The creation and use of social media has, for better or worse, become one of the defining characteristics of Generation-Z, or the Millennials. According to Pew Research, roughly 90% of young adults between the ages of 18-29 use social media. According to Link Humans, the average number of accounts run by an individual user is five (Link Humans). Those are significant numbers, and those numbers correlate to a larger shift in the way we communicate with each other and in the way we participate and create our culture and our entertainment. Users are now far more capable to participate in the creation and production of things than they used to be. Conversation that at one time was impossible or improbable because of certain circumstances are now
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There is Reddit, the self-proclaimed “Front page of the Internet.” Reddit is like a tree, and its subreddits are the branches. Subreddits are basically pages that are created for a specific topic, and users can use these subreddits to discuss topics related to the theme of the subreddit. /r/learnprogramming and /r/hiphopheads are some very clear examples of how this system works. Then you have Tumblr, which a social media site with a very blog heavy feel. Tumblr allows you to start “blogs” for free, where you can post photos, videos, audio, written posts, and more. You “reblog” and favorite things that you like, and you accumulate followers. This is the aspect that really differentiates Tumblr from other blogging platforms like Wordpress or Blogger, making it more of a social media site than an actually site for blogging. While Reddit and Tumblr aren’t the only examples of outsider social media sites, nor are they the strangest or most niche, they are a bit off of the mainstream spectrum of social media sites. There are three standard social media sites: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and even these three sites are all very different with different positive and …show more content…
People have the ability to create an entirely separate life on the Internet, one that highlights, or even exaggerates, the positives, and disguises or ignores the negatives. A positive affordance of a social network like Reddit is that there is no censorship, so users are allowed to freely express their ideas and opinions without worry of being banned or removed. Another positive affordance is the ability to create throwaway accounts, or accounts that are not used as a main account and created for the sole purpose of participating in a specific conversation or to converse about specific topics only. In this way, social media has provided a platform where users can communicate anonymously, allowing them to not worry about how something they say would be taken. On the flipside, this can be seen as a negative affordance, by allowing people to say cruel or hurtful things or even potential dangerous things without any way to hold somebody accountable for it. All of this is an example of how social media has been able to significantly change the way humans and operate and live their lives. The Internet can be both as a veil to hide behind and as an easy way to keep casual contact with a large amount of
There is Reddit, the self-proclaimed “Front page of the Internet.” Reddit is like a tree, and its subreddits are the branches. Subreddits are basically pages that are created for a specific topic, and users can use these subreddits to discuss topics related to the theme of the subreddit. /r/learnprogramming and /r/hiphopheads are some very clear examples of how this system works. Then you have Tumblr, which a social media site with a very blog heavy feel. Tumblr allows you to start “blogs” for free, where you can post photos, videos, audio, written posts, and more. You “reblog” and favorite things that you like, and you accumulate followers. This is the aspect that really differentiates Tumblr from other blogging platforms like Wordpress or Blogger, making it more of a social media site than an actually site for blogging. While Reddit and Tumblr aren’t the only examples of outsider social media sites, nor are they the strangest or most niche, they are a bit off of the mainstream spectrum of social media sites. There are three standard social media sites: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and even these three sites are all very different with different positive and …show more content…
People have the ability to create an entirely separate life on the Internet, one that highlights, or even exaggerates, the positives, and disguises or ignores the negatives. A positive affordance of a social network like Reddit is that there is no censorship, so users are allowed to freely express their ideas and opinions without worry of being banned or removed. Another positive affordance is the ability to create throwaway accounts, or accounts that are not used as a main account and created for the sole purpose of participating in a specific conversation or to converse about specific topics only. In this way, social media has provided a platform where users can communicate anonymously, allowing them to not worry about how something they say would be taken. On the flipside, this can be seen as a negative affordance, by allowing people to say cruel or hurtful things or even potential dangerous things without any way to hold somebody accountable for it. All of this is an example of how social media has been able to significantly change the way humans and operate and live their lives. The Internet can be both as a veil to hide behind and as an easy way to keep casual contact with a large amount of