Social Media has Become a Ubiquitous Part of the Internet - Essay Example

Social media has become a ubiquitous part of the Internet Introduction Social networks reflect the relationships that involve various entities in the society such as group communication, friendships among different persons and transactions. Social media refers to the platform on the Internet where various people in the society share their ideas and daily experiences. Social media provides the society with an avenue to express itself freely and make friends across the globe (Kawash, 2014). Social media has become a ubiquitous part of the Internet since the inception of Facebook in 2004. The other social media platforms adopted the technical concept of Facebook in order to promote interaction in the society (Meiselwitz, 2015). This essay provides a comparative analysis of various social media platforms such as Facebook, Ello, and Experience Project. The paper examines different aspects of social media avenues, which includes review of the sites, audiences, effectiveness, relevant technical features, its focus, advantages and disadvantages (Atzmueller, 2015). Facebook Review Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes developed Facebook for students at Harvard University in 2004. The initial purpose of the site was to bring campus together socially through the Internet. However, the website is currently available to different individuals globally and it has approximately 350 million users. The users of the site can customize and create their personal profiles using personal information, pictures and videos. In addition, the platform allows the users to update their statuses, examine the profiles of their friends and communicate through chats and by posting on their timelines. Furthermore, the recent developments on the websites enable the users to create chat groups and business-oriented groups (Facebook, 2015). Relevant Technical Features Facebook is one of the simplest social media platforms to use. The interface of the site comprises of various aspects such as menu, friends, chats and newsfeeds. The menu aspect of the platform consists of the groups that the user visits and their basic information. On the other hand, the newsfeed refers to the updates by the users’ friends as well as their other activities on Facebook. The chat section of the website has names of the user’s friends who are online at the time of login (Atzmueller, 2015). The list also enables the user to communicate on a real-time basis through chats. The other technical feature of the website is the concept of uploading videos and pictures. The user can share their pictures with other users by uploading them on the platform. The site also allows the users to comment and post on other persons’ timelines and updates respectively (Facebook, 2015). Audience and effectiveness Facebook is among the most effective social media platforms on the Internet. The site has the highest number of users, which makes it easy to interact. In addition, the interface of the website enables the users to perform different tasks easily such as updating status, chatting, uploading videos and pictures as well as creation of social and commerce groups. Moreover, the users can access the site through their mobile devices or the personal computers making it effective to use. The major audience of the site is the young population that is aged between 10 years and 30 years old (Facebook, 2015). However, the platform allows all individuals to register regardless of their ages and social backgrounds. Advantages and Disadvantages The core advantage of Facebook is that it has many users, which enables individuals to acquire new friends easily and conduct business activities effectively. Beside, the site enables users to communicate on a real time basis, which is an essential aspect of social networking. The only disadvantage of the site is that the privacy of the users is limited. In this case, the friends or relatives that hinder the aspect of privacy can access the profile of the users easily (Facebook, 2015). Ello Social Media Website Review The Ello social network allows individuals to connect with their friends and share what matters most. IT specialists and artists developed the site as a private social network to avoid the negativity, data mining and ads on other social networks. The basic idea behind the website is that the users can control what they want to see on their profiles. In this case, there are no automatic updates or cyber bullying on the site. Furthermore, the site limits individuals from selling the users’ personal data without their knowledge that makes it unique from other social websites (Ello, 2015). Relevant Technical Features The main technical features of the site are almost similar to that of Facebook. The website has platforms where the users can update their status and upload pictures as well as videos. Besides, the users can communicate through chats and status comments on the site. The design of the social networking avenue allows the users to classify their followers as noise or friends. In this case, it categorizes the close friends of the user as friends and the acquaintances as noise (Ello, 2015). Another technical feature of the website entails the reduction of ads and enhanced privacy. The site only advertises branded products to acquire revenue. In this case, it does not bombard the users with advertisements from various organizations. It also incorporates all aspects of Twitter and Facebook social networking platforms making it more attractive to the users (Atzmueller, 2015). Audience and Effectiveness The major audience of the website is individuals who love the concept of privacy on the social media. In addition, the site attracts