Alice Vol. 7 No. 3

D D
aily encounters aily encounters shape how shape people how see people the
world and see behave the world in it. and Remembering
behave it.
individuals Remembering met during day-to-day individuals life met is easy, during
but what day-to-day about the life social is easy, media but what content about and the
advertisements social media constantly content exposed and advertisements
to platform
users? A constantly majority of exposed students to wake platform up from users? a
cellular A device’s majority alarm of students clock. The wake same up device from a
that is used cellular for listening device’s to alarm music, clock. calling The friends same
and family, device keeping that is virtual used for wallets listening and to bank music,
information, calling shopping, friends and making family, social keeping media virtual
posts and wallets absorbing and bank information, insane number shopping, of
advertisements. making social media posts and absorbing
The common an insane phrase, number “you of advertisements.
are who you hang
out with,” The means common people phrase, find comfort “you are around who you
agreeable hang voices out with,” and opinions. means people Life find is easier comfort
surrounded around by like-minded agreeable people. voices Social and opinions. media
platforms, Life however, is easier may surrounded have taken by like-minded
this idea
too far. people. Students Social get media frustrated platforms, the however, speed
Facebook, may Instagram, have taken Twitter this idea and too other far. Students social
media platforms get frustrated send targeted at the advertisements
speed Facebook,
whenever Instagram, a need Twitter is discussed. and other Suddenly, social media
social media platforms users send are trapped targeted by advertisements
the targeted
advertisements whenever weaved a need throughout is discussed. the Suddenly, social
media feed social also media showing users photos are of trapped friends, by
classmates the and targeted colleagues. advertisements The targeting strategy weaved
allows platforms throughout to the earn social more media “screen-time,” feed also
from users, showing meaning photos people of friends, spend classmates more time and
engaging colleagues. with the app The and targeting more time strategy receiving allows
advertisements. platforms to earn more “screen-time,”
“Consumers, from users, bombarded meaning with people ads spend from the more
moment time they engaging wake up with to the the moment app and they more drift time
off while receiving staring at advertisements.
smartphones, face tailored
experiences, “Consumers, products, bombarded and offers with from ads from the the
brands they moment support. they Advertisers wake up to and the moment marketers they
use a variety drift off of while data staring acquired at smartphones, by monitoring face
online activities tailored -A experiences, tailored ad products, leads to and greater offers
visual attention,” from the brands said Kim they Jihoon, support. assistant Advertisers
professor and of marketers advertising use and a variety public of relations data acquired at
The University by monitoring of Alabama. online activities -A tailored
Companies ad leads sponsoring to greater advertisements visual attention,” pay the
platforms said or apps Kim by Jihoon, the number assistant of users professor viewing of
the post, advertising and even more and for public engagement. relations Tapping at The
a website University link, liking of a Alabama. post or making comments
is tracked and recorded by the social media
platform, and earns the platform a profit.
“Students take in a huge amount of information
far beyond the traditional media. Thus, media
literacy is an essential skill in the digital age. It
will continue to play a key role in creating a new
generation that can retain critical thinking skills
in the midst of a media blizzard,” Jihoon said.
Screen time is good, but engaging with
advertisements will increase profits for
companies using the app as a promotional tool.
The “click”, or engagement numbers are shown
to advertisers as proof targeted social media
advertisements and feed will increase company
income, and currently the users receiving the
advertisements care enough to learn more.
For advertisers and marketing practitioners,
targeting is a blessing. Targeting a user by
collecting records of actions made on the social
media platform makes the job of expanding a
creator or companies audience easier.
“You want to try and suit multiple audiences.
Growing an audience is about understanding
your niche and identifying the story being told,”
said Ryleigh Esco, The PR and Digital Media
Coordinator at Style Advertising, Marketing
and Public Relations. “Never be afraid to ask.
Having more eyes and insight on your work can
help prevent mistakes.”
Connecting with individuals is exciting when
information such as friend group members and
interests are public. A company’s social media
audience, however, is up to users and how the
content is received.
Advertisements being targeted to specific
clients and customers is common, but the
introduction of modifying users’ feed to make
the placement of the advertisement more
appealing is not. Today, a user can scroll
through posts for long periods of time without
seeing the majority of their friends’ posts. This
is because friends with differing views may have
been filtered out. Platform targeting increases
how often people see pleasing social media
posts while adversely removing friends’ content
when it is “low quality”, meaning the post
shared was taken under bad lighting or with an
older generation camera, or if the content takes
a position counter to the profile user’s views.
Controversy can increase user engagement, but
often, more screen time is gained by appealing
to users’ interests.
“People love to hate big tech but for vastly
different reasons. Some claim social media
platforms are impending upon free speech
and others believe they aren’t doing enough
to staunch the flow of misinformation and
moderate hate speech,” said Matthew Barnidge,
an assistant professor at The University of
Alabama, currently teaching Social Media and
Society. “I think so long as we are internalizing
this and thinking about how it applies to our
lives, that is the most important thing.”
Consumers do not have to buy into
advertisements, but the action is more likely
the the advertisements are targeted. People
are likely to befriend others with agreeable
perspectives, but new advertising strategies
place an invisible block on people and posts
controversial to the user. Never experiencing an
active conversation with individuals of different
or ulterior views can limit self reflection and
belief questioning. Understanding the root of
different opinions teaches people resourceful
problem solving techniques. Social media
platform’s new level of gatekeeping might
diminish people’s opportunity to question
ideals, while also placing a long term
restriction on people’s ability to argue while
being respectful.
[11]
[11]