Reflection #1 - Jasmine Chyou

During the Superbowl, I decided to pay attention to how social media apps were being used. You would think that most people would actual put their phones down and pay attention to the game, but a lot of my friends were on their phones during the game itself. Some would be taking pictures or videos for Snapchat, others tweeting their reactions to the game, and some people would even be searching through hashtags trying to find funny memes related to the Superbowl. Farhad Manjoo stated, in his article "Social Media Takes Television Back in Time", that 'TV is becoming an interactive, communal experience'. People watching the game are not only connected to those who are physically in the room, they are also connected to everyone who's also posting on social media apps. This can include simply viewing someone else's post, commenting on a post, liking a post, retweeting or reblogging a post, etc.

I didn't even have to physically watch the game to be updated on what was going on because I could just go on social media to look. People on Twitter would tweet all the updates, the scores, and any major plays. They would not only tweet words, they'd tweet videos and pictures as well. The Superbowl received a lot of public attention as well because of the constant social media posts during the game itself. Even those who were not watching the Superbowl would see posts about the Superbowl on their social media feeds. As soon as the Eagles won the Superbowl, this was tweeted from their official Twitter page: https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/960353484481601536

In regards to the Superbowl commercials, there were a few of them that were very controversial. For example, the Ram truck commercial with Martin Luther King Jr's speech in the background was very controversial. There were immediate tweets that followed the commercial that stated people's stance on it. Many felt as if Martin Luther King Jr did not die standing up for what he believed in to sell cars. Some people felt as if it was disrespectful to him. Others did not understand why there was a problem because there were meaningful scenarios in the commercial. The following tweet was someone who disagreed with Ram's decision on the commercial.

Another commercial that was controversial was T-Mobile's commercial that had babies of many ethnic backgrounds with a voice-over of someone telling them that they will have the same opportunities and rights no matter who they are. Some argue that it was not the appropriate platform because they were using a very controversial issue in order to sell their brand. Others believe that they took this opportunity in order to spread awareness and bring attention to the topic at hand. Whatever opinions people had, they definitely voiced them on social media. Some even made a joke out of it... https://twitter.com/Carpedonktum/status/960520498621960192

Overall, the Superbowl received a lot of attention on social media. It seems like social media is a large part of the Superbowl now because everyone wants to post about it, look at other people's posts, and is entertained by it.