Great Role Social Media Plays in the Modern Environment

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Introduction

To collect the credible evidence of the great role social media plays in the modern environment and investigate how public opinion could be impacted y this very tool, Instagram and case study of Black Star Burger are chosen as the main objects for the investigation. These sources are used because of their great popularity and demonstrativeness. They also respond to the lasted alterations in societal values by appearance of new tendencies that could be used in the research. That is why the researcher decided to investigate Instagram as it is one of the popular social media platforms for observing and analysing photo content of celebrities and other users in order to define how public opinion can be influenced through celebrities using social media platform. Furthermore, the case of Black Star Burger is explored by the researcher because of this personal interest, unique character of this very event, and the role it plays in the formation of public opinion (Black Star Burger: the first Russian national burger 2016). The investigator is Russian and possesses the improved comprehending of the way this event impacted peoples mentalities in the state. At the same time, is perfectly demonstrates how public opinion could be influenced through celebrities and their profiles in Instagram.

Additionally, the given way of data collection might also contribute to the increased significance of the investigation as only the newest and the most important information will be included. That is why 20 profiles labeled by Hello!, a weekly online magazine which is focused on celebrities news and gossips about them, as the most popular and influential at the moment are selected to investigate the way they impact peoples mentalities.

Celebrity

Boorstin (1971, p. 58) states that “The celebrity is a person who is well-known for their well-knownness”. In other words, a person who is popular with a certain audience and whose actions attract peoples attention might be considered a celebrity. Beides, Turner (2014) is sure that at the moment any celebrity is a business project created to satisfy existing needs for entertaining.

How celebrity can influence

The given research is based on the idea that when individuals become famous they also start to attract peoples attention (Boyd 2014).

Celebrities messages addressed to the audience revolve around the main forms of individual identification, social distinctions and numerous personality types. Moreover, the process of formation of social identities could also be impacted by celebrities attitudes and positions. Besides, when delving into the peculiarities of the peoples mentalities and factors that shape their opinion, one should also take into account the fact that celebrity industry provides visible products and images that impact our everyday life (Turner 2014). For this reason, generation of the public interest could be considered one of the main celebrities tasks. Thus, stars present some archetypical behavioural patterns that demonstrate the peculiarities of the current society, values appreciated by it, and desirable outcomes. Considering all these facts, celebrities blogs, sites, or Instagram profiles might provide important information needed for the investigation. That is why the given research will focus on the comprehensive investigation of Instagram profiles to collect the credible data and provide a certain conclusion related to the impact it might have on followers.

Primary and secondary data collection

As stated above, the given research rests on the usage of credible data that could help to improve the outcomes of the study and contribute to its increased significance. For this reason, primary and secondary data collection methods are used. There is the list of the most popular Instagram profiles that attract public attention and might obviously impact people mentality. The examination of statistics related to these profiles should be considered the primary data collection. The statistical data obtained in the course of the investigation will help to trace the mutual dependence between the popularity and impact it has on people. Furthermore, the analysis of Black Burgers functioning is a secondary data collection method which is explored to obtain the information about the impact events like this might have on publicity and how digital advertising functions in the modern environment.

Primary data collection

There are top 20 celebrities on Instagram who gained a significant amount of followers and which are used as the background for our investigation. These profiles are chosen because they are extremely popular at the moment. However, in case people preferences alter, another 20 should be used as it is extremely crucial to investigate the newest one.

According to Hello!

Beyonce (96,9m followers) – American singer, Songwriter and Actress: The given performer provides numerous pictures that demonstrate the peculiarities of her glamorous and luxurious lifestyle. There are many images of exotic places which could inspire followers.

Charlize Theron (2m followers)- South African, American Actress and Film Producer: The actress demonstrates different aspects of her life, including meetings with her friends, some funny moments, and humanitarian work.

Chris Pratt (9,7m followers)- American Actor: Chris shares mostly some fun content, trying to amuse his fans by unusual selfies of photos made during his numerous journeys.

Ellen DeGeneres (41,8m followers)- American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer: Ellen uses instagram in order to make people smile.

Humans of New York (6,6 m followers)- photographer’s account: This account shares stories with millions of people across the Internet.

Ian Somerhalder (10,7m followers)- American Actor, Model and Director: Ian likes to share photos of cute animals and friends, as well as keeping the world updated about his work projects and various good causes.

