Blog Post #4 - Alexandra Remmling

One concept that stuck out to me was Robin Dunbar’s theory around the magic number of 150 and how applicable it is to social media. Dunbar argues that the average group size in social settings has always been around 150 people, with 50 of those people being acquaintances, 15 good friends and 5 close friends. I find this theory very interesting and do find that my social network on social media sites differs depending on the platform. For example, on Instagram, I have over 1000 followers and the majority of these people are acquaintances that I know of but am not personally close friends with. This makes me a lot more mindful of what I post on Instagram and I typically only post photos that represent my best self as I know many people can see my posts who I do not personally know. Compared to apps such as Snapchat and BeReal where I only have people I know personally and am friends with. I'm a lot less cautious of what I post and not worried about posting my true self. I do enjoy the more authentic feel of apps such as Snapchat and BeReal as I noticed my friends are a lot more authentic as well on these apps and it makes it feel more personal and not as curated. I think this demonstrates the accuracy of Dunbar's theory as the majority of people do not have thousands of close friends even if they make it seem like they do, they often don’t. 

Do you find what you post online differs based on the social media platform and how many followers you have on that platform?


Comments

  1. Kalessy KeyesNovember 30, 2022 at 11:17 AM

    Great post! I would definitely say that what I post on my instagram, as well snapchat stories that all my followers can see is much more reserved and shows as you stated a "better" version of myself then what my 5-15 regular close friends see on individual chats on snapchat or the BeReal app as I do not know all my instagram followers or snapchat friends as well and of course want to make a good impression. Something that does not apply to more intimate social media apps like snapchat where I can choose who I send my photos to and BeReal where I only have a select amount of friends.

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  2. AntonyDecember 10, 2022 at 10:51 AM

    Great post,
    What I post on social media is very specific to my number of followers. For example, on my side Instagram account, I post more stories, videos, and pictures since I don't have a big following, and I'm less reluctant to have to overthink the picture or video that I post is flawless. I have a more extensive following on my primary social media account, Instagram. I post less on my primary account because I prefer having quality over quantity on the account with a more extensive following. Since more people can see the picture and videos on my primary account, I put more thought into what I post and share with the public.

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