Challenge 4: Component 1: YouTube and Instagram Lurking
This week we are lurking. Lurking basically means we are keeping tabs on social media sites in order to gain information. As previously stated, my topic is the current refugee crisis. The two social media sites that I decided to lurk on are YouTube and Instagram. The reason I chose these two sites is because they involve picture and video along with likes and comments. I believe that an image can make a huge impact on the way someone views a certain topic without words having to be said. Like they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Lurking involves me constantly looking up my topic of the refugee crisis on the social media sights and looking at anything new that is posted. I have been lurking first thing in the morning, at my lunch break, after work, and before bed. What is extremely interesting to me is that there is always something new that has come up and that I can look into. When I first began lurking, I honestly felt very weird. I felt like I was spying on people and I didn’t like it, but when I started to think about it deeper, I realized that these people are doing what we are working towards. They are using social media in order to get their thoughts and beliefs out into the world. Once I was able to grasp that concept, I didn’t feel like a creeper anymore.
YouTube has brought many videos to my attentions that are working towards getting people motivated to help the cause. Instagram on the other had is a lot more of people sharing their perspectives on what they feel about the refugee crisis. There is always people posting to help spread the word, or trying to make a difference but when others’ opinions are involved we can always expect some sort of head bumping to be involved. This was something I wasn’t expecting but I can see how some people would feel another way, I personally just feel as if we should be helping out. I saw more of the head bumping on Instagram, but either way, the majority of people that came across this situation feel for these people and want to help.
