I’d appreciate the “like.”
On social media, we receive and send several gifts that we are not fully aware of. This is known as a "gift economy," and it's not about finances but about our social media relationships. It's this idea of social currency and relationship obligations, not financial obligations such as liking someone's Facebook photo which would be considered a free gift because there's no price in doing it. A gift economy is where people connect to others through status with likes, comments, and subscribes. This is how people on social media are relevant by concentrating on relationships instead of money and self-promotion. This concept is executed in different ways, but the basics are to create relationships with each other and get excited about the accomplishments of other individuals, and form social currencies that are related to their brand.
I assume, though, that gift economy is built around a certain false sense of gift-giving. The sharing of gifts seems to be something of self-interest. Creating relationships is based on this concept but in fact it is not so much about kindness but becomes about self-promotion and interest. Let's talk about my man, Shane Dawson, to give you an example. I do like him but he can't fool me easily. He decided to create a second YouTube channel devoted to make-up related content after making his Conspiracy make-up line, which is awesome but how do you think he'll get subscribers to his new channel? His main channel has over 23 million subscribers, and is darling to conspiracy video creation. So what is it that Shane Dawson decided to do? He posted on his second channel a New Conspiracy Video for his viewers stating, "I was self-conscious of posting this on my main channel because it's only 30 minutes long so I'll put it on my second channel... But I really wanted to test out a new format and I'm excited to see what u guys think:))" Personally, I think he wanted to get the attention of his larger audience and get them to subscribe to his smaller channel eventually. This easily goes from a gift economy to a marketing economy, because we all know the more you like, comment, subscribe and view, the more you get paid and who wouldn't want to take advantage of two powerful YouTube channels?
The three streams of social media
When it comes to social media we have different codes. We have the dominated code, which is basically like a mobile game that is extensively played, something that will never go away, normalized in society for ever. This is a social aspect we can always refer too. The second code is the Emerging Code, that's what progresses and makes new sense. In the end, this will become the dominant language of tomorrow. The third term would be Residual. This is a long-standing social media outlet, something that is considered retro or nostalgic. Something usually taken from the past and spoken of in the present. It becomes this cycle of new ideas (Emergent) going to main ideas (Dominant) and eventually becoming outdated (Residual). This idea can be applied to many social media forms including movies, t.v shows, music, video games, social media platforms, news, etc.
"Harley Quinn, nice to meet ya."
The new social media trend right now is the Korean Boy Band, BTS and their single "ON," a phenomenon on YouTube's #1 spot. YouTube is the market leader in video content in general. The recent release of the music video from BTS is a prime example of something new coming up and eventually becoming mainstream. Recently, Birds of Prey with Miss Harley Quinn came out and I would consider the movie a dominant code because it brings that beloved character back and makes it mainstream again. These are characters that have always been around, and have become a delightful experience. Just like Harley Quinn, being dominant in social media takes something that engages, entreats, and pulls the audience into it while keeping them there for some time. Now let's talk about something that has long been around and doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon. The massive video game that can now be seen as extremely nostalgic and that game is the fascinating world of Minecraft. Minecraft can be very addictive, and has been there forever. It is one of the most engrossing video games ever and will always be present no matter how old it turns. This game is always brought back and is refurbished again. It is probably the most played gaming on YouTube and has a pretty big culture of it's own. These are just small examples of how there is a past, present and future in social media. It's a cycle that is constant and will never stop.
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