I believe that Van Dicjk would support Essena O’Neil’s
decision to “quit social media”. She may empower other users and popular users
to stop using social media for personal economic gain and the economic gain in
companies. In one part of her “Why I am REALLY quitting social media she
states, “companies know the power of social media and they are exploiting it”.
I believe this is exactly what Van Dijck is illustrating when discussing
neoliberal economic principles within social media. Essena O’Neil continues by
discussing how many companies were approaching her and offering her jobs to
post their products on her page. O’Neil discusses how they tell you what to say,
what time of the day to post the content, and so on.
The idea that social media
is a business really illustrates the idea of neoliberal economic principles in
how it is designed for consumers to be manipulated into imaging this “dream world”
we all aspire to be a part of. Social media motivates consumers to abide to a
visual pleasures which will lead to an economical gain in companies that are
involved in social media. The constant pressure from other consumers and
technologies influence by all users to believe in the “dream world”. O’Neil
also says “having it all on social media means absolutely nothing to your real
life.” The idea of the “dream world” is a fake construction of pleasure to
manipulate people into buying products and continue consuming until they feel
like they are in the “dream world”.
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up the theme of the "dream world," and how it persuades individuals to buy certain products and services. Essena also states how one can make a career out of social media, hence I believe that this job is based off the manipulation of others. Since average users may easily fall for celebrities or well-known social media personalities' advertisements for particular products.
Great point on how social media has become a business model and used for financial gain. Users being told to use their products in a post, where to place the product in a post and when to post the photos is a profitable business plan. However, I can see how exhausting it can be and how the users feel that they are falsely leading their viewers to believe in the dream world by manipulating them with their fake photos and product placements.
ReplyDelete