Social Media Platforms and Representations of the Urban Landscape

Abstract

This essay is presented that discusses the relationship between social media platforms and representations of the urban landscape. On the one hand, the various social media platforms provide unprecedented opportunities for landscape photographers. Firstly, they can share photos and videos about the urban public spaces and environment with each other timely and conveniently. Secondly, the built-in special effects of social media platforms make everyone can be the “civilian artists”. Their observations and discoveries enrich the context of urban landscape. Thirdly, photography has become a new social language with the help of social media platforms. Lastly, the mass audience and powerful infectivity of social media platforms affect the representations of the urban landscape positively. On the other hand, social media platforms also affect the representations of the urban landscape negatively. First and foremost, the lack of values in photos uploaded to social media platforms is a serious problem. Secondly, the photos and representation of urban landscape are spoiled because social media platforms stifle people’s creativity. Lastly, the attractive photos uploaded to social media platforms just represent the unreal world.