The Problem with Facebook

A hot button topic lately in the social media world is the Facebook algorithm. An algorithm can be difficult for those to understand that are not familiar with how they work. I think the misconception is that algorithms are all controlled by artificial intelligence, yet the Slate article clarified that algorithms are actually made by people. If there are problems with it, the people are to blame.

One of the reasons that the Facebook algorithm is currently being challenged is how it handles political advertisements. Right now the algorithm cannot compensate for differentiating what is true and what is not in political ads and that has sparked some debate recently. What the algorithm can do, which surprised me is pick out posts that will make us feel certain emotions. It can calculate what will make us feel happy or sad and spark a reaction out of us.

The idea that social media has such a drastic effect on our emotions is frankly terrifying. In fact, The Guardian reported that 40% of girls who spend more time on social media have higher rates of depression. Social media has strayed past from a friendly way to connect with people and is having detrimental effects on our society.

Something else to consider is the secrecy behind Facebook. This is why there is such a feeling of discomfort around Facebook these days since we do not know much about what it is doing as consumers. Many people blindly give Facebook their information without realizing that it may have long lasting effects. This secrecy was confirmed with Will Oremus’ experience at Facebook. He was even followed to the bathroom when exploring the business, which seems rather suspicious.

The inner workings of Facebook go beyond just individuals. It also affects businesses. The article stated that newspapers are starting to plummet in readership as websites like Vox and Buzzfeed skyrocket. Newspapers just do not have that ability to handpick stories for each individual reader like the Facebook algorithm does.

Facebook originally started as a way to connect college aged students and now it is starting to upheave things essential to our democracy like the press. Such a change as this is wild to think of. However, social media is becoming more and more powerful and it should be investigated.

Stepping into My Digital World

My introduction to social media began when I was twelve years old. I started off with Facebook, which was what most of my friends were on at the time. After I created a Facebook account, the other channels of social media followed suit. Before I knew it, I had an Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, and Twitter page. I was definitely making my digital footprint known without knowing all too much about what it meant to make my life so public.

Over the years, I have shed some of the social media I used to use and now most regularly post on Instagram. I think I use Instagram the most since it is picture and video-based and I am a very visual person. It has a wide variety of posts and helps me keep up with everyone from close friends to my favorite celebrities. I still use Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter, but tend to post less frequently since most of my social media needs can all be satisfied with Instagram. With the introduction of stories on IG, I stopped posting on Snapchat, and Facebook is starting to become less and less a place for people my age, so I have started to also follow that trend. Twitter is more my place to look, but not talk a whole lot. I would rather communicate in pictures rather than think of a witty Tweet that probably will not receive much engagement anyways.

Social media takes up a large portion of my day. It is rather natural for me to scroll through all the new posts anytime I have a second to myself. The benefits of social media for me are that I get to keep up with what is going on in the world and it is an easy way to keep myself entertained. However, social media has plenty of downfalls as well. One of the things I dislike about social media is the crave for perfection. What is typically posted are the highlight reels of people’s lives as opposed to what is actually going on with the individual. This causes people to compare themselves to others and feel not good enough with their own achievements.

Although there have been some downsides to the addition of social media, there have been revolutionary things that have occurred as well. It has had a large impact on how I communicate with others. One of the most beneficial parts of social media is that it allows me to keep in contact with my friends all across the world. I was an exchange student in Chile, and before the dawn of social media, it would have taken weeks for a letter to reach my host family there, but now I can easily just send a Facebook message.

Another part of social media I like, are the different tools that they inhabit. For example, with Instagram, it has really evolved to become not only a place to post photos and videos but also to edit those photos and videos. I am able to add filters and play with how the image will be displayed. This allows me to be able to use my creativity and create a brand for myself with how my photos are edited.

How I present myself on social media has certainly changed over time. When I first started on social media, I would post whatever I felt like without much concern with what my posts said about me. Now, I am constantly wondering what future employers would think about my posts and tailor them to remain professional. With this class, I hope to improve how I operate social media and gain skills on how to use social media in the professional world.

How We Are Today

For this blog, I watched the PBS Frontline Film, The Facebook Dilemma. This film focused on how our generation is obsessed with the number of likes they receive across social media platforms.

Something that stood out to me in the documentary was when they said that our generation treats likes as validation. That is definitely true and I have seen many examples of it with my own friends. How many followers you have and the likes you get have become almost a status symbol among people my age.

In the video, there was a clip where a group of teenagers was all discussing what profile picture one of the teens should post and talking about how many likes they generate. This seemed like a bit of an exaggeration to me, but it is not too far fetched from reality. I have on multiple occasions sought approval from several friends before posting something on social media.

Something I found really interesting about this video is that it is probably not that old, but it already seems so dated. There was a segment where they talked about Youtubers, and how many subscribers they had. They made a big deal about channels with one million subscribers, but nowadays that’s not that many subscribers. A million is like the starting point. The channels that I watch have over ten million subscribers and are continually growing.

One of the Youtubers they mentioned was Shane Dawson. They stated that he had about three million at the time, but now he is up to almost 21 million subscribers. He is creating mega series that generate anywhere from 15 to 25 million views on each video. A large part of the reason he gets so many views is from the people he films with, which are also extremely famous on YouTube. He also creates high-quality videos and works with a videographer and editor, Andrew Siwicki.

This documentary does not fully encapsulate just how big social media is becoming. Many people my age do not watch cable television anymore; they turn to YouTube instead.

With the platforms we have today, it is nearly impossible to live in privacy. Even if you are not posting on social media, you are probably having some sort of your life being put onto the internet. This comes from what you like on social media, what you share, and so on. When you are on social media, you have to be okay with your own privacy being infringed on to a certain extent. Some may find this unsettling, but it is how marketing is done these days. Ad campaigns are based around how many people they can get to click and with that comes some downsides.

Something else that was brought up in the video is just how much the communication between the brand and the consumer has changed. Before, it was more of one-way communication, but now it has turned into a two-way form of communication where the consumers are helping to spread the advertisers’ messages through what they share on social media.

While you may think that social media has totally taken over our private lives or not, you cannot deny the fact that you agreed to what these platforms are doing. Many people do not read the terms and conditions when they create an account. It’s less of an issue of what is fair in our nation’s democracy, and more about encouraging people to be informed with what they are taking part in.