individuals from various countries in the world regardless of their age, gender, profession and social background. Initially, it started as a private social network platform but presently attracts the users of the competitors such as Twitter, Google Plus and Faceboo (Kawash, 2014). The website is more effective to use than Facebook because of various reasons. First, the interface has few sections, which allow the users to identify their desired items easily. Secondly, the concept of classifying the followers enables the users to communicate easily on the platform. The website is also gaining popularity in different social avenues making it easy to identify and make new friends. The absence of ads enables the users to conduct their activities easily with minimal disturbances from the ads (Ello, 2015). Advantages and Disadvantages The primary advantage of the website is that it promotes privacy by limiting the idea of sharing the personal information of their users. In addition, the absence of ads on the site is essential for effective browsing and social networking (Ello, 2015). The disadvantage of the website is that it has few features, which hinder the essence of socializing on the internet (Ello, 2015). Experience Project Review Armen Berjikly founded the Experience Project social media platform in 2004. The users of the website provide their personal experiences on different aspects of the society such as divorce, workplace conflicts, sicknesses and religion on the website. The concept of the site is to provide the users with an avenue for communicating on different encounters in their lives. The idea behind the development of the site was to promote the convectional approach to social networking where people share their experiences with their friends. There is categorization of the users’ experiences depending on the current social issues in the world (Experienceproject.com, 2015). Relevant Technical Features The website is among the largest social network platforms where individuals share their respective experiences in the society. Furthermore, the site provides the users with avenues to make friends through the ‘find friend’ button (Meiselwitz, 2015). Apart from sharing their experiences, the users can communicate directly with their friends on the platform. Besides, the website categorizes the experiences of the users based on the trending issues in the society such as diseases, innovations, politics and other social issues (Experienceproject.com, 2015). The users also post their views regarding different topics and issues in the society. The experience concept of the site has enabled the website to grow steadily in terms of new subscriptions regardless of the negative criticism (Atzmueller, 2015). Audience and Effectiveness The audience of the website comprises of various individuals who are aged 18 years and above. In addition, the website is effective because of the friendly and simple user interface. However, various critics have raised concerns regarding the social networking concept of the site due to high numbers customer complaints (Experienceproject.com, 2015). Advantages and Disadvantage The advantage of the website is that it allows individuals to express their experiences freely and anonymously which promotes privacy and freedom of expression. On the other hand, the limitation of the website is the limited approach to social networking. In this case, it does not provide the users with a reliable platform to communicate effectively on real time basis (Meiselwitz, 2015). Differences and Similarities The social networking sites have various differences and similarities. The first similarity is that they promote the concept of socializing on the Internet. Facebook, Project Experience and Ello aim at enhancing the social aspect of the user on the Internet (Experienceproject.com, 2015). Another similarity is that the users can post their feelings and experiences regarding different social aspects on the platforms. Finally, the users of the social platforms can identify and make new friends easily through chatting or commenting on their posts. On the other hand, the difference ascribed to the website entails the page design and layout. The design of Facebook and Experience Project allow ads while that of Ello limits the idea of ads (Atzmueller, 2015). Besides, Facebook and Ello promotes the concepts of real time communication through the chat button while individuals on Experience project communicate through sharing of their experiences and commenting on other users’ posts (Kawash, 2014). Conclusion Various social contexts use the social media currently in the society such as communication, education, business and entertainment. In addition, the development of many social media platforms has promoted competition and innovation in the industry. Furthermore, the social media platforms have enabled interactions between individuals with varying cultural backgrounds. All the social media platforms aim at enhancing interaction between different people in the society. However, they differ in terms of web design and user interface layout. References Atzmueller, M. (2015). Ubiquitous social media analysis. Ello, (2015). What is Ello? – About | Ello | wtf | Help and other resources for Ello. [online] Available at: https://ello.co/wtf/about/what-is-ello/ [Accessed 21 Jul. 2015]. Experienceproject.com, (2015). Experience Project - Personal Stories about any Life Experience. [online] Available at: http://www.experienceproject.com/ [Accessed 21 Jul. 2015]. Facebook, (2015). Welcome to Facebook. [online] Available at: https://web.facebook.com/ [Accessed 21 Jul. 2015]. Kawash, J. (2014). Online social media analysis and visualization. Meiselwitz, G. (2015). Social computing and social media. Read More