Social Media

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Part 1: Analysis and research of social media platforms

Instagram

What is it?

Instagram is an American social networking service which is owned by Facebook, inc. It was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched on the 6th of October 2010 exclusively on iOS.

What is it used for?

It allows users to share videos and pictures from their day to day lives, and with those they can add many different features and edits in order to enhance the quality and appeal of their work. For example they can add captions to their work in order to tell viewers what is going on in a brief sentence or two, or else use it to make a title for their work. Filters can also be added to create various visual effects on their work which can range from black and white for a mono style of work to enhancing the brightness of certain elements to make them stand out from other features. Settings can also be tweaked to ensure that the app is safe for everyone to use, and not only this but it allows for a more comfortable usage and one that appeals to various different people. This can include limiting who can and cannot see your work, or else through the act of limiting what appears on your news feed so that there it not any inappropriate or unnecessary. The app is also used for engaging with people, whether that be friends or family via the messaging service included within the platform, to following various different celebrities, companies or organisations in order to follow up with their work and see the latest as soon as it gets shared.

Who are the audience?

According to Statista.com, Instagram had reached one billion monthly active users in June 2018, which had increased from 800 million in September 2017.

Age

Generation Z takes center stage as the largest user base, followed by millennials who have also made a massive impact in shaping what the app is into what it is today in comparison to when it was first launched.

Here is the worldwide breakdown of users based upon their age taken from Statista in January 2020:

• 13 to 17 – 6.1%
• 18 to 24 – 30%
• 25 to 34 – 35%
• 35 to 44 – 16.5%
• 45 to 54 – 7.8%
• 55 to 64 – 3.2%
• Above 65 – 1.9%

Gender

On a global scale, Instagram is more popular with women in comparison to men, with 52% of all users being women and 48% being men.

Location

The Pew Research survey found that 46% of all people worldwide who use Instagram live in urban areas. Of suburban backgrounds, just 34% use the site, while of those living in rural areas, just 21% of them use Instagram. Users from all over the world are adopting the platform, with some seeing massive growth in their number of Instagram users. Here is the global top 10 for the site:

• United States – 116 million
• India – 73 million
• Brazil – 72 million
• Indonesia – 60 million
• Russia – 42 million
• Turkey – 37 million
• Japan – 27 million
• United Kingdom – 22.9 million
• Mexico – 22 million
• Germany – 19.9 million

Income

The Pew Survey also broke down the income results of Instagram users in an effort to find out what they earned on a yearly basis. This is what the results showed:

• Below $30,000 – 35%
• $30,000 to $74,999 – 39%
• Above $75,000 – 42%

With these figures in mind, there is a lot of room on Instagram for budget brands and luxury labels alike to appeal to all users rather than one specific income group.

Education

43% of all Instagram users have at least a college degree or beyond according to Pew. Meanwhile just 37% of users have some sort of college education to rely on when it comes to getting a job. Within the same study, just 33% of Instagram users have a high school degree or less.

Layout and design

The layout and design of the platform traditionally follows a grid layout and design when it comes to peoples own personal accounts, with images or videos appearing in squares in rows and columns, the size of which varies depending upon the content on the subjects account. This makes the app very easy to use and also very clear to see where things are etc due to the fact that it consists of a very neat structure so that it can be used by almost anyone. Newsfeeds appear a little different in the sense that they are in the form of an endless list with one persons work appearing at a time as it goes down, and this is done to ensure that nothing is missed when a person is scrolling through, again proving that it is simple and effect to use ensuring that nobody is left out.

A visual example of the layout of a persons typical format on their own personal account.

Twitter

What is it?

Like Instagram, Twitter is an American social networking service which is additionally for the use of microblogging as well. It was founded on the 21st of March 2006 in San Francisco, California by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams and Biz Stone.

What is it used for?