Jessica Alba (10m followers) – American Actress, Model and Businesswoman: Jessica uses Instagram to share photos of projects, kids and dailylife.

Justin Timberlake (41,5m followers)- American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer: Justin mostly use Instagram on tour, taking fans backstage before his shows and showing them pictures of him strutting his stuff on stage.

Kim Kardashian (94,8m followers)- Actress, Businesswoman, Model: Kim posts self-portraits, moments from the red carpet and pictures taken with her “best friend”, one-year-old daughter North.

Lauren Conrad (5,8m followers)- TV Peronality, Fashion Designer and Author: Lauren uses Instagram to inspire her followers and show them that creativity is awesome and it is easy to find unusual things.

Lena Dunham (3m followers)- American Actress, Writer, Producer and Director: Lena posts pictures with the rest of the Girls cast – as a little something extra for fans of the show.

Lorde (4,7m followers) – Singer, Songwriter: Lorde’s Instagram lets the world know that with her, what you see is what you get.

Niall Horan (19m followers)- Irish Singer, Songwriter and Guitarist: Niall regularly posts fun photos with the rest of the 1D boys as well as other celebrity pals.

Peejet (229k followers): Peejet uses Instagram in an unusual way. He shows Photoshop-made photos where he is surrounded by different celebrities. Moreover, his followers could also explore the same approach and appear in the same photo with the star.

Reese Witherspoon (8,8m followers)- American Actress and Producer: The star prefers to share holiday photos, occasional snaps, and other content that could amuse her followers.

Ian McKellen (1,2m followers)- Actor and Activist: Ian likes to share throwbacks to his time as Gandalf in New Zealand along with hilarious selfies with his bestie Patrick Stewart.

Sofia Vergara (11,9m followers)- American Actress and Model: Sofia posts pictures of kids, red carpet and photoshoots.

Taylor Swift (98,9m followers)- Singer and Songwriter: Taylor provides an outstanding number of photos from parties, glamorous shops, award ceremonies, etc. These pictures demonstrate different aspects of her glamorous lifestyle.

Cara Delevingne (38,1m followers)- English fashion Model and Actress: Cara is mostly sharing behind-the-scenes snapshots from her latest campaigns.

Brooklyn Beckham (9,5m followers)- photographer: Brooklyn shares candid family photos.

The investigation of the number of followers, reposts, and similar behaviors peculiar to users who monitor these profiles will help us to understand the way they impact social opinion.

Secondary data collection

Timur Yunusov, better known by his stage name Timati, is a famous Russian artist who has more than eight million Instagram followers. It could be seen that the artist is one of the influential figures, as there are a lot of pictures on Instagram with Vladimir Putin (president of Russia) and Ramzan Kadyrov (head of the Chechen Republic). With the help from his popularity and power of persuasion Timati recently opened a fast food restaurant called Black Star Burger, which still causes a massive queue reached about one kilometer. A specific blog devoted to this issue states that digital branding and marketing strategy are the key to the increased popularity of this very fast food restaurant (Black Star Burger: the first Russian national burger 2016). Promoters avoided the usage of traditional tools like TV or magazines, instead, they explored numerous social media and Instagram to attract users attention to this very event. The artist wanted to repeat the similar situation, as it was with the first MacDonald’s in Russia opened in 1990. At that moment, about 5000 people created a unique queue which lined up in Pushkinskaya Square (Keppler 2016). They all had been waiting for a new fast food restaurant to open, and more than 30,000 customers visited it during the first day of its functioning. They set a record for McDonalds. Timur Yunusov mentioned on Instagram profile that he wanted to bring something new and cheap such as a MacDonald’s in Russia.

Case Study

The above mentioned event and Black Star Burger could be considered a good evidence of an overwhelming impact of social media and Instagram on the modern world. At the moment, the franchise continues its growth and around 40 restaurants are going to be opened in Russia. In case the given paces of the brands evolution will preserve, Black Star Burger might become a serious competitor to McDondalds and Burger King which hold leading positions (Black Star Burger: the first Russian national burger 2016). It could be a good case study in order to find out how celebrity, in this case Timur Yunusov, can influence public opinion using social media platform such as Instagram.

