Today when tracking my media use, I’ll be focusing on how I use media to communicate. My main source of communication is usually Facebook messenger, however I was surprised to see just how many other services I use to communicate. I use Facebook messenger on a daily basis for sometimes long-winded messages or like I did today to ask a friend to coffee and to respond to messages in a group chat created by my cinema studies group. I use this service in a fairly boring way and rarely send gifs and never post a messenger story (this doesn’t seem to be faring well among others either). I guess the reason behind this lack of creativity in this app, is because firstly I don’t have use for these extras and secondly, they can appear a bit ‘out there’ if used out of context. For example if I were to send just straight emojis or a gif in the context of the study group chat, it would appear as slightly odd as it has no purpose. However, upon confirming a meet-up with my friend, I sent a dancing emoji and this was perfectly acceptable. It’s interesting to think of codes and conventions with the ways in which we use our media. Just as we address and communicate differently with various people in our lives, this is carried across to media.

My next forms of communication was through iMessage and email. Both of these were with my manager. Through iMessage we talk casually and even use emojis as this is informal. However through replying to her emails, I am much more formal in my approach as the emails are addressed to everyone and seen by management.

I then communicated through Facebook. I was tagged in a meme that was a play on words from a song on the radio. The meme read “The club isn’t the best place to find a lover so the buffet is where I go.” As this amused me, I liked it and the comment I was tagged in. I do believe liking and tagging are a form of communication because they are sending a message. Liking says, ‘I appreciate this content and you for sharing it with me.’ I feel even posting a picture is communicating some sort of message, especially if there is a caption. With the content we create and respond to on social media, we are always sending a message to our followers or friends etc. Every piece of content has a purpose, whether it be to entertain or inform. Prior to thinking more deeply about this, I may not have considered the aforementioned social media examples as such outward forms of communication.