In this weeks class we covered the topic of social media. And more specifically we Siapera’s book ‘Understanding New Media’. I thought in this weeks lecture Elaine did a great job in contextualising what the reading was about with the information regarding social media. Elaine said Siapera provides a useful summary of the issue. In short, Siapera argues that new media is different from media in three main ways. First, it’s sometimes digital, second, it’s sometimes online, and thirdly, perhaps most important, new media is always evolving. This comment I thought really helped me to grasp what this week was about in terms of social media, because we cannot move onto social media without learning what new media is. Her third point about new media constantly evolving was something that struck out for me. In terms of Instagram it has changed drastically from when it first came into use to what it is now. In terms of a user interface

 point of view Instagram is a lot more user friendly now than what it was back in the day. As Nash commented in today’s class its easy to say yes, Instagram has a nice user interface and it makes it easy for people to use but it is the stuff behind the scenes that us users don’t get to see. A lot of work is put into Instagram to create a set of standards so that everyone who is posting is only posting good content because that’s what we all see in our newsfeed. Our Instagram’s are our owns because they have been personalised our way, not by someone else. This is both good and bad for users. We as users feel we are truly getting the most out of the app, only seeing what interests us because Instagram is constantly learning what we like through who we follow and what we like. This is even taken as far as personalisation  in the adds we receive in the news feed. Half the time when scrolling through my news feed I cant even tell what’s an add or sponsored post because it flows so well into my news feed that it feels seamless and unobtrusive. This can kind of be a scary thought, how well does Instagram now us? Pretty damn well is probably the answer. I think this leads nicely into the reading under Technologies, Media and Society. Mark Hansen comments ‘The importance of the new media does not lie in their attributes, on whether they are digital or analogue, new or old and so on. Rather the crucial issue regarding the media is that they are at the same time artefacts or material devices, as well as ‘transcendental’, that is they exist and do things beyond and above their material use.’ This is the essentially a link between social media and affordances. The primary use for Instagram is to view photos or videos of those who we follow, but Instagram has gone above and beyond pushing for ads that make for a 1 or 2 click shopping experience. If I can buy a phone case through 2 clicks on Instagram I am going to feel more enticed to buy that phone case because the user experience is so much easier than going onto eBay an clicking on 10 things before I can make a purchase. This basically becomes another use for Instagram in the form of personalised online shopping 

This weeks reading:

Siapera, E. 2013, Understanding New Media. SAGE Publications, London