Selfie-Culture: How the presentation of ourselves changes social media

By venturing to join social media platforms today, some may find themselves caught in a world full of people and their self-portraits. If you think about the definition of a “selfie”, I bet you have duckfaces, athletic (half-naked) bodies or Kim Kardashian's butt in mind. But do selfies really fulfill all our more or less bad expectations of them showing narcissism and vanity?

These propositions definitely need some new perspectives for one to survive and keep a positive mind in a jungle full of people feeding you with their faces and bodies. Precisely, this means to list some new functions and opportunities selfies can offer within the innumerable amount of Social Media platforms we have today. We have to ask ourselves questions about the pictures saying something about new relevant topics in our generation.

Believe it or not, selfies can assume a role in politics. It’s possible that they can create new images of politicians. Have a look at the reputation of Barack Obama, often designated as the most likeable and frankly president America ever had. Of course, this isn’t all about him taking selfies but it does play an important role for his expression towards the society. People empower him by sharing these pictures, convincing their friends about Obama being a good choice. The messages can be spread everywhere - selfies are relevant for our participatory culture, especially in the age of Social Media.

President Obama's selfie with talkshow star Ellen de Generes

 Here’s another fact that selfies are not only used for showing bright teeth and new acquired false lashes. Regard some of them from a different angle: There are young people living in the favelas of Brazil  using selfies as a new form of communication in Social Media. By taking pictures of themselves, they want to show their daily life and issues they’re dealing with. And this isn’t bright at all. Showing violence in their neighborhood, document surroundings and keeping in touch with friends and family to tell them they’re fine. A selfie gets a whole new meaning by now. These pictures are now telling us different stories about the difficulties a lots of people around the world have to handle. Keep on and saying “Hey, we’re still alive over here!” - and not having a filter on them.

Picture taken by authors Freeman and Nema

This can also show us another opportunity for selfies to gain authenticity. Such projects are leading us to a new form of building a community. Nowadays it can be very easy to find others with the same political sentiments via Social Media. Connecting, exchanging of informations and planning together can lead to viral campaigns. Remember the big campaign of people being against the racist communities in the USA when a young black man was shot by a white police officer. With the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (nearly 4,5 millions of instagram tags), everyone could join the debate and stand against the problem. When selfies are used during a campaign, it can be easier to identify yourself with the activists and to join the campaign.

Instagram member using #BlackLivesMatter

If you still don’t get the upcoming importance of selfies, at least you should take them with humor. You definitely can have fun with selfies! Have fun with your own selfies, use them as a keepsake and especially make fun of selfies from others. Don’t take them too serious. As Joshua Shaw tells us, there are three important reasons why parodies of selfies make us laugh:

“They help us feel superior to others. They display incongruity, unexpectedness and weirdness. They help provide relief in socially tense environments.”

So better make use of his idea and enjoy some time combing through instagram and co.

Making fun of selfies

How can we learn from all that? It’s better to think about all the new perspectives you just got instead of  worrying about your best friend posing in her mirror for a too explicit selfie. Imagine at least one of the good reasons to take one. This goes out to all of you who criticize our new selfie-culture: Maybe it’s just worth a try, having fun while taking pictures of yourselves for a good reason, to share it and to like those from others. Or just let it be.  Don’t compare yourself to Kim Kardashian - be yourself.

Learn To Speak A Different Language! A Short Story About Facebook And Journalism

Many people will have seen this quote, attributed to a 1998 interview with Donald Trump in People Magazine, in their Facebook news feed. It's a great quote, but he never said it. It typifies the kind of fake news and misinformation that has plagued the 2016 election on an unprecedented scale. It's not surprising that the Oxford Dictionary has named "post-truth" its international word of the year, which it defines as an adjective...

"...relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."

The deliberate making up of news stories to fool or entertain is nothing new. And there is fake news in mainstream media, too. But the arrival of social media has meant real and fictional stories are now presented in such a similar way that it can sometimes be difficult to tell the two apart.

