I need help composing answering these Questions about an essay.
Questions
1. (Purpose) “What is the research question that is driving this project? Is it clear? Is it interesting? Is there another question that might be better?”
2. (Meaning) “In your own words, what do you think I’m trying to say? Did the draft hint at another idea that I might develop in the next draft?”
ESSAY BELOW
Is Social Media Reaching its Peak?
Social media has had its vast evolution and change through many decades and eras, but has it peaked in this 21st century? Before concluding if social media has peaked, let’s look at decades back to where it all started. Social media goes as far back as the 19th century when the growth of communications technology was being used more, “Samuel Morse’s first telegraph, which he sent in 1844 between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. “Of course, this type of social media didn’t have the technology, but it grounded to sending individual messages and news from two people. The internet’s roots started in the 1960s and 1970s public organizations were figuring out how to communicate with one another using a computer.
The start of social media didn’t start until the 1980s and 1990s. This was when personal computers were regular, and the populous having a computer was a must-have for everyone. This phenomenon was something fresh and new that the world hadn’t seen yet, and the endless possibilities of what more a computer can do. During the 1990s, most users communicated via email, which was first introduced in 1991.
The first social media site was called “Six degrees” and was founded in 1997 by Andrew Weinreich. Six Degrees was a site with features such as creating profiles, maintaining a list of friends, contacting other users on the site, and private messaging. From 1997-2000, Six Degrees attracted 3 million users that used the site until it became unsuccessful “failed to translate those numbers into revenue and collapsed with countless other dot-coms when the “bubble” burst that year for shares of e-commerce companies.”
After this failure, an uprising in new forms of social media began to rise, such as Friendster, MySpace, LinkedIn, XING, and Facebook. Without the defeat of Six Degrees, the rise of other social media wouldn’t have been triumphant as were, and because of that, it impacted society through the social media world. Of course, these sites were limited to messages, posting pictures, videos, and posts. After 2009 MySpace declined in users, and Facebook became the new upbringing of social media and currently has over 2.6 billion, active users. Youtube slowly became popular as well; it was created in 2005 for many users across the globe the random share videos, vlogs, and musical talents with any user. Currently, Youtube has 2.1 billion users to this day. Twitter became the second up and running with 50 million users.
Instagram launched in 2010. That’s where celebrities and other users started to post pictures and videos with captions for all their followers to see and share. Instagram has at least 1.2 billion users active on its app. Snapchat was launched in 2011. Snapchat has at least 347 million users, and users can send time-limited pictures and messages to their friends and add 24-hour temporary videos and photos to their stories. Years after, there has been Discord, where users can stream and chat with other gamers online, and content creators can stream their gameplays for their followers to see and interact with them. One of the top most used apps that people are using today is TikTok, an app where users can upload 30 seconds to 3-minute videos about anything they want to put out there for other users to see. There are currently 1.53 million users on tik tok and creating content daily. TikTok isn’t limited to one specific group of people; people across the globe use this app.
Seeing how many different platforms have been made throughout the years, there have been adjustments and advancements in social media. People have more access to many apps and platforms than in the early 2000s and 2010s. Since there is access to all social media platforms where the whole globe can post, share, and create different content for every platform, have we reached the peak of social media? According to Digital Information World, “Data shows the social media hype had reached its peak a long time back, and according to the recent reports, its growth is slowly declining. The decrease is also slowly and gradually evident, with a report about three minutes decrease in average social media usage since the past year.” Society went from being ecstatic to see what other people are doing and their aesthetics, pictures, and even being able to share a special moment with loved ones online to overconsumption of being on social media. The only thought is, will social media reach another peak, or will it keep decreasing?
References:
1960s – 1990s: Internet. (n.d.). https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1960-1990/
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2023, February 22). Social media | Definition, History, Examples, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-media
Jones, M. (2022, January 30). History of Social Media: The Invention of Online Networking. History Cooperative. https://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-social-media/
Ahmed, A., & Ahmed, A. (2021, December 15). Has social media seen its peak plateau and is its popularity dying out compared to a few years back? Digital Information World. https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2021/12/has-social-media-seen-its-peak-plateau.html
