(Similarweb, 2018)
Have you ever wonder what people spent their hours on the internet on? According to Similarweb’s ranking of top websites based on Singapore, sites such as Google, Youtube and Facebook came out top. It’s no surprise since most of us will visit these sites at least once per day. However, what’s intriguing is that social media websites dominates the list. This further enforced the claim that social media is slowly taking over our lives.
Okay, having been introduced to the power of social media, now let us take a look at a fascinating framework. The Social Consumption/Creation Matrix categorizes social media user types according to their degree of social media consumption and creation. This framework had been mainly used for Facebook users but I believe it can be apply to social media as a whole too.
(Tuten and Solomon, 2013)
The 4 social media user types are:
Entertainment Chasers
These are the group of people with both low level of creation and consumption. Entertainment chasers invest their time and effort on social media wisely therefore will only participate if there’s something rewarding. Trending social entertainments such videos, news, contests and games will most likely attract their attention. They also hardly create any content but are the people you wanna go to for any latest ongoing deals.
Connection Seekers
Although connection seekers are low content creators, but their high level of engagement is crucial to the continuous development of social media. Social media is a great place to keep in touch with our family and friends as we can socialise and build relationships. Outings and events are also often being organised through connection seekers.
Attention Seekers
Attention seekers are usually “celebrities” with already a high number of followers and they create contents that they can promote it efficiently through their means. They are motivated by controversial topics that can make them stand out with the purpose of gathering attention and admiration from the public. Usually living the glamorous lifestyle which they are not afraid of showing it off.
Devotees
Devotees invest a lot of their time creating contents on social media. Almost everything is of an interest to them. They immerse themselves on social media constantly to share their opinions and interact with brands. A perfect example will be brand ambassadors.
Every user type has their own characteristics, but I believe some of us might even be a mixture of two (or more)! I mean it can be difficult to distinguish ourselves from the user types as many of us use social media for more than one purpose. So, the question here is how reliable is this framework in grouping us based on our social media uses and should addition user types be added to differentiate our roles more accurately?
Do let me know in the comment below what do you think about this post!!
My type falls under Entertainment Chasers. But i believed there are other types other than the 4 listed here.
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Yeah i fall under entertainment chasers too, i believe most of us falls in this category. One other type of user i can think of are people that are taking advantage of social media to generate income
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Interesting example being shared! great content 🙂 looking forward to your next post.
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Thanks! Really glad you found my post useful! 🙂
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Great content!! Didn’t know we can categorise different users in this manner. i think I’m probably a mixture of entertainment chasers and connection seekers.
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Hey thanks for the comment!! Yea most of us will fall under either the entertainment chasers or connection seekers category. Feel free to suggest more user types if u can think of any!!:)
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Wow great post!! Something learnt today! thanks for the sharing mate..
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Hi really glad you liked my post!! Feel free to suggest more user types to me if you can think of any!! Thanks:)
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Hello!! I do post some pictures every now and then. But actually i use social media mostly for entertainments so i just I’m an entertainment chasers? Although I’m not really a chasers too..
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Hello Samantha!! I agree that the types can be a little extreme at times but hope you understand my explanation of it. Entertainment chasers mainly refer to people that uses social media to catch their latest news, videos etc and since you mainly use social for entertainment I’m pretty sure you are a chaser 🙂
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Definitely connection seeker!! I think i use facebook message more than the app itself although i do enjoy scrolling through the newsfeed whenever I’m bored 🙂
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Thanks for the comment!! I see I’m under entertainment chasers as i use facebook mainly to look through my newsfeed only. Rarely uses facebook message nowadays but was once active few years ago:)
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Thanks for sharing this interesting model with me!! Nice and engaging write up that caught my attention throughout! Was thinkinh which user I am while reading and still can’t decide between entertainment chasers and connection seekers.
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Hey Royston thanks for commenting!! It’s actually pretty normal to be stuck between two user types as we used social media for many purposes. However I’m sure you too will lean towards one more as that’s the case for me too! Maybe i should start thinking of additional user types so your can find one that best suit more easily 🙂
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Great post!! I want to be a devotee so i can create more interesting content online like what you are doing now!! 🙂
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Thanks for the compliment!! It’s support from you people that encourages me to come out with more content to share with you guys! 🙂
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