There’s a documentary attached to the Mad Men DVD series that describes the culture of advertising and Madison Avenue in the 1960s. After watching the documentary, the film emphasized that advertising helped to promote the meme of the American Dream by encouraging people in the 1960s to buy products so that as an American you could demonstrate you have arrived in middle class America. As advertising is no longer as effective as it once was, who is promoting the idea of the American Dream? Does social media have a role in defining today’s American Dream? Are your peers, friends and families developing the American Dream?
John
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:25 PM
Subject: RE: American Dream: Social Media
In the case of Scoble, he got snatched up by hosting giant, Rackspace, with a goal of having him continue his legacy of great content creation. Gary “Vee” as many of his fans know him has been the most successful by using his micro celebrity-hood to grow his family’s multi-million dollar wine and spirits business It’s only a matter of time before a big vintner or distributor scoops him up.
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 12:38 AM
So, I think it’s time for me to tee up a question for you. If a slice of the American Dream is for any musical artist to make money from the sale of their music, do all the downward pressures of free (albeit illegal) services like Bit Torrent and the rise of all-you-can eat services offered by Napster and some of the big wireless carriers going to rob these artists of this possibility?
From: John Cass
Subject: RE: American Dream: Social Media
rent life might seem as if its difficult to change. I think social media gives people another easier opportunity to change themselves into something they want to be.
American music has improved, maybe it is difficult for me to argue that social media was the cause but I suspect it was. For some big artists there may not be the same opportunity as there was in the 80’s with making as much money, but perhaps now more artists will be able to make a living. I think that artists have to look for alternative ways to make money, such as concert tickets and other goods, the music can be sold but perhaps sometimes that’s the loss leader to build the long term relationship.
From: Aaron Strout
John,
Super, I’d definitely be up for continuing the conversation in a different post.I really like the idea of the American Dream inspiring people to be more than they are… especially already established and older people who might no longer be all that motivated because of where circumstances and choices have taken them in life. I think there’s always hope, and it would be interesting to explore how social media has changed people’s lives.
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