Social media can suck your life away, but you keep touching it anyway.
So I just though, you know, that I’d share some thoughts about social media and let y’all know just what I normally use each for. First, here’s an interesting graph from the Pew Research Center:
(Link to full article here.)
Now, the linked article has a lot of interesting information. From what I can see (check the full PDF download they offer), the sample size was approximately 2,000 people (U.S. only). Much better than only a few hundred, but considering billions of people around the world now use social media, it’d be really neat to see higher sample sizes.
What am I saying? That would require people to participate in research studies.
Not really surprised that Facebook shows the highest percentage of visitors. I consider the platform very useful in keeping up with family members and friends or associates I’ve engaged with throughout the years. Sure, maybe I don’t talk to all 800+ people on the list, but hey, at least they’re there in case I suddenly DO need to get in touch. You just never know....
Snapchat is one of those platforms I’ve messed with multiple times since it came out, and I STILL haven’t gotten the hang of it. From a user-friendliness standpoint, I kind of think it sucks. Then again, I give it props for using all the freaking swipes possible to get where you want to go. iPhone X users should have no problem at all managing a profile on Snapchat.
I will continue to hope and pray for something new and better to come along, though, and that’s pretty much where I am with Instagram. I really like the simplicity of the app. I have multiple accounts on there for various types of things, whether personal, game-related, or sharing my sad, sad art. The Guild Wars 2 screenshot sharing community on there is pretty tight and super supportive of any newcomers to the scene, and I’m sure there are others like it.
Twitter.... Now this one I probably use the most, when it comes down to both posting and engaging with other people’s posts. It’s a whatever-I-want-to-post-about account, really, and just like on Instagram, I’ve met many cool and supportive people, some of which have been around since I joined the platform. (Honestly a lot of retweets are probably cat-related.)
Uhhhhhhhh..... YouTube is AWESOME. Obviously. I don’t know anyone personally who doesn’t visit this site at least weekly. I visit it daily. I do have a channel up, but recently I hid all my videos in embarrassment and am hoping to start something in the future.... some day.... when I somehow eradicate the hopelessness inside me. (Cue tears.)
Pinterest is cool, but I mainly use it to gather references and inspiration for my art projects or practice pieces. I think my mom ACTUALLY uses it for its seemingly intended purpose. (It always looked like a DIY sharing site. Kinda glad it turned out not to be JUST that.)
Aaaaanyway, I’d like to hear from y’all. What do y’all use the different platforms for? Do you think the statistics shown above are pretty accurate, given your experiences? What’s your favorite platform?
