Social media has become the high point of communication in recent years. In the click of a button, anyone can express how they feel or relay any message to hundreds of people. While many different major platforms exist, social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram each have their own field of speciality that makes them unique from the other.
Facebook puts emphasis on connecting people for relationship or social networking purposes. Snapchat focuses on allowing people to post temporary pictures and videos and keeping their content as concise as possible. Twitter allows anyone to say whatever they want in short messages. Instagram places focus on pictures and allows users to turn a regular picture into a work of art.
Even though each of these platforms has its own specialty, it seems that they are now integrating features from one another, the same features that once made the other apps unique. For example, Snapchat has a feature called “Snapchat Stories” where users can post videos and pictures in a collective bundle about their day or whatever they’re doing for everyone to see for up to 24 hours. This feature was soon adapted by both Instagram and Facebook adopting the same manner. Another example is something started by Facebook called “Facebook Memories” where they would send users something that they posted years ago on a specific date and allow them to reshare in order to reflect on their past. This was recently adapted by Snapchat, allowing users to do the exact same thing with pictures or videos that they saved or posted on past dates.
This trend of social media sites adapting features from other platforms is steadily growing, but it seems to stunt any growth in completely new and unique features. While it is certainly nice to see something different on the platform people use consistently, some aspects of social media can seem overplayed. Social media applications should learn to optimize what makes their platform unique rather than trying to expand it by stealing ideas from others. Originality is something that is steadily becoming lost on big social platforms, and creators can expect to see a decline in numbers if no real change happens to how their applications function.
by Michael Blanks
