Today I post about social media and today the news highlights that today Mark Zuckerberg launches “The Facebook”. Zuckerberg’s path to Facebook started in 2003 with an online program called Facemash, of which he was primary developer. The concept revolved around the notion that students could judge the attractiveness of fellow college students who were using the program, according to Britannica (Kasko, 2023).
The site was considered initially successful — with 450 students joining right off the bat. Today, 20 years later, Facebook has 2.93 billion monthly active users.
I have used social media for a long time. Some social media platforms were niche similar to how Facebook started out. HOTorNOT was a social media platform that allowed users to upload images and let others rate them. While many people may not even know of this site, it is a critical part of how social media platforms are developed today.
That type of “gamified” digital conversation, grounded in reward point systems and scores, remains a foundation for most social online interaction. We still express our opinions by giving each other’s pictures and thoughts a collective numerical value, whether through likes on Instagram (released a full decade after HOTorNOT) or retweets on Twitter (which was initially hosted for free on HOTorNOT’s server in its earliest iterations from 2006 to 2007) (Joho, 2020).
HOTorNOT allowed people to connect similar to online dating without the fees but that soon changed as social media saw the value of engaging with their users on the various platforms.
2003 was an important year for all of us if we knew it or not. The Facebook was launched and the king of social media from 2005 to 2008 was allowing anyone signing up to have an instant friendship with Tom. MySpace Tom is the co-founder Tom Anderson. Like MySpace many people don’t think of Tom but he greatly benefited from social media like many of the tech CEOs that sit on the list of billionaires. MySpace was sold for a measly $580 million in 2005. That is a lot of money but nothing compared to the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk.
So why do I mention two platforms that many people never used or even heard of? Social media platforms today don’t look like the platforms we used even a decade ago. We are more interconnected if we want to be or not. Your online activity is known by nearly anyone that does a little digging.
Today, when someone applies for a job, a school or runs for a government position the internet sleuths start digging into social media. If you watch congressional nomination hearings you can hear panel members grilling nominees on social media posts. Many times it’s the tweets that come back to haunt people.
In 2017, Shedrick “Shed” McCall had a YouTube channel where he posted about his life experiences with some instances of foul language. One video where he talked about trespassing led to his future school, Old Dominion University revoked his scholarship to play on their football team where he was committed for six months.
McCall wants to educate young athletes about the powerful effect of social media.“For my young kids out there just please… just please understand, just watch what you put on social media, just watch what you post,” he said.
McCall won’t be defined by this mistake. After losing his scholarship to ODU, he received an opportunity to play for Norfolk State, where he represents one of the most talented recruits the school has had in recent years (Toler, 2017).
McCall’s mistake was a life lesson for him and hopefully he continues to use that lesson today.
Athletes in all sports are under a microscope and those that know how to use social media well (or have a good social media team) can make millions off of current sponsors and connect with future sponsorship opportunities.
How many ads have you seen with Shaquille O’Neal talking about pizza, cruises, car insurance or printer ink. While Shaq retired from basketball years ago his persona still draws big bucks from huge companies.
I use social media very infrequent and it is usually Facebook and YouTube. I rarely post anything and only direct message a few friends. I use Facebook to join car groups to look for car parts, wheels or whole cars. I keep up with the Air Force and the Army but most of the stuff I see posted is informational yet lacks substance. I would rather go to news sites and see what is going on locally and nationally.
Am I worried about a future employer looking me up online and checking on me. Not at all. I use social media responsibly. I don’t put my life story online and I don’t make TikTok videos that can come back to haunt me. Additionally, I value privacy and lock my accounts down as much as possible. I’m friends with people I know in real life. I know companies and social media organizations have tons of information about me. I also know that I don’t use social media at work as effectively as those that are on 24/7. I like to disconnect from work when the day is over. Personal time and personal activities that I enjoy are more precious to me than looking at the positive or negative posts/news that runs the 24/7 social media cycle.
This week’s readings looked at social media with some broad focus areas. Twitter was one piece of the reading and the articles provided some interesting data points. Twitter had 450 million daily users at the end of 2022. Those that vowed to leave the platform due to the purchase by Elon Musk seemed to be blowing a lot of hot air. The advertisers that left may have not come back but the social media giant is too important to advertisers and its daily users. One change to Twitter is the reversal on the ban of political ads. While Twitter and other social media platforms have taken heat for the amount of misinformation or disinformation that is posted to the sites. According to Twitter, "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics," the social media company tweeted.
Cause-based ads that will be allowed on Twitter include ads that educate or raise awareness of issues such as voter registration, climate change or government programs like the Census, said Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, in an email (Dang, 2023).
References:
Dang, S. (2023, January 4). Elon Musk’s Twitter lifts ban on political ads. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/twitter-expand-permitted-political-advertising-2023-01-03/
Joho, J. (2020, September 27). HOTorNOT: The forgotten website that shaped the internet. Mashable. https://mashable.com/feature/hotornot-history-20-year-anniversary
Kasko, B. (2023, February 4). On this day in history, Feb. 4, 2004, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launches “The Facebook.” Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/this-day-history-feb-4-2004-harvard-student-mark-zuckerberg-launches-the-facebook
Toler, A. (2017). Social media cost this star athlete his Division I scholarship—now he’s trying to educate others. https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/3962/social-media-cost-this-star-athlete-his-division-i-scholarship-now-he-s-trying-to-educate-others
I really resonated with the section about sports and young athletes and the use of social media. As someone who works with college athletes on a daily basis, it is important that I remind the of the importance of good social media practices. They are not only representing them selves online but they are representing the university they play for. It only takes one mistake or bad post online that ruins their career and sticks with them for the rest of their lives. Even with all the bad social media can bring onto athletes, players can use social media for good and make an impact in their careers and the lives of others. Athletes should continue to learn the ever changing social media landscape and find ways to best use it to advance their careers but always be mindful that they have a bigger spotlight on them and one mistake online can ruin it all.
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