By Venuri Gangodawila
The concepts of ART and SOCIAL MEDIA can be at first seen as two fields which are very distinguished in nature. But when it comes to the modern versions of these, I suppose that there exists a kind of an essential bond between these two notions because today, if I say that ‘art cannot be marketed without social media’ you would have to agree with my opinion, because even the concept of social media has also been transformed into an art where everything has an art on its own. If you still didn’t get it, just think how transformed social media is at present when it’s compared with what it was at first or at the stages of its birth to this world. Did Mark Zuckerberg back in 2004, even think that his invention would shake the world like today? Or did Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen (founders of YouTube) think their invention would drive people crazy like today? No right? But these have become a reality up to the minute.
How can ART be associated with social media?
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First I should mention that “art” here refers to all its forms and not just the drawings and paintings. Art, according to my opinion is a vast perception which bores number of entities. Music, dancing forms, dramas, the cinema, photography and literature are only some of them.
So if you stop for a minute and wonder about how you get to know or how you become the first person to be fraternized with an upcoming movie, a musical performance or even to watch a music video, what comes to your mind other than ‘SOCIAL MEDIA’? for example: if you want to see what are the upcoming movies of 2018, you would definitely and easily search the term in You tube and would never wait for the TV channels to broadcast them. And assume that you want to listen to your favorite music or a favorite song you would definitely browse You Tube when you don’t have it in your collection. You would never wait for the radio to broadcast it. (Well, I’m referring to the majority)
And this also has created a trend among people who are engaged in the fields of entertainment, to release their productions straight in to the platform of social media instead of or before associating with the mass media. Let’s say a young and an upcoming artist wants to showcase his or her musical or singing talents to the world, the easiest and the most convenient way he or she chooses is the social media like You Tube, Facebook or Instagram, because those can be reached at the comfort of home other than wasting their time at the TV channel companies or radio channel companies and requesting their approval to broadcast their abilities. And it’s really cheaper. All you need is an internet connection. And in fact it is true that, most songs we hear now, whether it’s local or international, are initially released through these media.
In addition to the field of music, movies too have an effect in this. That is on the grounds that its trailer is first uploaded in social media before it’s displayed in the television and also, soon after a movie is removed from a cinema theatre, it can be seen uploaded in YouTube along with its cast and crew.
Also at present, a certain trend in the field of poetry has also entered the social media belvedere. This can be specifically observed in Sri Lanka where young and radical poets have a tendency to publish their poetic skills in Facebook rather than publishing it. This may be due to Facebook today, is possessing a greater impact on people rather than a newspaper or a book and again it’s cheaper to reach their readers.
Moreover it should be noted that social media plays a major role in promoting the entertainment sector in a great deal. There appears the above mentioned assumption of ‘marketing’. ‘Marketing’ of art forms like tele dramas, movies and most famously the music videos ranks the top here. Mentioning the truth, these are marketed even without the knowledge of people. One such popular way is through Facebook posts and memes where it is indirectly a source of making their work famous among the users with or without their knowledge.
The perks
As a matter of fact, all the above mentioned examples carry the plus points of using social media as a platform for Art. In a nutshell, they can be pointed as follows.
- The easiness of reaching the population.
- The cheapest method of broadcasting.
- The timeliness. (approaching the population quickly or at the time they want)
- The unlimited availability of content.
- The ability to remove their content anytime anywhere.
Above are the advantages for the content providers. When we look at the users, it can be mainly due to the easiness and the on time availability, the society seems to rely on social media instead of mass media.
As a whole, this newly developed trend is way beneficial to the contemporary society which is engaged in a never ending rat race to earn worldly pleasures. Because it can in some way provide a relief for the stress of the present man. But it can sometimes have negative effects too, such as on the ability of feeling the real emotion of the art form. Especially regarding movies, where you cannot get the movie theatre experience at home and also the safety of the creation might not always be fully assured by social media.
Therefore it is at our sake to decide what form of art is best to enjoy and what the best way is!
