Social Media conundrum

 We have talked about two different perspectives on social media–the affective (“ambient intimacy”) and the informatic (social graph, relational data). Does one way of thinking about social media take precedence over the other? Does it make sense for us to analyze social media as an either/or (either it is socially engaging or it is all just a ploy to extract our data) Or, as Willson suggests (using Nancy), is there a both/and explanation for how we can describe our relationship to social media? How do these ideas tie into Wednesday’s reading (and the discussions we had last week regarding the digital public sphere?)

Well all have some form of it. Social media. It has taken over most of our lives in some shape or form. Even those of use that dont use it, the content and what we consume are formed around or by it. The forms of social media take on many different forms. From the self ego centric nature of the Facebooks and the Instagrams, to the other end of the spectrum of online anonymous forums like a Reddit there is a rainbow of ways it manifests itself. In our readings we have come to learn of the benefits and detractions both from an affective and informatic perspective. In the Wilson reading using Nancy as a guide we understand that Ambient intimacy is important in the sense that it creates a connection between two things. A tangible connection that blends two thoughts or ideas into a common action. When manifested between two people either online or face-to-face that connection is very strong and given despite what it looks like we are a very social culture. This ambient intimacy enables us to care for the mundane in others lives and to get closer and develop a care at a distant. That is one of the main aspects to how social media works! There are some dectrors to this idea though. Given the form it takes we find ourselves almost overloaded with Ambient intimacy sometimes. So much so that people are know to “sign off” for mental health issues! That being said, overall I think on this level we are all happy with that being what social media is and that it doesn’t represent more than a tangential way to keep up with old friends and make new ones. Unfortunately that isn’t the case and what its out there on social media is not simply the ideal that we want it to be. From fake news proliferating through our feeds, and companies disguising regular content as a type of guerrilla marketing ad, social media has its fair share of struggles. And its not just limited to those things. There is the scary bad “big data” up in the sky that is taking all of the information that we are putting out their in the online public sphere and turning that into information used to sell us products, influence our decision making, and even affect political and social agendas. This is an incredibly dangerous slippery slope as there hasn’t been a powerful tool like this that people WILLINGLY give up their own personal information to the public. It should be treated as the delicate information that it is. There has to be a blending of these two approaches towards social media or otherwise society will move on to the next social construction. I think for the most part users of social media (unless they live under a rock) recognize that companies, political persons, even employers place a high value on what happens on social media. We have to acknowledge the value that our information is to “big data” but they must also themselves be accountable for what they do with that information.