# Reading Responses Set 2

## Reading Response 1
### 10/25 -- Shaped

How, in an online world, can anyone feel confident when surrounded by celebrities, influencers famous for their good looks, and filters that change your features?

This is what stood out in this reading; the concept of how large a pool of comparison we now have from being online and how caught up we get in comparing ourselves to others online. It's easy to forget, but the internet opens us up to see, interact with, and compare ourselves to way more people than we, as a human race, have ever been able to before. This is evident in my own reaction to learning about Dunbar's number, I thought "how could I only have 150 close relationships". Much of that thought came from the amount of online connections I have, since I try to make a point of mainly interacting with people who I have had somewhat of a relationship with, at least to the point of Dunbar's qualification of "if you would grab coffee with them". This is interesting in the concept of connections, but when considering how this affects self-esteem, it's pretty clear that this amount of exposure to others can be quite detrimental.

Using Dunbar's number, imagine someone (offline) has 150 connections, they are only able to compare themselves to those 150 people. This still can cause a poor sense of self, but when you consider someone comparing themselves to even 550 connections (online) that person is opened up for much more and much harsher comparisons to others.

With so many connections, it can be hard to be confident in ourselves. This is a big deterrent to online spaces, and can really impact our ability to think about ourselves as fully formed people and not just a social media page. People tend to act and feel like they have to perform online, but I think a better approach to the digital space is just to approach it as a way to share your authentic experiences.

## Reading Response 2
### 10/31 -- Finding Someone and Living Alone

How has digital communication changed the relational landscape?

The three topics discussed in this reading: finding a partner online, lies that are told on dating sites, and the increasing population of adults living alone are all connected through the freedom that the internet gives us.

Finding a partner is never an easy task; we grow up being asked constantly "do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?" which eventually transforms into asking about moving in together and eventually marriage. These questions are expected at large family gatherings or when meeting new people. With the advent of the internet and social media sites dedicated to matchmaking, the line between "single" and "in a relationship" has definitely been blurred. As Thompson discusses, dating used to be orchestrated by friends and family, and there was quite a clear line between being single or not single. However, with dating apps and online communication, one person can be entertaining multiple potential partners at once, not to mention getting to know as much about them from an ongoing text conversation as someone previously would have needed multiple dates for. The ability to develop a relationship without ever seeing the other person face-to-face is revolutionary in how to approach romantic relationships. It also, however, allows for dishonesty within that communication. Without the nonverbals that are shared in a face-to-face conversation, it's easy to lie on these apps. Whether about height or salary like mentioned by OkCupid or making up elaborate backgrounds that aren't real, looking for a partner online definitely creates a new set of problems for young singles to worry about.

## Reading Response 3
### 11/3 -- Online Advertising

In revisiting our discussion of cookies, we dive deeper into just how much we're tracked online. Both the video from Vox outlining how they use third party cookies and the Online Advertising chapter give insight to us as consumers as to what data companies are collecting. It's common to see online scary titles about data collection and usage, so being able to get a better understanding of what exactly is being taken and how it's being used is important. As a consumer, I think there are two sides to the data collection that occurs online. On one hand, it does make using the internet much easier and can be helpful in reminding you of sites you've visited. Sites using cookies to keep you logged in, save your shopping cart, or autofilling your information at checkout are simple but extremely helpful additions to online life, and they're definitely worth giving up some of our personal information. As seen in the chapter on Online Advertising, having online ads (especially those targeted for potential customers) can be beneficial to both the advertiser and consumer. Social media ads especially do a great job of this since they have so much information coming in consistently from their users. Facebook (now Meta) is a great example of this, where they can get the targeted audience very precise and show an estimate of how successful that targeting will be. I used this in my co-op when boosting social posts, and I found it to be fascinating how precisely they can describe their users.

On the other hand, it's a scary thought that these companies have so much of our information that they can predict things about us before we even have considered the topic. One well-known example is Walmart starting to push ads for pregnancy tests and pre-natal vitamins to a woman before she even knew she was pregnant, simply because of the changes in her online and shopping behavior. When online algorithms and data can predict information about you so accurately, it creates fear that this information could (and maybe *is*) being used for nefarious purposes. With the pregnancy example, this became a huge talking point when Roe v. Wade was overturned because of period tracking apps and how that data could be used. Women feared that if these large companies could access their menstruation tracking information that it could be used against them in the case of pregnancy, or more importantly, terminated pregnancy.

