By Julia Kim
Whether students have Snapchat, TikTok or even iMessage, social media has become a feature ingrained in everyday life. In turn, these social networks have to adapt to their ever-growing user base, and with this comes new updates to well-known platforms. However, some companies’ decisions are not viewed as the most user-friendly choices, leading to dissatisfied consumers.
Recently, TikTok, a popular application used to produce and watch videos, has had several updates regarding the communication between creators and consumers. Along with watching a video, viewers are able to interact with it by liking, commenting, favoriting and sharing the video. The favoriting feature allows viewers to save a specific video that they would like to go back to. Due to TikTok’s recent update, creators are now able to see which users have favorited specific videos of theirs.
"I think this feature is convenient because it allows me to go back to videos that I would like to go back to," senior Melinda Mathew said.
Not only is the favoriting feature new, but TikTok has also introduced the reposting feature. This feature allows a user’s followers, or in some cases, strangers to see the repost. The person who reposted the TikTok is seen by their username next to a yellow icon.
“I think it's weird because strangers on the internet know what I’m looking at or doing,” junior Gabriela Krawczyk said.
Source by Kristen Schneider
Senior Simrit Kaur scrolls through her TikTok For You page amongst recent updates.
A similarly well-known app, Snapchat, has many features which distinguish it from other platforms. In chat, users are able to see if the person they are messaging is on their direct message and whether they screenshotted or video recorded the chat. Additionally, Snapchat is known for its Snap Map, which shows a user where their friends are worldwide, in the event that they chose to share their location with you. However, users can easily screenshot the map and share it with whomever they want– without your knowledge. This can make the process of allowing people to see your SnapMap stressful as it can easily lead to an invasion of privacy.
“I think that Snapchat notifying you of someone screenshotting Snap Map is definitely important. If not, my location could be leaked and end up in the wrong hands. I think Snapchat’s options on who can view your Snap Map are perfect. You can choose who views it, which in this case is just my selected friends,” sophomore Rachel Jacob said.
Another social media platform that has recently gained popularity is the app, BeReal. The app notifies users to take a photo of themselves daily at random times. This is supposed to create candid, unfiltered content for your followers to see, who are allowed to react to your BeReal with a photo of their own.
“Personally, I think it’s a really unique and fun idea. I like it because it lets you stay in touch with your close friends," senior Ayesha Rashid said. "Unlike other social media apps, like Instagram and Snapchat, I feel like BeReal is more intimate and small, which I really like. I also really like how you can take a picture from both cameras at once; it makes it much more entertaining."
Whether for better or for worse, social media has become a dominant aspect of daily life and serves as a common mode of communication for adults and teens alike.