We have always relied on many kinds of sources for our political news and information. Family, friends, news organizations, politicans certainly predate the internet. But whereas those are sources of information, social media provides the structure for political conversation. When Jenkins considered new media "to have the potential to extend civic participation, and to create new forms of deliberative democracy" in 2006, he probably would not have thought that ten years later president Obama warns that the ease with which people can promulgate fraudulent news stories on Facebook threatens basic democtratic principles.

The company is being accused of abdicating its responsibility to clamp down on fake news stories and counter the echo chamber that defined the US election. But is Facebook to blame for electing Trump? No. Is Facebook clear of responsibility? No. Are media free of responsibilty for what happens on Facebook? No. Can they cure the situation? No. Can they improve the situation? Yes.

What journalists can do

CUNY J-school professor Jeff Jarvis said it loud and clear:

"We [in media] should be going to the social platforms, speaking the language there, respecting their context, and using the devices they provide - memes, video, photos, dancing GIFs if that's what it takes - to bring journalistic value to the conversations that now occur without us."

As a journalist who gathered most of my news experience by working in social media I couldn't agree more. I don't want to set up Facebook or Google as the censors of the world. I don't want them to decide what is real and fake, true and false. I rather work on Facebook or Twitter not to promote my own damned stories but to find what people are curious, wrong, and confused about and to bring them journalism. I want to strengthen fact-checking, context, explanation, education, reporting, watch-dogging. Journalism should inform and empower the users, the citizens, the public to share smarter, more factual, more rational and reasonable information. They won't win all the wars but they will win some fact battles if only someone enable them.

Fact Check: Asylum Procedure in Austria

What Facebook can do

Facebook is not blameless. In the opinion of Jarvis, Facebook, too, has a problem. It can do much better to improve what people read and share - "to create not just a better experience but a better society." He states that Facebook has the means to show related content and with that it can show related fact-checking and debunking from reliable media sources. Imagine if, as you get ready to share a meme, Facebook says: "Hey, here's something you might want to see from a news organization showing this is not true." To make this happen, he suggests that Facebook hires an editor not to create content, and not just to do delas but to bring sense of public responsibility; to explain journalism to Facebook and Facebook to journalism.

So with the fake news floodgates now wide open, has the battle to contain it already been lost? No. There will always been fake news, lies, and politicans and they will all go together. Will Facebook's role in the news disappear? Unlikely. It's undeniable that Facebook is a massive source of news consumption, and according to a study by the Pew Research Center, it's only growing. More than 40 percent of American adults access news on the social media platform. Instead of complaining that Facebook doesn't send enough traffic to articles that countless consumers have demonstrated they don't want to read, media should flood it with true news and nurture it.  

FASHIONABLY ONLINE

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE FASHION INDUSTRY

It’s no secret that social media influences just about every aspect of our daily lives. From sports to politics to news, our choice of online interactions defines who we are and what we do. Fashion is no exception. Social media in the fashion industry refers to how brands in the named sector connect with their target market through social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Fashion brands most often utilize social media for advertising. Other uses include reporting news, updates, announcements, events, promotions, and customer service. For example, organizations can use Facebook to promote events and give full news stories. They can use Twitter for shorter updates and announcements. The company decides which sites to use and controls how these sites display their image. Companies’ awareness of society’s dependence on technology drives them to delve into social media.

LUXURY, FASHION, AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media are a marketing strategy to manage market shrinkage in fashion and luxury markets. During the financial crisis of 2008, retailers faced a dilemma relating to both the economic environment and psychographic issues: how to convince consumers of fashion and luxury goods to purchase when even the wealthy cut back, and how to plan for spring when sales are declining at retail stores. Neither designers nor retailers expected improvements,consequently, a growing number of designers sought new marketing strategies to appeal to customers’ emotions. Customers became more aware of the value of the goods they were purchasing, especially at high prices, therefore, designers had to be bolder, crazier and make something that really stood out to sell successfully. 

