08/10/2021
Cultural Intermediaries
Cultural intermediation can be understood as a process that connects different kinds of communities into the creative economy and wider society. For example, influencers who user their power and social media presence to promote or engage their audiences towards a specific brand or market. Bigger applications over time have only become more concerned with market value than actually protecting their users and properly holding others responsible for their negative actions online. Multiple studies have shown that there are real psychological effects of likes, comments and shares and are proving to have detrimental affects on mental health.
These platforms reward "engagement" by highlighting highly liked posts more prominently in newsfeeds, and encourages social media users to attempt to post that same sensationalized content themselves. In doing so users post things that are more controversial, scandalous, and graphic in order to achieve engagement, however this then leads them to receive the negative ramifications and continue in a damaging and harmful society in order to “prove” themselves online.
This project wants to highlight just how important positivity online needs to be, and how less market focused bigger corporations should be, and if regulation of cultural mediairies is required. It should be a balance between the influencer and the company to filter what content is disturbuted online. Mental health should be advocated more in the online world and this social media campaign will act as a reminder that we can all be a little kinder, online.
