Social Media: A Little Too Social?


Image result for social media  There is no denying the impact social media has had on thew world over the last decade.  Facebook has dominated the industry, Twitter has gone from a niche for friends to use to a news platform, and Instagram has become a career for some people.  But, with all the benefits social media brings, it comes with a fairly big amount of detriments.  First, the rise of social media has made people more comfortable with giving out private information.  As we learned in class, and as America has seen over the past couple of years with the Facebook privacy scandal, social media businesses are just that: businesses.  Their main goal is to make money, and they do so through some fairly suspicious ways.  Social media platforms, like Facebook, sell information to third parties, like Cambridge Analytica, in order to make money.  These companies then go and use the information to target things such as ads and websites to these people out of nowhere.  The joke of "I talked about buying shoes and now I get ads for shoes" is far from a joke, because companies like Facebook and other social media platforms sell their users' information in order to make money.  


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The reason I believe all of this is important is because, although my generation is very adept when it comes to technology as a whole, most of them don't seem to understand that social media is called "social" for a reason.  Many girls my age are far too quick to post pictures in as little clothes as possible, while guys my age take pride in posting videos documenting a drunken Friday night.  While we are definitely not the only generation that has acted this way at this age, we seem to think that everyone wants to see us acting this way; and, while these people's friends might enjoy seeing their posts, their current or future employers most likely will not.  There are countless stories of people losing jobs over content on their social media, or losing even the opportunity to be considered for the job in the first place.  As an idea, I don't see social media as inherently bad.  But, people of all ages, especially my age, seem to forget two facts: 1, social media is a business, and their top priority is to make money, and 2, it is called "social" media for a reason, and putting yourself out there for all to see includes people you might not want seeing all of yourself.   

Links: https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/peloton-commercial-social-media-backlash-advertising-1203424709/  
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/02/mass-media-vs-social-media/ 

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