Mass Amateurization

Mass Amateurization
Contributor: Christopher Cuenca

Clay Shirky’s "Everyone is a Media Outlet" describes mass amateurization as the process by which a lot of ordinary people (the masses) obtain the tools and become fluent in using technologies that were once commonplace only to the professionals (the minority group) that utilized them. Ordinary people are learning how to use once-exclusive tools and cranking out products/creations that were once impossible to create. Some professions are seeing their ends due to this mass amateurization, laws are being created in response to it, and we are again entering that period of chaos (Weaver, 2010).

Much like the Society of the Spectacle, Mass Amateurization also creates a society this time with the help of new technologies. I remember when Myspace first came out and it was being used by my classmates. I became involved in it and soon began learning how to edit my profile page add cool backgrounds, add all my friends, add friends on my top list, etc... Myspace was the place where one could share what they were doing at that moment with all their friends. It was a social world in which many were consumed by how cool you could make your profile page look. Usually your top friend would be the person you were dating, and of course we all had one friend in common, if we wanted to; Tom. Now that I think of it Myspace was sort of a blog, where one could vent and share their thoughts on the page and well see how many responded. Not with likes, like Facebook has us used to but with messages, gifts and so on... Eventually Myspace would die out (not literally) but socially as Facebook would come in and take its place. 

At first Facebook was just another social tool to help friends talk with friends, this time however your status wasn't a short quote like "eating Chinese food" but paragraphs of your life story. Perhaps what completes mass amateurization for Facebook is the fact that Facebook was not created for social networking in a way we now see today. Facebook's initial attempt was much like LinkedIn's, starting with only Harvard and Ivy League students having access to the page. Facebook was all about finding people like you, education background, city, age; it was almost like Wikipedia but with normal everyday people. When membership was extended to those 13 years and older, well a revolution would soon begin. How did it begin or who was the first person to make Facebook a trend I am not sure. I wish it would have been me, maybe Mark Zuckerburg would have given me a nice commission. Anyways back to the topic. Yes, Facebook became a trend and soon people, mainly the younger generation were on this social platform. Millennials were one of the first people in the masses to adapt to this platform because their knowledge of the internet was far more than that of their parents and the rest of the older crowd.  Now Facebook has become a platform for people of all ages with all types of content being shared across.

What is the outcome according to Shirky?

We have seen examples of how ordinary people have become fluent or are becoming fluent in using technologies completely new to them. Now we are going to see how tools like Facebook are helping ordinary people create this mass amateurization. Ray William Johnson founder of Equals 3, a you tube channel in which he posts videos of hilarious viral videos and comments on them making them even more hilarious. If we look back then, he probably wasn't as popular as he is now. Thanks to constantly posting videos on you tube, he has been able to make a name for himself. He started his own production company called Runaway Planet and like the name indicates, amateurization, he went on to make amateur films that he has been able to capitalizes from sponsors on YouTube. It all started with a simple podcast in his room which eventually he would turn into a studio. This is an example of how ordinary people like Ray turned the media in their favor. Ray is not the only who started his own You-tube Channel and has favored greatly from, College Humor, Smoosh among other channels have gone from being videos on YouTube to actual media companies. 

The Future of Media Professionals

Like Ray, ordinary people are learning how to use technology to start YouTube channels and amazing small media companies perhaps not to compete with the big ones but to contribute and assist, lowering the costs for the big companies by taking in parts of their project. Media has helped many like myself to produce content like this blog in order to explain further the fundamentals of topics that arise such as mass amateurization. Many could argue that unless you have talent like Eminem or Beyonce you will need help of the internet to make it big just like Ray William Johnson did. Artists like Tyler the Creator, Justin Bieber, and more are making names of themselves due to the amount of views, shares and likes their videos get across the web. Traditionally, journalists made a name for themselves by doing extensive research and then publishing their work via books, videos, articles etc... Now thanks to mass amateurization and according to The Monkey Trust, artists are adopting the term publish first and filter later. Like Equals 3, content is shared across the web some not being the best and others being really great but either way people are getting their seconds of fame on social media. We now have the tools to make a name for ourselves even if it only lasts a few seconds by creating content that is good or bad but still makes its ways around the web thanks to those that share it or find it interesting. Interesting? Right.

Works Cited

TheMonkeyTrust. "Mass Amateurization: We Need a Filter." YouTube. YouTube, 04 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.