Twitter has four main purposes for its users. The first of which is for networking and about building an online network for yourself. Twitter’s system of shortened links and hashtags make it easier to find people or businesses posting tweets in the same area that you are in. This allows people to build up their profiles at a much quicker speed, increasing their online portfolio and allowing their posts to be seen by more people at a high speed. A second purpose for Twitter is to build traffic towards all of its users. This is aimed towards those who use the site for the purpose of their businesses, blogs or websites and is all about finding and attracting new people to follow them in their various work. Embedding links into tweets is one of the many ways in which you can use Twitter to enhance your chances of getting a higher audience to view your account in the sense that users are provided with a direct link to what it is the subject wants them to see, henceforth there is no time wasted in having to manually search for the account. Link shortening services also allow for links with shorter characters in an effort to not exceed the 280 character limit Twitter has on its individual tweets. This allows tweets to be short and snappy, while at the same time still appealing to potential audience due to the fact that there is more room for added detail to explain the likes of what is included in the given link for example. The third purpose of Twitter is to aid promotion of businesses. Using Twitter provides budding business owners with the opportunity to take innovative approaches for promoting their business. Many franchises offer exclusive special deals and promotions exclusively through the site. The retweet function allows other Twitter users to share the work of others, which allows for significantly increased exposure resulting in a bigger audience base and higher popularity as it hits various other people. Twitter accounts also allow customers to get in contact with the business on a one on one basis without the need to do so via customer service operations which means that response time is a lot quicker, and furthermore means that a lot more people can be contacted in a shorter amount of time. A fourth and final use of Twitter is for the social communication aspect. People have an easy way to communicate friends through messaging, but also have ways to do other things such as send images or share links to the likes of YouTube videos for example.

Who are the audience?

According to oberlo.co.uk, there are 330 million monthly active users of Twitter on a worldwide basis, which on a daily basis there are just 145 million.

Gender

Globally, more men than woman use the site. Here are some further statistics to break this down:

• In the United States, slightly more women than men use Twitter. That’s standard across almost all social networks. However, the ratio has shifted since 2015, when more men used Twitter than women.
• In Great Britain, 59% of Twitter users are men, while 41% are women.
• Internationally, the trend follows Great Britain. 57% of global Twitter users are men, while 42% are women.
• 52% of women in their twenties in Japan use Twitter, but that number drops sharply to 36% after the age of 30.
• 53% of male Twitter users use the platform to receive news, compared to 47% of female Twitter users.

Location

• About 80% (which equates to approximately 262 million people) of all monthly active Twitter users live outside the United States.
• 72 million monthly active users live within the United States.
• Most Twitter users in the United States live in urban centers, followed by suburban and rural areas.
• The top countries on Twitter outside of the United States are Japan with 50.9 million users, the United Kingdom reaching 18.6 million users, and Saudi Arabia coming in at 13.8 million users. In fact, Twitter is Japan’s leading social network after Line.
• It is estimated that China has 10 million Twitter users even though the network is blocked in the country.
• Users in Africa are five times more likely to use Twitter to voice their political views.

Age

Twitter users are typically not very old, but at the same time they are also not young. Marketers can bet on finding millennials on the platform, as well as some of the under 50 crowd. Here is some further information:

• 40% of adults from the United States who use Twitter are aged between 18 and 29 years of age. That’s more than any other age group.
• Usage among adults from the United States drops as the age increases. Pew research found that 27% of those aged from 30 to 49, 15% of those aged from 50 to 64, and 8% of those aged 65 and above use Twitter, which is down from 10% in 2016.
• In Great Britain, Twitter users are young. The majority of Twitter users in Great Britain are under 34 years of age.
• 43% of 30 to 49 year olds Twitter users use the platform to receive news.
• 32% of teens from the United States use Twitter, but only 3% say it’s the platform they use most often.

Income

In terms of income, Twitter users earn more than the national average per year, which is reasonably standard across the board for all social media users and the respected platforms that they use.

• Twitter users have above average incomes. 30% of Americans who earn $75,000 or more use Twitter.
• 26% of American Twitter users earn between $50,000 and $74,999. 16% earn between $30,000 and $49,999, and 18% earn less than $30,000 per year.

Education

Along with higher than average incomes, Twitter users are also highly educated. This makes sense as the two demographics usually go hand in hand in terms of using the great source of education to secure high end jobs. But in general, Twitter is known to be a popular social network among the highly educated. Here are a couple of statistics to back this up:

• 32% are college graduates, while 25% have some source college education. 18% of Twitter users have a high school education or less.
• Among those who consume news on Twitter, 45% have college degrees.

Ethnicity

• More than a quarter (26%) of adults from the United States who identify as black use Twitter, while 24% of white identified American adults, and 20% of Hispanic identified American adults use Twitter.
• 59% of white, American Twitter users use the platform to receive news, compared to 39% of non white users.

