Reference no: EM132273665

Discussion :

SME industry has been continuously developing from a new proto-industry to a globalized industry. There are new industrial currents that potentially signal a further change in the history of SME.

The first one can be social media platforms are under public policy and regulations which may adversely creators using them, like platformization causing the asymmetry relationship between platforms and creators.

Google and Facebook are provoking increased regulatory concern and oversight which focuses on children and SME commercialization. They act like media companies to make sure that social media platforms and digital content curators fit well.

Additionally, live streaming can drive changes that lead to a new phase of SME. Live technology provides platforms, advertisers, users and creators with new communicative and commercial affordances.

In this week's readings, the authors talk about how social media is getting more and more powerful in different areas, such as culture, politics, and economy. As we know, the social media entertainment industry is mostly controlled by a few big companies, such as Facebook and Google.

However, it is talked about in one of the articles that these companies insist that they are not media companies, instead, they are technology companies because they do not create content. In spite of the poor monetization and support for creators, these platforms are pushing content every day and they are, essentially, advertising agencies.

The question of what are they matters because it can have significant legal and policy implications. Meanwhile, these companies could have the power to control public opinions over culture, politics, and economy. Therefore, there should be more regulation and policy that supervise these companies.

The readings this week mainly spoke on the evolving nature of the "tech companies" that form the platforms that many of us interact with on a daily basis. While they call themselves tech, and though of course technology went into the creation/maintenance of these platforms, that is not all that these companies do. Social media platforms have become hubs for news, culture-sharing, and content. And with that, they help push what the users will deem as important. This ties into the other readings that spoke on how creators are governed on these platforms.

Through algorithms, trends, and what will make the most profit, platforms can have a really firm hand in who does or does not succeed on their platforms. This is where creator governance, whether through platform reform, advocacy or unionization comes into play as a way to strengthen the rights of current and future creators.

This week's readings touch on the evolution of SME, the current state of the industry and where SME is projected to go. SME is an emerging industry that has created opportunities for influencers and creators to achieve success online and offline, and earn substantial revenue.

As SME continues to grow, the landscape is also constantly changing. For example, Napoli and Caplan argue that companies such as Google, Facebook and other social media platforms are more so media companies rather than technology companies. Many SME platforms, most notably Facebook have evolved past their original purpose and turned into the primary medium for people to receive and share news.

These platforms adamantly reject the idea that their platforms are media companies and fail to acknowledge the impact these platforms have made on society by intersecting with other areas such as politics and economics. Just like media publications, these platforms create content in some instances and can set the agenda through its algorithms.