Social media technology

Everything gets changed so fast, and people face new things every minute, and hour that they have to constantly make new decisions to form, create, connect, and learn. Now a days, it is hard to imagine in our lives without new social media technologies and platforms that keep us even busier in our lives.

“Technology is positioned as causing us and our social lives to change” (Baym 45). We can find people have at least four, or five user ids of different social media applications which each of them have different function, and use, but also, some similarities. People create, and get connected to social media services because they do not want to become an outsider who does not follow, or do what everyone does. Or, on the other hand, they use the social media to build and form a social network of personal relationships. An advantage of using the social media is that it helps to connect with individuals to share and find similar interests. People use the social media as a communication tool, using a text messaging system, or leaving comments in posts. Furthermore, people use the social media to follow up current news or events. For example, in Facebook, users can follow and like pages from the major news sites such as CNN, The New York Times, Washington Post, and more. There are more other pages that people can follow to get not only the news, but also, for an entertainment and fun. A main point of the social media is for the people to freely share, and connect with others who can exactly understand same ideas. For example, in Facebook, a page called Women’s march on Washington was created for all women to march on Washington around Donald Trump’s Inauguration day. More than one million people registered to attend the Women’s march. It was surprising how quickly the number went up, and how many people shared and liked the page. This movement organized over social network show how much important the social network is where many number of people come to work together and make changes. In Baym’s passage, it describes that “people are the primary sources of change in both technology and society” (Baym, 40). It all depends on how people use the technology to bring changes to a society. In this case, it was specifically specified as ‘Women’s’ March on Washington to resist President Trump who disparages of women, but during the march, many men were seen who supported this protest.

However, “movements organized over social networks often have more trouble jelling…particularly if different factions air their differences on Facebook and Twitter, drawing attention to fractures in a movement” (Tsukayama). In social networking sites, because there is not a regulation that prevents individuals who go against others, users get to see and learn different point of views about a subject. At the end, it is people’s decision on how they think, and what they want to earn from the social media.

Works cited:

Tsukayama, Hayley. “It takes more than social media to make a social movement.” The Washington Post. January 31, 2017. Web. February 06, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/01/31/it-takes-more-than-social-media-to-make-a-social-movement/?utm_term=.1f58f09476fa.

Stein, Perry, Steve Hendrix and Abigail Hauslohner. “Women’s marches: More than one million protesters vow to resist President Trump.” The Washington Post. January 22, 2017. Web. February 06, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/womens-march-on-washington-a-sea-of-pink-hatted-protesters-vow-to-resist-donald-trump/2017/01/21/ae4def62-dfdf-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.e197aad85d36.

Baym, Nancy K. "Making New Media Make Sense." Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2010. 22-49. Print.