Pixar’s Incredibles 2 premiered in Hollywood last night, which means the social media reactions are already rolling in. The embargo for Incredibles 2 doesn’t lift for most critics until Monday, and I won’t see the movie myself until tomorrow (Update: saw it, agree with a lot of stuff below), so if you can’t wait until then, here are the earliest (spoiler-free) takes.
Let’s start with the most positive:
Go on…‘Incredibles 2’ Just Premiered: Here Are The First Reactions
Go to any mainstream news or entertainment website, and you might notice that the comments section has either been removed outright, or it’s a wasteland.
This is probably why NPR, a platform known for its robust community of thoughtful commenters, recently announced that they’re doing away with their comments section in favor of social media interactions via Facebook and Twitter.
Because we all know how thoughtful and intelligent comments are on Facebook and Twitter.
NPR‘s reasoning for this move is along the same lines as most other mainstream sites who’ve already gone down this road. Their in-article engagement is a small fraction of how many people communicate when their social media profile is already logged in. On the surface, this makes a semblance of good business sense. Why not give the people what they want?
I’ll answer that.
Because you shouldn’t reward people for choosing not to read an article before throwing up their opinion on it, just so they can give their two cents on a headline that’s either taken out of context or is simple clickbait.
Because Facebook and Twitter comments are a proven cesspool of negativity, bickering, and intentional ignorance.
Because not everyone wants to have their name, picture, work history, and friends list displayed to thousands of strangers on a daily basis.
Because not everyone wants to create a Facebook or Twitter account.
Because a lot of us who do have accounts don’t want to hunt down the article on Facebook or Twitter (especially on Facebook, which is terrible about archiving these sorts of posts), just so we can gain whatever possible insight we can from the ongoing conversation.
Because abandoning your platform’s natural-born community of loyal readers in favor of junk food social statistics is in bad taste.
Because it’s a bad idea. Period.
At the top of this page, you’ll see an image that paints a picture of the “noise” from social media. The ironic thing is that NPR actually attached this image to their announcement to go exclusive with social media comments. I’m guessing this is a subtle hint that even the editors hate this decision just as much as we should.
Rich McCormick, via The Verge:
…Warner Bros. deceived customers by paying thousands of dollars to social media “influencers,” including YouTube megastar PewDiePie, to cover Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor without announcing that money had changed hands.
Warner Bros.’ deal with the influencers involved stated that they had to make at least one tweet or Facebook post about the game, as well as produce videos with a string of caveats to avoid showing it in a negative light. Those videos could not express negative opinions about the game or Warner Bros. itself, could not show any glitches or bugs, and must include “a strong verbal call-to-action to click the link in the description box for the viewer to go to the [game’s] website to learn more about the [game], to learn how they can register, and to learn how to play the game,” according to Ars Technica.
I don’t want to focus on the YouTubers being at fault here, even though they are. Just reread that second paragraph because the key point here is that this is happening all the time, and for the most part, people are getting away with it.
Getting paid for positive/negative reviews is an insult that gets thrown around a lot, especially at critics who disagree with the majority of fans over something. Just take the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice backlash directed at just about anyone who hated the film, like me. But you can’t argue that the practice is some conspiracy. The studios are doing this every day.
Not to be confused with the more common practice of luring influencers to exclusive “events” in order to extract a positive sentiment from the person or persons. It’s hard to criticize a game, TV show, or movie when the makers of said property have put you in an environment where it’s incredibly easy to get swept up in the day. I know this from firsthand experience, and it’s a bitter thing to overcome.
You’ll never read a paid review or “sponsored article” on this website. I get the requests on an almost daily basis, and it’s not happening. Not because I’m above it all or that I’m scared I’ll get caught (even though that’s a fair consideration). But because you’re reading my opinions, presented by me and no one else. That’s what you’re here for, and it would be useless, even moronic, for me to give you anything else.
In 2013 his movies made some $1.3 billion worldwide—more than any other actor’s movies that year, period. (It helped that he was in four.) Johnson has a tendency to pick up existing franchises and make them his. The second G.I. Joe film took in $376 million worldwide; the first, without Johnson, made $74 million less.
Journey 2 grossed almost $100 million more than its predecessor. In the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast Five, which introduced his character, Hobbs, earned nearly twice what the previous movie made.
Easily the best analysis I’ve ever read on one of the world’s most interesting actors, who went from poverty to pro wrestling, and then to Hollywood. One of the best cases for Johnson’s rise to success is how he promotes his own movies on social media, which in turn convinces studios that he’s a solid hire (and proven talent).
This is a piece that is definitely worth your time, no matter what you already think about Dwayne Johnson.
An unfortunate side effect of writing multiple blog posts a day is that you lose track of where your portfolio is going.
I chose that word because it can mean a lot of things; for example: You lose track of what kinds of articles you “should” be writing. You also forget to promote and share posts with your friends and followers because hey, who wants to be annoying?
It seems like everyone has a strong opinion about “selfies.” Of course, most folks will say, “I think they’re stupid!” and then take a selfie 2 days later feeling little remorse. You know how I know this? Because I do this. My friends do this. You probably do this.
