The Impact of Social Media on Pop Culture: A Comparative Analysis

The assignment content discusses the impact of social media on pop culture in America and worldwide. The researcher aims to explore whether modern pop artistes are more successful in developing mass appeal than those in previous decades. The significance of social media in promoting pop culture will be discussed, highlighting both its positive and negative aspects. The research essay will provide a comprehensive understanding of the importance of pop culture on society and how it has been impacted by the presence of social media.

Running Head: English Composition
Research- Proposal and Bibliography: Role of Social Media in Pop Culture

English Composition
Contents
Research Essay Proposal............................................................................................................2
Annotated Bibliography.............................................................................................................5

English Composition
Research Essay Proposal
For this essay I have chosen “Role of Social Media in Pop Culture” as the research
topic. This is because it is one of the interesting research topics that will offer me the
opportunity to delve into an immersive research essay for the objective of finding out how the
pop culture has been affected with the advent of social media over the years. In this regard, it
is essential to discuss about the current pop culture in America along with the various genres
and how the people of the young generation are affected by this pop culture. I should be
discussing about the importance of pop culture and the ways it has affected the lives of the
people. In this aspect, it is important to discuss the basic objective of pop culture. The pop
music is very popular in America and there has been various eminent pop artistes and groups
that have earned immense popularity in the country. Many of these pop artistes belong to
other nationalities also but they have been influencing the American society since long.
The basic aim of pop music is to convey a social story to the audience through the
help of songs and music. Since ages, pop music has contributed in communicating various
social messages to the audience through promoting love or peace in times of war or civil
unrest. Pop music has contributed significantly to the society by spreading hope and faith in
tough social conditions when people were in distress and needed some hope and inspiration.
This pop culture spreads through several media such as television, radio, newspaper, books,
magazines, etc. However, the modern American pop culture is influenced by the social media
to a considerable extent. In this research essay, my focus is to bring out the effectiveness of
the social media in promoting the American pop culture to the society, especially the young
generation of people that are the main driving force of social change for the nation.
The rise of the social media has been one of the most significant changes in the
society today and social media has altered the ways of our lives in more than one ways. It is

English Composition
one of the most important facets of the internet culture and has significantly influenced our
communication and interaction with others. In this regard, I would like to showcase the
several advantages of the social media in promoting and spreading the popular culture or pop
culture in America. Though, the pop culture is represented as something derogatory by many
people in the society, yet the significance and power of pop culture cannot be
overemphasized. The Western society has been built and influenced substantially on the
foundations of pop culture since ages. The ever-increasing media consumption and the
enhancement of the popularity of the social media in recent times have brought the pop
culture at the forefront of daily life for a large section of the American people, especially the
millennial and the younger generation.
Through this essay, the reader will be able to understand the significance of pop
culture in the life of the Americans and how at different critical junctures of American
history, the pop artists have shown up as mentors and saviors through their everlasting
creations of music and songs depicting the pains of the society and offering the remedies that
could improve the society and make people love and embrace each other irrespective of their
differences in culture, ethnicity, religion or gender. Here, I would like to share some instances
where pop culture has influenced the lives of Americans such as The Jungle by Upton
Sinclair that impacted the food safety issues and the evergreen creations by Bob Dylan and
The Beatles that personified the human sentiments related to civil rights and an array of other
instances where the pop culture has helped to shape our society. In recent times, the spread of
pop culture in America has been more spontaneous after the emergence of the social media
such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and others. These platforms have made it
possible for the pop artists to spread their social messages in the form of songs or music to
the target audience, not only in America but also across the world.

English Composition
So, I have chosen this unique topic for developing my research essay that will help to
enlighten me on the influence of pop culture on American society and identifying how the
promotion of pop music and songs have changed over the years. This research offers me the
opportunity to find out the differences in the ways the pop artists used to promote their music
and songs to the target audience few decades ago and the techniques they are now using to
promote their creations to even a larger section of audience that is not only limited to the
national borders of America, but also across several nations. Through this essay, I would also
like to enrich my knowledge on how social media techniques are being used by the modern
pop artistes and whether they are more successful in recent times in developing their mass
appeal to the public than what the pop artistes were able to achieve decades back.
I would like to highlight the part played by social media in successful promotion of
pop culture across America and other parts of the world. To make the research more
interesting, I will also delve into some of the negative aspects of social media in promotion of
pop culture. This is because, it is evident that along with its array of advantages, the social
media has some inherent drawbacks that often impact the society, especially the younger
generation of the population. So, in order to make this essay a comprehensive and resourceful
one, it is essential to discuss about the pros and cons of social media on the American pop
culture. I expect that the said research will help the readers comprehend the importance of
pop culture on the society and the ways it has been impacted by the presence of social media.

