Social media for sale
I can recall the first the first time I heard about Facebook and wanted to be part of the social media network. I immediately created an account in 8th grade and have been an active user since. Following Facebook, shortly after, other social media platforms began popping up and becoming trendy, such as Instagram and Twitter. These new social media sites, although still based off networking and following others, were focused on popular trends such as taking photos and creating small posts about what you’re doing.
When I was a new user on these different platforms there were very few advertisements, promotional videos, news articles and overall awareness of real world events. Social media seemed to be primarily focused on the users and connections built between friends. As explained in an article written by Digital Trends, social media had initial intentions for “social interactivity” and was limited to what users could create, post, or share. However, that was one of the primary reasons that I decided to join in as a social media user and connect with those who share similar interests. Social media was an outlet for any user to express their opinions, share their beliefs, and build relationships with friends of friends.
As of recently, I’ve found that my once exciting social media profiles to be boring, cluttered and lacking in the aspects that I specifically joined the sites for. These aspects include user connections and personal customization of news feeds. However, now I log onto my profiles on sites such as Facebook and Snapchat and see massive amounts of information in regards to global news, how-to food videos, and irrelevant advertisements that I do not care about. What happened to the interactive social media sites focused on user needs and filled with relationships built on common interests?
It is almost as if social media has lost its identity and has sold its original intentions for the personal greed of advertisements, sponsors and news sites. Social media sites such as Snapchat, have teamed up with news sources such as Vice and CNN to provide users with the latest news updates and interactive activities.
Sure, it may be interesting to find out about news and politics happening around the world, but if I was truly interested in reading about news, then I would head over to a reliable news source that was originally intended to provide news such as The New York Times. The idea of social media sites now offering news at the touch of a finger has me question the definition of a social media site. Where is the line drawn between a social media site and news source?
Avid social media, Molly Dugan, has been using platforms such as Facebook and Instagram for over seven years and although she doesn’t post a lot of her own content, Dugan enjoys scrolling through other users’ stories. Dugan recalls why she initially signed up for a Facebook account in middle school, “I wanted to keep in touch with people and talk outside of school because when I made the account, cellphones weren’t quite popular yet….so it was more so through social media that we would all talk.”
In a fascinating article on the involvement of news in social media, researchers Chei Sian Lee and Long Ma discuss how “one of the more attractive characteristics of social media is its support for user-generated content”(332) and that social media is transitioning to a community of sharing news stories and informative videos. On Facebook, as you scroll down your news feed, advertisements are lined up on the edges persuading you to purchase products or check out the latest hot story. Instead of seeing photos and status’ that friends post about what they’re doing for the weekend, I see people sharing what happened in Germany over the weekend.
“I see less people on Facebook posting personal statuses, and instead posting more news videos or articles about interesting facts.”
Dugan still uses her social media accounts to interact with friends and post content of her own, however, there is a lack of consistency with what kind of information she finds on her news feed. She questions when a social media source turns into one that is strictly used for news instead. What are the characteristics that define a news source and why is social media headed in that direction?
New York Women In Communications discusses social media on whether it could be considered a reliable news source or not. Although people’s first thoughts to search for news may not be Facebook or Twitter, important news travels extremely quickly across social media platforms and can reach a larger audience of people. This can be seen during presidential speeches, school shootings and global terrorist attacks. News can be accessed quickly and efficiently on social media, but does that mean it should be used as a reliable news source?
“For news information I usually use the Apple app for news, or Buzzfeed…..I sometime use Facebook, but I wouldn’t immediately go to Facebook,” Dugan said. “I might just log into Facebook to see what’s going on with friends and instead I’ll see articles or news.”
Social media might be in the transitioning phases between being user-friendly and being a source for news, but how long will it take until every platform is accessed for news only? Multiple platforms have followed suit and have added or altered settings to change what services they can offer users. I have personally found, however, that the more social media sites change its settings, the less likely I am to actually use the site and be active on it. The reason I join social media sites is to be social and interact, not to read about local news or have a debate over the internet. I’m interested in seeing how social media will change in the next few years and how it will cater to outside sources or collaborate with news sites.
