopian landscape littered with the debris ofhumanity, or whether social media will in fact become the very embodiment ofdemocratic free will, the ultimate socio-economic model of free-market supplyand demand remains unclear, but if there is one thing we do know; we won’t haveto wait that long to find out.