In week 4 we took a look at the relationship between new media, social media and Instagram.
Using the analogy of a plant in a jar (thanks Elaine 🙂 ), new media was described as the jar, whilst social media is the roots of the plant and Instagram is the leaves. So this maps out how they are all connected and who is dependant on what. For example social media can only expand to stay within the jar and Instagram is a product of the jar and roots and depends on the development of the other factors to grow itself.
New media we defined as sometimes digital, sometimes online but always evolving. Which i mean i think is pretty accurate, anything in the digital world is constantly evolving, you could blink and we could be in the next generation of technology. Just thinking about how much technology and the internet has changed from when i was a kid or even from within the last 5-10 years is crazy. We have had such an amazing advancement and are living in the future for sure. Its crazy to think how quickly its all changing and changing constantly.
Then we looked at defining social media, which surprisingly can be a difficult task depending on what you personally define as a social application. Personally i think anything where you are sharing content to another human being or community could be social media. Like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogging. You are posting it to a community and i think it is social if you know someone is going to read it or comment on it. I also think it depends on how frequently you use it and that also determines how social it is or not.
But then again you take a look at different definition of social and they are all slightly different. Some sources define it as “needing companionship and therefore best suited to living in communities” (google definition) and other such as the Collins Dictionary say “Social means relating to leisure activities that involve meeting other people” so can we really say we are being social over the internet or through an application. Its all very interesting to consider. Do we get the same fulfilment from online social media applications as we do meeting and socialising face-to-face? You would think not, but are as an evolving species okay with that and prefer to socialise through the internet? or are we just becoming lazy? I dont know.
I think thats a good ending point, what is the concluding definition of social media? my answer is… i don’t know what i define as social media. It changes person to person and also changes depending on the context. Hopefully by the time i come to sit down and write our final assignment ill have my own definition of it that i can share.