Monday, April 14

SOCIAL MEDIA

Here’s Why Kids Love TikTok – Its A Unique Blend Of Social Media Platforms
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SOCIAL MEDIA

Here’s Why Kids Love TikTok – Its A Unique Blend Of Social Media Platforms

TikTok, a social media platform targeted at young mobile phone users, was the second-most downloaded app in the world in 2019. It was the most downloaded app in July 2020. As a political scientist who studies social media, I’ve looked at what makes TikTok unique and why young people have flocked to it. In short, the phone-only app lets users record themselves dancing or goofing around to a music or spoken-word clip and then alter the videos using a wide array of effects. Despite its superficially frivolous nature, young people have been using the platform to send political messages, coordinate political actions and hang out in an online space largely free of adults. How it works Each tiktok is a 3- to 60-second-long video that loops when finished. The majority of the screen is taken up by...
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Boomers Blamed For Demise Of Emoji
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IN OTHER NEWS, SOCIAL MEDIA

Boomers Blamed For Demise Of Emoji

So, have you heard? Supposedly, the laugh cry emoji has become uncool and using it is a sure sign you're old. Stop the presses! Gen Z - those born after 1997 - have apparently declared this to be so on social media, especially TikTok. This despite the fact that the emoji has been extremely popular since 2017. As a CNN article noted: "'Face with Tears of Joy,' the official name for the laughing crying emoji, is the most-used emoji on Emojitracker, a website that shows real-time emoji use on Twitter." In 2020, it was still the most popular emoji. So, what happened? Are Baby Boomers to Blame? Of course, as with everything else, we boomers are being blamed for its demise. Jeremy Burge, the chief emoji officer of Emojipedia, recently wrote a blog post that said: "It's common wisdom on Tik...
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The Irresistible Allure Of Mocking Southern Accents – TikTok, #BamaRush
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IN OTHER NEWS, SOCIAL MEDIA

The Irresistible Allure Of Mocking Southern Accents – TikTok, #BamaRush

  As college students across the country return to campuses grappling with the COVID-19 delta variant, Greek letters of a different variety have captivated social media feeds with stunning virality. The #BamaRush trend on TikTok introduced followers to the annual recruitment process for National Panhellenic Conference sororities at the University of Alabama. The popular videos offer a firsthand perspective on the recruitment process, showcasing the various events and the women’s corresponding fashion choices – the “outfit of the day,” or #OOTD – for each stage. When this phenomenon came to my attention, I noticed that TikTok’s algorithm fed me not only the posts of women participating in #BamaRush but also parody videos made by people glued to the unfolding events. In these videos...
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The Rise Of The TikTok Tabloid West Elm Caleb
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SOCIAL MEDIA

The Rise Of The TikTok Tabloid West Elm Caleb

Can you believe Makayla was dropped from Bama Rush? Do you think Couch Guy was cheating? Did you see Gabby Petito’s last post before she went missing? If you don’t spend much time online, you may not recognize these names. But on TikTok, their stories became sensationalized, memeified, hashtagged and rehashed. The most recent is “#WestElmCaleb.” Women took to TikTok to share their experiences of being peppered with affection, strung along and ultimately ghosted by a New York City-based designer named Caleb, who became the exemplar for the worst aspects of online dating culture. Together, these stories represent the emergence of what I call the “TikTok tabloid,” in which users collectively manufacture and dramatize stories like an investigative gossip reel. Traditional tabloids place the...
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Targeted Advertising On Social Media Drives People To Extremes
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SOCIAL MEDIA

Targeted Advertising On Social Media Drives People To Extremes

Have you had the experience of looking at some product online and then seeing ads for it all over your social media feed? Far from coincidence, these instances of eerily accurate advertising provide glimpses into the behind-the-scenes mechanisms that feed an item you search for on Google, “like” on social media or come across while browsing into custom advertising on social media. Those mechanisms are increasingly being used for more nefarious purposes than aggressive advertising. The threat is in how this targeted advertising interacts with today’s extremely divisive political landscape. As a social media researcher, I see how people seeking to radicalize others use targeted advertising to readily move people to extreme views. Advertising to an audience of one Advertising is clearly powe...
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So You Want To Be A Social Media Star
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IN OTHER NEWS, SOCIAL MEDIA