Recruitment of respondents

Considering the character of the research, celebrities, as its main participants, could not be recruited because of their inaccessibility. However, the rapid evolution of technologies and popularisation of Instagram provide us with an opportunity to collect data about celebrities lives and the way their lifestyle impacts people. Additionally, there is a specific case study which is also used as the background for the investigation. We should say that the given approach to the choice of the object for the investigation could be considered an attempt to combine the usage of credible data and real life examples. Celebrities impact and the way they shape our mentality might be investigated in this way. Finally, people following popular Instagram profiles will also be considered participants of the study as their preferences indentify the popularity of one or another post and contribute to the increased attention to certain topics.

Sampling

Furthermore, the choice of the main participants of the given research was not accidental. As stated above, only celebrities that might impact public opinion and their Instagram profiles could be used. For this reason, purposive sampling as the method to collect the needed data was used. It is constructed with a specific purpose and with a specific group in mind (White & McBurney 2012). Additionally, the usage of purposive sampling could also help to investigate peculiarities of a certain group better. In this regard, its exploration seems appropriate in terms of the main goal of our research.

Research design and Procedure

Considering all these facts, a specific research design could be introduced. The information obtained during the procedure of primary and secondary data collection will serve as the basis for discussion. The case of Black Star burger which is provided in the paper will be investigated to analyse the impact social media, celebrities, and digital advertising might have on people and their choices. Primary data collection with observation method is going to be used for the investigation (Creswell 2013). Additionally, a quantitative design which is focused on the investigation of specific motifs, attitudes, and other qualities is chosen. For this reason, users’ opinions related to Black Star Burger on Instagram will be evaluated in the course of the investigation. The data analysed in the course of the study will include profile information, photos, comments and tags associated with the restaurant, as there is a significant amount of posts with different public opinions, which would be useful for further analysis. The investigation of the given data is needed to trace the evolution of the attitude to various events under the impact of celebrities photos, posts, or appeals. Altogether, the given methodology will contribute to the improved credibility of final results and help to formulate the main tendencies peculiar to the given sphere (Flick 2006). Additionally, the usage of different methods will also result in the increased diversity of the information obtained in the course of the investigation.

Limitations

Nevertheless, the character of the study also presupposes the existence of several limitations that impact the final results. First, it is the inability to engage celebrities and obtain their real answers related to the motifs which affected them when posting one or another photo. Constrains on the study population is another significant limit (Passer 2013). Only people who have access to the Internet and vote for one or another photo might be considered participants of the study, when others attitudes could hardly be evaluated because of the lack of data. Finally, there are also several statistical and data limitations which come from the character of the research and impact final outcomes.

Validity

Besides, conducting the given research, it is crucial to assure that credibility of findings will not suffer, and the results could be considered objective and relevant. For this reason, great attention is given to research design and methodology that will be applied to investigate the issue and obtain final results. The validity of this very project is guaranteed by the strong adherence to the main principles of any research paper. It means that only relevant and new data will comprise the body of the research. The chosen research design encompasses all significant steps of the scientific research method (Hair et al. 2005). It provides primary and secondary data collection methods to guarantee that the results of the investigation will be objective. Furthermore, the internal validity of the project is guaranteed by the strong adherence to the outlined approaches and infeasibility of using other methods except those outlined in the methodology section (Graziano & Raulin 2012). For this reason, we could conclude that the paper might be considered valid and the results provided by it are relevant. They could be used for the further investigation of the given issue and create the basis for the next research related to celebrities impact on our society and decision-making process.

Reference List

Black Star Burger: the first Russian national burger 2016, weblog, Web.

Boorstin, D 1971, The image: a guide to pseudo-events in America, Atheneum, New York, NY.

Creswell, J 2013, Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, SAGE Publications, London.

Dyer, R 1986, Heavenly bodies: film stars and society, BFI/Macmillan, London.

Flick, U 2006, An introduction to qualitative research, Sage Publications, London.

Graziano, A & Raulin, M 2012, Research methods: a process of inquiry, Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Golbeck, J 2015, Introduction to social media investigation: a hands-on approach, Syngress, Waltham, MA.

Hair, J, Tatham, R, Anderson, R & Black, W 2005, Multivariate data analysis, Prentice Hall, London.

Keppler, N 2016, January 31, 1990: McDonald’s opens in the Soviet Union, Web.

Passer, M 2013, Research methods: concepts and connections, Worth Publishers, London.

Turner, G 2014, Understanding celebrity, Sage Publications, London.

Twenty Instagram accounts you should be following – and why 2015, Web.

White, T & McBurney, D 2012, Research methods, Wadsworth Publishing, Boston, MA.

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