Departement of Indonesian Laguange and Literature, Universitas Airlangga
Human life is becoming more technologically friendly, which has resulted in three social media platforms (TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram) being popular among the general public, and social media itself becoming a trend that must be owned by the community, with no age limit for utilizing social media. When TikTok's short video feature became popular, Instagram and Youtube quickly followed suit in order to capture the interest of the cyber community. The gramsci reading method is used in qualitative descriptive research. The data for this study came from the social media platforms Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, which all have short video features. The hegemonic relationship in this study is more related to TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube corporate actions through the various features displayed, which has succeeded in forcing its users to follow whatever creations or feature limitations have been prepared by the three social media corporations. TikTok eventually achieved hegemony through the massive data set of TikTok users. The triggering reason for this reciprocal hegemony is capitalism. The philosophy of capitalism has opened the ground for the rapid growth of these three social media platforms that offer a similar and balanced cyber-social experience.
Popular culture has evolved into a prima donna that many people admire and emulate. The public's interest in what is "trending" has risen dramatically [1] (Esterlin et al, 1991). People are becoming more interested in following "viral" and well-known things [2, 3] (Berger, 2016; Rawi, 2019). Life becomes a form of cultural industrialization that lives in an industrial society, such that popular culture and industrialized culture are the same [4] (Fiske, 2011, p. 30). The media is one that smoothes something's appeal. The media is a close-to-the-people communication instrument accompanied by technology [5] (Nasrullah, 2017, p. 3). Hijavard [6] (2014) defines media as a social agent that influences all aspects of people's social lives. Media that is developing and producing new media as a result of the regeneration of print and electronic media [7] (Manovich, 2002). New media that has come to be associated with the millennial generation [8, 9] (Simanjorang et al., 2022; Arviani, 2020) Cultural adaptability, social transformation, economic growth, and even politics are all affected by the advent of new media [10] (Duffy, 2008). The millennial generation is now beginning to grow, develop, and even live with new media characteristics [11] (Kircaburun, 2020). More open, hyper-interactive, equal, linked, data-rich, and replete with artificial engineering or manipulation. (Syahputra, p. 47, 2019).[12] People can utilize social media platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok to demonstrate their independence and existence in cyberspace [13, 14, 15, 16] (Marsiana et al, 2022; Prabandari, 2020; Scharlach et al, 2023; Mishra et al, 2022). As a result of the increase in users, monetization in social media is an attractive feature for users. Youtube can be used to monetize material by accumulating Google Adsense revenue based on the number of visitors to the user's channel [17, 18] (Katsimente and Eldas, 2020; Ha, 2019). It's the same with Instagram and TikTok, which follow the same monetization model as YouTube [19] (Wang, 2021). Based on data provided by katadata.co.id, TikTok has overtaken YouTube's monthly income in just four years. TikTok users outnumber Instagram users not only in terms of money, but also in terms of number, with 934.6 million members as of November 2020. TikTok app users who have downloaded it 30.7 million times spend 29 minutes each day watching 100 TikTok videos. The most watched content is entertainment and dancing, with 443.3 billion and 150.3 billion viewers respectively in June 2020. Nonetheless, viewers continue to watch other video content such as pranks, sports, DIY, beauty, fashion, and food. TikTok's revenue is also 25% ahead of Youtube from April-December 2020 with a total of US$ 103 million per month, while Youtube with US$ 82 million per month in the same period. TikTok's monthly active users are 1.2 billion more than Instagram with 1 billion users, but the largest number of users is YouTube, with 2 billion. The users of the three social media have increased rapidly along with the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic that has hit the whole world, there are situations that have changed society to cyber society. New media emphasizes how social media construction contributes to human life as a whole. Cyber ??life illustrates that humans have a new life above the real life they live (Bungin, et.al, 2021). [20] Human life is now increasingly friendly with technology which has made three social media preferred by the public and even social media has become a trend that must be owned by the community with no age limit in using social media. In the end, the latest technological developments, namely information technology and cyberspace, have presented a new reality which is referred to as hyperreality and virtual reality. Media hyperreality actually develops when the media is controlled by two main interests, namely economic and political interests (Piliang, 135). [21] The competition between the three social media in updating their features will only be economic or political competition? How does the media mechanism exercise hegemony over tastes, satisfaction or pleasure features of cyber society?
