Social media, food and capitalism
In regards to social media, there are many new forms in modern society, for instance; Facebook and Instagram. Many researchers have shown the impact of social media to enhance business. In regards to capitalism and modern business, it refers to productivity, measuring and bettering oneself (Dean, 2005). New form of capitalism focuses on how to enhance productivity, how to measure business with new approaches and how to achieve new forms of value. Dean (2010) points out that a different form of capitalism, called communicative capital. This form is based on communication as exploitation. Martin (2012) points out that communicative capitalism may restructure the way people communicate and the flow of capital to formulate new form of capitalism in society. Combining with social media, Dean (2005) states that as a most popular way to communicate in modern society, it may spread communicative information in business to enhance the formulation of capitalist structures. Many traditional industries may have different structures and hence, is an innovation approach to gain profit. In regards to the case study in Paris, evidence from the interview may indicate communication as important aspect in social media to enhance capitalism.
The present case study, refers to a Chinese restaurant in Paris, named “Chong Qing Sen Lin”. I got information about this restaurant from discover in Wechat, which is an important promotion and communication approach from the restaurant. This restaurant is famous for unique hotpot and the way people understand it though social media. The interview takes place between myself and the boss of the restaurant. Throughout the interview, there are many aspects reflecting how social media influences capitalism, highlighting communication as important function. Firstly, as mentioned before, there are different forms of social media, while this restaurant adopting different apps as main approach. For example, there is a local app called “Fighting in France”. This ensures that the restaurant targets local consumers. As a Chinese restaurant, using discover in Wechat and Ali-Pay targets Chinese consumers. In order to communicate with international students, especially Chinese students, discover in Wechat plays the most important role as consumers can directly communicate with the restaurant. This restaurant relies on new forms of social media, such as Wechat rather than Instagram and Facebook as Wechat allows the restaurant to actively communicate with consumers, while Facebook is more passive in communication. Instagram and Facebook as Wechat allows the restaurant to actively communicate with consumers, while Facebook is more passive in communication. When asking about the idea of linking social media with the Chinese restaurant, the respondent said, “Chinese cuisines have lack of features and characteristics in Paris. Most of them are buffet and less tasty. Our restaurant would like to promote a new experience to combine delicious Chinese food with Hotpot”.
13