English Composition
Annotated Bibliography
(The Ticker).
The Ticker. Pop Culture Helps Change Social Norms. 2018.
This article discusses about the common perception of the society about pop culture in
a way that is derogatory in nature. There is a tendency for many people in the society to look
at pop culture as something that is shallow in attribute and something that the young
generation is falling victim to. But, pop culture has been influencing the American and other
western society since decades and has played pivotal roles in social reforms since history.
Therefore, this article is significant for the essay as it helps to establish the importance of pop
culture and therefore offers a motive behind undertaking the research.
(Amedie). Amedie, Jacob. "The Impact of Social Media on Society." Advanced Writing: Pop
Culture Intersections; Student Scholarship (2015): 1-17.
In this article, the author talks about the ways in which social media has impacted our
lives. It has given us the power to exchange knowledge and information and to know about
the unknown. Social media has given people the authority to search for information on any
popular culture in order to enrich his or her bank of knowledge. Social media plays a pivotal
role in shaping our society and economy. Barriers have been removed across the world owing
to the advent of social media and that has also influenced popular culture to spread across the
borders into other nations, thereby enhancing the scope of pop culture worldwide. This article
will be useful for the research as it emphasizes the positive impacts of social media in
spreading pop culture.
(Coppa). Coppa, Francesca. The Social Media Handbook. n.d.

English Composition
The author in this article discusses about the popularity of pop culture and the part
played by the fans and the social media in enhancing the popularity of pop culture. The
article reflects on how the fans were engaged in the promotion of their favorite pop culture
long before the advent of the social media. They used to take the opportunities of interacting
with each other whenever they met for different mass cultural events such as launching of
magazines, story books, music, etc. They used to interact with each other in engaging
discussions on their favorite pop music or pop artist and this way they spread popularity of
their favorite pop artistes. Nowadays, the fans are using social media services such as
Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube and LiveJournal for promoting their favorite pop
artistes. This article has the ingredients to act as a resourceful information source that will
contribute to the research and therefore it has been selected.
(Lexhagen, Larson and Lundberg). Lexhagen, Maria, Mia Larson and Christine Lundberg.
"Chapter 8 The Virtual Fan(G) Community: Social Media and Pop Culture Tourism."
Tourism Social Media: Transformations in Identity, Community and Culture
(Tourism Social Science Series, Volume 18) Emerald Group Publishing Limited
(2014): 133-157.
The importance of the social media to the fans of pop culture has been elicited in this
article by the authors. The article contains discussion on the role played by social media in
establishing connection between the pop culture fans in different parts of the world. Social
media platforms have made it easier for the pop culture fans worldwide to interact and stay
connected with each other. The article portrays that social media has influenced various pop
culture fans to travel across nations for participating in various events of their choice. The
social media platforms have also made it possible for people across the world to connect with
each other and build a strong and long relationship with one another through these social
media promotions of their favorite pop culture. Hence, this article states the role of social

English Composition
media in establishing communication among pop culture fans across nations and therefore
contributes to the intended research study.
(Macy). Macy, Beverly. Here’s How Pop Culture Is Changing For Millennials. 2017.
This article elucidates the concept of proximity in pop culture that has been possible
due to the social media platforms in recent times. The author talks about how the marketing
and promotions of the modern pop culture have made it possible for the fans across the world
to remain connected with each other and also with that of their favorite celebrities and pop
artistes those are also highly active on the social media. This has created significant
opportunities for the younger generation, especially the millennial to stay connected with
their communities and even with celebrities through the use of internet and modern social
media technologies. Promotions of pop culture and artistes have become more convenient
today with the presence of social media platforms and countless tech savvy fans around the
world. This article contains valid information on strengths of social media in promoting pop
culture and hence it has been considered for the said research essay.
(Verboord). Verboord, Marc. "The online place of popular music: Exploring the impact of
geography and social media on pop artists’ mainstream media attention." The
International Journal of Media and Culture; Volume 14; Issue 2 (2016): 59-72.
In this article, the author has discussed the role of social media in promoting popular
culture by the celebrities across their global fans. The paper reflects how the social media
platform seeks to eradicate the discrimination and inequalities between popular culture
artistes from reputed citied and those from less renowned towns and cities. The paper has
reflected how social media promotions by pop celebrities help to reduce inequalities between
them in terms of removing the stigma of belonging to humble backgrounds in towns and

English Composition
cities as compared to central cities. This article signifies the importance of social media on
pop culture and thereby is considered relevant for this research.
(Russell). Russell, Katherine V. "THE CHANGING FACE OF YOUTH: ADOLESCENT
LIFE AND CULTURE IN PRINT AND ONLINE SPACE." A Thesis submitted to
the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2007): 1-117.
The mass media has impacted the American culture substantially and this has been the
focus of the selected literature. The author discusses about how the mass media comprising of
both print and online media has affected the American teenagers culture and way of life.
There has been reference to the popular culture also that has spread like a wildfire courtesy of
the mass media strategies, particularly the social media tools. The reason for selecting this
article is that it contains relevant information on impacts of mass media on American culture
that will add valuable insight to the intended research essay.
(Tatarchevskiy). Tatarchevskiy, Tatiana. "The ‘popular’ culture of internet activism." New
Media & Society; Volume: 13 issue: 2 (2010): 297-313.
The author in his article has centered his discussions around the role of the internet in
bringing changes to the American culture. This particular article discusses about how the
internet and the social media has contributed to the marketizing of the civil society and
helped in building good cultural values among the American citizens. The paper discusses
about various contexts in which internet and social media has contributed to some social
causes in the American society such as communication related to the necessity of adopting
effective policies for reducing the spread of diseases such as AIDS and eradication of poverty
to the extent possible. Social media has helped in generating several online communities that
have influenced society. Hence, this article will be significant for the research essay as it

English Composition
showcases the role of internet and social media in promoting and addressing various social
causes.