Week 2 Individual Blog Task

Identify at least 4 social/cultural groups and what media you think they use.

First and foremost, what is a social group? Well a social group has been defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity. A social group displays some degree of social attachment and is more than a simple collection of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop, or people waiting in a line. Characteristics shared by members of a group may include interests, values, representations, ethnic or social background, and kinship ties.

One of the social groups that exist is the peer group. A peer group is a group with members of approximately the same age, social status, and interests. Generally, people who are relatively equal in terms of power when they interact with peers. Most of the media they used are the internet, television, mobile devices, as well as video games. Peer group especially at a young age are very concerned with fitting in, so they are also using the current, modern media or technologies as a form of communication.

Besides that, another common social group that has been formed is a club. A club is a group, which usually requires one to apply in order to become a member. Such clubs may be dedicated to particular activities such as sporting clubs or the ones at school or college, for example. A club uses media forms mainly to promote and attract other people to join into this social group. Some of the media forms include newspaper, magazines, the internet, radio as well as the television. Basically any form of media which the public is mostly utilizing, in hopes that they will stumble upon their advertisement.

Another social group would be a gang. A gang is usually an urban group that gathers in a particular area. It is a group of people that often hang around each other. They can be like some clubs, but much less formal. They are usually known in many countries to cause social unrest and also have negative influence on the members and may be a target for the law enforcers in case of any social vices. Gang uses media form to either contact one another, or to send out a message to the public or society. These media include mobile devices, outdoor billboard and very common nowadays, the internet.

Other than that, another social group that exists is a franchise. A franchise is an organization which runs several instances of a business in many locations. Some of the most popular franchises include Subway, McDonald's and 7-Eleven. Just like a club, a franchise sole purpose of using the media is to promote and advertise their brands to the society. Utilizing the media can come in many form and ways such as using the television, radio, newspaper, magazines, the internet, and also outdoor billboards.

All in all, different social group may have different purposes of using media, but more or less they are using the same media forms in order to communicate with people around the world.