Jacob Smith’s Facebook Profile

Jacob Smith’s Facebook Profile

Social media has significantly grown over time making it almost necessary for everyone to have a social presence today. Today, the internet has made it possible for people to utilize different social media platforms make new friends, and other things such as marketing their products. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok are among the most popular online platforms that all interactions among people from all parts of the world. Sites such as YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok allow their uses to upload videos and other information online. Several theories help explain the behaviour of anyone using any of the available online platforms on the internet today. Every individual fits in at least one of these categories. Jacob Smith’s Facebook page can be categorized into three approaches: cultivation, agenda, and uses and gratification theories. 

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory emphasizes that individuals who spend most of their time on different social media sites may change their views of issues and behaviours as they internalize and reflect on the kind of content they see online. Hence, when someone is exposed to a specific media for a long time, their thoughts and behaviour may be altered, considering that social media is constantly inundated with information (Özer, 2019). As a result, it is possible to find an individual who initially did not like something, eventually changing their thinking and portraying a varied belief. Social media has the power to shape peoples’ opinions based on the interactions they have with others and the kind of content they have to deal with on daily basis.

Jacob Smith experienced this kind of change two times, as seen from an analysis done on his Facebook page. At first, in one of his many posts, he was very particular about why he did not like Minecraft despite taking a large portion of his wall. However, even though he was adamant about his dislike for Minecraft, he liked them after more exposure to Minecraft on social media. In another post, Jacob talks about the “top ten secret bases” and makes him seem like a person who was so determined to play the game even more. Also, in another post, Jacob talked about the governor and general politics, something that he would shun during his first posts on Facebook. Initially, Jacob presented himself as an individual who was sceptical about politics. However, after being exposed to varied information on Facebook, he started to show admiration for the elected governor and was even ready to allow her to benefit from the doubt before he could show discontentment and be negative again. 

Uses and Gratification Theory

Uses and gratification theories argue that people use social media as means of fulfilling their specific needs. For instance, those individuals prefer spending their leisure time on social media instead of integrating with other people (Liu et al., 2020). In other words, social media provides an escape from the physical world into another world that people consider being more comforting. Looking at Jacob Smith’s Facebook page, it is clear that he explores politics and games to take a break from the physical world. Based on the social media pages that he likes, it is enough evidence that Jacob uses games and politics for gratification. Also, Jacob Smith has posted Minecraft so many times, making it easy to guess that he plays it for gratification. Nonetheless, there are fewer posts regarding politics, and the few available are primarily negative about politics. However, his current posts tend to agree with the politician he chose to speak of. 

Agenda Theory

The agenda theory argues that people seek social media views on how they should respond to satiations and what to think based on their experiences. Social media plays a significant role in people's thinking about different situations (Uscinski, 2009). However, it is hard to distinguish the kind of information based on schedule and knowledge and that which is generic. At first, Jacob Smith did not like politicians, but things seemed to take a different turn with time, and he started to talk positively about certain politicians. One may not strongly argue this point since there are few political posts, but there is a possibility that he was influenced into liking politics through social media. 

Schema

One can quickly establish a negative schema when Jacob expresses his opinions about politicians. He places them in one group claiming that he is not even sure if they should receive a form of support from anybody. However, his ideas and beliefs tend to change gradually, which is seen when he starts to talk positively about a governor after researching more information about her online. He does not seem to categorize politicians as one group anymore but as individuals, and this can be seen when he claims to like the things the governor is doing. Jacob has become a supporter of something many would never have thought he would.  

References

Liu, Min, Q., & Han, S. (2020). Understanding users’ continuous content contribution behaviours on microblogs: an integrated perspective of uses and gratification theory and social influence theory. Behaviour & Information Technology, 39(5), 525–543. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2019.1603326

Özer. (2019). Cultivation theory and hegemony: a research from Turkey on cultivational role of television. Media, Culture and Public Relations, 10(2), 133–139. https://doi.org/10.32914/mcpr.10.2.2

Uscinski. (2009). When Does the Public’s Issue Agenda Affect the Media’s Issue Agenda (and Vice-Versa)? Developing a Framework for Media-Public Influence. Social Science Quarterly, 90(4), 796–815. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00663.x