Summary[]
Litt's "The Imagined Audience," is an incredibly important article to understanding the ways in which persons interact beyond verbal communication and physical contact. On page 330, Litt perfectly encompasses a major truth that provides the framework to the topics discussed in this article, "life is a constant performance; we are audience and performer at the same time; everybody is an audience all the time." To quickly summarize this article, it defines what an imagined audience is and explains why persons are drawn to please an imagined audience.
The imagined audience is defined by Litt on page 331. She states that it is "the mental conceptualization of the people with whom we are communicating, our audience. It is one of the most fundamental attributes of being human." This definition is vital for understanding who or whom the audience is. In truth, everyone and anything is the imagined audience. While technology increases, so does the spreading of information. People constantly communicate through other mediums besides physical and verbal communication. This variation in modes of communication allows for all audiences to be imagined. Due to this fact, Litt addresses the fact that there is tension between the two audiences; while we try to please our actual audience, we must envision an imagined audience also.
In the examples listed below, many social media platforms are listed. Litt addresses these writing platforms indirectly on page 335 when he states, "generally, the social structures help define who should be a part of one’s imagined audience and also who could be in one’s potential audience" (335). These social media platforms are the social structures. In turn, this quote later affirms my generalizations of this article. All persons are grouped in the imagined audience even if they're meant to be the actual audience.
One final important point to note in Litt's article is the affordance of social media, which is discussed on page 337. She states, "each site's unique affordance comibination may impact how the users of the site imagine their audience." Each of the examples presented at the bottom of this page list the affordances of each social media platform listed. Elaborating off of this quote though, each site has an affordance; this is why people use multiple social media platforms because they have different purposes. In turn, the user must re-imagine their audience each time and almost familiarize themselves with how to conduct themselves via these platforms. The imagined audience, thus, varies constantly.
Examples[]
Flow chart: []
Reading left to right of the flow chart, the top left hand box says, "Structure. Social roles. Social contexts. The active audience. Features of sites/services." The box directly blow says, "Agency. Social skills. Motivation. Internet skills." Then flowing to the right, the next box says, "Imagined audience." While the final box says, "Behaviors displayed to the actual audience."
Social media platforms: []
Some examples of social media platforms that are now popular and subject users to the "imagined audience," are seen, above in Figure 2: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Stumble Upon, Digg, Delicious, Flickr, Pinterest, and the RSS. Many of the users who view others content have no person connection to the poster.
Instagram is an important example of a social media platform to exemplify an imagined audience. Instagram allows users to take photos, videos, and collages to post on their "feed." These images can be "hash-tagged," or "tagged" by other users which connects them to a common word or to that other user. The user has the option of a privacy setting to allow their posts to be "private" to their followers or public to all Instagram users. Besides the heart/like button at the bottom and the comment box, many Instagram users are unaware of who is looking at their posts. In turn, Instagrammers primarily post to an imagined audience. It is only when persons like or comment that they are aware of who is seeing their photo.
Twitter is another important example of a social media platform that allows users to post to an imagined audience. Like Instagram, users are allowed to hashtag and post photos, but Twitter is primarily used for its 140 character limit "tweets," or posts. Twitter users, like Instagrammers, are allowed to have their tweets be "private" to their followers or public to all Tweeters. Twitter users constantly post to their imagined audience; the only time they're aware of who's viewing their tweet is if someone favorites it, retweets it, or quotes their tweet and responds. Unlike Instagrammers, Tweeters usually try to make witty, intellectual, or sarcastic posts to entertain their viewers.
YouTube is probably one of the most contradictory social media platforms to imagined audiences in my opinion. YouTubers post to entirely entertain their users. However, many of the users do not even post their own videos, but rather comment and like on other persons. For those persons who do post videos, they're entirely posting to an invisible audience unless they're one of the people to post a private video that only allows viewers with the link to see it. For the users who do post their videos, unless someone comments, reposts, or likes the video, users only know whoss viewing their videos because of the number tally on the right hand corner. YouTube is kind of like TV in my opinion; user's post to entirely entertain or notify their audiences in some way. However, many do not really appear to want social acceptance from their viewers, but rather gain popularity through viewer and rating number.
Facebook. The epitomy of a social media platform used by almost all persons is Facebook. However, as their user population increases so does their privacy settings. Like most users, many try to be as private as possible, meaning only those who're friends with them are allowed to see their things. However, there are loop holes that allow all Facebook users to post entirely to their imagined audience; for example, all Faceobok users can see each others Cover photos and mini views of each others profile photos. Facebook, though, is primarily meant for users to connect with other users. While users primarily mean to post for their friends and family to see their photos, statuses, and links, all users really post to an imagined audience. Facebook users want to tell other persons about their lives; it is their aim to share their business and events currently happening around them. Like all social medias in these four examples, users want to show themselves off in different ways whether it's a photo of the sunset, a tweet about the newest ice cream at DQ, the latest lyric music video, or a photo of your 8th grade graduation.
This site in itself is posted to an imagined audience. As the prime author, I have no clue who's going to read this and edit it. I have no clue who's going to see it after that, or if someone is currently viewing it at this moment. This page is created for an imagined audience. It is meant to educate other persons or further aid their understanding of the topic. However, I can only give the information, I cannot control how it will be recieved; this is a very important to take away from this page. The invisible audience can interpret anything and everything in whichever way they can.
Further Reading[]
Writing and Your Imagined Audience by Mark Carrigan[]
- The author discusses his growing concern with writing for an audience. He additionally discusses his process of writing and how he must imagine his audience.
Performing for one’s imagined audience: Social steganography and other privacy strategies of Estonian teens on networked publics by Egle Oolo and Andra Siibak[]
- This article is an in depth analysis of users and how they interact with their online audience. They address things such as internet anonymity and social steganography.
Writing to An Imagined Audeince... Suggestions Welcome by a Wordpress user[]
- The author reaches out to their imagined audience asking who is actually reading their blog; what it is like to read their blog. It shows that there are 12 comments at this time (November 24) who have responded.
Concept of Imagined Audience by Martine Gjede[]
- This slide show defines an imagined audience, like Litt's article. It addresses thing such as physical walls, collapsed contexts, social media platforms, and who determines our audience. This is a great article to further understand the definition of an imagined audience.
Who is Your 'Imagined Audience' on Facebook? by Caleb Garling[]
- This blog specifically addresses the imagined audience on Facebook. He directly discusses the affordances of this platform and the specific language that is associated with Facebook. This blog post is great to read to further undersatnd the affordances of Facebook in relation to its imagined audience.
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Citations[]
Litt Eden (2012) Knock, Knock. Who's There? The Imagined Audience, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56:3, 330-345, DOI:10.1080/08838151.2012.705195