Has anyone seen this picture yet?
If you haven’t, I’ll explain. This is a picture of Bernie Sanders attending the Inauguration on Wednesday. The picture quickly blew up on social media and many viral memes have used it since. Bernie went so viral that he even created sweatshirts with this picture printed on them. He released the sweatshirts just yesterday, and they already sold out. Across social media, users have been replicating his mittens, his outfit, and various other aspects of the picture.
When I saw Bernie’s picture explode across all social media platforms, it reminded me about the role of social media in society today. I think it’s absolutely crazy how fast information spreads in today’s day and age, and most of that speed can be attributed to social media. Bernie, for instance, had his picture taken around noon on Wednesday. I couldn’t find the actual statistics, but I’m sure that millions of people already saw his picture by Wednesday night. And not even a day later, Bernie’s team launched sweaters with the same picture that went viral only the day before.
The shift in speed presented by social media, however, isn’t new at all. Back when newspapers were a popular source of information, televised media came along and delivered news significantly faster. Now, the speed of social media has replaced television, but what comes next? Can there be a new form of social media that delivers information even faster than Twitter, Snap, or TikTok?
I totally get what you mean, the reaction time of social media is literally insane! Things become memes mere minutes after they happen. I do think that the Bernie Sanders is kind of the greatest though, I've seen some hilarious edits of it. And then my sister and I found a pair of wool mittens in our house that look just like his!
ReplyDeleteI also find it insane how social media is able to make memes and jokes about something so quick that it is in real time as the event is going on. What a strange time we live in.
ReplyDeleteI honestly find it both hilarious and kind of scary when thinking about how fast news, memes, and such seem to spread on social media. Although, they say that one of the easiest ways to get attention is through comedy, this surely did the job! Aside from other major things from the inauguration, this might have been one of the biggest take-aways, but I'm not mad about it haha. Being that the meme spread so quickly, I also wonder what this means for the future of social media.
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda scary how fast everything spreads on the internet. This time it may have been funny, but other times it can be quite harmful. I learned earlier this year that fake information spreads 6 times faster than true information. That's scary when you combine it with the amount of fake information there is and how fast it spreads today.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I also find it quite alarming how fast things travel due to social media, I think it's so funny that the second something turns into a meme it immediately becomes a way to make money by releasing merch. Like I'm sorry, but who would buy that sweatshirt?
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