An interesting point that was raised today in class was which apps we consider to be social media. Elaine asked the class which apps come to mind when we think about social media and all the normal staples of the industry were mentioned (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook etc). One that wasn’t mentioned by the class however was YouTube. Now YouTube is definitely a social media app by the definition, but why is there this disconnect between the others mentioned and apps like Youtube or Spotify that definitely do have social content on them?
I think, possibly, there are two reasons that YouTube wasn’t thought of in this context by anyone in the class. First, YouTube, generally, isn’t used by many people to communicate with their friends/followers. Obviously it is used in that way by the content creators on YouTube, but the vast majority of YouTube users would view themselves as consumers, not creators. When we think of a social media app, we think of snap chatting our friends, posting to an instagram story or messaging each other on facebook. I would guess that most people don’t even comment on YouTube, and so for the vast majority of people there is 0 social interaction on youtube. So, when we have that strong, direct conversational/social perception of what a social media app does, YouTube falls into a slightly different category.
Secondly, for most people on youtube, it is passively consumed content rather than active. When people are using Instagram or Snapchat etc they are often liking photos, messaging their friends, regramming or saving content they enjoy, posting their own photos etc. YouTube however, for the vast majority of users, occupies a space much more similar to traditional broadcast TV or modern streaming platforms like Netflix. People log onto YouTube, watch the content that is produced by their favourite channels and then thats where their usage on the app ends. They don’t use YouTube to message anyone, they don’t post comments, they don’t submit their own videos etc. Even when a someone wants to share a YouTube video with their friends on social media, they use a different app to do so (messenger or twitter for example).