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bxebxee · 7 years

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Going Once, Going Twice, Sold (Birth of a Sugar Baby)

Note: This is a two-for-one deal. I wrote this to participate in the Bangtan Bookclub Monthly Challenge: Sugar Daddy Edition, and also as a (late) birthday gift to my very good friend, MVP, whom I love and adore and respect and would probably donate my kidney for if she were in need of one. I had so much fun planning this out with @94hixtape and @sugaredmarbles - Smut Goddesses tbh. I got Really inspired by Cheese In The Trap! Yet again, this came out Different than how I originally imagined it, but I’m hoping it’s not a total disaster.

Pairing: Hoseok x Reader Genre: college au, sugar daddy au Warnings: escort/prostitution, online perverts, unsanitary mention, masturbation mention Word Count: 5144 Rating: A, for Ambiguous (because it’s not really smut, but it’s not exactly the Safest thing for work. Feel?)

But the real reason anything at all started with Hoseok was something much simpler, and probably wholly unexpected - not that you ever planned on any of the other members of the MBA Society to find out.

You leave your unlocked phone in his car before stumbling your way into your tiny, studio apartment. And he sees a twitter notification asking you for further discount on your panties.

That is all it takes.

You have exactly $2.30 on you at this very second, broken down by a wrinkly-looking dollar bill with the rest scrounged up from various coins.

“Fuck,” you whisper, sneaking a glance at Seungcheol making his rounds collecting money to pay for the meal your group just ate. Luckily he’s still a few tables over, which gives you time to make puppy eyes at your friends.

Jisoo wordlessly hands you a couple of folded singles. “It’s all I have left minus emergency money, and you’re not getting that. Sorry baby.”

“I fucking love you,” you sigh, grateful for anything. When Chaeyoung goes to hand you money, you shoot her a stern glare. “Don’t you dare. Underclassmen do not pay for my shit.” You had absolutely abhorred being taken advantage of when you were a freshman, and you’d be damned if you subjected Pure, Perfect Chaeyoung to something like that.

The MBA Society liked to have spontaneous dinner meetings (read: excuses to get drunk), and while they were called “optional,” the tacit truth was that if you didn’t show up to one, your invites for the rest of the semester were revoked. So even though you knew you were beyond broke, you still had to drag your feet over to a moderately-priced meat house and pretend to enjoy the food.

“Just take the money, good lord. You can pay her back later,” Jisoo sighs as you continue to resist the younger girl’s offer. “He’s coming over here right now,” she hisses.

“I’m really okay with it,” Chaeyoung says enthusiastically in her Freshman voice. Her eyes are so innocent, and you feel like the Worst. You’ve effectively become the very person you wanted to avoid turning into, but there was no way around it...

Seungcheol comes around to your section a few seconds after you hastily accept a shiny, crisp ten-dollar bill from Chaeyoung. You give him a halfhearted smile as he accepts money from you.

“I think I’m gonna pass on second round,” you tell him, doing your best to look tired rather than depressed.

He frowns at the news. “Awww, why? It’s no fun if you’re not around. You gotta show the newbies how a real professional handles karaoke.”

You let out the fakest laugh, and you see Jisoo’s nostrils flare in embarrassment from the corner of you eyes. “I really, really want to, but I gotta take care of assignments. I’m behind.”

He sighs, pouting cutely at your reluctance. “Alright. I won’t push tonight. But don’t make this a habit.”

“I won’t,” you reply to his retreating form. When you’re sure he’s left earshot, you heave a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll pay you guys back ASAP.”

Jisoo snorts, “Don’t bother with me. I want your notes from last lecture though. We’ll call it even then.”

You blink. “Seriously?” you ask because it seems like you’re getting the better deal.

“Uh, yeah,” she replies, eyes incredulous at your surprise. “I skipped that day, and you have the best set of notes out of anyone who’s willing to share. Apart from Hoseok of course.”

You blink at the mention of Hoseok who did not show up today. Seungcheol had mentioned it was something related to his family. You try not to be too bitter because Hoseok is truly the sweetest even though his special treatment drove you nuts. It’s not a secret that Hoseok skipped out on these meetings all the time, and he still had an open invite. Maybe that’s what happened when you were the son of a millionaire business tycoon. Sometimes you wonder if everyone just lets Hoseok get away with doing whatever he wanted because they all wanted to get a job at his mother’s company.

It’s an ugly, recurring thought, and you have to kill it with fire regularly.

“Do we have a deal?” Jisoo prompts when you don’t answer for a while, and you shake her head with a sigh when she thrusts it in your face.

“Oh my god, yes, deal,” you giggle, swatting away her hand after a few moments. She always did have a penchant for the theatrical.

“I wish Hoseok showed up today though,” Jisoo mentions, taking out her phone to check on her Instagram. “He would have probably covered the meal like he always does.”

A lump of discomfort forms at her words. “He’s not a wallet, Jisoo.”

“I know, but it’s not like he’d miss the money when he’s fucking loaded.”

That’s not the point at all, but you don’t argue with her because there’s no way to win when she gets into an argumentative mood.

The first thing you do when you leave the restaurant is open Twitter and check your direct messages. You only see five new messages, and among them three are spam - advertising things like free hookup services and the like. One message is a glorified sext (you block that one), and the other is an offer, albeit much lower than what you’re looking for.

It’s with a bitter heart that you confirm the sale, letting twitter user @75649qx know that you’ll mail him your used panties for the low price of fifteen dollars. Factoring in shipping and underwear costs, you’ve made a grand total of seven dollars and change. This wasn’t even enough to pay back Chaeyoung for covering you at the restaurant.

It’s with a heavy heart that you make the choice to walk home. You needed to save your bus fare if your sales were going to shit.

“This is okay,” you tell yourself while trying to ignore the fact that you’re in heels, “It’ll be exercise.”

You look behind you to see if the rest of the group was still loitering by the restaurant, but they’ve all left for a second round of drinks and fun. You are truly alone.

A car honks loudly, and a voice calls out, “Hey, you’re still here?”

You nearly jump out of your skin when you see Hoseok’s head peeking out at you through the window.

“Hoseok!” You walk over to him, confused and a bit relieved to see a familiar face. “What are you doing here? I thought you had other plans?”

He smiles, eyes crinkling in an affable manner. “Took care of everything as soon as I could. You know I’d never miss a meeting on purpose. Where is everyone else?”

You shrug. “They left for drinks, but I needed to cut out early. Assignments...” You know you’re talking too much, revealing way too much for your statement to read as anything other than defensive.

Hoseok nods slowly. “Ah... which assignments?” Of course he’d ask, of course.

You swallow because you share nearly all of your required classes with him. “Just... online quizzes and projects-”

“The ones that are due in two weeks or the projects that are due at the end of the semester?” he questions with a knowing look.

“I like being ahead,” you lie, a true procrastinator through and through. You were probably just going to go home and marathon chick flicks.

Hoseok smirks at how bad you are at lying, and you hear the soft click of a lock disengaging the passenger-side door of his Benz. “Get in loser, we’re going drinking.”

“Hoseok-”

He gestures using his head, “Get in. I know for a fact Seungcheol is close to blacklisting you for the semester.”

You groan, trudging over to open the handle of the door. “Hoseok, I’m broke,” you sigh as you shut the door and put your seat-belt on. “I can’t afford to go drinking every other day. I mean, I had to ask Little Chaeyoung to cover me for dinner. Fucking embarrassing!”

Hoseok signals as he pulls away from curb. “Hey can you ask them where they are?” he says, completely ignoring your blabbering. “I don’t wanna get there too late...”

A quick text to Jisoo is enough to get the location, and you tell him.

You open your wallet to fish out two dimes you had missed while trying to find money for dinner. “What can I possibly get for twenty cents?”

Hoseok laughs, and you join him because this is entirely ridiculous.

“Will you relax?” he finally says when he pulls up to the bar. “You know I’m gonna cover the bill. You may drink to your hearts content.”

You frown, reminded of Jisoo’s careless statements. “It’s not right,” you tell Hoseok for the first time. The two of you weren’t spectacularly close, but you did interact with him from time to time. “People shouldn’t treat you this way.”

“What way?” he asks, face looking as if he’s confused. You wonder if he’s playing dumb because there’s no way he never noticed how people always slid the bill towards him, or looked to him to cover the check.

“They’re taking advantage. No,” you shake your head, “Not them - we. We are taking advantage of you, myself included. And it’s not right.”

Hoseok’s smile freezes on his face for half a second, but it’s enough for you to know that you’re not wrong. He is quick to recover, and he looks at you with a soft gaze in his eyes that you don’t completely trust.

“You’re sweet for thinking of me. But I’m doing this for purely selfish reasons,” he informs you.

You get spectacularly drunk that night.

In the following months to come, the members of the MBA Society would look back on this night and associate it to the night you and Hoseok began to “talk.” After all, you did arrive to the bar with him, get drunk on the booze he paid for, and left in his car because you were too drunk to walk in a straight line. No one else even brought a car, either planning on relying on public transportation or a taxi. The members would assume all sorts of things among themselves, the majority opinion being that you threw yourself on him while drunk out of your mind. Most of them discounted the idea that Hoseok would be the initiator of fucking your drunk self because he was too kind and good for anything like that. Some thought you may have just confessed your deep-seated, imaginary feelings for him.

You leave your unlocked phone in his car before stumbling your way into your tiny, studio apartment. And he sees a twitter notification asking you for further discount on your panties.

That is all it takes.

