Networked Media Week 4 Reflection: Is it all About Money?

So it’s week four. What I find interesting is that I’ve been using instagram less and less over these past four weeks. Whilst a lot of the reason for not using it has been due to uni taking up a lot of my time, I’ve found that there are other things I’d rather be doing. That if I can have one day off Instagram, then it becomes easier not going on the next day. A lot of the time, I find myself purely wanting to scroll through my entire feed just so that I get a sense of completion. But when I don’t entertain my thought of going through Instagram, then I can be more selective about what I view. Such as going and viewing accounts set up in a way that you have to visit the profile to understand (like the ones mentioned in the lecture). Or who knows, maybe I just need a bit of a refresh of what and who I’m following. I’d much rather be the one going out and doing things or doing my own photography instead of living vicariously through the lives of ‘Instagramers’. So what I’m getting at is that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what role social media should be playing in our lives.

Instagram is everywhere. I took particular notice of this claim in this week’s reading by Hinton and Hjorth (2013, p24) who state that ‘for many young people today, even the idea of being without their phone or social media for a day causes great distress’. I do agree with this statement for the reason that it highlights how social media has become so ingrained into our lives. People feel like they need to share everything with anyone and find out whatever whenever. So what I took from the readings, lecture and class this week is that so far, the online world has evolved to get us to this point. But now I’m wondering where it’ll go from here. Whilst apps update to add new features and we quickly accept them, I wonder if there’ll be a step in a new direction; something that’ll change the game.

What I do know about this current version of the internet is that it really is a commercial space. Not only are the advertisements everywhere but many services also offer alternative paid versions. For example, on YouTube there is YouTube Red but now recently joining the paid features of YouTube is the ‘Join’ button which can be found on YouTube channels.

The ‘Join’ button is an option to participate in a paid subscription that entails bonus videos, live streams, icons to sit next to your username and more from the YouTube account. I wonder if a feature like this will be introduced to Instagram. Especially now since the platform has served as a source of career to some people. Furthermore, this shows how a job in social media is also on the rise. On Instagram, paid partnerships are what commercialises the space. Amongst the advertisements on your feed or between stories are ads produced by who you follow. Economies are reliant on people spending money so it’s only natural that companies find a way to make their product more enticing. Therefore, having your favourite online personality promote a product increases the likelihood of you buying that product. In saying all of this, I’m curious to see how Instagram and other social media platforms will continue to integrate opportunities to increase revenue.

Examples of Paid Partnerships I’ve seen recently on my Instagram feed: