Social Media Synthesis Essay

1322 Words3 Pages

Social media in general exerts a tremendous influence over the global flow of information, its dissemination, and its reception by individual users and inadvertent participants. The incessant simultaneity of its production and consumption creates what can at times feel like a postmodern free-for-all in which the value of what was once easily categorized as “newsworthy” has become called into question. As social media sites such as Facebook and media avenues like Twitter have become popular among teens and their grandparents alike, what takes place on any given newsfeed reflects not only what is trending, but also the social climate, or context, of the individual user. What counts as news on any given newsfeed ranges anywhere from CNN-style “breaking news” to the season’s top denim. Interspersed with calls to political action against police brutality and grumpy cat videos, Facebook …show more content…

As a mood board, Pinterest offers a subtly powerful alternative to brutes like Facebook. In this odd walk-in closet of wish and atmosphere, individuals are quietly creating visual worlds that appeal to home décor as much as they do to social advocacy initiatives. While it may not seem self-evident at first, Pinterest has the power to create awareness, foster self-expression and inspire social change through a very peculiar human emotion: desire. What is even more interesting: The presentation of one’s desires, wishes and “likes” (created not through a click that signals a mini “thumbs-up” icon, such as Facebook) is instead made manifest through a collage of images that serves to reflect, in many ways, an endless galaxy of most perfect

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