Hangovers on Wednesdays are never a good sign, but here you are, on-time to your 8AM hell class with a head that pounds so bad you swear people could see the throbbing.

“I lost my phone,” you groan, sliding next to Jisoo and slipping her your notes, as promised.

“Actually, you didn’t,” comes Hoseok’s voice from behind you. You turn your head around and squint at him since he sits right in front of the brightest fucking window you’ve ever seen in your life. He truly looks like the sun made flesh at this angle.

Hoseok hands you the phone you left in his car.

“Fucking- Oh my god, thank you,” you gush, head spinning from relief. “You have no idea-”

“Interesting Twitter, by the way,” Hoseok says, effectively turning your insides into ice.

“What,” you croak.

Jisoo crinkles her nose in an adorable, confused expression. “You have a Twitter? Add me, bitch. How could you not contribute to my follower count?”

“No!” you protest too loudly and too quickly to be considered polite. “I-I can’t. I’m too embarrassed...”

You feel like you’re going to throw up at any second from the combined double whammy of the hangover deluxe special and Hoseok’s knowledge of your Twitter account.

“What do you have on there that’s so embarrassing I can’t see?” she snorts.

Your mind draws a giant blank, but thankfully Hoseok cuts in. “She runs an idol group fan Twitter. It’s wild.”

Your friend rolls her eyes. “Never mind,” she tells you, “Don’t follow me. How old are you even?”

Hoseok smiles at you, but you don’t have the heart nor the stomach to respond back in kind. What the hell was he even playing at?

Three hours of class feel like torture, but at least it gives you time to come up with a valid excuse for what he saw. Judging from his reaction he didn’t seem like the type to out you, but you could never be sure with men. And despite his kindness, Hoseok was still a man, and therefore, inherently untrustworthy.

You have a script, a speech, a monologue, a soliloquy - you have it all prepared by the time the lecturer grunts the final word. It’s all a joke, you’d say. It’s a prank, you’d tell him.

“I need a drink after this class,” Jisoo whines.

“You had enough drink yesterday,” Hoseok chuckles, and she raises a mischievous eyebrow at his words.

“I held back yesterday,” she harrumphs, “I could’ve gone harder, but this one girl kept bugging me about how I was treating you like a wallet, so I held back.” Jisoo, that blunt bitch.

Hoseok smirks. “Gee, I wonder who that is.”

You grit your teeth. It’s now or never. “Hoseok, can I talk to you for a second? In private?”

“Sure.”

Hoseok’s easy acceptance feels weird, and you can feel the stares of Jisoo and a few other people looking at you weirdly. You barely talk to Hoseok, and he was on their radars all the time as a Prime Dating Candidate. No, you couldn’t do this here with too many eyes and ears.

“I’d…like to buy you coffee?” It comes out as a question.

Your face burns as Hoseok has the nerve to act like he’s thinking about it. “Yeah, I have time for a quick cup of coffee.”

You fake a smile. “Great.”

“Super.”

“Peachy.”

How did one open up a conversation about being caught selling used panties to perverts online for pocket money to a young, twenty-something college male who’s net worth was somewhere in the millions thanks to his rich, mogul parents?

Hoseok takes a sip of his coffee as you sit silently across from him. You’ve skipped a drink altogether even though the scent of hazelnut and vanilla wafting from his cup is enough to get you salivating for caffeine.

“Do you, uh, want a sip?” Hoseok asks, following you line of sight.

“No,” you answer in a clipped tone.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

“My Twitter,” you finally say through gritted teeth, “You saw my twitter.”

Hoseok nods, fiddling with the flimsy, recycled paper that lined the body of his coffee cup. “Yeah, I did.”

“Are you going to report me?”

He raises his eyebrows, “Are you serious?”

You shrug. “I don’t know, Hoseok. Can you just... tell me what you’re going to do with the information because I’m tired and hungover, and I feel like puking anytime I get a weird feeling you’re going to expose me.”

Hoseok’s expression looks comically surprised. “I can’t believe you-” He cuts himself off, closing his eyes for a second before opening them again to fix you with a stern look. “I would never expose your private life.”

“Then why did you have to go through my Twitter?” you ask bitterly, feeling more and more humiliated by the second.

“Because...I’m a piece of shit, and I was curious,” he answers after a long pause. “I’m sorry.”

The anger melts away faster than you expected, and you don’t know if its because you genuinely find the situation not worth getting mad over or if it was because of the sight of Hoseok’s contrite expression.

“So you promise you’re not going to spread this around?” you ask once more, and Hoseok nods vigorously to your relief. “Then it’s cool.”

“Just like that?” he asks.

“It was my fault for leaving it in your car in the first place,” you concede. “Being curious is normal.”

“What if,” Hoseok starts after a big gulp of coffee, “What if I followed you?”

Now here was something unexpected. You honestly don’t know. Being followed on Twitter by strangers and selling to them under the guise of anonymity was one thing. Having Hoseok, a classmate and fellow society member, follow you was another thing. You bite your lips as you weigh your options.

“Just don’t interfere in my sales…please.”

Hoseok bites down his smile of excitement. “Cool.”

“Are you some pervert?” you mutter, trying your best to stem the surprise that Hoseok was even curious at all about this instead of branding you a werido.

“A little,” he coughs, “I guess...”

You can’t take this anymore. “I’m- I’m- I’ve got to go,” you stammer, face feeling warmer by the second.

“Wait,” Hoseok says before you can stand up to leave. “Can I just say one more thing?”

He’s already come this far; you don’t know what else he could hit you with to surprise you.

“Go for it,” you sigh.

“I couldn’t help but to notice your sales numbers,” he mentions, and you wince. He called them your sales numbers.

“Yeah, so?”

Hoseok wets his lips. “They’re a little on the low side,” he explains.

“If you’re just here to make fun of me, you can unfollow right now,” you pout.

“No, no, no, no.” Hoseok is quick to dissuade you from that thought. “That’s not it at all. I just had, I don’t know, feedback? Maybe? On how to get more sales.”

He keeps surprising you.

“Okay...”

Hoseok takes that as permission to continue, which it is. “Okay, see here you’ve pinned a tweet advertising underwear rates by how long you’ve worn them. That’s pretty standard for this field, but you’re not going to get anywhere with that kind of marketing. The field is full of girls selling their day-old panties for cheaper, which is why your sales are suffering. You need to change it up.”

You don’t know what you should be more shocked about, the fact that he approaches this with the same type of academic lean as he would a class project or the fact that he even knew this niche market well at all.

“So how would I increase sales then?” you ask, deciding to just go with it and suffer later in your room, by yourself, with a bottle of hangover medicine.

“Instead of selling by how long you’ve worn them, describe what you did in them. You’ll get more sales that way. Trust me. Like, did you exercise in them? Did you sweat? Did you touch yourself through them?” You make a choked noise of surprise at the turn of the conversation, something Hoseok decides to ignore in favor of making his point. “Imagine the pervert who bought your panties knowing you came in them.”

“I... Oh,” you swallow. This sounded like something worth a try.

“If you start selling panties you’ve touched yourself with, your sales will go through the roof. I would have thought that was obvious…” he continues.

“It’s really not obvious at all.”

“Really… hm…” Hoseok looks pensive and laughs after a beat. “Maybe it’s because I’m a pervert that I know this.”

Hoseok's words from earlier at the café leave you distracted for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. You're supposed to be sixty pages into your assigned reading with a full day's head start on the upcoming capstone project for the semester, but you've made zero progress. As much as you'd like to blame Hoseok, you know it's not his fault for speaking his mind since you allowed for him to put in his two cents in the first place. Your pathetic predisposition to fixate on anything and everything is the reason why you keep rewinding and replaying his words.

It is all so... sordid. You never had any illusions as to why people bought your used underwear, but this would cross the final line in your eyes.

Taking a deep breath to calm your nerves, you open up Twitter and post:

New! Selling 1 Pair of Panties (3 Days Old). Exercised in them for 2 hours. Heavy Sweat. DM for details.

You sell that pair for fifty dollars, and you’re hooked.

Three nights later, you touch yourself in your bed, thoughts drifting in and out between various people but inevitably centering on Hoseok. You remember the café conversation and how his voice got into a lower rasp when he talked quietly about your used panties. And you don’t know why this gets you off, but it just does. You don’t want to think about it too much because it’s Hoseok and he was still your classmate. (You touch yourself three times to thoughts of him until your panties are gross and sticky.)

Still flushed on your orgasms, you tweet, marveling at how your mentions go through the roof from people wanting to buy.

Hoseok is a fucking genius because after only a week, you’re officially two thousand followers richer with ten sales in the bag. You pay back Chaeyoung and Jisoo, and take them out for ice cream as interest.

People suspect that you and Hoseok are dating when they see you at coffee shops and bars all over town.

“They just don’t understand that it’s not a date,” you hiccup, yelling over the loud music of the club. “This is a business meeting.”

Hoseok thinks you look adorable in that peplum top, and he tells you that.

“You are so off-topic,” you giggle drunkenly, shaking your finger at him in a no-no-no sign. “Back to panty sales!”

“Your quarterly projection looks great. Now can we get back to talking about how hot you look?” he flirts, and you feel amazed that you can tell he’s flirting big time. “Dance with me?”

“What?” He holds out his hand, and you take it. “Business,” you purr into his ear as he maneuvers your body to face away from him on the dance floor. “This is Business.”

“Oh, I know,” he agrees, grinding into you deliciously.

You close your eyes and let yourself go, enjoying the moment with Hoseok as he takes control and leads your body towards that satisfying, messy end. And before you lose it altogether, you grab onto his neck to make out with him in full view of everyone around - a true act of impulse.