METHOD
The descriptive qualitative approach was used in this study. The objective of a descriptive qualitative study is to reveal or gather information from research data as a whole and in depth. The data for this study came from the social media platforms Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, which all have short video features. Instagram's rells feature, TikToK's video features, and Youtube shorts are all used. Researchers will apply Gramsci hegemony to examine how media hegemony affects the similarity of characteristics in social media.
Instagram, TikTok and Youtube
Social media is a type of media platform that focuses on user presence through facilitating activities and participation. As a result, social media can be viewed as an online facilitator that strengthens user relationships as well as social links [22, 23] (Baruah, 2012; Oksman et.al, 2014). Instagram's first feature was simply sharing photographs and videos, but it is now equipped with more advanced camera filters, camera effects that allow users to explore various facial forms, make-up, quizzes, music, and animation features [24, 25] (Efrida et.al, 2020 ; Araujo et.al, 2014). Instagram may activate GPS, which can identify location, and offers stories, which are brief films or photographs that can highlight daily activities with stickers and current music. [26] (Alfonso, 2019). There are other unique features in stories, such as the ability to share connections to WhatsApp, YouTube, Joox, Spotify, other Instagram users, and donation links.
Image 1: 8 The world's largest active TikTok user country
Source: https://dataindonesia.id/digital/detail/pengguna-tiktok-dunia-capai-153-miliar-pada-kuartal-iii2022
Instagram is currently updating its features by gradually abandoning the photo function in favor of additional video capabilities (Amâncio, 2017; Manovich, 2017; Landsverk, 2014). [27, 28, 29] Instagram Director Adam Musseri stated that Instagram is concentrating on developing new services in four categories: creator, video, shopping, and messaging, with a particular emphasis on video [30] (Tirtayasa, Akurat, co). Due to the existence of significant competition from TikTok and YouTube, Instagram's features have been modified to compete with both. Music lyrics and reels are a feature enhancement that is expected to attract more users. The music lyrics feature combines background music with words in 15-30 seconds. Another recent addition is reels, which are similar to the TikTok application in that they are short videos. This feature retains camera and audio filters that are becoming increasingly comparable to TikTok's core features. TikTok, which was launched in 2016 by a Chinese firm called ByteDance, has grown swiftly [31] (Widyananda, Merdeka.com). TikTok went viral in 2018, but was forbidden by KOMINFO because it was deemed non educational. Furthermore, TikTok, with its improved characteristics, notably dancing, packaged in a short movie of roughly 15-30 seconds, was considered weird by the general public at the time (Kumparan.com). Everyone, from everyday employees, artists, and authorities, to tik-tok makers, now makes video material on TikTok, from the young to the old. The objective of TikTok's presence is to showcase music and video creativity through mobile phones. TikTok gives anyone the ability to become a creator. TikTok is one step ahead of Instagram with its video component, which is preferred by the public above photo uploads [32] (Wagner, 2023). Many firms are currently promoting their products by cooperating with TikTok celebrities in order to capture the attention of Tik Tok fans. TikTok began to experiment with retail content, emoticons, and camera effects, much like Instagram. TikTok is superior to YouTube since no one needs to master video editing skills to upload videos to their TikTok account. In Indonesia, Youtube is one of the most popular forms of social media [33, 34] (Chen and Dermawan, 2020; Kusuma et.al., 2020). People's viewing habits migrate away from television and toward YouTube since the time supplied by YouTube is less than that of television (Kusuma et al, 2020; Waldfogel, 2009; Dijck, 2007)[35, 36, 37]. Well-known YouTubers in Indonesia typically create videos that last 15 to 30 minutes [38] (Walker, 2019). Youtube also allows its viewers to become creators by allowing them to view, send, and share videos. According to We Are Social data, 88% of Indonesians utilize YouTube (Kumparan.com). [39] In mid-2021, YouTube improved its features by introducing short videos, namely shorts with a TikTok-like model. Transitions in the features of the three applications, namely Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok, are related to competition and economic competition; there is competition to persuade people who were previously uninterested in using them to become new users (Mallapiang, 2022; Arafah and Hasyim, 2022) [40, 41]. The video function is something that the three of them are working hard on developing and updating. Platforms for social media that focus on users or the cyber community. Cyber persons can participate in collective dream exploration and express their alter personas (Jung and Pawlowski, 2014). [42] Humans are liberated from the dogma of physical space by using cyberspace, which is the space of immaterial thoughts. Cyberspace provides a unique experience that allows people to engage in virtual activities by providing feelings, perceptions, and experiences that differ from those found in the physical world. According to Baudrillard, despite its artificiality, cyberspace has genuine or actual repercussions [43](Piliang, 160). Cyberspace has the potential to build a community that allows millions of individuals around the world to interact and communicate with one another via the internet network [44](Raid, 1999). Cyberspace provides a platform in which individuals with influence over them can freely express themselves (Fernback, 1997; Betz, 2017).[4]
