Social media had original intentions of bringing people together through the internet. It was intended to be a platform for people to share current life happenings and connect with friends and family who might have been geographically far away. While the original social media originated in AOL Chat Rooms and Instant Messaging which evolved into MySpace. MySpace was the first idea that one could curate their own “page” and have people see their curated reflection of themselves on the Internet. Facebook entered the marketplace, as a new version of MySpace and it appeared to become more mainstream and accessible. Eventually, celebrity entered the equation and then people began to replace their Teen Vogue’s and National Inquirers with following their favorite stars on the internet. The concept of “following” started on Twitter, I kind of voyeurism where I choose to follow you, and you do not have to follow me, but you may. Then Instagram came to the market and brought the curatorial aspects of MySpace back to the process of social media, and placed special emphasis on the image. Once, the image was brought back to the forefront the same insecurities that people had to interrogate with celebrity in magazines and on the screen came into our everyday lives with one another. This voyeurism is now not just looking into 140 characters on Twitter, but entire images that you put on the internet as a reflection of yourself. Somewhere, along the way we began to commercialize this process. Celebrity moved their endorsements from television to social media as people began spending more and more time on the apps on their phone than in the comfort of their home watching the nightly programming on the screen. This has led to an entire slew of problematic media from fake activism, poverty porn, fake sponsored content, amongst many other forms of content that is misleading and only for capitalists gains.
HUMANIMEDIA is dedicated to the return to the original intention of social media, human connection. We have tools at our dispense that can connect people from Paris to New Delhi and New York to Rio, it is truly a miracle that we are getting to experience this in our time. We are returning to human connection, less curation and more authenticity. We want to see the meatloaf you made on Monday and we want to see your three year olds silly selfies, not the coffee you bought then said it was sponsored, or the mutilated elephants you’re raising funds to save. This site is intended for those who want to share in our mission to comment their own experiences with this capitalized media, and what their own social media links are so that those who share in our values of humane social media can connect.
Zane Austin Willard, 12/02/2019