The documentary series "Social Media: Life Online" explores how social media has become an important part of young people's lives and the varying views on its impact. Produced by the BBC, the six-part series was created by three young women who were given creative control. They were drawn to the project because of the vastness of exploring social media's influence and their interest in addressing both its positive and negative aspects. The producers believe the audience will include both younger people interested in social media as well as older people like parents looking to understand its effects. They seem confident that the positive early reviews indicate the documentary will reach a wide audience.

1. 8 30, bbc three
What is possibly the biggest problem surrounding the millennial Generation at this current
moment? A documentary series around the subject of social media will be hitting the small
screen as of the start of next year.
Social Media: Life Online centres around an explorative documentary on how social media
has become prolific in young people’s lives, the reasons why social media has become
popular, and the ranging views of authority figures.
With Social media- and the importance it has in young people’s lives- becoming a more
important issue by the day, a group of young documentarians were commissioned by The
BBC to dive in the deep end on the subject matter.
With early reviews of a rough cut of the project coming back overwhelmingly positive via
selectively hand-picked critics, signs are looking pretty positive for the documentary to
reach out to a wide audience.
Its February 2nd 2017 and the creators and producers of the documentary (Ellie Francis,
Saxon-lee Bushell and Ellie Money) are around 2 weeks away from the initial episode of the
six-part series being screened to the nation. Currently situated in a swanky Soho hotel, how
are they feeling right now?
“We’re pretty ecstatic with what we’ve created” enthuses Francis, a wry smile scrawling
across her face.” The early reviews have been very good, and overall where pretty happy
with the reception the series has received. For the first episode, at least”. Bushell, furiously
fidgeting over the course of the interview, chips in “I think, because we’ve had the
opportunity to work with a huge company like the BBC, we are able to reach a wide
audience, and therefore its more about what the public audience make of it than the critics
do at this point in time”. Money looking on in anticipation, enters the conversation apace
“we’ve been given a platform to create a foundation to express a variety of different
opinions and I personally believe (that) only good things can from that”.
When talking to the producers of the series, they seem to be pretty excited about what they
have achieved with this project. However, we wanted to know what exactly drew them to
this project?
“The subject matter was always something that was going to peak our interest. It’s just so
vast and is able to be explored in such a huge array of ways that it was always going to be a
tempting subject to explore” explains Francis. “When the BBC came to us with the intent to
allow us to make a documentary, we were obviously going to be interested. But we need
creative control. That is very important to us. If they (would have) said no, we would have
said no. It’s simple as that “with a slight smile simmering across her face, she concludes “I’ll
let you in on a little secret. The documentary was initially just going to be a one off. We’ve
now created a six-part series, so you can imagine the kind of answer they gave us”. Bushell,
who has worked on projects similar to this before interjects “For me, this is an issue that is
very close to my heart. As someone that was always outside as a child, I can notice the
negative aspects that come from social media more easily. Now, that not to say that there
are not any good aspects that come from social media, as this their certainly is positives and
I’m able to notice them too. Yet, if we don’t talk about the bad things and try to actively
discuss some solutions to them problems, then the problems that come from social media

2. are just going to get progressively worse. And that for me, is why I wanted to create this
series”
For the documentary, the producers have clearly taken a clear interest in having teenagers
partaking in the documentary. Within the documentary, the producers use The Solihull Six
Form College as a basis for the documentary. The documentary advocates the difference of
representation between the authority figures working within the school (Julie Maitland and
Nick Waring) and that of the students. The use of Vox Pops for the students presents them
as more vibrant and relaxed, whilst the more conventional sit down question and answer
sessions for the teachers provide a more authentic documentary style of interviewing that is
reminiscent of feature length documentaries such as Grizzly Man and Bowling For
Columbine.
Considering the series has garnered a concretely enthusiastic reception from critics, the
producers are evidently chipper about the reviews they have received, With Francis
possessing convivial attitude for the duration of the interview. But, considering the
enthusiastic reviews have descended from mainly elder males, who did the producers
believe their audience is?
“For the most part, I would say the audience of the documentary will be similar to the age
of the people we have tried to represent within the documentary “declares Money. “I think
the documentary will certainly entice older people as well though, particularly parents, as
they may have children that have problems that come from social media and will look at the
documentary for answers”. Bushell interjects “Whilst I agree with Ellie’s(Money) statement,
I think there will be two sets of audiences and for two separate reasons. I think the young
people will watch because they find social media interesting, whilst older audiences will
look at the documentary to see what young people feel about documentaries.”
And with that, the interview is ver. The producers are pleased, and feeling of uncertainty is
nowhere to be seen. These producers that they are confident with the product, and their
futures are looking very bright from where I’m standing.