Media Convergence and the Feature Wars on Youtube, TikTok and Instagram
Convergence and the media economy have prompted three social media platforms, TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube, to keep their features up to date with societal trends. Mosco [46] (2009) has read this and concluded in his research that the media will continue to transform in three ways: commodification (content, workers, and audience), spatialization of space and time, and structuring society to become grouped in issues of gender, class, race, and other groupings based on ideas of human agency, social processes, and social practices. Changes in the characteristics of the three social media platforms have enabled millions of global residents to download and utilize them. Social media hegemony is successful because users who act as prosumers [47] (Jenkins, 2007.) will receive financial benefits (capital) if they are able to become winners in the three media platforms by calculating how many follows, likes, shares, subscribes, sends, saves, swipes up, and so on. Hegemony is associated with more complicated coercion and consensus procedures in addition to dominance [48] (Howson, 2018). Gramsci (1971) remarked about the link between state power and subaltern society that hegemony does not exist in this scenario. [49] The hegemonic relationship in this study is more related to TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube corporate actions through the various features displayed, which has succeeded in forcing its users to follow whatever creations or feature limitations have been prepared by the three social media corporations. When the use of the three social media platforms over a specific time period is quantified, data on how the public responds to the features given is produced. Among other features, TikTok's short video function has received the most positive feedback. TikTok has achieved commercial gains as a result of the enormous collection of short video viewers, and it has become a force that controls the three social media platforms in terms of features that are loved or approved. The hegemonic relationship between social media users and social media businesses occurs indirectly, yet it has been able to push Instagram and Youtube to copy and paste the TikTok short video function in order for it to become an Instagram and Youtube feature as well. As a result, TikTok's short films have dominated the community. The vast volume of short video user data on TikTok demonstrates the success of TikTok's short video hegemony in society. The amount of data has become the driving entity (hegemony) of Instagram and Youtube to build the same features so that they can take advantage of chances formerly enjoyed solely by TikTok. The triggering reason for this reciprocal hegemony is capitalism. The philosophy of capitalism has accelerated the growth of these three social media platforms, which provide a similar and balanced cyber social experience. Social cyber rules or institutions, as well as their consequences or effects, have been established on TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube. The cyber social society of the three social media platforms immediately adapted and expressed their support for usage quantification.
Image 2. Fitur Beranda TikTok, Fitur Rells Instagram, Fitur Shorts Youtube Ria Ricis
The three social media features that are currently being widely used by the public are excellent features. TikTok's short video function is identical to the reels and shorts features on Instagram and YouTube. This feature enables direct contact between video creators and users of one of the three applications. The first objective is to like or provide a "heart" as a message that you like the video. The dislike or dislike mark appears solely in the YouTube column, allowing others to score negatively or judge that they do not enjoy videos created by content providers. There is a comment section under the like symbol that is designed for direct involvement, such as direct and two-way discussion. Content authors can respond to comments or remain mute and not respond to anyone who writes comments on the feature. In all three applications, there is an arrow to the side that allows you to share the video with others via other social media or share with others. Finally, there is a music indicator, which prompts content creators to insert music that they enjoy or that is appropriate for the circumstances in which the video is being created.
