Assignment Eight - International Media Review

 International Media Usage

As an American, in my prime age for total internet usage and consumption, I often wonder how other "kids" my age around the world use social media, and the internet like I do. This assignment seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore how the countries use social media in comparison to Americans. All in all about 4.2 billion people world wide are using social media, thats a little over half of our worlds population! Not only is that already an insane amount of people, the numbers of social media users are growing each year, with the most used site being Facebook.

Worldwide digital growth itself is making monumental strides each year, so it only makes sense for social media usage to spike along with it. Facebook reigns as the front runner for most used social media site world wide, clocking in about 2.6 billion users, and country housing the most users is India. Next in line is youtube, followed by WhatsApp. Each of these applications is used for widely different purposes, but all in all I understand why they are the leaders of the pack. With the desire to be nosy, and know what everyone is doing at all times, Facebook is the perfect platform. You can post, share, and tag your friends with ease, and this takes place all over the world. Whats App is increasingly popular for communication between different countries, I have even used it myself to stay in touch with international friends. 

Although we know these front runners well, there are many social media platforms that Americans have no idea exist, well except me of course. Baidu Tieba is a Chinese communications platform used widely across the country. On this app you ca find yourself in "group chats" known as bars, and talk with others who are interested in the specific topic you select. This app allows for open communication between people from all over, brought together by their interests. More than one million users in China tune in to this app everyday, and it is still growing since its big spurt in 2015. However, all in all, the popular apps that are used worldwide remain the dominating force throughout China, and all other countries for that matter. 

This blog was one of the more interesting reviews I have done thus far. While I have not looked at a specific topic, I have looked at the overall social media use across the world. My findings were fairly expected as the most widely known apps reigned the front runners world wide for social media usage.