Hoseok drags you away from the masses and pushes you up against the dirty wall of the club when it becomes too much for him, breathless and laughing because you literally came in your pants in a crowded room full of drunk dancers - and it was all because of him. Your eyes are closed as you lean against the wall. You don’t care that it’s probably filthy because you feel more alive than ever. You can feel Hoseok’s breath puff lightly across your face.

Hoseok leans over to talk straight into your ear. “Go on Twitter right now. Make a post about a lightning sale.”

“But you said I should do one in a few weeks?” you ask, referring to yet another sales plan Hoseok had advised you.

He shakes his head. “Nope. Do it now. And type what I tell you to.”

You open your app, fingers shaking as you type out the words as Hoseok dictates:

Lightning Sale. Bidding Ends 2:00AM. Condition: Wet, Fresh Orgasm After Clubbing. Will Send Immediately.

“Good girl,” he tells you after you post. Your phone vibrates with notifications, and you ignore them in favor of kissing him some more.

The next day, you decide to tweet and thank everyone who participated in the lightning sale. You see a notification from Hoseok’s Twitter handle. He likes your tweet.

It is a proven fact that when things go well and when you’re able to take a few steps forward, Ms. Bitter Bitch Life has a way of fucking things up tremendously so that it’s two steps forward and ninety steps back. Or in your case, $10,845.68 worth of steps back.

You receive an automated text message from the university telling you that your recent tuition payment has been delinquent for thirty days and that they Absolutely Need to receive payment within a week. A quick call to mom reveals that medical expenses had to be covered, and you don’t fault her for not telling you when she had a small business to run and dad to take care of.

“I actually got a part-time job,” you tell her, “And I’ve been saving up, so I think I’ll be able to pay this off.” You are speaking out of your ass because no, you have not been saving, but you’d do some calculations to see how many pairs of underwear you’d need to masturbate in to reach your tuition payment.

Is it a surprise to you any longer that the first person you message about this is Hoseok and not Jisoo? You know for a fact Jisoo would judge the hell out of you for doing this in the first place, and at least Hoseok has helped you with getting sales done while providing some fantastic orgasms.

You meet Hoseok at your coffee shop, and yes, you’ve started referring to various places you’ve been to with him as your place. (And the song to which he made you orgasm is now your song for whenever you needed to get in the mood.)

“Don’t look down,” Hoseok tells you after you’ve spilled the beans. His mouth set into a firm line when he sees how embarrassed you look. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, so don’t look down.” You do as he says and fight the urge to look away. “Listen to everything I have to say, and don’t interrupt until I’m done. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“You’re never going to sell that much in a week. And if you hike prices now, no one’s going to buy them, and you’ll be out of income moving forward. What you need is time, which you don’t have.” You face falls when you hear his words, but Hoseok isn’t done. “I can get you time. I’ll give you tuition money, and you can pay me back as you make sales.”

There is a part of you that’s ashamed of being so relieved to hear Hoseok say that. And maybe that same ugly part of you wished for him to offer that to you when you told him in the first place. “I’ll take it. Thank you.” But you’re too practical to let your ideals get in the way of living.

And that’s what you do. You wonder if you should feel bad that you’re using Hoseok like this.

Accepting tuition money has now effectively changed things, and the two of you have crossed the point beyond no return. Neither of you say anything about it, choosing to accept this new reality and carry on.

“Have fun with your boyfriend yesterday?” Jisoo snarks in good-natured teasing.

You frown, “I’m single. If you’re referring to Hoseok-”

“Of course I’m referring to Hoseok,” she giggles, “The boy never leaves your side!”

“We’re not dating...” It’s business.

It’s slow paying Hoseok back, but it’s getting there. As a gesture of thanks, you invite him to your tiny room for dinner. It’s only ramyeon and some side dishes, but you’re almost positive he’ll appreciate the gesture, and you’re right. Hoseok digs in with gusto to instant noodles loaded with all sorts of canned meats.

“This is godly,” he exclaims, swallowingly thickly.

“You’re godly,” you giggle, freezing because the statement slipped out, and you want to sink into the ground. But Hoseok, testament to his character only smiles and lets you move on with little embarrassment.

Hoseok catches sight of your underwear packages that you have yet to ship out sometime in between dessert one and dessert two. It makes him feel… odd, and jealous. He pinpoints his emotions immediately and knows that he’s jealous as hell when it comes to you, and while it was fun teaching you “sales tips” and flirting along the way, he doesn’t want to share anymore.

You message a few people, confirming shipments on twitter while he waits, and soon after you’re done he grabs your wrist to catch your attention.

“I want to consider the tuition paid in full.”

You furrow your brows. “I’m not even halfway done paying…”

“I’ll let the dinner tonight be payment for the balance.”

“Are you out of your mind? This was nothing-”

“No it wasn’t,” Hoseok cuts you off, tugging at your wrist so that you walk closer to him. “This is not nothing, and I want for you stop selling your underwear to strangers.”

You look him directly in the eye, having a good idea of what’s coming up, but you want to be sure. “This is how I live though.”

“Before me.” Hoseok feels nervous as he thinks about what he’s about to offer. “I’ll let the ramyeon for tonight be payment for the rest of last month’s tuition. And I want to continue having ramyeon with you for tuition. It’s not a bad deal…”

You’re not an idiot; you know what it means. And you had a good feeling you’d probably fuck him tonight even before he sprung this on you. You pull at your hand to have him let go. After a few moments of typing and swiping, you show him a deactivated twitter.

“I’m shipping out the ones that are left, but I’ve deactivated.”

“That’s fine. Because I’ll take care of you.”

[1 Semester Later]

Hoseok surprises you with another set of expensive lingerie. You’ve long since graduated from the plain white pairs you used to soil on purpose to sell.

“Don’t get so excited,” Hoseok says, “They’re not for you.”

You raise your eyebrows at Hoseok’s statement and decide to take a jab. “What, you’re going to wear them then?”

He smirks. “Would you like that? You wanna see me in lace? I’ll do it if it gets you off. You like seeing men in lingerie?” He effectively shuts you up by going the extreme. You still blush after all this time, and he loves it.

“Ugh, stop. What are they for then?”

He suppresses the urge to smile widely. “I want you to wear them. And I want you touch yourself.”

“Hoseok…”

“And when you’re done cumming…oh, let’s say five times? Yeah, five is a good number. I want you to take them off, and give them to me. For old times sake.”

You narrow your eyes. “Did you buy from me once?” You had always suspected, but now you’re even more suspicious.

“I’m not telling.”

#bangtan bookclub #bbc monthly: sugar #hoseok fic #hoseok scenario #jhope fic #jhope scenario #genre: au #member: hoseok

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the-swedes-knees · 3 years

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Time in A Bottle (Agent Mobius x Reader)

Summary: Everyone has a guilty pleasure. For Mobius, it's a slice of pie in a very specific slice of time.

Word Count: 1.8k

Located in the middle of Downtown, bordering on the corner of old-time druggies and newly gentrified condos was a moderate sized building with an exorbitant monthly rent.

It was a theme restaurant, if the theme was 'we opened in 1953 and we'll be damned if we change the decor'- done up in chrome and frosted glass windows that clashed against the surrounding brick and mortar. The neon sign bearing the establishment's name had burnt out years ago, but it wasn't the type of place one would seek out.

Unless you were Mobius, that is.

[09:45:00]

Technically, he shouldn't be here.

His unit was nearly a mile out, or, more accurately, they would be within the hour. Dates like this, where a simple flap of a fat pigeon's wing could ripple into Nexus event after Nexus event had a name. A proper designation in their severity and frequency of necessary resets.

But he just always referred to them as 'a real pickle'.

You glance up at the front door as the brass bell affixed to the frame jingles loudly. The man that enters looks around the place before making eye contact with you and smiles. He points to the empty bar and you nod your head.

Once you finish refilling the other customer's drink, you see that he's made himself comfortable in the middle stool.

"Hey there." You greet from the opposite side of the counter. He offers a sheepish greeting in response as you set a water down in front of him, balancing a plastic straw on the rim of the glass. "Can I start you off with some coffee? Just made a fresh pot."

"That'd be great, thanks."

You place the mug and matching saucer in front of him and pour. For a moment you look up at him, and he's smiling a very genuine smile- something very rare these days.

As soon as it's full to the brim you're reaching under the counter and grabbing a clean glass sugar pourer, placing it right next to his cup.

"How'd you know?"

"Customer service intuition, I guess." He thanks you before unfurling the napkin containing his flatware. Like someone with real proper manners, he drapes the napkin over one of his legs before stirring an ample amount of sugar into his drink.

You can't help but notice just how much he fits in to the whole aesthetic with his well fitted brown suit and slim tie. New York offered a multiplicity of personalities, and you'd become quite numb to anything and everything that would walk through that door.

Yet, someone about this man was intriguing, familiar in a way. Like in the past life he was a PI that you hired to confirm your husband's affair.

Both a confidant, and a stranger.

"Feel free to take your time, but, do you know what you'd like?" You note his closed menu pushed to the side. He raises his eyebrows and nods while mid-sip, and you pull out a notepad and pen from your apron.

"Sure do, could I get two slices?" He points the vintage rotating pie cooler to your left and specifies his selection.

Easy enough. You put two generous slices onto separate plates, and he declines your offer of whipped cream or ice cream on top.

"Good choice, this one's my favorite."

