Blog Post #4 - Alicia Max

 For this blog post I decided to look at the Dunbar number in relation to social media platforms I use on a regular basis. When examining social media platforms I use on a day-to-day basis, the main platforms that jump out to me are TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. While these platforms all have a different operating model, the Dunbar number can be applied to each. Firstly, the Dunbar number can be applied to TikTok in two different ways. Through the friends section within the app, the Dunbar number with the grouping "friends" which Dunbar counts to be fifty people. In the friends section of the app you are only shown videos in which you and the other profile follow each other.  This section allows for you to only see posts from people that TikTok deems as your friends based on mutual following status. However, the FYP embodies the generalized Dunbar number as it shows you people you may or may not know. Snapchat and Instagram follow the same operating model as far as the Dunbar number is concerned.  These apps allow for many all groupings within the Dunbar number. While Snapchat and Instagram as a whole follows the entire Dunbar number grouping of acquaintances, Snapchat's private stories and Instagram's close friends story allow for you to add any number of people, which serves as the close friends, good friends, and friends groups. I have found myself using all of these platforms within Dunbar's theory and have used private stories as a way to display different information to different people in my life. 

Comments

  1. Kim BrowneDecember 1, 2022 at 12:25 PM

    Hi Alicia,
    I found it interesting the way you connected the Dunbar number to the social media apps you use everyday. I too found it interesting how it relates to TikTok because when you go to the following side it not only shows the "friends" you follow but everyone you follow. The people we are now considering our friends are the people that we follow and follow us back. However, how well do we really know them is the real question. Do you find that these social media apps actually reflect the close friends within our lives?

    Overall, great post with good insight.
    Kim

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mahaila MilneDecember 5, 2022 at 5:24 PM

    Hi Alicia,

    I enjoyed reading your post and found the ways in which you related TikTok to Dunbar's theory interesting. Personally, I know that I am always switching between my friends and the FYP and didn't think about it before in relation to Dunbar's concept. The accounts that are on my FYP are not people I consider friends, and I don't know any of them personally. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your post, great job!

    ReplyDelete

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