“The Social Media Ecology: User Perceptions, Strategies and Challenges describes” how individuals create their social media ecology. Through asking research participants different questions, the authors try to dig deeper into which specific qualities determine why people use certain platforms; regarding what they post, what they do not post, which platforms may be more important and more. Additionally, the authors go into detail about adapting and changing as the platforms involve.

Before the authors speak about their research, they start off speaking about the instances in which people balance social media platforms. The Joinson study showed that users use Facebook for a diverse amount of reasons, some use it for wanting to connect while others use it to share media. The main part of the article speaks on the research the authors conducted. There were two research questions that the participants were asked. Their main finding seems to be intertwined with each other. Depending on the standard of the app, individuals choose what they would like to share. This is something that can easily be compared to reality as for instance, people tend to post videos that they want to go viral on TikTok but on Instagram, they post their best pictures, because the apps are destined to be used for different purposes. The authors go on to speak about “separation vs permeation” (94). In which, people want there to be clear drawn lines between apps and may not always want multiple accounts to be associated with each other. One of the examples provided in the text was when a social media user explained how she could post something from twitter to Instagram but not the other way around because she does not want people to know about her twitter account. It goes into detail that sometimes when there are “competing desires” it makes it harder to just use one app (94).

Lastly, with “stability vs change”, technology is evolving fast therefore people are forced to continuously think about their social ecosystem (95). “Should I post this here or should I get this app?” are questions active social media users have at times. For example, TikTok took social media platforms to storm when it became one of the most popular apps during the pandemic; people were getting careers from the content they were posting. Companies and individuals had to make crucial decisions on whether to engage because engaging could boost and bring up sales but that does not mean its route the company wants to dive into.

Overall, both research questions seem to have reliable answers and results; the findings are easily seen through the way individuals interact with social media daily.