"You don't say." The knowing twinkle in his eye wasn't noticed as you busied yourself with refilling his coffee. He holds his hands up in mock defeat and sighs. "Well, I guess you'll have to join me." The ceramic scraped against the quartz tabletop as he pushed one of the plates across the bar, directly opposite himself.

"I'm on the clock-"

"Don't worry, another customer doesn't come in for-" He pauses to flex his arm, riding his jacket sleeve up just enough to check his wristwatch. "12 minutes and 43 seconds."

[09:52:16]

"Am I supposed to trust you on that?" You raise an eyebrow, and his only response is a slight head tilt and pushing the second slice a nudge closer to you.

It wasn't every day courteous men offered you a break in the form of your favorite desert. Your face screwed up in contemplation as you looked at the only other two patrons in the diner before giving in and grabbing a second set of flatware. "Well, it is slow-"

"For a Friday?" He has another bite before setting down his fork and dabbing at his face with his napkin.

"Is it Friday already?" You sigh, bent over the counter to take a bite of the pie. Delicious as ever. "Hardly feels like it, all the days are melding together."

"I think this one will stand out."

"What is the date, anyway?"

"May 4th." You make a hum of acknowledgement and he gives you a lopsided grin. "2012, incase you forgot the year too."

"I'll mark it in my calendar," You laugh, using your hand to cover your mouth as you continue to chew. "'The Day I Met-'"

"Mobius." He introduces himself, extending his hand over the counter and you shake it. His grip is firm, authoritative. Before you can reply with your own name, he refers to you by it while maintaining perfect eye contact.

You can't explain why, but it feels so right when he says it. Like it was perfectly made to be pronounced in his charming Texan drawl with just the faintest hint of gravel.

While you're fixed in a stunned silence his eyes deliberately dart to the lapel of your uniform. You follow his gaze and laugh at yourself for neglecting that you were indeed wearing a nametag.

"So Mobius... like, from maths?"

"Yeah, like math." He eyes his untouched water and picks up the plastic straw. His fingers move carefully, removing the straw from the perorated paper. You watch with curiosity as the man twists the paper once and pinches the two ends together with his thumb and index finger.

Mobius holds his opposite hand out to you, confident, waiting. With a bemused smile you allow him to guide your hand. His skin is warm, presumably from the way he had cradled his coffee mug, but it's comforting in a way. His rough hand guides you, your finger tracing the geometry of the paper-straw shape.

"A path that twists and turns... but always ends back at the same spot."

"I wasn't very good at math." You admit, and gesture around as if working in a place like this was a testament to that fact. "Why does it matter that it always ends where it began?"

"Well, that all depends on perspective. Maybe it doesn't matter. But to the one who observes it, it makes all the difference." You quirk an eyebrow, silently pressing him to elaborate. "Maybe that point's... where you got your first kiss, the feeling when your favorite football team scores a winning touchdown, a perfect sunset-"

Mobius catches himself trailing off, and looks down at his plate. He puts another bite onto his fork and cheers it to you.

"Or having pie in good company."

You look around the mostly empty diner before bracing your arms against the counter, leaning in as if you were to whisper some great secret.

"Has anyone ever told you you're a bit odd?"

[09:59:06]

"No-" His eyes crinkle as he laughs. "No, that's a new one. But you find it charming." He winked, actually winked, and leaned back in his stool, smirking into his coffee.

Your fork was halfway to your mouth as your just stared at him, frozen. You feel your mouth open and close a few times as you try to think of a somewhat dignified response.

"How would you know that?"

"I just know things." He shrugged.

"Like what?" You challenged.

"How about, Paul- over there." You crane your head to follow his line of eye, your coworker currently bussing a table that had just left. "Worked in this place five years, loves Coke- from the glass bottle, nothing else. Has a girl on the Upper East Side and runs a decent sized internet radio station out of his apartment."

"You're one of his listeners." You narrowed your eyes at him, a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Oh, no. Hyperpop... not my style."

"Alright, BBC Sherlock-" You countered. You give a subtle head tilt to a woman sitting in a far off booth, papers spread out on the table around her pancake combo. Whoever she was, she definitely wasn't a regular. "How about her?"

"Mrs. Braverman. Youngest of eight siblings, English teacher at the charter school up the avenue. Actually prefers imitation maple syrup to the real thing."

You know very well Mobius could be talking out of his ass. But he's confident, nonchalantly so- like this was a game to him and he was obviously winning.

"What about me?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Your anticipation is palpable as he swallows his final bite, taking the time to wipe his face of crumbs before smiling softly at you.

"You are... a poem of a person. Charming, capable, when you walk into a room people notice- even if you convince yourself that they don't." His gaze is steady, patient, and he's looking at you as if you're the only person in the universe. "You have big dreams, far beyond all... this... and you're gonna make it."

[10:04:59]

The sound of the door chime breaks you out of whatever hypnotic state you had found yourself in. Sucking in a breath and blinking away the very beginnings of tears in your eyes you tell the new customer to sit wherever they like.

Mobius took this chance to check his handheld, sighing at the time and the ever-growing slope of the branch variation.

The reset charge would be set soon, with or without him there.

"Look at that. Duty calls." He stands up and pulls a billfold from his jacket pocket, not even counting as he puts the cash down on the counter.

Mobius turns to leave, but hesitates. He turns back around to face you and places his hands on his hips. Allowing himself to play into the fleeting illusion just a tad longer.

"One more thing I know about you-" Mobius rubbed his chin in careful consideration. "You have a date tonight."

"Ah-" You wag your finger at him and shake your head side to side, "got one wrong."

"Did I? Ah- well... How about we change that?"

You pause. The plates you had been holding found their way back to the counter as you set them down slowly. Once again in a very short time span, he had left you speechless.

"That... was possibly the lamest pickup line I've ever heard." Though you mean it to be snarky, it sounds more like praise coming from your smiling lips. "I get off at 6:30."

"Alright." He looks perfectly pleased with himself as he lightly knocks on the counter with his fist. "It's a date."

Walking out the door, Mobius gave one last look at the diner before reporting to the event site.

He knew would see you again, always at 9:45.

#agent mobius #mobius #mobius m. mobius #agent mobius x reader #mobius x reader #loki series #loki #marvel #marvel x reader #sorry for the interruption from my usual content #but I love time traveling men

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xenophanatic · 4 years

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In Depth Analysis of ‘Skam’: Belonging with Realism

There seems to be universal acceptance that the mere suggestion that a television drama is marketed towards a teenage audience, or is beloved by teens, reduces the creditability and artistic merit of the television show. In popular culture, media aimed to teens – and especially female teens – has been seen a childish, low brow content filled with bad acting, bad writing that contains illogical plots and superficial – as it contains beautiful twenty-somethings playing sixteen years old teens. This opinion could be due to that fact that scholarly critics are not the ‘intended audience’, but it is argued the reason may be that teen dramas, with their ‘ludicrous’ plots, separate themselves from ‘reality’ for entertainment purposes, which thereby alienates the ‘rational’ mind-frame of the critic. By detaching itself from realism, teen dramas, as a genre, seem to be seen as superficially candy floss – bright ostentatious sugar-inducing fluff with no core-essence nor nutritionally substantial properties. It is argued that teen dramas have the ability to be more than superficially candy floss. The following essay will analyse the Norwegian teen drama Skam and how it strives to represent teenagers in a genuine and realistic way by its use of extensive research, authentic acting and location, and digital storytelling. Through it’s creating, making, and releasing of the series, Skam invites critical television evaluation while also exploring the crucial element of emotional growth and belonging that are needed for an ideal teen drama.

Teen Dramas – in common discourse

Though, in the past, it may be prevalent that there was a separation between film criticism and television criticism – film being seen as more worthy of art criticism – there is distinct quality hierarchy of televisional texts. With acclaimed serialised dramas focusing on a male protagonist/anti-hero, mainly broadcasted on subscriber based service, being deemed worthy of evaluations, soap operas, reality tv, and teen dramas on network television are seen as below par. Television dramas that are focused on teenagers are seen as cringe-worthy or a part of pop-culture that should be mocked and not taken seriously. Kevin Williams who was, during the 90s, applauded for his work on the horror film Scream – having teens conversing in the metalanguage of film – was also reprimanded for creating the hit television show Dawson Creek – having teens conversing in the metalanguage of film. Dawson Creek was seen as a teen soap opera that was filled with sex, drama, and love-triangles, that didn’t merit the opinion of highbrow critics. Similarly, shows such as Gossip Girl, The OC, One Tree Hill, Vampire Diaries, and Riverdale have been – and will continue to – criticised for its writing, directing, and acting. There may be expectation to this prejudice of teen dramas. Buffy – The Vampire Slayer has been praised for its writing and Friday Night Lights was seen as a critic darling. However, it should be noted that Friday Night Lights was overlooked by audiences for its marketing as a ‘teen drama’ and critics have negatively commented on the show when discussing its teen or melodramatic elements. A teen drama should, it is argued, provide an insight to teenage life that is putting a mirror to the teen audience’s life and also reinvigorating the memories of teen life for adult audience. Late teens and early twenties are the years where we are confused, as humans, on where we belong, who we are, and what we want. Therefore, teen dramas, in essence, should provide a realistic representation of teenage years.

