Social Media IS the New Publishing Venue

[MineralMan]

Whatever your interest, social media lets you publish information, opinions, and other thoughts about that interest. However, unlike any traditional media outlet or publisher, even the most obscure, minute sector of any topic can attract an audience, and DOES. Having made my living writing about various topics for national magazines, I know that outlets for publishing on obscure topics used to be scarce, to say the least.

I just came back from YouTube, where I watched a couple of videos from some guy named Matthew Carlson. His topic is "eating canned sardines." He does videos that are nothing but him trying different brands and types of sardines and commenting on his experience with that brand and type. He eats sardines and videos himself doing that.

It doesn't get any more obscure than that, when it comes to topics. Yet, his videos sometimes have over 10,000 views. Sardines. Eating them and talking about them. And a few thousand people watch them. He even has 4.8k subscribers to his channel. He has decent production values in his videos, but it's just some guy from Flatbush eating sardines and reviewing them.

I saw one of his videos the other day. It just popped up in My YouTube, randomly. So, I watched it out of curiosity. Today, I ate a can of King Oscar Wild Caught Sardines in EVOO with Lemon with some Saltine crackers. Why? Because that used to be a treat my mother would give her kids when Dad was off on a hunting trip. My Dad hated sardines, but my Mom liked them, so we got sardines on saltines as a treat. It's an old memory that was triggered by that guy's video.

Really, it doesn't matter what your videos are about on YouTube. If you make decent videos, any topic at all will draw an audience. There has never been a venue like that before. There has never been a way for individuals to attract an audience for their thoughts on a very obscure topic like that before.

Social media has its pros and cons, but its strongest point, I think, is that it lets anyone with a web cam publish their videos and actually find an audience of people who are interested in just about anything at all. 4.8k subscribers for a YouTube channel about eating canned sardines? Who would have thought that would be possible?

Anyhow, whether you like social media venues or not, there's no mistaking their potential for putting people into contact with each other or sharing their interests with thousands of other people.

Fascinating.

BTW, the King Oscar sardines were as good as my childhood memories. So, thanks to Matthew Carlson for prompting me to have them again in my old age. And thanks to YouTube for providing an outlet for his videos.

[Moostache]

1. My single largest gripe with social media is contained in your observations...

Anyhow, whether you like social media venues or not, there's no mistaking their potential for putting people into contact with each other or sharing their interests with thousands of other people.

I find that observation fascinating because with a slight alteration, it is my biggest fear and contention with the proliferation of social media in the 21st century. With all deference and appreciation to the original thought, here is where I see the issue with social media

...there's no mistaking their potential for putting people into contact with each other (UNEDITED AND UNRESTRAINED BY STANDARDS) or sharing their interests with thousands of other people (REGARDLESS OF VERACITY, INTENT OR RESPONSIBILITY).

Putting people in touch in the abstract is a positive thing. Exposing them to the will and methods of the uninformed, disinformed and mal-informed (maliciously and intentionally disinformed) populace - and providing no enforced consequences for lies, propaganda, political hits while STILL raking in billions of dollars of revenue and undue overall influence on society and civilization is inherently evil. I see value, but on a cost-benefit analysis, the current profiteering 'structure' and business models of social media are a net negative on mankind.

For every great and admittedly heart-warming story such as you were able to convey, their are thousands of other stories, of people suffering and getting bad advice; of girls dealing with puberty and social anxiety and finding millions of images of people at their most made-up, most fake and most unattainable levels which ultimately leads to increased body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression and suffering because THEY do not have the 'cool' label clothes, air-brushed and edited photos or faked social lives of those online and influencers.

The social media companies all claim no responsibility for the effects for their platforms...they just wish to continue without regulation (too onerous for their profit models and really nothing to do with free speech rights) and they get away with billions in profit off of the unvarnished creations of a society and world social order teetering forever on the edge of collapse.

I don't have an answer to this issue beyond saying that those who profit the most from anything (IMO) should be the one's paying the proportionate cost to safeguard said thing. In this case, social media is enormously popular, enormously profitable AND enormously dangerous all at once.

I am however very glad that you got to revisit fond memories and carve out some happiness form the cesspool that is social media in 2021.

[MineralMan]

3. Well, you've managed, by adding words, to make some sort of point,

I guess. In doing so, you completely distorted my point.

No, thanks.

[Moostache]

4. Apologies for any distortion, it was not intentional, though perhaps inevitable in context.

I respect your contributions here, and find you to be an incredibly positive source of thoughts, opinions and observations within this community, so no negative connotation or transference was intended.

[Demovictory9]

2. I love youtube.