Balmain using social media stars and models
with millions of Instagram followers for the SS 2015 campaign

The usage of social media technology by luxury brands started in 2009 and was initially believed to weaken the relationship with consumers, however, it is now viewed as an opportunity to improve customer relationships and to ultimately capture and connect with a larger audience. Technology encourages customers to interact with brands while increasing brand awareness involvement,and engagement. Thus, adding to brand recall and stimulating purchases. New media helped Diane von Furstenberg make a dramatic comeback to fashion industry. Her holistic methods of reaching consumers include a variety of new media technologies such as her website, Facebook page, blog, and Twitter page. DVF has managed to use these sources collectively to redefine her brand and draw in a younger clientele. Her brand is also well-known for its transparency and she shares every 

aspect of her line and her life with her fans, von Furstenberg’s followers are loyal key

Burberry´s Art of The Trench

influencers whose voices hold a certain amount of authority not only in the fashion industry but also in high-tech social circles. Luxury brands such as Burberry have begun using new media as a way of making consumers feel more connected to the brand. Burberry describes its site The Art of The Trench as "a living document between the trench coat and the people who wear it". Wearers of the iconic trench can submit images of themselves and be featured online along with other fans of Burberry creating a sense of exclusiveness and community.

INSTANT INSIGHT 

The use of social media by fashion insiders is artificially speeding up the fashion calendar, because customers are seeing fashion instantly as it hits the runway. Josh Newis-Smith, the junior fahion editor for Grazia magazine reckons this obsession with capturing and sharing every earring and handbag on the runway is changing how the fashion industry works. "We're all watching a show through our phone, rather than our eyes," he says. "Social media is now so relentless, you are spending your whole time on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Periscope... Everything needs to be instant." September is the time designers reveal their collections for the following spring and summer.

 Mobile style at London Fashion Week

 A fashion show is not a closed off experience only to be seen by the chosen ones anymore, in the old days, the spring summer collections were seen by customers only in magazines in the following February. This speed up has had a major influence especially on high street brands such as Zara,Topshop or online-only retailer Asos, they have enough resources to create collections inspired by the current fashion month in a matter of weeks and that´s exactly what customers want. By the time designers clothes have got into the stores, the high street has already interpreted their look several ways,it is good for customers, but experts are aware that at some point this pace needs to slow down.

NEW AGE INTERACTION

Instagram fashion accounts with most followers

In the fashion industry, social media platforms can be used to interact with the consumer, as a means of networking with others in the industry, and as a way of building an online presence. But social media can also influence designers in unique ways that are changing the way many designers create their fashions.It’s not just the inspiration and influences on major fashion designers that social media is evolving; it’s also the way we view fashion and the industry as a whole. For decades, a few big names dominated the fashion industry in a very top-down fashion but now social media has acted as a catapult to push the “unknowns” into situations where they can make their designs and ideas known to millions.The Blogger´s effectiveness is due to a strong individual, personal, popular, and elitist point of view. The engaging experience of a blog offers readers the opportunity to voice opinions and challenge fashion critics.Once considered fashion-obsessed amateurs, now brands view popular bloggers as the new journalists, influencers and trendsetters. 

 Social media sites act as a platform for the average person, and major fashion designers know these people are out there so they can also reap benefits by reaching customers on a new level that is more intimate and interactive, rather than the highfalutin fashion runways. A study from eBay Deals shows that more people are using social media for wardrobe advice, inspiration and the latest trends and fashion related Tweets doubled from the same event just a year earlier. From people sharing Instagram photos and Tweets from the sidelines of top fashion runways, people from home can interact and engage in the fashion shows just like the attendees.
Elitism within fashion has been hugely eroded, and this is for the best. The floodgates have been opened to a new generation – young creatives of multifaceted and sometimes-obscure talents that challenge preconceptions and convention.

