If you live in a small community, as I do, you know that people will learn about you. And the best way to keep your secrets is to keep mum. In this way, social media is similar. But there are differences, and here are a few that I think about social media as personal space.
Personal Space
We can talk with others on social media, but unlike real-life communities, social media is not our personal space or a public space mentioned in this article on Forbes. And this article in Rolling Stone, “X, Formerly Twitter, Seizes @Music Handle From Its Longtime User.” Our social media profiles are on digital property owned by social media companies, which is not the same as purchasing an individual URL to host and publish our thoughts.
Engineered Environment
We choose the spaces where we live and engage on social media. But unlike real-life communities, social media companies engineer their community environments to invite, route, control, and keep our engagement. When we sign up to use social media platforms, we trade our comments, data, and photos for the experience, which for some can become addictive and intoxicating, like a game.
We Are The Product
We learn about products on social media, but unlike real-life communities, social media is a freemium, as described in these articles on Medium and Science Direct, where we are the product and the consumer.
Takeaway
Social media is an exciting and helpful space for us to participate in. And yes, it is part of the digital strategies I develop to connect with like-minded people online and in person across the United States and the world. And when social media companies focus more on the well-being of us, their users, I will begin to think about it more as personal space.
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Image created by Michael Wesolowski using Word Cloud Generator from Tanya Gupta, learnin60seconds.com.
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Thank you
Thank you for reading this article. I appreciate your time.
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