Traditional Teen dramas and their rejection of Realism

Though many of the aforementioned teen dramas deal with the melodramatic plots that are all wrapped up in teen angst and served to its audience on a weekly basis – they all encompass a crucial part of any teen drama. The essence of a teen drama, it is argued, is the raw, real, unapologetic emotions. As teens, when we experience love – usually our first experiences – it is all consuming, while as adults; we tend to be more rational and mature. Our hates are world ending – while as adults we either ignore it or deal with it with the right amount of passive aggressiveness. Therefore, when a drama reproduces these realistic and accurate representation of emotions and stories, it excels as an artform. Even if a teen narrative is dealing with murder mysteries or vampires, it excels when it looks at the raw emotions of their characters and the characters’ longing to belong. Teen dramas are a great platform to a realistic representation of growth and exploration of a character’s identity and themes of belonging. This is excellently portrayed in Friday Night Lights with the football players coming to terms with their place in Dillion when they are no longer football players.

Cinematic realism, as infamous critic Bazin states, is the fulfillment of the human craving for realistic representation. Realism, in film theory, is obtain through reflection of reality being reproduces through camera lens. Realism critics who supported realism in film submitted several characteristics that produced cinematic realism, these being use of long takes, deep focus, limited editing, and use of actual locations non-professional. These characteristics are in contrast with what is associated with teen dramas. The cast is often filled with actors who are in their later twenties rather than their late teens, the text is highly stylised, and ludicrous plots are aimed to provide wish-fulfilment and escapism rather than realism. However, Skam rejects these characteristics of the teen drama and instead, not only accepts the theory of realism, innovates what television can do in the 21 century to thoroughly satisfy the human craving for realistic representation. Skam uses traditional realism through extensive research, the use of actual locations, and the use of nonprofessional actors, but innovates by using temporal realism and transmedia storytelling.

Creating Skam

NRK (Norsk rikskringkasting) is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, similar to British’s BBC and Australia’s ABC. Which means that it is a publicly funded corporation (through tax-payers) and is therefore not a commercial broadcasting corporation, such as the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) – which is funded through commercials and advertising, nor a private broadcasting corporation, such as the HBO or Netflix - that are funded through monthly/annual subscriptions. NRK, is therefore, serving citizens, not merely consumers as their audience, thereby having a public duty to uphold. So, when NRK recruited Julie Andem to create a teen drama – it was in order to perform a public service by creating a text that was relevant to the new generation of Norwegian girls. This show not only wanted to represent the Norwegian youth and their issues, but also provides a platform for teens to gain guidance and empathy – a more subtle and nuance PSA.

NRK and Andem’s the new drama concept was set to target the specific needs of 16-year-old Norwegian girls—‘the two years before you turn eighteen, a new time at high school and the pre-adult, sexual age’. Where teen dramas are usually written by 30+ year old writers and produced by 40+ year old executives of networks trying to sound like ‘the teens’ and bring issues that they think teens go through. This can be seen in shows where teens are delivering lines with cringy ‘slang’ or outdated references, and their usage of social media is depicted as obsessive or narcissistic through the lens of a parent rather than an exploration of emotion and identity by the youth. Andem was able to see this distance that she may have with ‘today’s youth’ and believed she couldn’t tell their story, because it was there’s – therefore she needed to hear it from them. This led to an extensive audience research, where Andem and her team orchestrated 50 in-depth interviews with Norwegian teens from all over the country, 200 speed interviews, school visits, social media scanning, and readings of reports and statistic on teen culture. In her interviews Andem talks about the large impact these interviews and research had on her creative process.

Through this extensive audience research a common factor was discovered amongst teens and that was pressure. It was discovered that Norwegian teens experienced a lot of pressure and this became the driving force for the creation of the drama. The team wanted to address and explore this aspect of teen life and even formulated a ‘mission statement’ which defined SKAM’s vision: to ‘help 16-year-old girls to strengthen their self-esteem by breaking taboos, make them aware of interpersonal mechanisms and demonstrate the rewards of confronting fear’ (Furevold-Boland, 2016). So, NRK is interested to provide a public service to the Norwegian youth by clearly representing them and their issues in a realistic and authentic way. They aim to do this through Andem’s creative judgments and extensive research. The team has not gained an understanding of Norwegian teens and the usage and importance of social media, but had also generated a specific target audience and a thesis statement that will run throughout the series. However, this is not the end of their innovated production towards realism.

Making Skam

The great appeal of Skam, along with many others, is how realistic and genuine the stories and characters feel. This can be attributed to the aforementioned research that the team had conducted which allowed for clear and real depiction of the hardships and struggles that today’s teen face. Another attribution the contributed to the authentic and realistic feel and tone of the show, it is argued, is the inclusion of actual location and age-appropriate non-professional actors. As mentioned earlier, teen shows usually have twenty somethings playing teens. This is usually due to child labour laws in the United States and other countries. This may seem like tiny complaint; ‘This is so unrealistic, that 16-year-old is clearly 21. I can’t believe anything after this’. However, this casting choice not only has an impact on the story, but also on how it affects teens watching the series.

Clinical psychologist, Barbara Greenberg, stated that by casting actors in their 20s in teen dramas have the message to actual teen audiences that this is what a teen is supposed to look like. A person in their 20s is more likely to have a consistent appearance, whereas an adolescent may change more frequently. “Some days they’re thinner, they’re a little heavier, they have pimples, their hair is a little frizzy. It’s all ok,” Greenberg says. So, theses teen actors in a studio high-school don’t share these symptoms of a teen body, it therefore then makes the teen viewer vulnerable to feeling self-conscious and depressed about their appearance. “That leads to all kinds of body-image and social-comparison issues,” Greenberg says. So already we have a disconnect between the actor, the teen character, and the teen audience. This casting choice also has effect on the way stories/plots are presented and viewed. When you have storyline where a child is in sexual relation with an adult and both parties are played by consenting age adults, the story is not as creepy or unsettling as it should be presented, but rather it is seen as ‘forbidden love’ and sexy. For example, in Pretty Little Liar where a 15/16-year-old teen girl is having a relationship with her male teacher, in reality the actors as 21 and 24 respectively. The casting choice not only eliminates the reality of the age difference, through mere contrast that would occur between a teen girl and a male adult, but also normalises that age difference.

So, how does Skam not only differ and but excel? Most of the actors, when shooting the first season were in their teens. A plot point in the first season is that the girls are encourage to hook up 97er boys – as in boys in their high school that were born in 1997. When the female lead states that she has a boyfriend, she is encouraged to dump him because he is a 99er (born in 1999). What is compelling is the actors are of that age – her boyfriend is born in 1999 and the boys that are 97ers are actually born in 1997. This may bot seem crucial, however, watching the series set in a highschool with people that are teens and born in the same year as the teen watching, does have a psychology and subconscious effect that resonates with the audience.

As mentioned before the show was aimed at specific demographic, therefore it is important to show version of teens that they have seen (classmates, friends, etc.) or are versions of themselves. In teen shows, one often sees the glamourous queen bee in a one-of-a-kind coutour outfit strutting through the halls of her elite high school with her encourage, in coordinating outfits, behind her. However, the audience member watching this exhibit is viewing this on the laptop in their casual tee and sweats on their bed while eating dinner. There is a contrast between the teen on the screen and the teen viewing a representation of themselves – one cannot see themselves as the ‘queen bee’ figure nor can one see this hero figure as a person in the real world. Neorealist filmmakers despised the ‘hero’ figure as they excluded millions and allowed an inferiority complex to resonate with the audience. Realists desired to create inclusion, rather than exclusion, by depicting the ‘everyday’ man, them and others, as the protagonist of life - “to strengthen everyone, and to give everyone the proper awareness of a human being”. This is similar to the thesis the Skam team set up to prove – ‘help 16-year-old girls to strengthen their self-esteem by breaking taboos, make them aware of interpersonal mechanisms and demonstrate the rewards of confronting fear’. Both forms, therefore, asked their actors not to be skilled at acting, but to understand themselves as human beings - asking them not to ‘act’ like an actor, but to react as themselves. A desire to capture the gestures and motions that belonged to this particular person, not one of the many false exaggerations that could be conjured by an actor. This style is evident in Skam as Andem would encourage her actors to play around in the scene and put pieces of them into the character.

In this behind the scenes clip, the actor Tarjei Sandvik Moe is supposed to walk out and see a returning character who the cast has not seen for months. He is supposed be shocked and surprised, but it doesn’t feel authentic. Tarji states that he, as Tarji, would have said something, and Andem is heard behind the camera encourages him to say something then. In the final cut, Isak, Tarjei’s character, says the name of the returning character. This shows the Skam team’s desire to be authentic, realistic, and genuine in their depiction of teen reality. These naturalistic and geniue traits not only make audience see these non-professionals as people behaving like people, rather than glamorised actors acting like fictional characters, but allows for the opportunity for audience to also see themselves in the characters’ flaws and desires. Part of the show’s authenticity comes from its actors: They’re roughly the same age as their characters, have minimal performing experience, and wear little or no makeup to cover their youthful blemishes. We see them with breakouts of acne, similar to millions of teens that grow through this customary process as teenagers. The actors naturalistic look (through minimal makeup) and acting style that one can believe they could encountered a, or many, Isak(s) (or other characters) somewhere in their world.

Skam is filmed at Hartvig Nissen School. This is not only an actual running established school, but also a school which some of the cast have attended as students. The school is not only used as an exterior, for establishing shots and then filmed in a studio, but also interior – using classrooms, hallways, etc. Character’s apartments and homes are actual locations, rather than stages in studios. Again, this allows for the series and characters to feel real - these are homes, not sets. Therefore, it has been demonstrated how the Skam team’s mission, to obtain and represent the reality of teens, has been executed through the use of research methods and elements of film realism; however, Skam is innovative in their methods and goes beyond what had been used previous in 20th century media/mediums. Skam engages its audience through the medium that they (the audience) is accustom, whist also transforming their (Skam team’s) television media through transmedia storytelling.

