Give it a Share
Social media is a recent powerful tool used by millions of people worldwide. It is estimated, that two thirds of Americans use social media. (Edison Research) Social media has grown to be a huge communication tool for communities and groups. Many firms and corporations have added social media managers to uphold communications with their customers. Social media, “is less about creating a single message, it is about sending it out to a mass group.”(Clay Shirky, Ted Talk)
In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg created the widely known social media account called Facebook. Zuckerberg created this account originally for college students to gather together and chat. Over time, the site became widely known, and Zuckerberg had to expand the site for a larger audience, outside of the college world. According to Dijck in the book Culture of Connectivity, facebook has boosted its audience to, “853 million users worldwide in March of 2012.” (Dijck, p. 45) Facebook has changed overtime to match the accessibility of the audience. When Facebook first was created, it was strictly only for posting text. There was no option to like or share content or really interact with anyone other than to post an update. Over the years, Facebook noticed that its audience wanted to interact more with their followers. With this discovery, the like and share buttons were invented. This invention allowed for people to show their reactions to a post and allowed for more interactions.
According to Dijck, sharing is the most important aspect that draws people into the social site. Connectivity is why Facebook began sharing. “Facebook’s interface allows its members to create profiles with photos, lists of preferred objects, and contact information; users can also join groups and communicate with friend by means of chat and video functions” (Dijck, p. 46–47) Connectivity allows users to share between their friends and third party Facebook followers.
Now, users can view others content, as well as create and share it. Creating content is the most important aspect when an audience looks for a social media site. What we have today is a participatory culture, according to Shirky, as users “want to actually make and share things.” (Shirky, p. 19) This is why Facebook is such a popular site. On Facebook, audience’s can share, post, like, dislike, delete, block, poke and do practically anything else imaginable to another post or person. The availability of all of these features is what draws attention to the audience, and keeps them using the site. Because of all of these features, “Facebook’s connective functions provide empowering and enriching social experiences.” (Dijck, p. 47) The power to choose what to do is what gives the audience the empowerment they believe.
From the beginning, Facebook’s mission was to create a network that allowed people to share content to each other. Now, Facebook allows for many other options other than sharing, as well as a third party. With the invention of sharing, people have begun to share several posts from each friend list, creating a third party. For example, if Becky and I are friends on Facebook, but Becky and Jane are not friends, if I would share a post of Becky’s, Jane would see it. This would create a third party for Jane. This type of sharing has become popular over the years and has allowed for many meme’s and videos to go viral. The ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’, ‘The Mannequin Challenge’, and the ‘Harlem Shake’ all gained popularity because of the shares on Facebook.
The popularity of Facebook and its shares creates motivation for people to connect with each other. Motivations are “fundamental to human nature, and satisfying them satisfies us, therefore, the use of tools that satisfy those motivations should spread. Social media rewards our intrinsic desires for membership and sharing.” (Shirky, p. 86, 88) Facebook motivates its users to continue to use its site by continually creating content to keep the users engaged.
Facebook is a large site with many millions of people. On this site people can connect at the click of a button no matter how far away. This, along with several key factors discussed, is what keeps users coming back.