Most influential fashion bloggers of now

THE EXTENT OF INFLUENCE 
In this new day and age young shoppers are making important decisions online and learning about fashion via blogs rather than via fashion magazines. What follows is a democratisation of opinion, as young fashionistas can connect with people who really matter to them like designers rather than the traditional journalists. Facebook influences shopping habits of teenage the ‘social shopper’ more than any other medium. Even the smarter, clued-in fashionista-types remain heavily influenced by Facebook, with independent blogs providing a only a little bit more influence. However both Pinterest and Instagram are huge players, just behind the aforementioned Facebook and blogs for multiple age categories. For the first time in history,customers are shaping how brands create and portray themselves. 

The Internet and New Media: a Revolutionary tool?

On the 8^th of April 2012  a post was published here which can be summarised with one sentence: “[…] nowadays New Social Medias play an essential role in the development of revolutions.”

I highly disagree with this view and in the following I would like to make clear why the Internet and Social Media are not (and probably won’t be in the near future) the essential or decisive element in revolutions. The main reason for this is fourfold:

Meaningful symbolism?

1.The Internet is not genuinely democratic!

Cyber-Utopians – as Evgeny Morozov would label them – claim so, however it isn’t. Just as every medium the Internet is a transmission channel, which transfers data from people to other people. This means that it is dependent on its users and its regional and timely context. The indented and the actual uses are not equal. For example although radio played a role liberating former soviet countries, it also played a great role in the Rwandan Genocide promoting hatred and violence. One has to consider that no matter how bad (from a Western point of view) authoritarian rulers are: they always have their supporters. And so although there are examples of the Internet being used to help a revolution or a democratic movement, there are also many examples of the opposite.

In Saudi Arabia for example Internet users are encouraged to search youtube for videos which offend Saudi sensibilities. There was a similar effort in Thailand, brought to live by an MP. At Protecttheking.th users could post links of sites that offended the king and then these sites were blocked. Another example is Iran where the government put photos of protesters online so that citizens who are loyal to the regime can identify them. They basically crowd-sourced the process of putting down a rebellion. In the Arab spring many protesters used Twitter to organise their protest which seemed to work swiftly and effective. However Twitter is a public platform so by organising a Revolution via twitter you are providing your regime with information which they had to torture to gain a decade ago.

The best proof that the Internet is not genuinely democratic is that authoritarian regimes do not fear new media per se. They allow debates about non-political or non-democratic issues like climate change or corruption. They get information what bothers the people they suppress. Therefore by allowing discussion, pretending to listen to the people and sometimes acting, regimes get legitimacy. And if they fear certain websites or initiatives they still can censor the Internet. Most of the time will won’t bother that much because:

2. The Internet is about entertainment not about politics!

People always filter their content and thereby personalize their Internet usage to a degree that they only see what they want to see. Most of the time that’s not political content but tv-series and sports, messages from their family and friends, the newest party-pictures or porn. The Internet is distracting people and confronts them with the familiar. Though “unanticipated encounters involving topics and points of view that people have not sought out and perhaps find irritating, are central to democracy and even to freedom itself” as Cass Sunstein wrote. 

After all we also have to learn from Western Social Media experience. From the 1990s on a lot of people in democracies were highly optimistic about the (direct-)democratic possibilities the internet has to offer. Some imagined a world where everybody was part of the political decision-making process online. What’s left now is mostly resignation. People don’t get involved. There may be more cyber activism in autocracies, however even there most people will use the internet to send harmless mails, watch harmless movies or read harmless thoughts.

Preferences

3. Social Media are not that popular!

At least they are not for a majority of the people in autocracies, due to the countries these autocracies are based in often being less technologically advanced. The number of twitter activists is small, no matter if we are talking about Iran or Moldova. A lot of the Revolutionary supporters on twitter are feel-good-activists from the democratic West. Furthermore most of the supporters in the concerned countries are young, modern, tech-savvy and support Western values. This can lead to a wrong picture of an uprising as it has happened in the Arab spring. In the period of the uprising in Egypt Western Media were highly optimistic that once Mubarak is gone, there will be a western style democracy to replace it. What happened: the people of Egypt chased an anachronistic Western style autocrat out of Heliopolis palace only to vote an Islamic autocrat into office. The Social Media activity of young, modern people created the vision that they and their views of life represent the majority in their country. However once Mubarak was overthrown you can see the deep borders, which divide the protesters from the start.

