Social Media Literacies IAM 2500-002

        There are five social media literacies that Howard Rheingold introduces us to, attention, participation, collaboration, network awareness and critical consumption also known as “crap detection.” These five things help us better understand social media and how it ticks or how it makes us tick as well. Even though Rheingold’s article discussed these five things in 2010 I think there can still be some topics that are timeless. 

Attention is one of the main literacies that I think will never expire. We need our attention to be on something and with our attention span so short nowadays we are constantly looking for something new to keep up with. I am very familiar with this one as someone who works in social media. I see this all the time. One day we see everyone mad about the political climate and the next they forget it completely as they lose it over something else. We all are aware of where we are putting attention, but do we do anything about it? Not really. Another literacy that I think others have been practicing more recently is participation. In light of what is going on in the world and just in general, I think more, and more people are participating on social media for their communities. 

However, on my end I think that I should learn more about collaboration. I know how advertisements work and “brand deals” on the internet, but I am curious to know if there is more to it when it comes to social media influencers. There is a lot we don't know that goes on behind the screen. Along with that I think I should work on collaborating on my own profiles as well. I think that I should invest in collaborating with others and creating a stronger platform through this.