I can confidently say that I have an account on the majority of the social media websites or apps that are popular today. I sometimes lose track of time while using these apps since they’re extremely engaging and I can proudly say that I’ve learnt quite a bit from just scrolling through random pages on these apps, from digital marketing tips and tricks to who’s dating who. As a media student myself, browsing social media also acts as a guide of what to do and what not to do.
I thought I’d split my thoughts amongst 2 of the most used apps on my phone; Instagram and Twitter. According to the screen time tracker on my phone, I use all three of these apps for a whopping 4 hours put together- yikes. So, I decided to look into what I was doing on these apps for hours, and since I have a public account on one app and a private one on another, I thought it would be a fair yet interesting comparison.
I have a private Instagram account. I post pictures of bits and pieces of my life, the sweet and sour. I look at it from a ‘leisure’ point of view, since I post content for my family and friends to know what I’m up to for the most part and for myself to edit pictures and in a way show off my lifestyle. Since I have a private account, I post stuff for my friends as well sometimes to make their day a little brighter by posting a picture of something that reminds me of them or even a cute selfie we took together, without worrying about jeopardizing their privacy.
By having a private account I lose out on gaining incentives from posting, but I enjoy privacy a lot more at the moment. Ads do pop up on my feed, based on what I search for on Google etc, but I just scroll past them most of the time if it’s not of importance or fails to catch my eye. I do know that by looking at these ads and interacting with them, I am in fact contributing to the algorithm and the advertisers themselves. Although it does seem like more of a ‘leisure’ activity, I am technically helping a company out even though I am not rewarded for it at all.
Moving on to Twitter, I do have a very public account. I got into the Twitter game fairly late, I initially had a private account, didn’t post anything and would log on about twice a month and call it a day. When the second wave of Covid hit India we all found ourselves back in the dreaded loop of lockdowns and uncertainty. Naturally, my social media usage increased, I found myself using Twitter a lot more often and built the courage to make my profile public. I ended up posting a meme about something that was going on in my city and it went viral amongst the Tamil community on Twitter. I found myself to be on Twitter a lot more from that point onwards, I continued creating memes and posting relatable content. My content was mainly targeting the Tamil and Chennai based community on Twitter, and from there I grew. I now have a following of 8000+, while the memes seem all fun and games, I look at this activity of mine as ‘labour’. I have to entertain thousands of people while keeping in mind all the sentiments and beliefs of people on the app.
I cannot simply post whatever I want to, rather I have to filter my content and deliver what my followers want to see. My content needs to stay relevant and engaging. I sometimes do get a little bummed out when a post or two doesn’t get the engagement I hope for, and I understand how taxing it can be to keep giving the audience exactly what they want to see. I do not get paid or gain any other incentives from my posts on Twitter, but I did manage to grab the attention of some celebrities and influencers. As a media student, I am intrigued to see what could potentially happen if I do monetise my posts and so on.
In conclusion, I feel that users are not rewarded enough for their interactions on social media and we are mostly seen as tools they use to expand their business.