So who wants to get a false impression will get a false impression and that’s what happens in the Western World. The media loves stories about social media revolution. They are modern and thrilling. Beside the wrong estimation of the usage of Social Media, this view disregards also social and cultural factors and is build on a deterministic picture of technology and media. But having an iPod doesn’t make you a supporter of democratic values.

4. Social Media activism is not binding!

Democratic movements and uprisings demand a great deal of their supporters. It is dangerous, very often even life-threatening to participate. So what are possible reasons to get involved? The idea that just some Social Media posts from strangers will let you protest on the street is naïve. The decisive element was and will be personal tiers with other protesters. 

And your best friends can write you a text message with their mobile phone as well or can just come around. Mouth-to-mouth-propaganda will play an important role for every coming uprising. Especially when regimes start working on their Internet spying it’s the safest way. 

The Tahrir Square after Mubarak resigned 2011

Conclusion

Social Media and the Internet can in some cases be a helpful instrument to bring down regimes; but so can machine guns. And as the latter Social Media and the Internet can be used against protesters. So the outcome of a revolution depends more on the potency or impotence of the regime and the amount and the will of protesters than on the use of Social Media.

In the Western world we have a wrong image of the on-goings in autocracies because we are fond of the idea that our new media technology will change the world to better.

The point is: Wherever you will find a new media revolution you will find a new media counter-revolution. Thanks to thinkers like Morozov this idea is spreading in the World. In relation to that even some of the most famous supporters of the revolutionary effects of New Media already changed or weakened their opinion.

Want to be a full time blogger or freelance journalist? Embrace your social media presence

Perhaps the most crucial thing a blogger or journalist can do before going full time and independent, is to build up a name for him or herself. It is easier said than done, but in the age of new media and social networks the task is more manageable. There are a few examples in the world, but also in a 5-million country as Slovakia it is possible and some made it happen.

Perfect English, perfect starting point

Important thing to say about Slovakia, that the official language is Slovak, which is not spoken anywhere in the world, therefore the audience is limited only to the size of the country. If you speak English, half of the job is done for you already. According to statistics, 15% of the planet speaks it, which means one in seven anywhere in the world.

Let others know what you do

Writing (reporting in the case of journalists) is fundamental, but it's just a start. Before social media took over, only thing to do was to e-mail your articles to some friends and hope search engines will think it is important. Today, you have it much easier. Stuff – articles, blogs, videos, pictures – spreads much easier via social media.

An open Facebook or Twitter account, ideally both, make you easier to find, more accessible and if anyone likes your writing they will not only follow but also share it among their friends. There is no telling how much followers are enough to make you independent, but it's sure it won't happen over night. Let's look at some full time bloggers and freelance journalists and their path to independence.

Brain pickings based on donations

The idea of Maria Popova's website Brain Pickings is simple. She provides inspiration. Her blogposts ranges from book reviews (mostly old) to famous quotes, uncovered old letters of literary classics or vintage ilustrations of all kinds. Today, this is her living. “I want to build a new framework for what information matters,” she says.

It all started out at her workplace where she took charge over sending every week an inspirational newsletter to all her colleagues in the advertising agency where she worked. Then she began uploading all of it on a website. People seemed to like it and were willing to pay enough so that she do not have to do anything else. At the moment she has 150,000 subscribers to her own newsletter, 263,000 followers on Twitter and 145,714 likes on her Facebook page. She lives out of donations and earns a percentage from books purchased on her recommendation through Amazon.

Freelancer after ten years

Before starting her own website OMediach.com (which translates to english as “AboutMedia.com”), Mirka Kernova worked as a full time journalist for the biggest Slovak daily newspaper. She reported on media for more than ten years. After she became a mother, a thought of freelance job seemed to be a way out. She could be at home, work and raise the kids at the same time.

