Summary
According to the article “Snapchat Wants You to Post. It’s Willing to Pay Millions”, the author Taylor Lorenz introduces that snapchat launched a new feature called spotlight where users can create and share content videos. Snapchat is willing to pay millions of dollars to content creators because the company is competing against TikTok. Many young people can use snapchat as a stepping stone to make money to achieve their dreams and snapchat is changing their life. The stories include Andrea Romo, a Lowe’s merchandise associate who earned about half a million dollars for a simple content video and Katie Feeney, a high school senior in Olney, also earned over 1 million dollars, giving her new opportunities. Spotlight is similar to TikTok, featuring short videos or reels and rewarding creators based on popularity even if they are not top influencers. Spotlight is gaining popularity among TikTok and other social media platforms because it offers a quick way to make money and encourages young people to make more viral videos. Any platforms giving opportunities for monetization to creators, will also attract new users and other influencers from famous platforms such as TikTok. Although snapchat is becoming popular with spotlight, it still cannot compete against TikTok yet. There is also competition within snapchat such as getting small payments among users, influencers receiving less views. Snapchat should not only pay but also establish brand name to attract and keep users. Some spotlight influencers are making groups to discuss strategies how they can improve putting new contents like creating collab house. Cam Casey, who is one of the top influencers on both TikTok and snapchat, want to invest in all of the money he had, creating more innovative videos on the internet. Lorenz states the idea that we live in a rapidly growing technology industry where anything can happen at any time.
Response
As most social media are giving money to anyone who make viral videos, that leads to the production of contents containing misinformations. They do not care whether it is releasing or spreading fake information or not because their purpose is to attract attention and engagement and sometimes, the truth is boring and cannot provide them money. Also, I have experienced negative effects such as sleep deprivation and dizziness due to excessive use of social media, especially before bedtime. Consequently, I am changing my use of social media to a minimum as much as I can.
One thought on “Conversation 3 (Nay Lin Kyaw)”
Hey, Nay Lin. I agree with you concerning how social media’s focus on viral content can lead to the spread of misinformation without regard for truth. Misinformation is spread by those. who would stand to gain from it, usually having their own vendetta. Your experience of negative effects like sleep deprivation from excessive social media usage stresses the importance of getting in control of that habit. I’ve experienced a similar issue, and also only use it when necessary—so you are not alone.