CS371- Blog post #2- Jennifer Athanasatos

    During class, we took a survey that examined popular social media apps over the years. The statistics showed that in 2014-2015 Facebook was one of the most popular social media apps. But now in recent years, things have changed as our generation doesn't use Facebook as much as we do Instagram and now Tik Tok. Another new trending app a lot of people our age use is Be Real. All these social media apps have to compete with each other and constantly come out with new features to stay relevant and keep users engaged. An article from The Washing post discusses Be Real and how Tik Tok is now copying it. The basic idea of Be Real is that once a day all users take a photo of what they are doing using both the front and back cameras. This app grew largely within the last year and is something a lot of people use. Since then Tik Tok has now come out with a new feature under the friend's tab that is called now. It is the same idea as Be Real where you have to post using your front and back camera to be able to see what your friends post. Similarly, Snapchat has also come out with a feature where you can take a photo using both cameras at the same time. The reason these social media apps are copying each other is that everyone wants to stay relevant so if there is a trending new feature a lot of apps will make spinoffs to try and keep users inclined to use their app rather than another one. All social media apps want what the other apps have so they stay popular throughout the generations unlike Facebook where most people that use it are older because they couldn't compete with Instagram. All it takes is an app with a similar idea and features to go viral and replace older apps such as Facebook hence the reason apps are copying each other trying to keep up with the new trends. 

  

                                 


Comments

  1. Zoe McLavenOctober 4, 2022 at 11:01 AM



    Hello Jennifer, after reading your post I too have seen the recent changes to TikTok and Snapchat and the resemblance is almost exact. Social media is a competitive market with all corporations trying to compete for the number one platform. Since BeReal grew exponentially over the summer with almost the fastest amount of downloads, social media apps are replicating the exact activity to create a more engaging app. It is both fascinating and terrifying to see how fast social media apps have the power to completely add a new feature in order to stay within the competitive market. Great post!

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