While this information does serve a very important purpose, it becomes concerning when the data that is collected on us could considerably be used to track and identify us outside of the confines of the online space. Maybe the answer is more regulations on what can and can't be tracked, or maybe it's as simple as easier access to blockers. Either way, as this technology improves, internet users are going to want to have options to protect themselves from their data getting in the wrong hands.

## Reading Response 4
### 11/08 -- Manipulated

At the intersection of questionably reliable reviews and social media, we arrive at the discussion of influencers, sponsorships, and marketing on social media.

As seen in *Manipulated: "Which Ice Cube is the Best?"*, the impact of reviews, both online and off, can be huge. As humans, we want to confirm that we are spending our time and money on things that will have the outcome that we want and expect from them. Because of this, we lean on others around us to help us figure out what to expect through their experiences with the same product.

In a larger and much more saturated market online, reviews can make the difference between two seemingly identical products. For example, earlier this semester I was looking to purchase a kitchen island. My criteria? What was the cheapest option that was still sturdy enough and large enough to fit my needs. I searched between a few, and landed on this one:


Now, what informed that decision? Three things:
1. It was in my price range (under $100)
2. The reviews met my expectation for an item within that price range (it'll have some problems but as long as it generally works that's the goal)
3. I know a friend who has the same design and likes theirs.

In this situation, I used the opinions and reviews of both the strangers online as well as people I know in real life to inform my decision. This allowed me some added credibility in the reviews since there were a multitude of them and they were backed up by someone I trust.

The combination of these things is what drives the current style of marketing online through influencers. These influencers are people who have grown a large following online and are then paid or otherwise compensated for promoting a product to those followers. This plays to both reviews with multiple sources supporting it and information coming from a trusted source. First, when an influencer discusses a product, they welcome other people to share their experiences with the product as well, creating a space for reviews that isn't a formal feedback forum. This allows people considering the product to see multiple views of it and experiences with it. Second, as the influencer has grown their audience, their followers begin to feel a sort of connection to the content and life of the creator. Whether or not this has any real basis, the act of taking in content from someone on a daily or weekly basis creates the illusion of a close and trustworthy connection. Then, when said influencer suggests a product, it's easier to trust them since the audience has a view into their life.

While this can also lead to fakers, makers, and takers, it has proven to be a beneficial marketing strategy for many companies. Especially when an influencer creates credibility for themselves by turning down sponsorships that they do not actually support or by giving reviews that are not always glowing, their credibility skyrockets. This has a good outcome for both the influencer and the business. As a user and online shopper, having access to these reviews --- whether from a forum or influencer --- is helpful to weed out products that are low quality, poorly designed, or simply not what you're searching for.

## Reading Response 5

### 11/29 -- Collapsed Context

While BeReal feels like a fresh new look at social media, it also feels like a clock is counting down until it becomes swallowed by other platforms, ads, or the attempt at influencers, just like every other platform.

As noted by Duffy and Gerrard, when the app became popular it was liked for its novelty and approach on social media. Many sites have started this way, and become sucked into conforming to the ways of the big platforms. From what I've seen, typically an app starts and gains popularity for its unique approach or use. Then two things happen:
1. It gets overrun by ads. Whether this is in the form of influencer sponsorships, videos paid to be put on an explore-style page, or actual commercials, this happens with so many social media platforms.
2. The unique aspect of the new app gets copied by other big platforms and people migrate away from the original platform.

Personally, I noticed this happen with Snapchat. I joined the app in my freshman year of high school, back when there were no filters or private stories and when you could see *other people's* best friends list. The joy of using the app was quick, seemingly face-to-face communication without the burden of synchronous communication like on a video call, as well as being able to share something to your friends for the limited time period of 24 hours. Since I joined the app, I've seen many features come (and go) and I've seen these two things happen. Notably, I saw Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and practically every other site copy Stories, then private stories. This frustrated me, but didn't stop me from using the app. However, the second change did. Snapchat's addition of influencer stories, promoted 'channels', and ads between stories has gotten to the point that now I don't even enjoy using the app.

This all comes back to what Dufy and Gerrard discuss in their article, that the fight for authenticity is a losing battle. They said, "the more earnestly we pursue an “authentic” sense of self, the more marketers try to entice us with products and services that can fulfill that need", which is the core of social media. The way to make a profit off of these platforms is through marketing, so the demand for "authentic" platforms will inevitably always lead back to the path that will make the developers the most money, and likely make the experience less enjoyable for the users.

In the case of BeReal, I hope that this trend does not continue, however, I do feel as though I'm just waiting for it to fall into the same path as its predecessors.