Smartphone users (...aka everyone...) spend a disproportionate amount of their screen time on social media platforms: Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook (maybe), Snapchat, oh my! Success of these platforms can be attributed to the unpaid labor that sustains and creates relevance on each platform. The company is required to maintain a website, and the users do the rest.

Social + Media + Platform =

Social? "Inclined to seek or enjoy companionship; marked by friendliness or pleasant relations;" [1]

Media?? "Forms of communication designed to reach many people;" [2]

Platform???"A means or opportunity to communicate ideas or information to a group of people;" [3]

Platform??? "A flat horizontal surface." [3]

the producer produced

During the golden age(s) of radio, movies, and television, those who produced content were more direct about their business models. Namely, they used advertisement and direct sale of tickets, concession, TV subscription, DVDs, and others.

So they had two primary jobs:Produce media and generate profit from media.

the consumer consumed

Life used to be simple for the consumer: Spend money and consume media... and get (a little) manipulated to spend more money.

the platform

The platform is owned, hosted, and maintained by a tech company and advertised as a service. But there's a cute irony here: The platform, which is marketed as a tool to communicate ideas and information, more closely resembles a flat horizontal surface :)

There is now a seismic shift in the consumption and production of content, specifically on social media platforms. On the internet, the tech company is neither the producer nor the consumer. They are simply advertisers.

the prosumer

In fact, the consumer has the "opportunity" to be the producer, the director, the script writer, the set designer, the editor, AND the audience! So now it's the producer's platform's turn to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

from youtube to tiktok

buffering...

from the internet to the real world

airbnb, turo, ...