Layout and design

A typical Twitter account profile

The layout of a Twitter account profile is very similar to that of Facebook in the sense that it includes a profile picture as well as a cover photo in order for the person in question or the business or organisation to express who they are visually and truly make themselves known to the target audience. Across the top bar is where there are shortcuts to parts such as the home page, notifications, discover which allows users to explore the work of other users of which they may find an interest. In terms of features of a persons profile, the left hand side is where you can find out the basic information about the account or the people behind the account, such as when they first joined the site, links to their websites as well as personal information such at dates of birth or where they live. The inclusion of this is to make people aware of the backgrounds of those behind the account, especially in business terms, where it is important for potential customers to know everything about the company before they start to potentially buy products for example. Further information about the account details can be found below the cover photo, where facts such as how many tweets the account has and how many followers there are can be found. This information tells audiences how popular they are, and again is included in order to appeal to customers in a business sense before they begin to follow and purchase from them. The centre of the profile is where you can see the tweets from the account, and this is in a list format in order to make each individual tweet easy to be seen by viewers, where they can chose to scroll down or else stop looking if they lack the interest they were expecting. Finally on the right hand side of the page, there are suggestions to follow different accounts, and this is traditionally done in a sense that they are similar users to ones that they already follow, or else are based around something that they may hold an interest in. The inclusion of this is to not only build a bigger follower base for the appeal who appear on this, but also to allow the user who’s profile it is to expand their followers on their account to increase their popularity and appeal.

Facebook

What is it?

Facebook, inc. is an American social media and technology company based in Menlo Park in California. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, along with with fellow Harvard College students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes on the 4th of February 2004, originally called TheFacebook.com.

What is it used for?

Facebook allows its users to sign up with free profiles, and is a great way to communicate with friends, family, work colleagues or even meet new people due to the fact that it is used globally. Features include the ability to send messages via their Messenger service, a separate app from Facebook but still part of the same organisation due to the fact that it includes the friends that people have on Facebook. Within these messages, as well as on peoples own personal profiles they have the ability to share photos, share music, whether that be via YouTube links or else downloads, as well as articles, again either through links to websites such as BBC news, or else downloaded from the internet. Furthermore, people can even play games with each other on the site which is a further option to be able to communicate with others. Aside from this, users have the ability to share their thoughts, opinions and emotions with however many people they like, and this can be done through the act of writing statuses, which is where people can write whatever they like in order to be informant to all of the people who follow them, and allow a large group of people to see the same thing without the need to send them individual messages. In order to gain friends on the site, people have to send others friend requests, which when accepted by the other person in question, allows the two profiles to be connected in order to allow both people to be able to see what they both post alike. Facebookers can post anything they like to their timelines within the terms and conditions, any bad content such as racism or abuse of any variety will not be tolerated. Typically people post snapshots of what is happening in their social circles at any given time to inform people about what they are doing or what they will do for example. People can also create group chats where you can communicate with more than one person in a group at any given time, as well as create private chats which are safe and hidden from the rest if they include private, personal or important information. There are also options to mute and ignore people, where their messages are not made priority and henceforth will not be shown, as well as the ability to block people. People with profiles list information about themselves, much like Twitter, which can include information such as where they’re from or what their hobbies and interests are. It can also include where they work or study depending on age, the minimum of which is 13 to withhold an account. This information is easily accessible by friends or others. On top of this, users can like other pages that interest them, which is where the business element comes into tit. Companies have Fcaebook pages in order to post the latest information about themselves, which is also something done by some celebrities or even football teams. For example, a Liverpool FC supporter can follow the club by linking up with its Facebook page. There, the user can post comments and receive club updates, pictures etc.

Who are the audience?

In the 16 years that it has been in service, Facebook has approximately 2.89 billion users, and out of those, roughly 2.26 billion use the site daily which has proven to be hugely successful.

Age & gender

Except for those aged 65 and older, the majority of Americans in different age groups use Facebook. However, the amount of usage among teenagers has significantly dropped in favour of other sites such as YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. The network also leans more towards women with 75% of women and 63% of men using the platform on a global status.

The breakdown of demographics by age, again on a worldwide basis, include:

• 51% of 13 to 17 year olds use Facebook.
• 76% of 18 to 24 year olds use Facebook.
• 84% of 25 to 30 year olds use Facebook.
• 79% of 30 to 49 year olds use Facebook.
• 68% of 50 to 64 year olds use Facebook.
• 46% of above 65 year olds use Facebook.

Location

Facebook’s user base and reach is global making it very easy for many brands, even those with an international social presence, to find their target audience on the network. At approximately, 260 million users, India has the largest user base of any country.

