Politics, Platforms and Preferences, oh my!

Communication technologies have drastically changed over the past decade, and are only getting more specific to the user and more diverse in what they offer. Platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram find themselves continuously changing to keep up with the demand of the users, and are often competing with each other. “A new technology does not add or subtract something. It changes everything.” (Postman, p. 18). Instagram, a place to upload photos with captions, created an option for users to direct message one another. Snapchat was once just sending and receiving photos that would disappear after ten seconds. It is now a place for photo sharing, chatting, live video, and video sharing, among other amenities. “… Designers in turn, are configured by both users and their organizations…” (Oudshoorm and Pinch, p. 8). Platforms such as Snapchat are aware they need to keep up with other technologies in order to stay relevant and popular. They often rely on the competition of other websites and apps, and the voice of the consumer to influence their technology. Communication technology platforms are realizing they need to be rich and have multiple communication avenues such as text, video, photos, etc. (Humphreys, p. 26).

When creating an app or website for communication technology, it is important to find your target audience. Personally, as someone who is usually inclusive, I would tend to lean towards an app that is for all genders, races and economical classes. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc., are all free platforms that allow anyone with internet access to create an account. Dating sites such as eHarmony, Match, and Christian Mingle are sites that you must pay to use. Other dating sites such as Plenty of Fish, OKCupid, and Tinder are free (although, a paid option is available). The paid sites are meant for the “career” men and women wanting to find their match. Whereas the free sites invite people of any economic background to join. It’s an automatic assumption that those on paid sites are the ones that want to settle down. In turn, it’s usually an automatic assumption that people on the free sites are looking for temporary situations like hookups. Dating sites for the disabled are targeting a specific audience, the disabled. Grindr, for example, is targeted towards the LGBTQ community. Specific communication technologies need to be geared towards a specific demographic.

Creators of websites, apps and other communication technologies are exceptionally good at targeting their audience(s). “Gender, age, socio-economic, and ethnic differences among users may all be relevant.” (Oudshoorn and Pinch, p. 6). A straight male isn’t going to sign up for Grindr, an app made for the LGBQT community, as he would have no use for it. However, a straight male and any other age, race, social class, etc., can sign up for Facebook or Instagram, as these type of sites are all-inclusive. “…users can have multiple identities.” (Oudshoorm and Pinch, p. 17). A platform can target multiple ages, races, cultures, classes, etc., and the user can fall into multiple categories.

The politics of communication technology is more than the typical democratic and republican type politics. It’s more so who the communication technology is geared for. Robert Moses designed low overpasses to discourage buses from traveling on the roadway. Those who used public transit, the poor and African Americans, would often take the bus. In essence, the low overpasses would prohibit the poor and minorities from traveling on the roadways. (Winner, p. 2 and 3). When thinking about the communication technologies nowadays, not many come to mind that are aimed to exclude a specific demographic (gender, race, culture, etc.). For Robert Moses, he had an “intended” political consequence of excluding the poor and African Americans (Winner, p.4). Apps and websites now have an “unintended” political consequence, if any at all.

In the other meaning of politics, President Trump is a prime example of someone who uses Twitter to communicate with the people of the United States. “…technologies can be used in ways that enhance the power, authority, and privilege of some over others...” (Winner, p. 3). Trump’s goal is to share his opinions and thoughts to anyone on Twitter that will listen/read. However, the people cannot criticize Twitter for allowing Trump an account or for promoting his agenda. “Blaming the hardware appears even more foolish than blaming the victims…” (Winner, p. 1). If anyone is to “blame” for the information put out, it would be Trump.

Overall, if I were creating a communication technology platform, I have no reason to be demographic specific. However, this could change if I was working for an organization that required me to be exclusive. I couldn’t imagine the uproar that would occur if a platform (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) was aimed towards people aged 55 or over, or Hispanics only. I think communication technologies do a great job of being inclusive, and exclusive when they need to be.

References

Humphreys, A. 2016. Social Media: Enduring Principles. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Oudshoorn, N. and Pinch, T. 2005, September. How Users and Non-Users Matter.

Postman, N. 1993, April. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York, NY: Knopf.

Winner, L. 1986. The whale and the reactor: a search for limits in an age of high technology. Do Artifacts Have Politics? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 19-39.