How have social buttons changed the function and meaning of sharing ?
Social media has taken over our lives for it has changed the way we see, share and rate things. As mentioned in the “Social Media In Context” slides, social media is different from the TV for it makes us an essential tool for receiving and being an actual part in rating pictures, posts, videos and all it has to offer. According to Kennedy, “Sharing rhetoric draws on a cultural image of connectivity. Social media platforms are not the only actors to use such imagining, mobile-based platforms do the same. Network providers, handset manufacturers, and social media platforms each promote social activities of togetherness enabled by their products which evidences a sustained cultural norm of sharing through teletechnologies for the purpose of affective connectivity.”
“When you share more, the world becomes more open and connected.” (Zuckerberg, as cited by Kennedy.) People have a certain need to share their thoughts and whatever they find interesting, and they use these social websites to project these ideas in all their forms (whether it was through pictures, articles, videos etc…) The process of sharing helps people find others with similar interests and beliefs; it brings people together and gives them more reasons to communicate and reach out for each other. This process helps people form their own groups or small communities where they share their common desires and grab the attention of others. These communities will lead to a form of cooperation where the parties involved will start to set and prepare plans for future movements or for entertaining others.
Before Facebook, Twitter and all these social websites, the social buttons (like, dislike, share, follow, join….) had different meanings and were used in different context than they are used in nowadays. For example, the follow button used to mean being a part of or following a certain beliefs and morals, but now it just means adding this certain blog or page to the timeline feed on whatever website one’s using. The share button used to mean physically conducting or transporting certain information to people, now it has become a major public action where information, pictures or even videos are being shared for all “friends” and “followers” to see.
Liking and disliking things on social media is a state where we publicly view our opinions to everyone on the specific social media page regarding this thing. It is a process which makes one believe that he/she is freely stating an opinion and that everyone is equally allowed to share these interests. However, this might not be completely true. Some people seek social media websites to express their own freedom of speech and to receive the equality most of them are denied from in real life and to have these opinions private. But the fact that the number of followers each one has are publicly displayed might lead to people believing they are somewhat better or at a higher rank than others, which makes their opinions more “valid” or “important”. In addition, these people with a large number of followers believe that they should be more public, hence their privacy would be invaded. However some websites don’t publicly view the number of followers one has such as Tumblr, hence everyone on this website somehow maintains their privacy and receives their equality.
Furthermore, “liking” a specific picture does not necessarily reflect one’s opinion about it. If you like something it is automatically shared with all your friends to say “this person liked this you should like it as well” so they are definitely like, directing you in which ways to share stuff… So I think like, I do “like” this but do I “like” it enough to tell the whole world that I “like” it because when people look at it they going to think “oh she must love this brand” because she has “liked” it on Facebook whereas I might not actually like it that much. (Esel as cited by Kennedy.) Moreover, After observing most of the Instagram users I know, I have discovered that hitting the like button is almost mechanic and automatic nowadays; for these people, when checking their home feed, basically scroll down and double tap (like) every picture they see. Hence, they’re not actually aware of the things they like, promote or even see.
In addition to what was previously mentioned, opinions on specific topics, people or events can vary from one social website and another. For example, the Donald Trump page on Facebook has over 5 million likes with no hate comments on his posts
https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/
Unlike on Twitter, where most people are constantly mocking and disagreeing with him.
https://twitter.com/search?q=donald%20trump&src=typd
References:
https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/
https://twitter.com/search?q=donald%20trump&src=typ
Mark Zuckerberg, ‘Making Control Simple’, The Facebook Blog, 27 May 2010, http://blog. facebook.com/blog.php?post=391922327130.
Esel, interview transcript, 2012. Esel is a pseudonym.
Kennedy (2013) ‘Rhetorics of Sharing’ in Loving, G & Rasch M. Unlike Us. Social Media Monopolies and their Alternatives, Institute for Network Culture, Amsterdam, p. 128–132
