Social Media: Follow Up Thoughts

         The past several weeks have given me a good idea of the role that social media plays both in our lives and in popular culture. I have learned what the myth’s, rituals, formulas and issues are with social media of all forms. Though I feel that social media can create problems in our culture I do think that it has become so much a part of a culture that we are in a no turning back situation. Social media provides us with entertainment, enjoyment, networking and socializing, all of which are society thrives upon.

            Of the topics that were analyzed I feel that the popular culture topic that best relates to social media is rituals. There are many rituals involved in social media and networking. These rituals involve the participant and the creator. I think this topic is most relevant because social media has become a part of all of our lives. There are applications on our mobile phones that allow us to constantly check in on our networking sites. The accessibility of social media has made it more ritualistic. People may check their Facebook account in the morning when they wake up, they may check it on their break and during lunch. They check these sites while they are bored and before they go to bed. The patterns that we create are ritualistic.

            There were several things that I found interesting while studying the popular culture aspect of social media. There is a social media website in Denmark, DKBN. This social media website claims to create a celebrity out of local people. This website has a rating system that allows members in physical communities to rate members of the opposite based on their photos posted on the website. The article about this particular social network really showed how narcissistic we have become. Additionally, what was once considered to be a problem, judging others and making your thoughts public, has now become totally acceptable. Hearing that these teenagers in Denmark want others to rate them, shows how we have really lowered our selves. I think social media makes these things easier, humiliating and hurting individuals, flirting and cheating and being self involved (Red Associates, 2012).

            Studying popular culture and social media has really opened my eyes to some of the issues involved with social media. To be fair, I think that social networking is really where career placement is heading in the future, but I think that people rarely utilize many of these sites for this purpose. Many companies are requiring a check to your internet presence, and a recent radio show was stating that some companies are even requiring your username and password! In the future I will be more aware of social media and my involvement in it. I want to stay level headed and protect myself. This analysis has taught me that social media will likely always be a part of our lives; and that we must adjust accordingly and act responsibly.