In my digital literacy narrative, I plan on digging deeper into “the reasons” behind the similarities and differences between commonly used social media platforms and tech products. Everything and everyone has a “default.” If I tell someone to guess the social media platform based on the keywords, and the words I offer are “images,” “disappears,” and “short clips” – I expect most people would guess Snapchat? But if I leave out “disappears” and the guess is made based on the words “images” and “short clips,” I would think that there would be a variety of answers. So, who determines which features are distinctive and “standard” about the apps we use? Is it just by chance that we do not have to review and go over the rules of “how to use Snapchat, or how to use Instagram”? It seems that even when I am approaching a semi-foreign app like Discord, I would not panic. I would still know the general use and have specific expectations in mind for the platform. However, I would not say the same if it is my mother attempting to use Discord, even when she uses similar platforms.

It seems that all social media platforms, or should I say all apps used for communication purposes, have set features, and it is on top of such features that minor uniqueness exists (and if the uniqueness becomes what the app is known for, other platforms try to mock it as soon as observed). Why is it that the media choose to copy features of others “with a slight twist”? How do the different features change the groups we interact with through such apps?

These are all questions I attempt to answer and tie together in my digital literacy narrative.