Just like many other people my age, I am involved in many different social media platforms. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Messenger, and Pinterest are just some of the platforms I use. However, I never really stopped to think if I am being used or controlled per say in my every interaction online. Every click, like and follow I make ultimately makes up my digital footprint. It is only now I am realising how scary this idea of new media and social media is. It is constantly evolving and reproducing itself, so how as users are, we meant to keep up with the changes and most importantly keep ourselves safe.  

In 2006, Wendy Chun explored the dichotomy of control and freedom and specifically presents them as a paradox. She argues that in order to gain your freedom, you have to submit to control.  

When a person uses these new media platforms, you feel in control. You are able to select who are your ‘friends’, post photos, comment on other people’s pages, like and then unlike and follow and unfollow, hence, you feel like you are controlling your experience online.  As discussed in this week’s reading, in some cases we don’t have freedom, it is an illusion of freedom through control.  

Chun examines how the freedoms you are granted, in the form of being able to choose your actions, is actually a tactic used by the platform giants in order to benefit their interests. This way not only do they get higher user engagement, but they also get to learn about their audience and consumers at a deeper level.  

It is easier than ever for our information as users to be collected, stored and sold/repurposed for the company’s benefit. Thinking back to when I signed up for Facebook, I gave them my date of birth, full name, school, where I lived, where I study, and then subsequently accepted and requested friends. I then go and like, save and share videos which again, starts to allow them to paint a portrait of who I am and what type of content I may be interested in.  

As discussed throughout the reading, every time you log into a device of some sort you are being recorded. The data that is logged and used directly gives the SNS’s specific and individualised information about a person and hence allows them to directly target each individual user in a specialised way; “Instead of undermining central authority and power, this seems to do the opposite”.  There has never been a time like now when our data is so highly sought after and hence, it is now that we have to be most careful online and more aware of the SNS’s intentions. 

I’m guessing it isn’t just me (I hope it’s not just me) that feels like they have spoken or even thought about something and within the next 24 hours, you see an advertisement for that product on your social media feed. Now, with this happening multiple times, it feels invasive. It scares me to think of what they could possibly know about me just through my connections and makes me question if they are really listening to me on an everyday basis. This shows the control and the manipulation that is possible all through connecting the dots of our data online.  

The confusing battle we face on an everyday basis as new media users is the idea that “social media is both controlling and empowering at the same time”. This fine line in some people guides what they post and how they use their platforms however for some, it controls them. In order to be able to use social media platforms and ensure we have as much control as possible, we just have to remember to ask: “would I want my grandmother to see this?”. It is the oldest trick in the book but usually, it works the best.  

 

References:

• Hinton, S & Hjorth L 2013, Understanding Social Media. Sage Publications, London 2013. (Section: pp. 1-31).