Innovation and Investment: LJ 4

Reading the articles about social media trends was very interesting. In the coming year, I think that social media will continue to shorten our attention spans because Tiktok will continue to rise in popularity and short-form videos are being preferred by algorithms on social media platforms like Instagram. As for Meta, I am not the hugest fan. It sounds like the beginning to sci-fi dystopian movies like Ready Player One. I'm also not a huge fan of anything that further separates people from reality. Although I love social media, the internet and technology, I acknowledge that it has an effect on the real world. It hinders conversations and keeps us from looking up. Meta seems like something that would only further complicate things. Yes, you can go see a concert in the Metaverse with your favorite artist in front of you, but why not see it in real life? To me, it wouldn’t feel the same as seeing them at an actual concert. Seeing Ariana Grande in the Metaverse is the same as seeing her on Youtube… she is not actually there in front of you. I would be pretty upset if the Metaverse took the beauty away from things in real life.

Chapter 7 was also an intriguing read, especially the section on geotagging. The chapter details some of the information gathered, such as "precise geographic targeting, along with demographic and psychographic filtering" (Lipschultz 2021). "Consumers using branded mobile apps leave a digital data trail" and this is the part that concerns me (Lipschultz 2021). So much information has been gathered on us (often unknowingly) and then used to "hyper-target" us as consumers. It's also extremely concerning that our social media can cause our movements to be tracked. In the future, these services will continue to evolve, becoming more knowledgable and even sneakier. Over time, these concerns (and people becoming more aware) will lead to consumers taking more measures against geo-location and tagging. There are already many articles on how geo-tagging "may constitute a surveillance risk" and "it is advised that you turn it off via your device settings" (The risks in geo tagging, 2018).

Reference:

Lipschultz, J. H. (2021). Social Media Communication: Concepts, practices, data, Law and Ethics. Routledge. 

The risks in geo tagging: Digital Security Guide: Safeonline.ng : Digital Security Guide. Digital Security Guide | Safeonline.ng. (2018, March 12). Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://safeonline.ng/social-media/understanding-the-risks-in-geo-tagging/