She started her own blog, reporting on media as she used to. As she put it a big help was starting a Facebook page for the blog and a Twitter feed. News about her activities spread via social media quickly. With enough followers, she started the OMediach.com website. The readers trust her experience and because of this she also has many contacts. The founding is provided through advertisements on her web and a single donator on her blog.

New frontier? Maybe

Social media gave freelancing a better chance at succeeding. Of course it is not only blogging or journalism that benefit from the rise of social media. You hardly find a company nowadays not trying to make social media part of their communication. Even though Google remains the giant serch engine, try to think next time you are looking for something, where are you looking for the information.

Milos Cermak, a czech freelance journalist and big Twitter fan, says he tends to search more and more for information on Twitter. And he is not the only one. It seems, your presence on social media sites is becoming more important than ranking in Google searches.

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Pictures are taken from Brain Pickings Facebook page.

David Tvrdon

Fashion 2.0 - The use of social media in fashion

At the last fashion week, the 13 years old Tavi Gevinson was sited at the front row of the fashion shows, near editors and celebrities. The Guardian even called her « the true star » of the Fashion Week of New York in September 20091. This young girl from the suburbs of Chicago has created her blog in 2008 and since a year, she has became a true phenomenon in the world of fashion. Editors, fashion designers, journalists have cited her as an influence, and have admired her style, her curious eye and her talent. Her swift rise to fashion fame highlights the role the Internet has played in breaking down traditional barriers to entry. A real revolution in the world of fashion.

This story emphasizes the new role that social media plays in the world of fashion. To define social media we can say that it's a kind of media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible publishing techniques. An important phenomenon of social media is the democratization of knowledge and information that transform people from content consumers to content producers. Social media enables the implementation of a collective intelligence in the world of fashion. Fashion invention and creation is not anymore the monopoly of magazines, editors, designers and industry. Now real people can also produce and share information about fashion and trends. The result is that everything goes faster and above all everyone can have access and produce content. The « (wo)man » in the street can discuss the legitimacy of studded jackets, the right use of floral print, the new it-bag or some others passionating subjects, as well as Anna Wintour in Vogue Magazine. Everybody can know in « real time » what are the new trends of the last fashion week or how is the last collection of a designer.

This is the emergence of a collective intelligence in fashion world, which is, as Pierre Lévy described it a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. Users are now able to generate their own content. It is the capacity of human communities to evolve towards higher order complexity and harmony. Social media enables the emergence of a fresh view, a fresh approach to fashion. « The Internet — web 2.0 media and blogs, in particular — has been kicking down doors and fostering greater inclusion in most cultural fields. With fashion, the net has created unprecedented opportunities for fashion pedagogy, making old media look decidedly old-school »2.

This the example of this new trend: street style. Street fashion has recently made its way into the world of fashion. An increasing number of blogs now feature fashion on real people, and show how trends are applied on the street, how urban street people are inspired by avant-garde fashion. With street style fashion, is now more focused on people and how they appropriate trends and apply its to their own style. Scott Schuman a fashion blogger (thesartorialist.com) describes his philosophy as trying to echo how fashion designers looked at what they saw on the street: « I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. My only strategy when I began The Sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that I knew most designers hunted for inspiration3 ».

Fashion blogs as thesartorialist.com, facehunter.blogspot.com or garancedoré.com now dictate new rules to the world of fashion. They show « real people » wearing vintage, handmade, ready to wear or designers clothes and not any more models wearing expensive clothes. People can react, comment and share information but also gets inspiration from those blogs. Street style had a tremendous impact on the world of fashion and brands views this new trend as a highly profitable new media business. A brand as American Apparel chose an advertising strategy largely focused on people from the street. Many of the models in American Apparel advertising are recruited on the street, or company stores. In 2009, American Apparel launched a contest with Lookbook.nu, « How do you wear American Apparel? ». People have to take pictures of themselves wearing American apparel clothes and post it on Lookbook.nu. One girl and one guy will be hand-selected by the American Apparel creative team as the grand prize winners and will get to model for an upcoming American Apparel ad4.

