Social Media vs Mainstream Media
Social media has been around for a while now, but it's only recently that it's become so much a part of our lives. It all started with the invention of The World Wide Web in 1991, which used hypertext technology to link the Internet. This was the start of a new way of talking online, with Weblogs, Listservs, and Email services helping people create online communities or support offline groups (Van Dijck, 2013). Then, In the late 90s Blogger, Wikipedia, Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and other platforms started to provide web tools that offered new ways to communicate online (Van Dijck, 2013).
However, to understand how the advent of social media is more impactful to individuals than mainstream media, it is important to explore the difference between the two. Traditional media is characterized by a one-to-many communication format. This means that the content is produced by a few media outlets and is consumed by a large number of people. Traditional media is typically owned and operated by journalists and media companies such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, etc. Because traditional media is more passive, there are fewer opportunities for audience interaction. Feedback is more likely to come in the form of letters to the editor and viewer polls. In addition to having editorial control over their content, media companies are subject to a variety of regulations and ethical guidelines.
In contrast, social media allows for one-on-one communication, one-on-many, and many-on-many communications. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are highly interactive, allowing viewers to like, leave comments, share and engage directly with content creators and other users. While contents on social media are more varied, content standards are set by social media platforms' policies and guidelines.
Due to the difference of communication format, mainstream media often highlight celebrities and people from the top of society while social media is more personal as people seen on social media are regular people. In that sense, people on social media are reachable and more relatable to the audience. As this type of communication format allows to bring creators feel closer to audience, it causes audience to compare themselves to people on social media.
Social Media Creates Standards
In a recent study, it shows that less than 50% of people in the social media sites followers are people they actually know in real life indicating that it is not as important to follow people you actually know (Loeb, 2022). In fact, 50% of millenials think they know who their favorite influencers are on social media more than they know their friends. That means that 7 out of every 10 people trust influencer recommendations almost as much as what their friends say (Loeb, 2022).
While this could be a strange phenomenon, it was proven by a study that engaging in social media resulted in releasing hormones known as oxytocin which is related to when we fall in love, hugging, and doing other socializing activity (Penenberg, 2010). This means that our brain registers our social media activity the same as socializing in real life.
Social media has played a significant role in shaping our perception of reality and the environment around us. To put it another way, social media has helped create the condition known as hyper-reality, a state in which reality is indistinguishable from fiction (Mir, 2023) It's even more concerning considering that social media influencers are flaunting their looks, wealth, and connections as if it's normal for ordinary people to do the same.
One of the biggest ways beauty standards are set is through the abundance of filtered and edited images. Influencers, celebrities, and even ordinary people use photo-editing software and filters to improve their appearance. Social media also features people who follow the conventional beauty norms of society. These influencers and celebrities attract a lot of attention and followers, which encourages others to adopt their lifestyle and imitate them.