The following graph is taken from sproutsocial.com, and shows the leading countries based on the number of Facebook users as of January 2020. The numbers are counted in millions:

In the United States, the regional breakdown includes:

• 73% of those living in an urban area use Facebook.
• 69% those living in a suburban area use Facebook.
• 66% of those living in a rural area use Facebook.

Education

• 61% of those with high school education or less use Facebook
• 75% of those with some college education use Facebook
• 74% of those with more than college education use Facebook

Income

The following statistics are based on a yearly income rate:

• 69% of those making less than $30,000 use Facebook.
• 72% of those making from $30,000 to $74,999 use Facebook.
• 74% of those making more than $75,000 use Facebook.

Layout and design

An example of an old profile before changes were made recently, however the features are still the same now.

From the photo, it is clear to see that the layout is very similar to that of Twitter. There is a profile picture as well as a cover photo in order for viewers to see exactly who it is who runs the profile, and potentially get an inside into their life based upon their choice of cover photo. Across the top bar again are shortcuts to take users to their home page, and as well as this the notification buttons for friend requests, messages and notifications is also apparent, which is to allow easy access and ensure that the site is not difficult to use, thus appealing to users of all age ranges. The left hand side is again where personal information about the account holder is visible, with elements such as where they live, what their relationship status is as well as where they studied being clear to see. Moreover, although not visible in the picture, the friends list appears below this. In addition to this the centre of the page is again where the posts appear from the account holder, also in a list format so that each post appears individually and that it is clear to see what is being shown. Elements shown in the picture that no longer appear on profile accounts today are the people you may know option which now appears under the people you may know option, as well as the advertisements on the right hand side. This again is to ensure that the side is user friendly, and that people who do use it are able to do what they want with ease without the aid of unnecessary that they do not want to see.

Snapchat

What is it?

Snapchat is a multimedia app used globally, created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, all of these are former students at Stanford University, and developed by Snap, inc. Formerly known as Snapchat, inc. Its initial release date was on the 8th of July 2011.

What is it used for?

Snapchat is a popular messaging app that allows its users to exchange messages, pictures and videos, which are referred to as snaps, that are set to disappear once they have been viewed. Unlike Facebook and Twitter which do allow you to send videos, Snapchat allows you to send videos in the forms of messages which can have captions added over them if necessary. The app itself is advertised as “a new type of camera” to due to the essential feature to take a photo or video and then go on to add elements such as filters, lenses or various other effects before they can be sent off to friends. In addition to being able to connect and follow friends, there are also many other features with Snapchat. Like Facebook, there is the ability to play games with friends, a unique feature that creates an additional way to communicate with one another, and share some time having a one to one source of talking. It also includes elements such as news and entertainment, so that aside from talking with friends, people still have a way to catch up on the news headlines and be aware with what is going on in the world no matter how serious it is. This creates a juxtaposition between the informality of the purpose of the app, but it is important to include this due to the fact that it would target the younger generation in particular and keep them informed with what is going on in the world, regardless of whether they would care or not. Other features include fun quizzes, as well of the main feature of the app which is the ability to edit photos and videos to make them more appealing to the people they are targeting, whether this is in messaging format to one person, or if it is added onto their story of which more people can see the same thing at once. Snapmaps are another element on the app, which is the ability to see where exactly where somebody is at any given time if their settings allow it. This feature has had mixed reviews for many people. Despite the fact that it could be beneficial for those going to meet somebody and not knowing how to get there for example, there have been many cases of stalkers being able to hack accounts and begin to stalk people which has proven to be very dangerous. Despite this, you can easily turn your location settings off to avoid things like this from happening.

Who are the audience?

Compared with other social media platforms, Snapchat appeals mainly towards the younger generation. As of December 2019, the app had 210 million daily active users according to statista.com. It also found out that the app was found to be the most important social network for 41% of teenagers on a worldwide basis.

Gender

Snapchat’s global usage by gender is an equal split between the two of them, with 24% of men using the app, along with 24% of women also using the site.

Age

The breakdown of demographics by age includes:

• 73% of 18 to 24 year olds use Snapchat.
• 47% of 25 to 30 year olds use Snapchat.
• 25% of 30 to 49 year olds use Snapchat.
• 9% of 50 to 64 year olds use Snapchat.
• 3% of over 65 year olds use Snapchat.

Location

Like other social media platforms, Snapchat sees use on a worldwide basis, however the majority of its users live in the United States, peaking at 97.55 million. Hitting second is France, which habituates 20.4 million Snapchat users with India coming in at third with 18.8 million.