This strategy is an example of a trans-media storytelling, a strategy that brands utilize more and more. A trans-media project develops storytelling across multiple forms of media (TV, Film, Web, Mobile, ...) in order to have different entry points in the story. Each chapter is designed specifically for the media which disseminates. All to create a unified experience between media that gives the feeling of entering a universe. Trans-media Storyteller Jeff Gomez defines it as « the art of conveying messages themes or story-lines to mass audiences through the artful and well planned use of multiple media platforms »5. American Apparel advertising strategy obviously use trans-media storytelling to create a whole universe attracting for potential consumers, in particular through social medias as Facebook, Twitter, Lookbook.nu or fashion blogs.

One word on Lookbook.nu which is a community website, created by Yuri Lee in San Francisco and designed for users to post their own street-fashion photography with their outfits. Outfits uploaded to Lookbook.nu by its members are scored with points, known as Hype, to judge that outfit's popularity among the Lookbook.nu community. With more than two millions unique visitors each months, Lookbook.nu is fast gaining ground on the fashion industry's leading publications (UK Vogue's average monthly circulation is 221,090). Jasmine Gardner on London evening standard described Lookbook.nu as « a new tribe which is taking over the fashion world, and instead of middle-aged fashion editors, it's a super-stylish, international bunch of mostly teenagers who are showing us how to dress »6. Some of the images uploaded are so click that the fashion professionals are starting to notice. Managing director of Elite Model Management says: « we'll definitely put this site on our ones to watch' radar … It looks like a good source for both potential new faces and potential new stylists and other creative who we might want to work with »6.

Social medias change the world of fashion durably by creating communities which tells brands that they need to participate and create dialogues with people on-line. We’re beginning to see more genuine interaction between brand and client, using trans-media storytelling. Many brands are experimenting with development of their own social networks or even invitation-only communities to establish relationships with the next, younger generation of shoppers. Luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Burberry have launched their own social networks or added social components to their existing websites. While Facebook and Twitter allow brands to market to the masses in multiple ways, more exclusive social destinations within theirs site enable them to extend their brands’ stories and promises to customers. In doing so, they can maximize users’ online brand experiences.

Burberry's advertising and communication strategies are a very good example. Two events in particular are very representative. The first event is when Burberry decided at the time of the last fashion show to broadcast the fashion show online but also in some private places in cities such as New York, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and Los Angeles. Guests had to put on retro red and green glasses to enjoy a simulation front row experience. Burberry wanted to make a fashion show, usually elitist, more accessible to everybody. The second event is when Burberry created a website called Art of the Trench where users are encouraged to upload images of themselves wearing Burberry’s signature item – their trench coat. Scott Schuman (thesartorialist.com) helped launch the project and have accepted to take pictures of them. Upon accessing the site, you’re taken to a collage of children, men and women in everyday, every walks of life, categorized into genders, popularity and style. Burberry wanted to connect with its consumers and to show the diversity of them. They wanted to create a community through this iconic piece that is the trench coat. And moreover it cost barely nothing because this is the people who create their own looks and then upload it on the website. Scott Schuman was associated and collaborated with Burberry on this project.

More and more, brands decided to collaborate with bloggers who have an enormous impact on the world of fashion. Everyone can decide to start a blog to share her/his personal style or views about fashion. Those blogs affect everything from print publishing to how brands market themselves on-line. Bloggers now participated in fashion design collection collaborations and received front-row, international Fashion Week seats next to some of the most notable figures in the couture world. Bloggers are at the forefront of content innovation on the Internet and have the know-how to use social media effectively. Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s creative director, explains: « It’s important that the bloggers become well respected. They have a very articulate way of expressing an opinion. The difference between bloggers and traditional press is that [bloggers] are often talking directly to a final consumer »7.

