Consideraciones Éticas

To assess communication facilitation, communication-related terms like “talk,” “look” and “read” were categorized along with phrases such as “interact with,” “pay attention,” and “go to” in cases where participants sought out information. Through the tools provided to them by social media, they are actively participating in the facilitation of communication within their social media communities.

As messages are sent from sender to receiver, it is not always guaranteed that they ripple outwards to reach new audiences, nor that that they are absorbed by the intended receiver. In

order for this to be demonstrated, there has to be some kind of signal that the messages were understood and shared.

As noted in the literature review, there is a heavy emphasis on sharing online within the millennial community. Sharing on social media can range from posting about the weather to writing what some of the participants referred to as “thinkpieces” or opinion-based social media posts. Thinkpieces often take place in long-form and analyze a current event, cultural paradox or unpopular opinion based on the topic. The range of sharing that can happen on social media is representative of a spectrum of different dialogues that black millennials are using social media for. They may post photos of their mothers on Mother’s Day, but that does not mean that they are going to write about why they chose to vote for their chosen political candidate. Some millennials do not believe that social media has the capacity to articulate highly-contextual messages and therefore, may not share as much as others. An example of this is when Leah was asked what her preferred method of discussing current events and said:

I usually prefer communicating current events between peers/friends in person or via direct communication like texts or even a group chat with a small group of trusted friends… speaking in person can be more meaningful just because non-verbal cues such as sarcasm or body language can aid in a difficult topic of discussion.

Though it may seem as though Leah did not rely on social media as their medium for discussion, they still spoke of social media as if it was a form of communication that was available for them to use. Mentions of “non-verbal cues,” “sarcasm” and “body language” are often used in tangent with indirect communication such as facial expression, tone of voice and gestures. The implication that social media is not the most meaningful way to communicate does not mean that it

lacks the ability to facilitate conversation. It means that there are many users who cannot or do not have the ability to use social media with nuance in order to introduce means of indirect

communication into the platform.

Though black millennials cannot apply sarcasm to the characters they use to create social media messages, they do have the aid of technology that help them with the facilitation of emotion, such as emojis or the use of .gif animation – showing small clips of movies, cartoons or pop culture references that are meant to convey a feeling. Many black millennials recognize these kinds of interactions very quickly by beginning a post with the phrase, “When you…” and applying their .gif to show their friends and followers exactly how they feel through their resemblance to the clip.

Even though there were various ways that those interviewed participated in communication facilitation, they still did so both directly and indirectly when spending time on social media.

Those who felt as though social media did not adequately serve them as a means of communication facilitation instead demonstrated that some black millennials have a highly- advanced way of communicating with one another online. Black millennials have the ability to make differences between posting a Facebook status and having a face-to-face conversation, the contemporary decision to talk to a friend rather than post gossip in the newspaper. Once out of the hands of the receiver, a message is then left to be interpreted, considered or swiped to the bottom of a screen.

In order to use social media most effectively, black millennials must be able to find a common thread from themselves to their audiences. The chances of going viral is a numbers game, based on the most sensationalistic qualities of a post, but to have an engaging social media presence is largely about finding common language with your friends and followers. This way, social media users can provide messages with the greatest possibility of being understood by the community they have built online. If that is not a user’s goal, then it is possible that they prefer

passive engagement (pressing “like” or reading and thinking about posts) or do not wish to have a reciprocal exchange of ideas on their social media at all. When asked how many people she regularly interacts with online that she has never met in person, Shauna replies, “hundreds,” an indicator of a very large audience at her fingertips and high potential for widespread topic discussion.