There are many reasons why people create content online. Some reasons are to show off their talents, create entertainment, update people on their lives, and on the more negative side of it, to gain validation from outside parties. For years, children, teen, young adults, and even older people have had online presences. For what ever reasons they participate, they are experiencing some sort of personal, economical, or social gain. Having an online presence can aid in producing jobs, fame, and even fortune. Celebrities and influencers like Shawn Mendes, Charli D’Amelio, and Justin Bieber have all gained recognition from creating content online, on apps like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Vine. Based on algorithms and dat, users are shown suggested accounts, posts, and people to like, share, and follow. When people like content, sometimes they are compelled to tag a friend, share the post/account, and even follow the account themselves.
On the business end of things, many businesses, companies, and professionals use and create content online. Is Google Making Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr, states “I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer.” The Internet is not tailored to just one specific age, race, or gender, there is something for everyone. News, entertainment, fashion, and so much more can be found online. It is a melting pot of communities, ideas, and facts. In correlation with content comes the existence of online ads. On almost every site and social media app there are ads and with every click and purchase, revenue is made. Fred Volgelstein, author of Great Wall of Facebook says, “Facebook executives concede that Google has secured an insurmountable lead in searching—those little text ads that pop up next to search results—which accounts for about 90 percentage of Google’s net revenue.” With these ads, the income derived from apps continue to increase. More people are being exposed to the existence of said apps and the content that can be found on them. It then guarantees more viewers, users, and accounts. More accounts equals more success and more success equals more money. More content for the users and more money and success for the creators.
1 comments
Good work on this! I am curious if you have tried or will try the challenge I mention in the syllabus of staying away from social media for a week. Do you think it’s possible?