Evolution of Social Media Platforms
Overview
My first blog post talked about the advancement of technology over the years. The evolution of the cellular phone not only has made our lives easier to conduct certain tasks, but it has become an all-inclusive mini assistant that some people cannot live without. Another revolutionary digital tool are social media websites. Prior to the current platforms out now, there were sites like Xanga, Myspace, and (still current) Facebook, where people could design their own page (Xanga) or display their top friends (Myspace). These sites have died down since the late 90’s, but they have paved the way for current social media platforms. In this blog post I will dive further into social media sites and how it has created a movement within our society.
Review of Social Media Websites
Some of the social media sites that started the revolution of online communication are dying off and being replaced by others that have gain popularity. The platforms that I have used frequently when they were popular are Myspace and Xanga. Myspace publicly displayed who someone’s “favorite” people were, which caused arguments and possible drama between friends and family members. You were allotted a maximum of “Top 8” friends or family members to display and at times I would even drop the settings to the top 3 which included only my family and best friends, to avoid any conflicts. Xanga was another website where you could create blog posts and share them with your friends and family. Initially it was a “blogging website for sharing music and book reviews” (NDtv News, 2020), but then evolved into a platform where people can answer survey questions and online diary. Both Myspace and Xanga were great sites because they were customizable. You could add songs to the background of the page, change font and background color, add a text box, and much more.
I would look up HTML codes online to make my profiles fun and exciting to look at. It is sad to think that the sites that would help build our knowledge of computers and how to communicate through the worldwide web has pretty much disappeared before our eyes. Although these sites are in the past, we still carry over the features of these sites to the newer ones.
New and Improved
Social media platforms have taken the world by storm without any type of advertisement. The upcoming growth and declination of Myspace and Xanga has allowed other social media sites to thrive, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok, and more. According to Weller (2016) these sites have been able to provide people with “the need to belong, the need for self-presentation, and other areas such as daily chatter, conversations, sharing information/URLs, reporting news”, and more. They were not created for a singular purpose, but as a well-rounded platform to send and receive information.
How Social Media Platforms have Affected People Around the World
The effects of social media have gained a lot of attention within the past 30 years. I can send a direct message to my friend across the table, across the country, or halfway across the world in a matter of seconds and they can also receive it within the same timeframe. I am an active duty Army Soldier and have travelled to 4 different states in the span of four years. Social media has allowed me to stay in contact with my family and friends when I couldn’t attend birthday parties, holidays, funerals, or family outings. I can read posts on Facebook or Instagram as soon as it is published and react to pictures and content immediately. Social media has allowed myself and others who cannot be with their loved ones a virtual way to be present.
Another way that social media sites has affected people around the world is through updates of current events. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was living in Washington and was able to read updates on what is happening to my family in California, Philippines, and everywhere in between. Twitter Tweets were being posted constantly about the pandemic and the feelings behind mandates and regulations being put out. News about events that happened in Europe can reach people in the United States within seconds through what we know as “going viral”. Welber and Opgenhaffen (2018) believes that the logic of social media is ‘built on the logic of virality’”. Because I do not have cable, I rely on these viral pieces of information that I can find on social media platforms. Although all are not valid, there are some that are and possess the emotions of the events occurring there.
Benefits of Social Media Platforms
A major benefit that I have recently learned is to get on these social media sites, you do not need a cellular plan. I can link my computer or phone to any Wi-Fi network and use that to connect to the site. This helps for those who cannot afford a plan but need to talk to their friends and/or family from a different part of the world.
Not a lot of things are free in life anymore, but we can trust that social media sites are. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc. are all free sites that anyone with internet connection can use. This is one of the best features of social media sites as it welcomes people to join their communities. They could easily charge patrons a daily, monthly, or yearly usage fee and increase their income exponentially, but they have chosen to keep it free for their users.
Issues with Social Media Platforms
Along with all the positive benefits of social media platforms, there are downsides to it. Anyone can create a profile from an email and random name and use that to blackmail and/or cause adversity. These instigators or “trolls” as some people like to call them, raise conflicts, hostility, and/or arguments on social media platforms. According to GCF Global, trolls are motivated by something called “negative social rewards” which causes mischief and emotional distress. The fact that they are anonymous gives them the power to conduct this behavior.
Catfishes are another type of troll that creates a fake account on a social network platform in order to deceive, manipulate, or swindle others. Catfishing someone on social media is so popular that there has been a show on MTV called “Catfish” that follows a victim who will meet with their catfish for the first time. There are occasions where the person is who they say they are, but most times, they are a completely different person. They do this to have revenge on the victim or due to their own insecurities. These catfishes can be on any social media platforms, but usually are on dating websites.
References
The now: What is trolling? GCFGlobal.org. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2022, from https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/thenow/what-is-trolling/1/
Welbers, K., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2018). Presenting News on Social Media2. Digital journalism. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/21670811.2018.1493939?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Weller, K. (2016). Trying to Understand Social Media Users and Usage: The Forgotten Features of Social Media Platforms. Emerald Insight. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/OIR-09-2015-0299/full/html?casa_token=UWG2iSuHL84AAAAA%3AdizDR0xU1_HLK1VZ2BTIRiw0AnIbh_PIJJW247aTJ50G8FrY9OuTPK7b7ot88rSweqVFJwYphbkMRf3SWo3rX6ay3CX1c697ZBw8kbyp414g07NO38I
What Happened to Xanga? NDtv News. (2020). Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://ndtvnews.org/entertainment/what-happened-to-xanga/
