I thought I finally defeated social media, only to find out I am now addicted to YouTube. Can you blame me, though? YouTube is lowkey better than Instagram. ...
All seriousness, not trolling you, but how old are you?
I’ve found the 30ish and under crowd refer to basically everything as social media at this point. Like everything where anybody can talk to others is “social media”.
Message boards /forums are just that,video sites are just that, FB, Twitter/X, IG type stuff is all social media.
I’ve asked the life out of that one in real life to people the last couple years and it seems pretty consistent that if you’re younger it’s all social media, and those who have been around before that term existed don’t lump it all in together like that.
Older people ignore the comment sections in their factorization. I think this can be fair but also isn’t necessarily when we consider things like livestreams on twitch and youtube, where you will have actual communities form on the platform itself, who communicate and form friendships and relationships. Unlike message boards and forums typically have, there is a “main character” if you will, but I don’t think that makes it asocial.
There’s also the participatory, communicative environment people feel even as smaller creators. It’s not like film and TV where you need an entire network and brand backing you, and as such it’s pretty democratized to be a social outlet for people.
All seriousness, not trolling you, but how old are you?
I’ve found the 30ish and under crowd refer to basically everything as social media at this point. Like everything where anybody can talk to others is “social media”.
Message boards /forums are just that,video sites are just that, FB, Twitter/X, IG type stuff is all social media.
I’ve asked the life out of that one in real life to people the last couple years and it seems pretty consistent that if you’re younger it’s all social media, and those who have been around before that term existed don’t lump it all in together like that.
What makes YouTube social media for me is the following
Older people ignore the comment sections in their factorization. I think this can be fair but also isn’t necessarily when we consider things like livestreams on twitch and youtube, where you will have actual communities form on the platform itself, who communicate and form friendships and relationships. Unlike message boards and forums typically have, there is a “main character” if you will, but I don’t think that makes it asocial.
There’s also the participatory, communicative environment people feel even as smaller creators. It’s not like film and TV where you need an entire network and brand backing you, and as such it’s pretty democratized to be a social outlet for people.