P1 – Social Media
Facebook
Purpose
The purpose
of Facebook is to connect people from all over the world using the ever
expanding web as a way to link people together. It does this by allowing people
to discover each other via Facebook and then keep in touch no matter where they
are in the world. Social media platforms
such as Facebook aim to make the world a more sociable place by allowing people
to talk no matter where they are, however, some people do argue that this makes
people less sociable as they are less likely to go out and speak to people
face-to-face as they can just do it through social media platforms such as
Facebook.
Content
Facebook
uses a predominately white and blue colour scheme, this is calm and laid back
which suits the relaxed approach that Facebook likes to take. The main element
of Facebook is the news feed; this is where users can see everything that their
friends are posting as well as posts that Facebook has suggested to users.
Users are taken to this page as soon as they log into Facebook. There is also a
page in which users can search for friends and then “friend” them so that they
can see what they have posted. All
pictures/videos uploaded save onto the user’s profile so that they can be
viewed at a later date either by them or their friends.
Target
user/membership
The type of
people to use Facebook are generally people that like to see what other people
are getting up to. This can vary from friends that they see daily to old
friends from the past who may now have completely different lives and be
completely different people from the person they remember being friends with.
Facebook users also generally like to let people know what they are doing with
their day which is the whole purpose of the famous Facebook wall. Facebook targets
a younger audience (usually ranging from 13 -30) as this is the age range that
is considered to be the most tech savvy in today’s society.
Sources
of revenue
Due to
Facebook being free, Facebook cannot gain money for people simply signing up
for the website, instead, Facebook uses two different sources of revenue. The
first is the inclusion of advertisements within the site, companies will pay
Facebook to advertise their company throughout Facebook. The second way is
through the inclusion of mini games such as Restaurant City in which Facebook
users can make micro-transactions in a bed to get better stuff in the game.
Legal and
ethical issues
One of the
major issues that Facebook faces is identity fraud, this is when a person
claims to be someone they are not. There have been many cases of users doing
this which has ultimately led to their arrest as it has been believed that they
have made the fake account to cause harm/offence to others. To combat this,
Facebook always encourages users to double check with their friends which
account is there’s so that they do not add anyone who is claiming to be their
friend.
Instagram
Purpose
The purpose
of Instagram is to allow people to share their favourite pictures and
experiences with the world and also having the ability to gain an insight into
their friends lives by following them on the platform allowing them to see each
other’s content. Users can grow their Instagram page by gaining followers from
all over the world who can show their appreciation by “liking” photo’s that
appeal to them. This particular social media platform is also favoured by
celebrities who allow their fans to follow their page so that they can get a
better look into their favourite celebrities live on a daily basis.
Content
Instagram uses
a predominantly White and Black colour scheme within the actual app, however,
for the logo Instagram has gone with purple, pink and orange colour scheme. The
Instagram news feed is made up of only pictures, which you can double tap and
“like” if the post tickles your fancy. Instagram also has a page in which you
can see posts/users that Instagram has suggested for you, allowing you to find
more people who post content that you enjoy. Another popular page on Instagram
is the ‘recent activity’ page, this page shows the people who have most
recently liked/commented on your photos
Target
user/membership
Instagram is
aimed towards a much younger audience than most other social media platforms,
this is because Instagram does not necessarily focus on users being able to
communicate with each other which is the reason why most middle age users use
social media in the first place. Instead, it aims itself at users that simply
want a quick snap representing what their friends/favourite celebrities have
been getting up to, without them having to read a lengthy post to achieve this.
Instagram actually has the youngest membership of the three social media
platforms, with 53% of Instagram’s 200 million users being between the ages of
18-29.
Sources
of revenue
Like many
other social media platforms, Instagram’s main source of income is through
adverts. Users will often see adverts as they are scrolling down the Instagram
homepage seeing what the latest posts are; as some posts will be labelled
‘sponsored’ meaning that that particular company/brand has paid Instagram to
show their post of your news feed without you actually following them. Examples
of companies who do this are Nike, Adidas, Lucozade and BooHoo.
Legal and
ethical issues
Since Instagram
is a picture based form of Social Media, most of its legal and ethical issues
are going to revolve around the type of pictures people are posting. For
example, models and any other users for that matter; are limited to how much of
themselves they can show as nudity is not prohibited on Instagram. If users do
decide to post a picture that is too revealing, not only will it be offensive
to some users in an ethical sense, but it will also be a violation of Instagram’s
code of conduct and could result in the user’s account being banned.
Twitter
Purpose
The purpose
of Twitter is not primarily to allow friends to keep in touch with each other
as is the main purpose of Facebook and Instagram. It is more focused on allowing people to
voice their opinions on whatever events may be occurring in the world at that
particular time which has let to many debates being engaged on Twitter over the
years. Twitter was also the first social media platform to introduce hashtags
(#party), trending hashtags can be seen below the search bar so people can see
what people are currently talking about on Twitter. However, like Instagram,
Twitter allows users to gain followers and also follow the people they want.
Content
Twitter’s
content is similar to that of Facebook’s and Instagram’s in the sense that it mainly
revolves around its homepage. On the homepage is a news feed, showing users
what the latest and most popular tweets are out of everyone they follow. A blue
tick is featured next to the names of celebrities so that users know that they
are celebrities as well as being able to confirm that this is their actual
Twitter account, this is known as being ‘verified’. Twitter then has a
notification page which lets users know when other users have liked their
tweet/retweet as well as letting them know when they have been followed by
other users.
Target
user/membership
It appears
that Twitter has the second youngest usership of any of the social media sites
mentioned. A study showed that around 35% of Twitter’s 271 million users are
between the ages of 18-29 with the majority of others being above the age of
29. This shows that twitter has a youthful target audience. Twitter’s target
membership also tends to be people who enjoy stating their opinion and letting
other people see/hear about it, as the likes of Donald Trump, Jeremey Clarkson
and many other big names have made a Twitter a platform to get their opinions
on things out there and many other twitter users have followed ship.
Sources
of revenue
Twitter has
3 main sources of revenue, promoted tweets, promoted trends and promoted
accounts. Promoted tweets are when a particular account gets in touch with
Twitter and pays them for putting their tweets in user’s news feeds as sponsored
tweets. Twitter will get further payment when users click on the sponsored tweets.
Next up is promoted trends, this is when Twitter will be paid by various
sources to put a particular topic on the ‘trending’ section. It costs around
$200,000 a day to keep a topic on the trending page which makes this a great
source of revenue for Twitter especially considering the trending page is
different in each country. Finally, is promoted accounts, Twitter can recommend
accounts to users based on the people they follow; however, users can also pay
twitter to recommend their account to users in an effort to try and increase
their following.
Legal and
ethical issues
One of the
biggest criticisms of Twitter is that the content found on the site can be
offensive to a wide range of users. This is down to the culture of Twitter
being a platform in which people can let off steam and state their real
opinions for the world to see, not really caring if what they are saying is
offending people as to them it is just their opinion. Twitter has also had bit
of a problem with trolls in recent years, a prime example of this being Katie
Price’s son Harvey, who has been on the end of a lot of abuse on social media
(mainly twitter) because of his mental problems; which trolls have found fun by
ridiculing through offensive imagery.
