In the article “Snapchat Wants You to Post. It’s Willing to Pay Millions.” Taylor Lorenz writes that snapchat, a social media platform, is making people rich. Lorenz discusses several young creators, like Katie Feeney who is 18 years old and can now afford to go to college by using snapchat to open financed opportunities. The social media platform of snapchat is making people rich and changing their life. Next, Lorenz mentions that Snapchat is competing with Tiktok which is another media platform by offering users a chance to earn substantial amounts of money. Finally, she says that Snapchat is not only attracting influencers but also regular users by paying based on video posting. While the opportunity is changing some people’s life, Lorenz believes that competitions also are increasing.
I started to use social media when I was in high school. I only use WeChat which is one of the main social media in China. WeChat has a lot of functions. Like I use WeChat to text, file, moment(posting), video call, and voice call with my friends and family. WeChat also can share the real-time location to anyone you want to send and transfer money to others. When I buy something or go to a restaurant in China, I can pay for it by WeChat because my bank card connects with my WeChat account. It is very common and convenient in China. We can’t access to foreign social media, like Facebook and Instagram in China. When I came here I started to use facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, but I don’t familiar with them. I have a facebook account, I rarely check and use it. I use WhatsApp to contact my classmates here. I also use Instagram to follow school’s activities. In general, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media because I have a lot of things I want to do and need to do. Social media is a tool for me to get information or contact with others. Last semester, I took a public speaking class and one of my classmates mentioned that he was posting videos on YouTube and he can earn several hundred per month. It was my first time hearing someone earns money from social media. He said it takes time to make a video and edit it. But later on he said it didn’t take him too long to make and edit a video. I am actually surprised that people can make a million on the social media of Snapchat by posting videos. I think they are very cool. For me, I won’t do that because I am not good at making videos and I don’t like being posted on social media. In the end, I really agree with the author writes that anything can happen at any moment. The world is changing everyday and new things and ideas are created everyday. I just want to focus on what I want to do instead of jumping on the bandwagon.
5 thoughts on “Conversation#3 Wenfeng Huang”
Your comparison between social media in China and the West is interesting. It’s great that you stay focused on your own goals while recognizing how others benefit from these platforms.
Hi Wenfeng!
It’s the first time I heard about WeChat and I’m impressed that you can do everything from just one app, even pay from it. Also didn’t know the foreign apps couldn’t be accessed. I’m surprised as well how people can make millions of dollars posting on Snapchat. I actually don’t have one, so I’m not familiar with the Spotlight feature of it. But the other social medias I knew that you could make money from it, like TikTok and YouTube, but in Brazil specifically I know that TikTok doesn’t monetize there. But it is shocking to see how regular people can make a lot of money here through social media apps.
I agree with this response because it highlights the surprising potential of Snapchat for making money. Even though I don’t use Snapchat, it’s impressive to see young creators like Katie Feeney changing their lives through the platform. The fact that you don’t need a big following to earn money is surprising. I also relate to the idea that social media can be overwhelming and that it’s important to focus on personal goals. While earning money through social media is appealing, I prefer to concentrate on my own interests instead of trying to jump on trends or create content that isn’t genuine.
I didn’t even know WeChat existed, that is something new I learned. I agree with you, I also don’t like being posted on social media, being in the camera in general. The world is changing everyday in a good and bad way. I also want to focus on what I want and what I’m doing. Social media isn’t for everyone and it is for sure not for me.
I like how you mentioned Katie Feeneys part because it shows how anyone can literally do it and get huge benefits from just one video randomly going viral.I also liked how you were able to add a personal touch to the summary about your experiences with social media.