In the United States, the regional breakdown includes:

• 29% of those living in an urban area use Snapchat
• 20% those living in a suburban area use Snapchat
• 20% of those living in a rural area use Snapchat

Education

• 22% of those with high school education or less use Snapchat.
• 29% of those with some college education use Snapchat.
• 20% of those with more than college education use Snapchat.

Income

The following statistics are based on a yearly income rate:

• 27% of those making less than $30,000 use Snapchat.
• 26% of those making between $30,000 and $74,999 use Snapchat.
• 22% of those making more than $75,000 use Snapchat.

Layout and design

On the left is what a Snapchat newsfeed would typically look like, while on the right is a list of a persons chats.

in May 2018, Snapchat said that it was currently rolling out yet another design to its app for people who use it via iOS. In late 2017, Snapchat launched an overhaul which earned the wrath of dedicated users who hated the then new layout. This in term led to approximately 1.2 million people signing a petition in hope that the app would revert the redesign back to its original format and one that its users would be the most comfortable with. The company stated that they were aware that the “new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many” and now the company is in the stages of yielding to some of the requests to change its appearance once again.

Snapchat says the new layout puts Snaps and Chats back into chronological order once again. In addition to this it also moves Stories from friends back to the right hand side of the app. When you open the app, it immediatly opens up the camera, and from there you can easily swipe right in order to access your chats which are all in a list format so that they are easy to see, or else right to access peoples stories or else finding the latest news stories and entertainment videos. Holding down on the camera allows you access the various different filters which appear in a vertical list, and there is also an option to find out the name of a song and who sings it just by holding the device next to the source of music, whether that be a speaker or somebody actually singing it acapella style. Like the previous redesign, your friends’ Stories will still remain separate from branded content. Snap has also added a separate Subscriptions feed so you can search more easily for Stories from popular creators and publishers.

LinkedIn

What is it?

LinkedIn is an American business and employment oriented service that operates via websites and mobile apps. It was founded on the 28th of Deecmber 2002 but not launched until the 5th of May 2003, making it the oldest out of the five social media platforms I have researched. It’s founders are Konstantin Guericke, Jean-Luc Valliant, Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue and Eric Ly. Its headquarters are in Sunnyvale in California.

What is it used for?

LinkedIn is a tool you can use to enhance your professional networking as well as job searching activities. Many people use the site in order to grow their contacts, thus enhancing their popularity around the job seeking world, and as well as this allow themselves to find job opportunities, the likelihood of which increasing depending on the number of people you communicate with. The job section of the site is incredibly powerful for those wanting to find and then go on to apply for new jobs, due to the fact that there will always be something relevant to a person based upon what grades and qualifications they withhold from their eductaional days, their CVs and well as their hobbies and interests. There are settings on the site which allows you to alert recruiters that you are actively on the look out for a job, which increases you chances of finding a placement due to the fact that you will be made priority and not forgotten about. Some also use the site in an effort to enhance their professional reputation. This can be done through a number of methods, for example by making posts on your newsfeeds that can be seen by many people, or else commenting on other peoples posts in a style and fashion that can appeal to people on the look out for employees.

Who are the audience?

Gender

The percentage of men and women using LinkedIn is relatively similar. As a primarily professional networking social media platform, it makes sense that the platform would reflect the current workforce, particularly in the 21st century now that the inequality between men and women has virtually vanished. In the United States alone, 29% of adult men and 24% of adult women use LinkedIn.

Age

The breakdown of demographics by age on a worldwide include:

• 17% of 18 to 24 year olds use LinkedIn.
• 44% of 25 to 30 year olds use LinkedIn.
• 37% of 30 to 49 year olds use LinkedIn.
• 24% of 50 to 64 year olds use LinkedIn.
• 11% of over 65 year olds use LinkedIn.

Location

By a wide margin, the US has the highest number of users on the platform. With 160 million users in the United States, the next closest is India at 61 million, almost 100 million less than America which proves to be a huge difference.

In the US, the regional breakdown includes:

• 33% of those living in an urban area use LinkedIn.
• 30% those living in a suburban area use LinkedIn.
• 10% of those living in a rural area use LinkedIn.

Education

These statistics are based on a global scale:

• 9% of those with high school education or less use LinkedIn.
• 26% of those with some college education use LinkedIn.
• 51% of those with more than college education use LinkedIn.

