Social Networking Sites

When we use social media, we tend to get caught up with the content, because after all, that is the point. We are incredibly interested in what other people are doing, thinking and sharing. This, however, could mean that we do not take time to observe how the site works, and how it compares to other social networking platforms. 

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat  are a few of the most popular social media platforms. They fall under the same category of social networking, and are interestingly used for the same and for different reasons. This is because they offer different types of features, and this naturally leads to people using them for all kinds of reasons.

If we take Facebook, for instance, it is very high on privacy, allows people to post written text, pictures, videos, and anything else they would like to post. It allows for sharing, liking (and other types of reacting) and commenting. People connect by sending a friend request, after which the receiver of the request should accept for them to be friends. Facebook is like Twitter in that they allow for people to write their thoughts, but it does not have a character limit like the latter. 

In terms of Twitter, privacy is not a priority, as people who sign up generally know that unless they protect their tweets, anyone can read, like, retweet or reply. People connect by following each other, but it is different than Facebook in the sense that it does not have to be mutual. Being followed by someone does not mean they have to be followed back. Twitter and Facebook have feeds in which users can explore the posts by the people that they follow or befriend. 

Instagram allows its users to only post pictures or videos. One might call their Instagram profile a public (or private) photo album. On Instagram, people connect by following each other. This, like Twitter, does not have to be mutual, but in the case that the person has set their profile to private, they would have to accept anyone who has sent a request in order to gain them as a follower. Recently, Instagram added a feature where users could post videos or photos in a different section, besides the usual feed, which remain available for 24 hours, and these were called stories. This was very similar to the feature, with the same name, originally created by Snapchat. 

Speaking of which, Snapchat can probably be called the most different out of the four platforms, as the means of communication is mostly through pictures and videos. Nowadays, users can chat, but their chat is automatically deleted after they leave the platform. It is like Facebook in that users connect through friend requests, which have to be mutual. An interesting addition to Snapchat's stories are the stories that are created based on location and event. For instance, there was a story for Hurricane Michael, and people were updating and communicating through the story that was created, and anyone could access it. 

Social media sites are the talk of today, and it's interesting to take a minute and observe the way they work and the different ways that people use them. 

Thanks for reading,

See you soon!

Nanar