5: The Emerging Languages and Symbols of Social Media

Unseen Unknown

We’re leaving the current age of social media and entering a new one where our symbols and our languages are changing. Any time a new age is born, the rules get harder, the audience becomes more discerning, and all of us - people, brands, identities - are separated into those that move ahead and those that are left behind.

The question now is, what is this new age that we’re walking into?

In this episode we speak with two experts on opposite sides of the spectrum in order to answer this question.

Erin Weinger is the Vice President, Social Editorial, at Sony Pictures Television who has also worked with some of the biggest influencers and publishers in the game. Her vision of the new age of social media is a stark departure from where we are now.

We also speak with Dr. Therese Mascardo, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of the wellness community Exploring Therapy. Dr. Mascardo is in a unique position to talk about the cultural shifts happening in social because she’s both in the practice of mental health, where much of social media can be more clearly understood, and in the practice of building a social media brand… as an influencer herself.

Links to interesting things mentioned in this episode:

• The Changing Language of Luxury: Experience, Education, and Poetry (Luxury Society)
• Is social media influencing book cover design? (The Guardian)
• Americans are reading poetry again because of Instagram (Quartz)
• Instagram appeal: How social media is changing product development in beauty (Glossy)
• How To Optimize Your Apology (Freakonomics)
• Yelp Reviewers’ Authenticity Fetish Is White Supremacy in Action (Eater)
• Dr. Gabor Mate on Attachment and Conscious Parenting (YouTube)

Learn more about Dr. Therese Mascardo and Exploring Therapy here.

Check out our website for more brand strategy thinking, and come connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.