Releasing Skam

Obviously, there is an issue many television broadcasting corporations are facing today, which is the abandonment of traditional television viewing. Audiences are now watching on demand and not ‘live-watching’ or schedule watching their television programs. Audiences, as corporations like NRK understand, like not only to be in control of when they view media but how. At the time, NRK was noticing the shift in their audience viewing habits. Therefore, there is no point for the Skam team to conform to traditional television viewing standards to a target demographic that is constantly using on-demand viewing to consume their content. The shift towards on-demand viewing is not new to television networks. Many services are providing on-demand viewing experience through binge-watching episodes. The notion for network to provide episodes online is not innovative, in fact it conforming to the norm. However, Skam chooses not to conform norm or previous conventional methods of television viewing, but instead uses new media and mediums to reach their goal for authenticity and realism. The aim of the research was both to gain in-depth information on Norwegian teens, in order to portray them in a relevant and realistic way, but also to identify and discover how the new online drama concept could serve the needs of this particular audience segment. As previously mentioned, there are several standards that directors and creators used to project reality – whether that be through long takes, deep focus, limited editing, and use of actual locations non-professional. The Skam team stated that, ‘we want to provide popular enlightenment but in a context the audience segment understood and liked’. Skam includes other elements in order to create realism an audience connection to the characters through the use of transmedia narrative and real-time release.

Skam released the scenes to their episodes in real time. For example, if the characters are having a conversation at school, during lunch time, the scene would be dropped at 12:15pm on Monday – with a title card stating the day and time. And if during that conversation they discuss meeting later that day at 9pm, the scene would end and at maybe 9:30pm – again scene is introduced with title card stating time and day – the characters will meet and a character could apologise for being late. This mini-clips and scene would be released throughout the week, without informing the audience when they would be released, with a compilation of the scenes being released to a traditional episode on Sunday. Why is this method not only innovate, but also essential for Skam and its thesis statement? As mentioned previously about the teen who is in their bed wearing a causal tee and sweats on their bed with their laptop and viewing a glamourous queen bee in a one-of-a-kind coutour outfit strutting through the halls of her elite high school – the teen audience is so distant from the image on the screen to their reality.

Skam, however, closes this distant, not only through non-professional actors and location, but also through real time. The teen audience viewing the clip posted, before going to they go to bed, is watching the character doing the same thing the audience is doing this time of the week. If it is a weekday, the character is in their sweats watching videos while eating their dinner – something the audience is most likely doing. If it is a public holiday, characters are spending time with friends and family – much like the audience is. This creates a sense of temporal realism, reality given to the audience by a shared temporal (time) space. These characters are living and experience life in the same temporal space as the audience. Clips that are released on New Year’s Eve is obviously a great way for the show to demonstrate this – bring in the new year with characters and audience members in a shared temporal space. The show uses real time release in so many ways. For cliffhangers, a character is distress in the last clip and then a clip doesn’t appear for hours/days – what is going on? If a big even was to happen, audiences would wait for the day, and time, like the characters would – both characters are experiencing same anxiety and excitement of the events transpiring. Audiences are waiting for a clip – that they may not know when will come and how long it would be – throughout the week. However, while waiting, they may also look through social media to find solace.

The Skam team also created social media accounts for their characters, not actors, but the characters. The ‘characters’ would post pictures and messages – as any teen would today. Not only that, but the audience was also privy to the private messages exchanged between characters. This allows audiences into the lives of the characters and makes these fictional characters feel more real and like a friend to the audience. By using both these private messages and social posts, Skam was able to tell a transmedia narrative. A transmedia narrative (also known as transmedia storytelling or multiplatform storytelling) is telling a single narrative or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. The most common example is MCU – where they told a story through not only several film, but also television series. The texts have used transmedia storytelling, such as Doctor Who (the tv series, spin offs, books, big finish, movie, etc), The Lizze Bennett Diaries (social media for characters, web series, spin offs, etc), and more. The audience isn’t required to explore beyond the main text (the tv show or movie) to subsidiary texts (web series, books, social media), however those who do interact with the transmedia narrative, and fan culture, are able to gain a deeper understanding of the show/characters and are given Easter eggs.

For example, in Season 1 a character on Skam, Eva, posted on Instagram a photo stating that her boyfriend, Jonas, made her nachos and shows the Fresh Prince of Bel Air title card. This seem arbitrary and irrelevant to the main plot of Season 1, however in Season 4 in the final episode when Eva’s new suitor texts her ex Jonas for advice, Jonas tells him just ask her to watch Fresh Prince and eat nachos. There was no need for a ‘call back’ to a social media post from Season 1, but by doing this Skam was able to utilise not only digitial storytelling, but also transmedia storytelling.

Realism and Belonging

So, while other teen dramas try to depict a grand and fantastical allusion of teen life, Skam rejects that and offers a realistic depiction through its creating, making and releasing process – but how does the series represent, through realism, belonging. Each season of the series focus on a central character. There is a core set of characters at the school, but each season focuses on one character – we see the narrative through their eyes – and their journey. Season topics include identity and loneliness, feminism and sexual assault, sexuality and mental health, and religious beliefs and online bullying. These were inspired by the interviews conducted in the research and relevant to teens whilst growing up in today’s society. The main character is faced with these real issues – they struggle alone with the burden of these topics and are able to finally resolve them with the help of friends and professionals. Skam is excellent in depicting the importance of a strong group of people who will listen to your issues, accept you, and guide you to find the answers. The show does not aim to solve a murder mystery or decide which boy the girl should go to prom with – it aims to show how others are also struggling with the issues you have, how others can and will accept you, and how you can also find the answers. The show’s thesis and mission statement is to ‘help 16-year-old girls to strengthen their self-esteem by breaking taboos, make them aware of interpersonal mechanisms and demonstrate the rewards of confronting fear’ The show tackles real issues (through creating) by creating real characters (through making) and allowing audience to engage with them on an intimate and personal level (through releasing).

In conclusion, through its creating (thesis statement and research), making (non-professional actors and location), and releasing (live release and transmedia narrative), the series Skam is an example of an ideal teen drama that depicts emotional growth and belonging for its audience. Rejecting the fantastical and embracing realism, through the use of extensive research, authentic acting and location, and digital and transmedia storytelling, Skam is able to depict teenagers in a genuine and realistic manner. Skam is a television series that should be analysed and evaluated in a critical context, and not be seen as a mere ‘teen-drama’. The series provides ample opportunities to be praised for its innovation, creativity, and uniqueness. Other teen dramas should not submit to the underachieving standards of what it is to be a teen drama, but instead realise what the true purpose of a teen drama is and rise to the occasion to creating something new, powerful, and meaningful.

#skam #skam nl #wow this is so long #holiday essay writing

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b-sidemusic · 6 years

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NEWS: "THEY MUST'VE GOT YOU IN A CORNER..." GAFFA TAPE SANDY AND KYANOS FEED THE NME

In scenes rarely seen since the late, great John Peel declared Bury St Edmunds "the new Seattle" back in 2002 (he was joking, but Rolling Stone magazine took him seriously), this week the UK music press has finally woken up and smelled the sugar beet by-product, brewery fumes and manure, and announced to the World what you mofos already knew: BSE Rock City is where it's at.

Breaking the hot news, indie bible NME (New Musical Express to the more seasoned of you) firstly bigged-up Kyanos - declaring their recent 'Elevator to Japan' EP "an exercise in restraint and perfectionism... all carefully layered to perfection for this cosmic ride" - then turned their attentions to Gaffa Tape Sandy, describing their 'Beehive' single and 'Spring Killing' EP as "thrilling slices of punk rock, interlaced with killer melodies that most bands would be dying for... jam-packed with arms-aloft bangers that’ll make you want to pick up a guitar just so you can smash it into smithereens." Further underlining the West Suffolk love, NME also took time to declare the town's music scene as "devilishly exciting" and "buzzing". And you know what, reader? They're not wrong.

Although NME is the first major publication to hype the town's current scene, national radio DJs have been ahead of the curve for some time, with BBC 6music's Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, Tom Ravenscroft and Lauren Laverne, Radio X's John Kennedy and BBC Radio One's Huw Stephens regularly spinning tracks by a slew of local artists (including GTS, Kate Jackson, Cathedrals & Cars, Horse Party and The Machismo's) for the past 2-3 years, while BBC Introducing in Suffolk's lovely Richard Haugh and Graeme Mac have been supporters since their show began in 2009 (bringing their favourite artists and tracks to the attention of national DJs and major festivals - directly resulting in GTS playing their breakthrough performance at Glastonbury 2017).