Income

These figures are based on a yearly income rate:

• 10% of those making less than $30,000 use LinkedIn.
• 26% of those making from $30,000 to $74,999 use LinkedIn.
• 49% of those making more than $75,000 use LinkedIn.

Layout and design

From the above image, it is clear to see that the design and layout of a LinkedIn profile is very reminiscent of those used on Facebook and Twitter, with a few tweaks and adjustment to create an overall professional appearances to appeal to potential employees or employees. There is still a profile picture and cover photo included in order to express who you are with given visual representations to really hit out to the workplaces that they may want to work in, or towards the types of people that they want to employ. The top bar going across the top is again replicated from a standard Twitter and Facebook feature in the sense that it has shortcuts to the likes of the home page, messages as well as notifications, which makes the site simple and effective to use in the sense that there is no time wasted trying to find important matter, and instead everything is supplied at the click of a button. Also included on the main profile is some basic information telling viewers a little bit about themselves by stating facts such as where they studied, the connections they have picked up through using the site, as well as contact information should a company or employee wish to contact them regarding job placements. Below this there is a bio, which gives users the perfect opportunity to express themselves, and write the best possible words they can in order to truly capture the interest of those who they are trying to appeal to. Underneath this again is where the subjects content can be published such as images or videos, and these appear in the format of individual squares which are easy to be seen and clicked on by viewers. Towards the right hand side of the page is where we begin to see the advertisements based on the person whose profile it is in terms of their interests in the work place, or advertising the trending topics at the given moment in an effort to guide those who may not be so sure about what path they may want to take career wise.

Research of influencers.

1 – PewDiePie

PewDiePie (whose real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg) is most famous for being a video game playing YouTuber. He began his channel back in 2010, back before the YouTube culture had hardly began existing. At the time, he was just a 21 year old college student studying in Gothemberg in Sweden, who just happened to enjoy playing video games in his apartment in his spare time. He would play a vast variety of games, ranging from the latest ones of interest at the time to old classics. His funny commentaries helped boost his popularity to a state where he now currently has 100 million YouTube subscribers. His popularity also expanded due to the high increase in sales in the games he was playing, with his viewers taking a strong interest and wanting to replicate what he was playing. As his YouTube career went on, he also took to the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where he would still continue to share his video game playing, as well as aspects from his personal life that he would not necessarily post on his YouTube account such as images or his thoughts ad opinions on whatever matters were at hand. As of 2019, he had 15.3 million Instagram followers, 7.4 million page likes on Facebook as well as 16.5 million followers on Twitter.

2 – Zoella

Zoella (whos real name is Zoe Sugg) is an English YouTuber, vlogger, businesswoman as well as an author. She is most famous for her YouTube channel, which is where she first found fame, which began on the 17th of December 2010. Her videos consists of blogs, mainly appealing to teenage girls due to their content, which is typically about the likes of fashion, beauty hauls, as well as showing her favourites when it came to the likes of make up accessories. By the start of 2010, her video had received huge success and she gained 1000 followers which at the time was very good for such a short period of time and still is to this day. She took off in a similar way to PewDiePie in the sense that the products she was advertising were receiving an increase in sales as time went on, with many young teenage girls aspiring to follow in her footsteps. To date, her YouTube account has over 12 million subscribers. Her Instagram profile where she posts images and videos of herself in a similar fashion to YouTube has approximately 9.7 million followers in contrast which shows that her biggest strengths are definitely where she rooted from.

3- Louis Theroux

Theroux’s first source of employment as a journalist came with Metro Silicon Valley in the United States, an alternative free weekly newspaper in San Jose, California. In 1992, at the age of 22, he was hired as a writer for Spy magazine based in New York, where his job would entail writing stories bases around the topics of American industry, the entertainment industry as well as mocking high society. He also worked as a correspondent on Michael Moore’s TV Nation series, a show that blended humor and journalism into provocative reports about various world issues. His role was to provide segments on off beat cultural subjects including selling Avon to women in the Amazon Rainforest, the Jerusalem syndrome, and attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to rebrand themselves as a civil rights group for white people. Once TV Nation ended, Theroux was signed to a development deal by the BBC, through which he developed the show Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, a documentary show in which he would give viewers the opportunity to the chance to get glimpses of the world of individuals that they would not necessarily encounter in their day to day lives. He has guest written for many publications, including “Hip Hop” devoted to all things in the hip hop culture, as well as “The Idler”, which he continues to write for to this day. His biggest success came in 2000 when his documentary series “When Louis Met…” began. During its three year course, Theroux got to accompany a different British celebrity in each programme as they went about their day to day business. His episode about Jimmy Saville was voted as one of the top 50 best documentaries of all time according to Channel 4 in 2005 due to the fact that is was made before it was announced that he was a sex offender. Theroux uses three different social media platforms, these are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where followers can keep up to date with all his latest work. On Twitter, he has over 2,000,000 followers, on Instagram he was over 191,000 followers whereas on Facebook he has over 773,000 followers.

