Social Media and The Blockbuster

Note: this is part one of a two part blog post.

In my last blog post, I took a pretty critical glance at social media’s limitations and how marketing efforts on various platforms were being affected. While I certainly stand by my arguments, I’d like to take a more optimistic approach this time around and speak on why, in the long-run, social media is going to become an incredibly powerful tool of mass-media.

Much of the conversation regarding the internet and social media content has focused on niche markets, and to an extent that makes sense. Over the past two decades, social media’s ability to connect people with similar interests from around the world has allowed an incredible amount of niche markets to flourish. Some believe that this trend will expand over time in a content marketplace dominated by increasingly narrow and focused content, while the concept of “the blockbuster” fades into obscurity.  I don’t disagree that we’ll see an increase in niche content, however, I believe that social media, in conjunction with basic human nature, will lead to a golden era of content developed for mass-appeal.

Adam Smith and the Social Nature of Humans

Interestingly, one of the most compelling arguments on the social nature of humans comes from Adam Smith, a man whose work many misinterpret as justification for unfeeling and amoral economic theory. In his work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, however, Smith argues for a much more compassionate view of our society.

Smith believed that humans invariably make decisions on the basis of fellow-feeling, or extracting themselves from their own viewpoint and imagining situations from the viewpoint of others. For example, if I decide to call in sick to work after a night of heavy drinking, that decision is based on my understanding of how others would view my action and aggregating this knowledge into an imaginary impartial spectator, whose opinion ultimately decides whether or not I’m acting acceptably.

The Appeal of the Blockbuster

Extrapolating on this, it makes sense that the necessity to interact and understand others in order to operate in a society has, over the years, programmed people to desire shared social experiences. Sharing an experience creates a bridge between two people, allowing for a better understanding of how the people around you view the world. We see this in a variety of cultural phenomena, but for a quick, interesting glance into the psychology of it, you can read this article from The A.V. Club.

What does this have to do with social media? Never before has there been a means for people to communicate as efficiently, and in such great scale, as we now see with various social media platforms. The speed with which content can move though a social media network is unprecedented, and allows quality content to quickly establish a following. Just as important, however, is that with social media, the ability to experience content socially has been amplified.  It’s far easier to share how you experience content and, in turn, see how others experience content.

This sharing revolution will result in consuming mass culture becoming a more rewarding experience, increasing its demand. We’re already experiencing the beginning of this shift. In twenty years, it’s likely that we’ll look back upon Avatar as an early example of mainstream content buoyed by social media. Avatar would have become a major hit in any era, but the speed at which it overtook Titanic’s box office records, even when you factor in inflation and the extra cost to see 3D movies, is incredible. It’s worth noting that Avatar’s marketing embraced social media and has benefited greatly from an incredible amount of buzz on the internet.

In this post, I looked at the psychology behind my argument, but we still need to take this logic out of theory and see what needs to happen for it to come to fruition. In my next blog post, I’ll explain the current factors limiting social media’s influence over mass-media and what needs to happen to rectify the situation.