We spoke to Kyanos, plus Gaffa Tape Sandy's token sexy drummer Robin Francis, about the Bury St Edmunds music scene, and what they make of all the attention. B-Side: So - how does it feel to be the centre of a media whirlwind? Robin (drums, Gaffa Tape Sandy): It feels great! It's so awesome that NME and other music media platforms are taking an interest in local music scenes. There are so many great musicians out there that don't get the attention they deserve and this is definitely a good start for changing that. We feel very fortunate and flattered to be on people's radar. Seth (guitar, Kyanos): It was really unexpected for us, it's definitely driven us to work on our new material and just keep doing what we're doing! B-Side: Having sprung from the Bury music scene, how do you feel about it? And what other bands do you think other people should be paying attention to? Robin: The Bury music scene is truly a massive blessing. GTS would have never existed if it wasn't for (twice-monthly clubnight) Washing Machine at The Hunter Club. The scene overall has brought so many people together from all over the place, people you probably wouldn't have met otherwise, and we massively owe all the great opportunities we've had as a band to our home town and local scene. There are way too many, but here are some great bands we love: Fightmilk, Fick As Fieves, Bessie Turner, Tundra and Sun Scream. Sam (vocals & guitar, Kyanos): It’s exciting that different genres are now being talked about more openly. A lot of different sounds are coming out of Bury right now. Fintan (bass, Kyanos): It's sweet that unique bands are getting more exposure around the country, even from small quiet Bury. Sam Eagle & The Lemon Lizards, Sun Scream and You'reHomeEarly are definitely artists people should be listening to! B-Side: I guess it's official that you're proper rock stars now, so what are your plans for World domination during 2018? Zach (drums, Kyanos): We're really excited for our debut album, 'Lost In Blue', to be released in 2018, which is looking to be our best work yet. We'll carry on gigging and hopefully look at doing some festivals as well. Robin: We plan to carry on gigging as much as we can. We're now residing in Brighton [GTS are currently studying at the BIMM Institute] and hoping to play more shows there and the London area. We are also putting together new material for a new EP which we hope to record ASAP. So our main aim is just to keep busy, and keep marching on.

Gaffa Tape Sandy's 'Beehive' single and Kyanos's 'Elevator to Japan' EP are out now on all digital platforms. Gaffa Tape Sandy play Cambridge Portland Arms on 10th December and Cambridge Junction on 12th January. You can read the NME's Kyanos and GTS big-ups here and here.

Photo: Gaffa Tape Sandy by Barnaby Cutter.

#news #new #gaffa tape sandy #kyanos #nme #bury st edmunds #washing machine #bse rock city #john peel #interview

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bangtan-bookclub · 7 years

Text

This is open to anyone, so long as you’re following us!

$ This Months Specifics

This month’s theme is Sugar

Yes, sugar as in sugar daddy.

However, this theme includes sugar mommy’s and sugar babies, so let the boys be whatever you desire. As long as someone is getting spoiled, you’re good!

Start: June 23rd

End: July 31st

$ How It Works

You can use absolutely any plot lines, prompts, characters, and genres that you want so long as it follows this month’s theme

This is a time-based challenge. From the day that this post is made, there is a one month window to create and post your story

After the one month frame has closed, we will be re-blogging those which seem most enjoyed by the audience and also those that have a special charm to them

$ How To Enter

(!) Reblog this post so we know you’re interested!

Be sure to specify in your fic post that you’re writing for this month’s challenge

Tag your fic post with our challenge tag: bbc monthly: sugar

If you have any questions regarding this challenge, please send in an ask or message one of the admins!

#bangtan bookclub #bbc challenge: sugar #bbc monthly: sugar #bts #bangtan

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cdntrustee · 5 years

Video

youtube

HELP WITH DEBT TORONTO ONTARIO

Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc., 167 Applewood Cr., Suite 6, Concord, ON L4K 4K7 647.799.3312

HELP WITH DEBT: WILL THIS NEW METHOD ACTUALLY WORK? - Ira SmithTrustee & Receiver Inc. - Brandon's Blog

http://www.irasmithinc.com/blog/help-with-debt-credit-card-debt/

In Brandon's Blog, I review certain parts of Quebec's Bill number 134 trying to provide help with debt. I discuss it and question if it will work.

Help with debt

CLICK HERE: http://www.irasmithinc.com/blog/help-with-debt-credit-card-debt/

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I want to give special thanks to MoneySavingExpert.com for releasing Martin Lewis on Debt Problems: Where to start and what to do.

Here are some of my other favorite youtubers and their videos! Beware Of These Debt Write Off Methods - Credit Cards, Loans, Overdrafts Etc How to Stay Out of Debt: Warren Buffett - Financial Future of American Youth (1999) The 4 things you need to be successful How to Properly Manage Your Money Like the Rich | Tom Ferry Scholarslip: A documentary about the student debt crisis Why You Should NOT Get Into An IVA With Unsecured Debt Tackling diabetes with a bold new dietary approach: Neal Barnard at TEDxFremont How To Start Paying Off Debt? Kevin O'Leary's 'Cold, Hard, Truth' on Gold Investing How To Deal With Debt Collectors - What They Cannot Do How to Pay Off your Mortgage in 5 Years Martin Lewis â€“ are Lifetime ISAs right for you? From Clutter to Clarity | Kerry Thomas | TEDxAshburn Martin Lewis, Good Debt, Bad Debt Martin Lewis: MoneySavingLive, How To Write Off Debt - Credit Cards, Loans, Overdrafts (UK) Martin Lewis gives tips on how to overhaul your finances - Watchdog BBC One How to Get Rid of Credit Card Debt Fast || SugarMamma.TV Martin Lewis' Credit Rating Q&A 35 SERIOUSLY Frugal Habits to Live By (Pay Off Debt, Save Money, Build Wealth) Oye The Film Archives MoneySavingExpert.com Tom Ferry JAT Productions Oye TEDx Talks The Dave Ramsey Show Kevin O'Leary Oye The Kwak Brothers MoneySavingExpert.com TEDx Talks MoneySavingExpert.com MoneySavingExpert.com Oye BBC Sugar Mamma MoneySavingExpert.com Debt Free Dana ãƒ„

Take a look at MoneySavingExpert.com stats and you'll understand why I am a fan.

Video Url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmYW1d41giI Video Title: Martin Lewis on Debt Problems: Where to start and what to do Username: MoneySavingExpert.com Subscribers: 18K Views: 137,430 views -------------------------

CLICK HERE: http://www.irasmithinc.com/blog/help-with-debt-credit-card-debt/

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eelgibbortech-blog · 6 years

Link

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Like many news stories of late, this one started with a tweet from the president. On September 27, Trump fired off an accusation that Facebook had always been against him. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded later that day with his own post, writing: “Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don’t like. That’s what running a platform for all ideas looks like.”

Both of them are wrong.

Over time, social networks start to develop their own reputations based on generalizations about who uses each network and what they tend to share. LinkedIn is tailored for the wealthy professional. Twitter serves witty media figures. Even if these interpretations have some truth to them, it’s hard to back them up or refute them. Look no further than Facebook, which has become a homebase for conspiracy theorists, great aunts, politically active friends from college, and over 2 billion people in between. At this point, users can portray Facebook any way that suits them.

But are these stereotypes really accurate?

Using Newswhip, a new social media monitoring platform, I was able to analyze the top-performing links since September 1 across four major social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. My goal was to dig deep and examine if our general preconceptions about social media networks were correct.

Does one political party dominate Facebook? Is Twitter a media echo chamber? Has LinkedIn become the best place for thought leadership? And is Pinterest really free of any controversial content? Read on to find out.

Facebook: Do liberal or conservative outlets reign supreme?

Plenty of people get their news from social media. According to Pew research, 45 percent of all U.S. adults do so via Facebook. The issue, though, is how one defines “news.” While both sides of the aisle continue to be upset about bias and favoritism, Newswhip data suggests content from conservative media outlets is more popular on Facebook than content from liberal outfits.

Since September 1, thirteen stories generated at least 1 million Facebook interactions; five came from conservative sites, one came from a liberal site, and the remainder lacked any overt political affiliation.

Facebook has no systemic bias against Trump or conservative content. It’s also clear that Facebook isn’t surfacing all ideas with equal weight, contrary to what Zuckerberg implied in his post last month. This may not be intentional, but the platform’s algorithm and user demographics have allowed fringe right-wing sites like Conservative Tribune and American Military News to go viral over established news outlets.

As TechCrunch writer Natasha Lomas points out, “Facebook’s business benefits from increased user engagement, and made-up stories that play to people’s prejudices and/or contain wild, socially divisive claims have been shown to be able to clock up far more Facebook views than factual reports of actual news.”

Takeaway: All users should be wary of filter bubbles. But judging by this data, the biggest filter bubbles are shaded red.

Twitter: Is it really a media echo chamber?

Until I looked in Newswhip to see which stories generated the most tweets, I had never heard of the Korean boy band BTS. Secretly, though, they’re the biggest thing on Twitter right now. Of the top eight links with the most shares on Twitter, five are about BTS. The top result, which has received almost 400,000 tweets, is just a link to the group’s album on Apple Music. I’m no K-pop scholar, so I’ll leave the BTS analysis to someone more qualified. But from a social media lens, the unusual results can tell us a lot about Twitter: The platform has a deep identity crisis.

Twitter has always struggled to find its niche. While all other major social networks constantly grow, Twitter actually lost 2 million active users earlier this summer. After the announcement, Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser wrote, “We’re not overly concerned by this trend, as we have always believed Twitter to be a niche platform.”

Niche is the key word there. Twitter is definitely a place where media professionals can pat themselves on the back while complaining about the death of journalism. It’s where high-quality stories from major publications like The Atlantic, the BBC, and The New York Times regularly take off. But the platform has also been co-opted by trolls, bots, propaganda machines, and the guy in the Oval Office.

These forces are all competing for a finite amount of attention among the 150 million or so daily active users. As a result, a number of different communities have emerged. If you have something interesting to say to a particular community, then there’s potential here. It’s just hard to pinpoint which niches are primed to grow, which is why there’s room for K-pop sensations to thrive. And GoFundMe pages. And a GIF of a Google Doodle.

Takeaway: Twitter has become a niche platform, which limits the ability of brands and publishers to go viral if their content doesn’t fall under certain categories or focus on certain topics.

