BLOG 2 - ARE SOCIAL MEDIA AFFORDANCES IMPACTING OUR SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS?

Gone are the days of connecting with others over a landline or writing letters!

Social media platforms and the affordances we make use of nowadays have levelled up, now all you need to do is send a direct message and you receive a response instantly.

I’m getting ahead of myself here, what are affordances?

“The value of a well designed object is when it has such a rich set of affordances, that the people who use it can do things with it that the designer never imagined.”

(Norman as cited in Interaction-Design.org 2011)

The video below by Udacity (2015) illustrates the definition above in more depth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6F0EYCUjcE

Now, let's dig a bit deeper and explore affordances and their use on social media platforms.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter enable members to submit their life moments and stories through a predominantly visual based format, however these stories don't really portray the 'messiness' or 'expectations' of genuine human connection (Turkle 2012), but rather managed broadcasts of our 'personal, cultural, and networked sense of self' (McCosker & Wilken, 2014, pg. 292).

(Arkadan 2021)

Social media promotes interaction and collaboration, yet its features allow users to modify and manipulate how they wish to be perceived. By using filters, modifying our language, and altering our writing voice, we can transform ourselves into our own vision. We work hard to be noticed – but only in the ways we want to be seen.

#Twitter

Social media increased not just availability of data to us, but it also piqued our inner creativity and provided us with new opportunities to express ourselves. According to Rathnayake and Suthers (2018), Twitter may allow for distinct actions for different user groups, and platform updates (e.g., the Twitter "Like" button) may allow for varied actions. Implying that Twitter hashtags can be viewed as affordances for two main reasons: the platform enables the generation of hashtags, and various activities result through the use of hashtags (e.g., discussion, expression, measurement of engagement, and observation of activity) to better connect with a community online.

This clip Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake show you what a Twitter conversation sounds like in real life, it doesn’t feel the same as hashtagging online right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA&t=52s

Affordances are how we've come to keep linked with family members and friends, and sometimes even strangers (I'm guilty of the majority of my following being celebs and influencers) on these platforms. These features keep us connecting with not only others, but also with the platform directly. Even when we aren't participating, we are proactively interacting on the network by liking and sharing posts (much like myself).

Do you think we as a society have lost a crucial human connection as a result of social media platforms & their affordances?

References

Arkadin, Y, ‘Social media vs Reality’ [image], in Yeet Magazine 2021, The Case Against Social Media Filters : What Are the consequences?, viewed 28 March 2022, <https://www.yeetmagazine.com/the-case-against-social-media-filters-what-are-the-consequences/>.

Boyd, D 2011, Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A networked self (pp. 39-58). New York, NY: Routledge.

Interaction Design Foundation 2019, What are affordances?, The Interaction Design Foundation, UX courses, viewed 28 March 2022, <https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/affordances>.

Khazraee, E & Novak, AN 2018, ‘Digitally mediated protest: social media affordances for collective identity construction’, Social Media + Society, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 205630511876574.

McCosker, A & Wilken, R 2014, ‘Rethinking “big data” as visual knowledge: the sublime and the diagrammatic in data visualisation’, Visual Studies, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 155–164.

Rathnayake, C & Suthers, DD 2018, ‘Twitter issue response hashtags as affordances for momentary connectedness’, Social Media + Society, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 205630511878478.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 2013, "#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) 2013, 25 September, viewed 28 March 2022, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA&t=52s>.

Turkle, S 2012, Connected, but alone?, Ted.com, TED Talks, viewed 28 March 2022, <https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_connected_but_alone?language=en>.

Udacity 2015, Definition: Affordance - Intro to the Design of Everyday Things 2015, 24 July, viewed 28 March 2022, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6F0EYCUjcE>.