Part 2: Developing an online presence

My work and services

In terms of what I can do in order to publish posts on my chosen social media site to work with, there are many skills I have acquired since the beginning of the course in September that I can now use in my online presence to ensure that I have a variety of different styles on my account. For example, I now know how to use a camera which I can apply to my photography elements, where I can take photographs of various different subjects and then go on to use Photoshop to manipulate and adjust the images to make them more appealing to an audience, and allow them to be viewed in the sense that I desire. In addition to now being able to use Photoshop, another computer program that I can now use is InDesign, and this is great for the likes of article writing in the sense that it is easy to create a layout that would be appropriate for the article in question or even the newspaper or magazine that I would be mocking in writing for in order to appeal to the desired target audience. I have learned how to create pages and with that I am now able to add pictures and text boxes, and edit these both to ensure a neat and concise layout. Audacity is another software that I can now use, and this is great for the likes of audio recording, whether this be for a radio broadcast or a non visual interview. I can now manipulate where different pieces of track go, whether it’s placing them in an order to ensure that everything flows sleekly, or else layering different elements, for example adding music tracks over dialogue. Keeping on the audio theme, I am now able to use a wide array of equipment for the purpose of recording videos as well as dialogue using a varied range of cameras, microphones and well as recorders.

My social media account

The social media platform that I chose to showcase my work on is Twitter. The reason why is due to the fact that it is the only social media platform that I do not use other than linked, which is for business people anyway, therefore I thought it would be interesting to try something new and henceforth see if I would get any followers after posting my photography images, as well as links to various videos and finally my magazine article. The limit for the number of characters per tweet also allows for brief descriptions about what it is that I am posting which have to be short and snappy in order to try capture the interest of viewers, and not lose them with long, drawn out paragraphs that would have to be fully read by choice on the likes of Facebook by clicking on “show more” which some people may not necessarily do. In an effort to get a hopeful and sufficient amount of followers and potential likes on my posts, I first decided to follow some people who’s fellow Twitter accounts revolved around the theme of photography due to the fact that that is the prominent features of my own account. Aside from this, I then decided to follow people in media so that my magazine article as well as the two videos could have had some potential interest.

My profile

Account

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This is what the top half of my Twitter account looks like. As demonstrated with the theme of the account, I have made it clear via the profile picture and cover image that my account will be based around media content, and as per the usual name, revolving around the journalism aspect of things. The image of a camera as the profile picture links to the photography images on my account, and the social media logos for the cover photo highlights the fact that the account was created for the social media brief, as well as linking to the media side of things where elements such as the news reports and magazine article come into it. As shown there are also 30 accounts that I started to follow, all of which are the accounts of various photographers across the globe in the hope that at least one will follow back and begin to either like and share my work around. Also included is an email account which gives the potential for viewers to be able to get in contact if they need.

Photography content

The following photos were uploaded onto my Twitter account to highlight and demonstrate the various photography work I had to do throughout the college course. With these in particular, I showcased the various photography styles I learnt during the time the aforementioned brief was set, for example with the likes of symmetry and rule of thirds.

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The next set of uploads are also photographs, but this time they were captured for a different reason. These were taken as mock up entries for the Amateur Photographer of the Year awards.

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As apparent with each individual post, I have stated where it is they were taken and the reason why they were taken, which had to be made brief due to the 280 character limit per tweet. This was done to briefly explain to any potential viewers what it is they are looking at, as well as why.

Additional content

Aside from the photography elements, I decided to also add some additional content to my account in order to highlight some of the other skills I had developed since September, aside from the ability to now be able to pick up a camera and take photos, and then go on to edit them using the likes of Photoshop. The first thing that I decided to upload was the mock up article I made in the style of GQ Magazine about a persons struggle with poor mental health as a result of being in the army. The reason why is due to the fact that it still contains imagery, one photo of which was taken by me especially for the magazine, however it contrasts away from this and focuses more on the writing side of things.

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Aside from the article, I also supplied three links on my account to audio based media elements in the form of a mock up TV news report, a magazine style show as well as a fake Radio 1 breakfast show broadcast. This again gives viewers of the account additional content to look at, and hopefully take an interest in.