So You Want To Be A Social Media Star

Being Famous On Instagram Isn't Too Difficult Now. A powerful and impressive Instagram feed has various important factors that could bring you fame in this well-known platform used by people worldwide. It is essential to limit your attention to the people who will get your account many followers over a long period. In this respect, the primary factor in making your account appear good to others. Making your profile look appealing to your followers is one of the main factors that make you well-known on Instagram. As an example, you're expected to display your photography talents to the world, so don't ever post an unprofessional or poor photo that can ruin everything the eyes of your viewers. Instead, you should avoid posting any content. Only high-quality content is the one thing that...
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What’s This Hashtag Thing All About?
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SOCIAL MEDIA

What’s This Hashtag Thing All About?

The Entrepreneur's Beginner's Guide to Hashtags. How a Few Words Can Increase Social Media Engagement. I'm sure you've noticed there's no shortage of social media techniques and tips out there! But have you also noticed the majority of those tips focus on general info, like how to get more followers or likes, or how to post compelling content to engage your users? Those resources are important, but I notice that sometimes hashtags get forgotten about. They're rarely mentioned in marketing articles, but they're such a great tool for building your brand, raising awareness around marketing campaigns and engaging/entertaining your audience. How Do Hashtags Work? If you're new to social media, I know it can seem overwhelming. You may have seen these words with the # in front of them on...
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Lost In Meta’s ‘Average User’ Data – The Thousands Of Vulnerable People Harmed By Facebook And Instagram
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SOCIAL MEDIA

Lost In Meta’s ‘Average User’ Data – The Thousands Of Vulnerable People Harmed By Facebook And Instagram

Joseph Bak-Coleman, University of Washington Fall 2021 has been filled with a steady stream of media coverage arguing that Meta’s Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram social media platforms pose a threat to users’ mental health and well-being, radicalize, polarize users and spread misinformation. Are these technologies – embraced by billions – killing people and eroding democracy? Or is this just another moral panic? According to Meta’s PR team and a handful of contrarian academics and journalists, there is evidence that social media does not cause harm and the overall picture is unclear. They cite apparently conflicting studies, imperfect access to data and the difficulty of establishing causality to support this position. Some of these researchers have surveyed social media users and fou...
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How Facebook – The Wal-Mart Of The Internet – Dismantled Online Subcultures
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SOCIAL MEDIA

How Facebook – The Wal-Mart Of The Internet – Dismantled Online Subcultures

Before the internet, people interested in body modification – not just tattoo and piercing enthusiasts, but those drawn to more unusual practices like ear pointing, tongue splitting, suspension, scarification and the voluntary amputation of limbs and organs – had a difficult time meeting others who shared their interests. The internet, of course, changed everything: You can chat and connect with anyone from your computer. And in 1994 – more than a decade before Facebook launched – body modification enthusiasts started their own social media platform: the Body Modification E-zine, or BME. First operating as a bulletin board service (an early form of online message boards), BME eventually added features and functions that were forerunners before now-familiar online tools: blogging, wikis, ...
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Since The Rise Of Social Media And Smartphones – Are People Lying More?
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SOCIAL MEDIA

Since The Rise Of Social Media And Smartphones – Are People Lying More?

David Markowitz, University of Oregon Technology has given people more ways to connect, but has it also given them more opportunities to lie? You might text your friend a white lie to get out of going to dinner, exaggerate your height on a dating profile to appear more attractive or invent an excuse to your boss over email to save face. Social psychologists and communication scholars have long wondered not just who lies the most, but where people tend to lie the most – that is, in person or through some other communication medium. A seminal 2004 study was among the first to investigate the connection between deception rates and technology. Since then, the ways we communicate have shifted – fewer phone calls and more social media messaging, for example – and I wanted to see how well ear...
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