LinkedIn: The true home for thought leadership?

LinkedIn has always had the potential to be a powerful content-sharing platform, but it’s never been able to compete with Facebook. It’s currently the social platform best known for thought leadership, which still counts for something. As the go-to center for professional advice and commentary, LinkedIn has reserves of evergreen content that attract a high-earning audience.

Per Newswhip, the top-performing stories have close to 50,000 shares. Some offer a lot of tips and tricks for the workplace. You can get insights about job interviews and life goals. There’s also an emphasis on hearing from executives, which presumably can give you a roadmap for how to be a successful leader. (There’s a little news mixed in, like this Forbes piece about Michael Dell’s hurricane Harvey relief fund, which was shared over 43,000 times.)

This level of engagement puts LinkedIn well below Facebook and somewhat behind Twitter and Pinterest. The way the platform functions has led to an unusual dilemma. All users have the option of publishing content natively, which could cannibalize the impact of an external article or video link. Richard Branson, for instance, posts some of his musings directly to LinkedIn but links to others published on the Virgin website. Bill Gates does the same thing, alternating between LinkedIn and his personal blog. You get the sense that influencers aren’t sure when to share natively and when to link to an external website.

All social networks want to prioritize native content since it keeps users engaged inside their walls. But when Facebook ramped up Instant Articles, it did so with a monetization model. In addition to selling ads, Facebook made it clear that news publishers were the intended users of Instant Articles. On LinkedIn, individuals just publish native blog posts.

For now, there’s arguably more upside for influencer posts than articles from media companies. Publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN use LinkedIn to distribute their content, but they mostly include links related to business news, the economy, and personal finance. Compare that to Facebook or Twitter, where the same publications can post everything they create and generate higher engagement. Until that dynamic changes, LinkedIn will continue to be a more powerful tool for thought leadership than for typical content distribution.

Takeaway: LinkedIn is a great platform for established influencers to communicate with an audience. But media companies and brands may have better luck elsewhere if traffic and engagement are their top goals.

Pinterest: Is it the only social network free of controversy?

In September, Pinterest officially crossed the 200 million monthly users mark–a nice milestone for a social platform that has seen consistent growth in mobile searches and international users. Pinterest now boasts a bigger user base than Twitter and LinkedIn. What’s really remarkable about these upward trends is Pinterest has been able to drive increased engagement while avoiding almost all controversial content.

The top pins of September and early October include links to student awards, tips on painting your kitchen, and lots of recipes for everything from red velvet cheesecake to cinnamon sugar pumpkin bread. Eleven pieces of content had at least 40,000 pins, and 27 links had at least 25,000 pins.

If there’s any nit to pick here, it’s that Pinterest is a home for content that looks and sounds the same. It’s confined to a few main categories without much variance. For example, a lot of the successful food bloggers use a similar tone to introduce their recipes. Same goes for the high-quality photography and short videos of their food. So it’s hard to tell what makes one recipe get more engagement over another. As a result, it might be harder for a newcomer to thrive on Pinterest over the sites that already have a loyal audience.

But in a polarized social media landscape, Pinterest has emerged as a safe space, where recipes for pumpkin bread and apple pie doughnuts can overpower any slanted coverage of the NFL’s national anthem protests.

Takeaway: Even if you know what you’re going to get, it’s nice that there’s a place you can go online to look at hot cakes instead of hot takes.

Image by iStockphoto

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The post Does Facebook Have a Liberal or Conservative Bias? And Answers to Other Big Social Media Questions appeared first on Ebulkemaimarketing Blogs and updates.

#ebulkemailmarketing #marketing #seo #autoresponder #internet marketing

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qubemagazine · 7 years

Text

New Post has been published on Qube Magazine

New Post has been published on http://www.qubeonline.co.uk/bucking-the-trend/

Bucking The Trend

By Simon Olliff, Banyard Solutions

Some 80 years ago, Herbert Heinrich theorised the link between major industrial incidents and no injury occurrences. His triangle, with the 1-29-300 ratio, identified that in a group of 330 similar accidents, 300 will produce no injury, 29 will result in minor injuries and 1 will result in serious injury, shines on a light on the importance of less severe incidents, in a much wider context.

Heinrich’s rationale summises that fatalities in the workplace do not occur as stand alone incidents and instead, form part of an underlying pattern. He advocated an immediate method to solving the issue through controlling individual activity and the wider environment, and a longer term strategy of a training and education process.

Sidney Dekker’s contemporary ‘Safety Differently’ theory contradicts Heinrich’s initial observations. ‘Safety Differently’ calls for the abolishment of zero harm policies and the notion that all accidents are preventable, instead accepting that accidents are an inevitable part of working life. John Green at Laing O’Rouke advocated Dekker’s approach and consequently decided to implement it across UK sites, heralding it as the only way to really change fatality rates.

Taking key learnings from Dekker, Green focused on people’s ability to manage risk intuitively as the solution: a positive approach, considering moral responsibility and utilising individual expertise and experience. Officially launched in January 2017, the full impact of this new strategy is still unknown, but this new way of thinking has also faced some criticism. Construction Union UCATT warned that Laing O’Rourke’s safety policy stood to “erode the very foundations of the UK’s health and safety culture…policy focuses entirely on preventing fatalities while neglecting actions which may cause minor injuries.” We can see why.

Banyard Solutions are the innovators of the UK’s first and leading web-based permit-to-work system that was developed over 13-years ago. The product has had a major societal impact, saving numerous people’s lives, preventing avoidable incidents and ensuring that more contractors, employees, visitors and members of the general public go home safe everyday. The establishment and development of e-permits as an industry standard tool has had a profound impact on both the safety of workers and the improvement in business continuity.

Power of People

The systematic use of processes and procedures in an organisation remain critical in incident prevention. How else can you be completely confident that your workforce is compliant and protected? Expecting people to act instinctively places a huge amount of pressure on them to get it right every single time, without fail.

Good health and safety programmes need to be supported and actioned at board level. With this in mind, is health and safety part of your businesses’ corporate governance programme and something senior levels of the business have complete knowledge of? If not, it should be.

Corporate Governance: Explained

Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices and processes by which a company is directed and controlled, ensuring that all interests are balanced; across shareholders, customers, suppliers and government. When executed effectively, it can prevent a host of issues. The value of solid corporate governance strategies was highlighted in a recent BBC News article in July 2017. In the review of working practices in the modern economy, responsible corporate governance was championed as part of a larger picture of ensuring a healthier workplace, developing skills, and improving education and training and working conditions. Health and safety management does, and should, form part of this and often, is not something activated and more importantly, monitored by senior management.

To take responsibility and true ownership of health and safety through corporate governance, the Health and Safety Executive recommends:

health and safety arrangements are adequately resourced;

they obtain competent health and safety advice;

risk assessments are carried out;

employees or their representatives are involved in decisions that affect their health and safety.

We aren’t seeing enough corporate governance plans with health and safety at the heart; something is still not sticking at boardroom level. Changes or improvements to safety processes often come only after an incident has occurred. This is evident in the British Sugar example, where the company made the decision to amend health and safety policy in 2003 following three corporate deaths. It became central to the company’s corporate governance programme. Behavioural change was the focus, and included the CEO assigning health and safety responsibilities to all directors, with monthly reports at board level, as well as new overseeing of a behavioural change programme and audits.

Results included:

time lost to injuries reduced by 43% over a two year period;

63% reduction in major issues over the course of a year;

much greater understanding by directors of health and safety risks

Sainsbury’s made the decision to develop a unified approach to health and safety following an external audit; not an incident, breaking the typical cycle. The corporate governance programme included the group HR director creating a health and safety vision, supported with three year plan targets. In addition, all board directors received training on health and safety policies.

Outcomes included:

the board providing a role model for health and safety behaviour;

17% reduction in sickness absence;

28% reduction in reportable incidents;

improved morale and pride in working for the company;

raising the profile of health and safety so it is becoming embedded in the culture of the organisation.

The financial costs for health and safety breaches are mounting, and the total fines rose to an all time high of £54 million in 2016-17, up from £37million in 2015-16. ‘Safety Differently’ risks undermining the very processes in our workplaces that have resulted in the UK having one of the best health and safety records in the world. Never underestimate the importance of ensuring senior levels of your business are completely tuned in to health and safety, understanding how simple measures can change outcomes. Start conversations in your boardroom now, and get it right before it all goes wrong.

Bucking The Trend

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eelgibbortech-blog · 6 years

Text

Does Facebook Have a Liberal or Conservative Bias? And Answers to Other Big Social Media Questions

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Both of them are wrong.

But are these stereotypes really accurate?

Facebook: Do liberal or conservative outlets reign supreme?

Takeaway: All users should be wary of filter bubbles. But judging by this data, the biggest filter bubbles are shaded red.

Twitter: Is it really a media echo chamber?

Takeaway: Twitter has become a niche platform, which limits the ability of brands and publishers to go viral if their content doesn’t fall under certain categories or focus on certain topics.

LinkedIn: The true home for thought leadership?

Pinterest: Is it the only social network free of controversy?

Takeaway: Even if you know what you’re going to get, it’s nice that there’s a place you can go online to look at hot cakes instead of hot takes.

Image by iStockphoto

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Source link

The post Does Facebook Have a Liberal or Conservative Bias? And Answers to Other Big Social Media Questions appeared first on Ebulkemaimarketing Blogs and updates.

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#ebulkemailmarketing #marketing #seo #autoresponder #internet marketing

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