Frontline’s documentary Generation Like hosted by Douglas Rushkoff is the first documentary I have seen related to current trends on Facebook, YouTube and other forms of social media. They take into account the psychological, social, and economical factors that effect social media; in ways we may not even be aware of. As an avid social media user, many of the examples that were brought up in the movie resonate well with my own contributions to sites such as Facebook and Youtube.

Rushkoff goes on to explain how “likes” on Facebook and Social media sites have become a sort of currency, especially for the younger generations. The idea of “likes”  through social media is pretty simple, one person see what their friend likes, so that person likes it, then another friend sees that person’s likes, and likes that. Through this a cycle has started where friends are vouching for a certain piece of media or company or idea or whatever it might be and sharing it with their whole social group without even knowing it.

This is big business for companies such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds. It is essentially the new form of advertisement. This is the reason why many companies are working to build their brand through likes. It has become a multi-billion dollar company where us (the user) is their bilboard.