Logging in to A social media reality

BY SARYN MOORE, STAFF WRITER

JuanFajardo/highlights

SOCIETY

Is Fully Immeresed

in the digital environment of social media. Once seen as a trendy but inconsequential development, the digital age is now the standard rather than a novelty. The lives of all users, at least the amount that they share, are accessible with just a couple of clicks and swipes on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Reality is now so intertwined with digital communications that they set the standard for how people interact with each other. Additionally, the participation and devotion of individuals on this never ending internet carousel inevitably leads to wide-scale shifts in societal reactions and decisions. Demonstrated by the influence of both the individual and the collective, these platforms are strengthened both by number of users and relevance by promoting the idea of being unique as long as this perceived uniqueness fits in with everyone else.

The fundamental workings of social media are built off of algorithms, which according to Merriam-Webster, are complex mathematical codings done by a computer, working as each user’s personal researcher. The code picks up information on the engagement from each user to identify their interests.

Eventually, the algorithms of the media platform will begin to understand the user so well that they will supply the user with content formatted specifically for them.

This concept stretches into the world of digital marketing as the algorithm gets to know the user. Such programs can specify such effective ads to their feeds, that a business may then invest and hone in on the target audience found entirely by the individual’s relation to the digital.

As buyers are shown products tailored to their liking, an all encompassing string of mutual relationships are created. The process of collecting data from the user

DID YOU KNOW?

Revenue from digital marketing in 2018 was $107.5 Billion, 41% higher than revenue ammased from television and 71% higher than that of magazine revenue.

Source: Maryville University and translating it into information that detects personality is a seamless operation where all the heavy work is assumed by internal algorithms powered by computer codes; while the user simply needs to absorb and react to the content provided. Naturally, this constructs a new normal that is today’s social-media based society.

Although the technology supporting algorithms is specific to the individual, social media platforms are interconnected and require the masses to maintain relevance and keep algorithms going. Therefore, when a trend is taking off, it is the job of the algorithm to provide the user with relevant content that peaks interest and promotes circulation.

Namely, Facebook uses an algorithm called EdgeRank which takes into consideration the amount of time the user spent, the relationship with the content and how old the content is to determine what output to place on their feeds, according to Buffer.

Moreover, with the established relevance social media has in today’s society, lifestyles and jobs have developed surrounding it. From professional users that are the faces of the entertainment industry, to the agents and managers behind them, the opportunities that arise from social media are significant to the current state of employment.

Social media’s uses going further than posting a meal or sending a message, indicates a new form of entertainment that forms lives and occupations to the standard of a collective obsession with what the next person is up to.

“I believe social media is more unique today because of all the specific and specialized apps for people,” senior Justin Bohanan said.

Social media is the standard mode of interaction and connection today. By serving and defining the individual, algorithms predict what is wanted before it is even fathomed. Thus, serving the masses in a computer generated race to the next big thing.