Defining Social Media: Part 1

 

In beginning our analysis of Hinge we felt the best place to start was by applying course content regarding social media as a whole, defining it and how/where Hinge fits into these course concepts. I found a broad quote from Graham Meikle (2016) that facilitates thinking about the difference between social media and other media: “So yes, all media are social, but not all media is social media.” This quote helps explain that while all forms of media directly or indirectly facilitate social interaction to some degree, however, that does not make them social media. Graham Meikle (2016) created 4 terms/concepts that must apply to a medium for it to be considered a social medium. The first of these was that it must contain a particular set of socio-technical affordances, which are interactions between a technological device/application and its users that are facilitated to encourage social interaction (Meikle, 2016). This starts with the internet, being that the internet is required to interact with others digitally, so the internet must be integral to the function of the app. For Hinge, this is absolutely the case, as the internet is required for other users to download your profile and display it to them on their device. It must also be a networked communication platform, which requires more specific socio-technical affordances including a user response section (comments) and accessible for news content relevant to be shared and spread. 

References

Meikle, G. (2016). Social Media: Communication, Sharing and Visibility (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315884172