And this is the key to social media and fashion. Thanks to social media, fashion, which was the most elitist industry in the world, became more accessible and easier to understand for people. Scott Schuman that: « Previously fashion was so alien and so hierarchical. Bloggers show the average person that they too can be part of it – that this is what it’s really like »7. And brands realized this collective power of customers and encourage it by authorizing fan contributions. Fashion industry utilizes user-generated content and takes part to the creation of a collective intelligence by focusing more on their customers' creativity. The dialog between designers, bloggers and social media gurus has opened up. Designers understand their customers are consuming media and adapt their strategies.

One of the result is that everything goes faster. Magazines realize that they have to share information to their readers in another way than printing it three months after fashion weekends. “I think it’s going to be more and more important to get stuff up on the web — images, reviews, interviews, etc. — as quickly as humanly possible,” says Lauren Sherman co-editor of Fashionista.com. “People read what they see first. I think magazines in particular need to figure out a way to cover the shows more uniquely in print because by the time the September issue comes out, no one cares anymore”8.

The demystification of fashion is another result of the democratization and the emergence of a collective intelligence in the world of fashion. But some interrogations remains. Maybe this isn't a good thing for fashion industry and especially for luxury houses to have their decisions determined by consumers and users and not by the creativity of fashion designers. Maybe consumers don't want to be too much involved in the creation of fashion. According to Hugh Devlin, a brand consultant at Withers LLP law firm in London, people love fashion because this is about dream and magic. He draws a parallel between such consumers and fervent followers of the royal family: “A royalist is unlikely to want to know too much about the Tupperware on Her Majesty’s breakfast table. Similarly, most consumers of luxury don’t want to see behind the curtain. They want to understand the effort that goes into their products but not all the nitty gritty,” he says. Luxury houses have to protect themselves not to loose the dreams that surrounded fashion. The question that needs to be answered is: how far should we embrace, or not embrace, the social medias? Antoine Arnault, son of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault and head of communications for Louis Vuitton, adds: “It is not a question of whether online fashion media is a growing force but of where it will stop”7.

Another interrogation is to wonder if new “Fashion 2.0” is another marketing strategy to earn money and seduce consumers or if it is a real fashion revolution? The question of the independence of bloggers in front of those brands is also a very important issue. How bloggers will deal with their new relations with the brands? How much harder, for example, will they find it to hold independent opinions on designers when they meet them at the shows? Will they really find it as easy to write about a brand if it advertises with them?

We can say that fashion world has changed in a incredible way to become more accessible and less elitist thanks to social media but that brands can try to take advantage of this. This is a risk because if brands starts to take advantage of this new phenomenon to earn money this is no more a “revolution” or democratization of the world of fashion but this is only new ways of marketing and advertising. Those solutions appears to be really successful so they are going to be more and more used by the brands. In 2010, we’ll undoubtedly see more brands experimenting in creating their own social networks or incorporating social aspects into their websites. The thing is that we just have to pay attention carefully to those phenomenons to avoid any risk of intrumentalization.




Anouk Exertier, Friday 7, May 2010


REFERENCES

1. Eva Wiseman, Tavi Gevinson: the 13-year-old blogger with the fashion world at her feet, The Guardian, Sunday 20 September 2009
2. Imran Amed, Fashion 2.0 | GQ Rules opens a new fashion dialogue, on Businessofffashion.com, 28 october 2008
3. Schuman, Scott, Biography, retrieved April 6, 2007 from thesartorialist.com.
4. Show us your style and win an American Apparel modeling gig, retrieved November 11, 2009 from americanapparel.com.
5. Starlight Runner Website
6. Jasmine Gardner, Is this going to be the new route to planet fashion?, London evening standard, 14/09/09
7. Nicola Copping, Style bloggers take centre stage, Financial Times, November 13, 2009
8. Hitha Prabhakar, How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media, on Mashable, the Social Media guide, February 20, 2010.