Social Media & Prosumerism

Prosumerism is an interesting term. According to Laurea Journal, “Prosumerism is the participation of consumers, sometimes for quite a long time, in the processes of improvement, and sometimes in the development of an innovative product at the early stages of its development and production processes.” Prosumerism is a process that happens on social media. Consumers take part in the design and transformation of the online products they use. With Twitter, now known as X, Elon Musk is a consumer who bought twitter and transformed it into the platform it is now. That’s a major example of Prosumerism.

We sometimes think about the production of services and the consumption of consumers as two separate things. Two different processes that work off of each other. But prosumers make the products they also use and will use. It’s a process that benefits producers and consumers.

But these processes can come with their issues. Elon Musk, for example, took the very social media product he consumed, Twitter, and transformed it into a hellscape for other twitter users. Transphobia, Misinformation, Colonialist Propaganda, Antisemitism, Racism, Mass Harassment, and other issues were amplified when Elon Musk took over and changed the algorithmic system of the platform. YouTube is a video broadcasting site that was bought from the original founders and owners and transformed into a capitalistic cavern filled with nonstop intrusive advertisements, video recommendations unrelated to your personal experience, spam comments, and more issues. The people who consume products can change them for the worst when they take it and change up the initial design.

Prosumerism is affected by capitalism just like everything else on the internet. The content that people interact with the most will be pushed to the forefront of the algorithm. Creators on YouTube produce problematic content on the same site that they consume. Content such as the “Elsagate” genre of YouTube Kids videos, offensive “pranks”, racist and antisemitic jokes, bigoted cringe compilations, fatphobia, and more are pushed to the forefront. These are all types of content produced by people that also consume YouTube daily.