Social Sharing
Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest are all some ways of my contribution of using social media. Using these platforms are a huge way to help spread awareness and knowledge of events and incidents that are taking place around the globe. For instance, the big thing being spread around Instagram at this time are the Australian brush fires. Many pages are helping out by donating for every like, follow or story post that is being made. Another platform known for sharing social issues is Twitter, the amount of times I will see the message, “please share for Ellen, she needs to see this” or “please sure for more prayers”. These messages are all part of spreading social issues and personal.
Social Media Changes
My participation on social media does vary when there are new changes to an app. Like when I first downloaded Snapchat in middle school, I found myself on the app constantly, always snapping my friends and watching stories. Now with these new changes like having AD’s and no longer being able to see users’ friends list, I surprisingly started using it less and less. Instagram then got stories and as did Facebook, but also the app became more annoying and time consuming but that could just be because my friends on there just post too much on their stories. The cultural rules and norms of an app used to be all over the place and each app used to be different. Now, I feel as if many apps are pushing to have similar concepts. Twitter stands out to me though because when Instagram and Facebook both got stories, Twitter did not add that concept. Thank God! If you follow the same person on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, they post the same story on each platform. Okay we get it you are on vacation or have a cat or dog! I have also found that Facebook can go from very sweet and cute videos of animals to politics real fast and same for Twitter. But for Instagram and Snapchat, probably because of a young audience, you steer clear from politics.
The Art of Design
I have recently watched the documentary series Abstract: The Art of Design, Ian Spalter episode on Netflix and this amazing special had me look deeper into my app usage and whole perception of Instagram. My whole perception for the app had changed, before I never had thought so much into the app changes and designs. But while watching memories were brought back from the day I looked down on my phone and could not find IG and then came to the realization the face of IG has been changed. I remember hating it at first and how it blew up everywhere, but I still made a post and was on it almost four hours a day. As time went on more and more features got added and the more and more this new change had grown on me. From the episode I had learned about the concept of the np bottom scroll and to me that is crazy, I have never thought of it as a negative concept for the app creators until it talked about. This scroll has no end which means there is no saying on how long a person is on the app from and people only scroll until they find what they are looking for. One of my favorite features is the business feature, here you get to add a title to your bio and and get to view your insights and and build your profile. I find that having my account on business opens up new opportunities for me, I get other businesses and sites asking to be sponsors and to try new products and places. I find myself wanting to try new things and travel more. All these new designs and features really do affect the day to day usage of the app but in the end, they only make me want to use the app more.
Jenkins, H., Mizuko, I., boyd, d. (2016). Participatory Culture in a Networked Era. Polity Press.
“The Art of Design.” Abstract, season 2, episode 5, Sep, 2019. Netflix.com
Fast Fashion 