Social Media Analysis PDF

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Social Media Analysis Paper...

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Social Media Analysis

Joseph Hicks Department of Communications, Grand Canyon University COM-100, Fundamentals of Communication Dr. Shellee Diggs June 2021

2 Creation Instagram is a photo sharing and communication app that has quickly become one of the most popular and influential social medias in the entire world. Instagram started back in 2010, and they worked very closely with the models of the iPhone at that time in order to make their app the most compatible with Apple Products (Cooper 2020). It originally started as a platform for people to share their photos, but in today’s world, it has blossomed into so much more than just simply a photo sharing app. The purpose of this paper is to inform about the app Instagram and to discuss all the features and elements that go into the communication within this app/ Key Features Instagram allows each user to post whatever content that they wish, within their regulations of course, and this provides many opportunities for people to stay connected with their friends and to interact with them when they may not have the opportunity to do that in real life. Instagram has also become a great platform for brands to get themselves out there and become more popular with the internet population. Having a good Instagram page can be a very effective way for a brand to gain a greater following, and to get their name out there in the consumers’ minds. In the app, there is also a Direct Messaging feature, or DM. These DMs provide a direct link of communication between two different accounts. You can even create group messages in these DM’s. This feature can be used almost like text messaging between the two people, and it can be a great way to stay in touch with any friends that you may not be able to see face to face all the time. You can also send various posts that you see on Instagram through these DM’s. This just provides more depth and options to the communication that takes place on Instagram. Another way to communicate on Instagram is through the comments on each individual post. Here you can see anything anyone else is saying about the post, and this can start discussions with

3 other people that you normally would not have the opportunity to communicate with. This can lead you to see other point of views and to hear other opinions on whatever you are seeing on your feed. This can help you stay informed on various issues and get a feeling on how other people are feeling about the same topic. This just provides another form of communication and opens up so many more opportunities to communicate with others. Media Theories Not everything on Instagram is always going to be reliable. Since anyone can post almost anything that they want, it is easy for false information to spread. It is also possible for media outlets on Instagram can also frame certain events to fit into the agendas that they want to push. This is known as Framing Theory, and it is described as, “taking a few key elements of a situation and putting them together in a way that suggests a specific narrative. Frames can be viewed as ways people organize ideas or principles that are shared by society. Framing has the ability to create, influence, and shape people's perceptions of events” (Gimbal 2016). This is definitely something that is evident on Instagram. Anyone can post almost anything that they want, so these media outlets and other accounts with a big following, will often have the power to influence people’s perceptions and opinions of various events. This can be a dangerous thing if there are too many people that are believing something that may not actually be true or believing something that has been spun in a certain way to change people’s opinions. That is why it is so important to not just base your opinion off something you see on social media, but rather gather the facts independently and form your own personal opinion. Conclusion Instagram is a great tool for people to communicate with each other in many different mediums. It also gives each individual a way to express themselves through the posts that they

4 make. It also gives brands and media outlets a platform to gain a greater following and to get more exposure for their brand. There are many different forms of communication that occur in this app, and it is a great tool for everyone to use as long as it is used in a responsible way.

5 References Gimbal, A. (2016). Chapter 14: Media. In Grand Canyon University (Ed.) Human communication. Cooper, P. G. (2020). Instagram. Salem Press Encyclopedia....