Subconscious Beginnings

Today, the younger generation is fixed on social media. They spend countless hours browsing and posting on media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc. As a viewer of these social media, one constantly analyzes the content posted, whether it is conscious or not.

Content analysis can be performed on any media that one can examine further and explore the underlying contexts in the subject.

Taking selfies and posting them to social networking sites has become quite popular in the recent years. Many people begin the process of content analysis described in Wimmer and Dominick’s article when they notice multiple selfies that are posted on their newsfeed. Viewers do not typically go through the entire content analysis process, but they form their own conclusion of why an individual posted a certain photo.

By doing this, the viewers have already began the steps of content analysis by forming their own hypothesis. When the same gender or age group is posting the same types of photos, there is a defined population in question. The most interesting thing is that, the viewer is not analyzing the photo in hopes to perform a formal content analysis. The beginning steps of analysis are simply a natural reaction for some people.

The initial steps of content analysis are performed by social media viewers, which create conversation about the content and can lead to more formal content analysis. For example, What We Instagram is a scholarly article that analyzes Instagram photo content including selfies, which was mentioned previously.

The constant buzz of the selfie is what lead researchers to look more into the subject. In fact, the term became so popular that it was named the word of the year in 2013 according to oxford dictionaries.

The selfie became so popular that a band known as The Chainsmokers produced a song titled “#Selfie” in 2014. The song is not only about the social media trend, but also seems to describe situations in which selfies would be taken.

In the first verse, the band describes an insecure girl who is questioning the actions of a guy who is of interest to her. She takes her mind off of it by taking a selfie and posting it to Instagram. The song continues to point out her insecurities, while the main idea of the song is all about her selfie.

This song is proof that people are analyzing the pictures posted to social media and developing their own ideas of what thoughts or actions preceded the photo. Even when they are not conducting formal research, the trend of a selfie is being analyzed.

Do you ever find yourself beginning the content analysis steps without even thinking twice about it?