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Much like with the descriptions for the photographs, I have also included brief descriptions here about what it is I have posted and for what reason. Again, this is to inform viewers of what it is they could be looking at as well as why.

Part 3: Evaluation

In terms of creating an online presence to demonstrate and highlight my previous college work I have done, I feel as though I have been unsuccessful in the attempt to gain an interest and viewership from people whose accounts feature similar posts to what mine had. Despite the fact that I had followed thirty people once the account had been fully set up and organised, all of which were people from the photography or media world, I only managed to get two follows back, and aside from this, the only posts to get a reaction were the Radio 1 breakfast show video with one like as well as the climate change news report which received two. This conveys that out of all of the posts I had published which included the visual aspects such as the photography images, aside from the news report and magazine show which correlates with the audio side of things along with the radio show, it was indeed the audio with visual elements that gained the most popularity, even though both videos received just one like each. Despite this, the two accounts that followed me back appeared to be French photographers based upon the content of their accounts, which appeared to portray images promoting France to potential tourists or holidaymakers through the way the photos appeared to be of beaches during the day with people admiring the sun, with further images showing the likes of people tucking into the local cuisine and advertisements for local shows and performances etc. I feel as though this linked in well with the images that I posted on my account, all of which taken through Exeter, due to the fact that even though I wasn’t necessarily promoting it through the photography, the photos themselves still portrayed everything there was to see about the City, for example with the likes of the Cathedral, the Quay and the High Street. They all promote what a typical day to day life would be like in Exeter which would be a good advertisement basis for anyone keen to visit.

Despite the failing success to get followers and likes on my posts, I still feel as though Twitter is a good social media platform to use in an effort to promote work, whether that be uploading images, paperwork, as well as links to various other websites or YouTube videos. The reason why is due to the fact that in my prior research I did into the social media platform, I discovered that the main reason why people use it is to gain an increased audience via excessive amounts of posts. For example, due to the 280 character limit per tweet, Twitter will automatically shorten any links that are posted ensuring that users still have room to write down any other additional information needed to truly appeal to the audience, which naturally has to be short but still allow for the maximum information necessary. This came in very handy for the videos I posted due to the fact that I still had enough characters once the link had been posted to share what the link what going to take viewers too and inform them as to why it was made. This allows the platform to gain a more wider audience as well as higher popularity due to the fact that its many features allow for more than just one aspect to be shared, and by allowing links or photographs etc, people will start to use it more as it will be a place where they can post anything they like rather than being limited down. It is a site that is also used for the promotions of businesses or various pieces of work, emphasised by the process of retweeting, which allows a persons work to be shared among other users of Twitter, which is something that my work unfortunately got done due to the lack of followers. In comparison to work from my peers, they also received next to no followers or else likes and retweets on their posts despite posting very similar content in terms of the imagery and video links supplied. There was also the fact that we all used Twitter as our main social media platform to build our online presence, which could show that it perhaps is not the best site to use to promote the work that we had despite being one of the easiest to use.

In terms of what I could have done differently or what I could have added to my work, I feel as though there are a few things that I could have manipulated or adjusted in order to ensure a higher popularity with more followers and more likes or retweets. The first thing that I could have done is started following people before I posted content and then waited for any follows back. The reason why is because I feel as though any people who followed back once the posts had been published would not have necessarily taken the time to scroll through my profile to see them if they were not interested by what they saw at first which could have been either the profile appearance itself in terms of profile picture, cover photo and bio, or else the top post which was the YouTube link for the magazine show. The reason why I think the radio show and the news report received likes is due to the fact that they were my most recent posts, henceforth people who viewed my account would have only scrolled as far as them, and then not bothered to view the photography elements which proves that I should have potentially just stuck to the photography aspects on that account and not crossed over any different work, and on a more long term basis would have either created a separate account to post the article and the videos so that I could have formed both accounts individually to reach out to different audiences. In addition to this, as seen on another account, I could have potentially added a brief bio on my account listing who I am and what the account is about rather than just adding a contact email. This is because despite the fact that the profile picture and cover photo demonstrated my work on the account, people may still misconstrue this and by having a writing bio would have instantly told any viewers what it is they are looking at so they can instantly decide whether to show an interest or not. Furthermore it would give a more professional touch to the account, and people who I have followed will get a better insight as to why I have chosen to follow them, and with that hopefully create a following back as a result.