Social Media Hegemony towards Cyber Society
Society is an essential component of life. Giddens (16) defines society as "social associations and systems of social relations [50] ." Today's society does not just exist in the physical world; it also has a significant influence and a "systemic" impact on market tastes; in reality, both society and the market have a mutually beneficial mutual dependency. They both have an impact on the virtual world. The rise of technology, which is now increasingly popular and loved by the public and claims that the virtual world is no longer an escape from the actual world, but rather to strengthen the existence of cyber communities in both the real and virtual worlds, is a very visible social transformation. Social media has now evolved into a type of "opium" that infects everyone from infancy to old age. Everyone uses social media, and many people use more than one social media application. Communities of diverse classes embrace social media, whether it is TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube at the same time. These three massive programs have been widely downloaded and utilized to display people's genuine lives. Everyday life, which was once private and enjoyed by individuals, is now easily shared with a large range of people. Everyone in the globe can view everything posted or shared on social media, whether it's TikTok, Instagram, or Youtube. The virtual world is no longer an escape from the actual world, despite the fact that its existence was once an escape from the real world. The most recent technical advancements, specifically information technology and cyberspace, have created a new reality known as hyperreality and virtual reality (Barroso, 2022; Chaundary, 2019; Pohan, 2022; Hermawati et al, 2021)[51, 52, 53]. Today, anything becomes a reality that society accepts. Finally, the most recent technical breakthroughs, notably information technology and cyberspace, have created a new reality known as hyperreality and virtual reality. When the media is controlled by two major interests, namely economic and political interests, what is known as media hyperreality develops [ 41] ]Piliang, 135). People eventually have all three programs (Instagram, TikTok and Youtube), even if they have the same features. TikTok is a popular social media platform in Indonesia; according to data (data indonesia.id), Indonesia ranks second in terms of TikTok users. In terms of media hegemony, TikTok dominates YouTube and Instagram, which are expanding similar features to TikTok. People use all three apps and share the same short films. In the third application, for example, the Ria Ricis video enjoys a large viewership. TikTok's influence through its short films produces an invisible power that motivates viewers to regularly upload videos based on rising trends. Trends that develop on TikTok might not only infect but potentially plunge a country. Gramsci (1971) claims that the connection of direct dominance is a hegemonic one, with the activities carried out. Youtube and Instagram copy TikTok's short video feature, which moves TikTok users on a big scale, with the goal of expanding users, as TikTok has done [49] Because the three applications are online, social media creates a large cyber community and society that influences one another in vast interactions.
The Ideal Virtual World and the New Identity of Cyber Society
The virtual world is currently at the forefront and is in high demand among the cyber community. The virtual world not only provides something that is not real, but the huge transformation that is now plainly occurring is the collapse of the shopping system, which has been transformed into an online shop (OLSHOP). The virtual world can provide both personal and business benefits. The virtual world is no longer an escape, but its utility to society has grown dramatically. The impact felt by increased public 'confidence' in the virtual world is a harsh enough blow from the coronavirus-19, which has rendered all sectors paralyzed except the virtual world. People who have restricted access cannot meet in person but can greet each other online. Many unplanned entrepreneurs take use of online selling opportunities. Because of the lucrative virtual world, many people share their personal actions and publish them to social media. Most people use social media because they are bored due to their limited ability to leave the house. People who are more constrained in their activities outside the home are turning to social media for "entertainment," to alleviate boredom, and to just exist. People that use social media become more active and engage in a variety of activities virtually. Every video submitted to the TikTok app has a specific theme that the audience will follow when the film gets viral; under the TikTok feature, viral short videos are referred to as fyp. Meanwhile, the word "viral video" is used in the YouTube application. Fyp's videos will be inspired by others from around the world, whether it's the movement or the music. There is also a collection of fyp songs on the TikTok feature. Behind the services provided, the three social media platforms in the cyber world provide new identities and ideals. A new identity that brings the cyberworld community to life. The public then accepts virtual reality as a viable option. The triggering reason for this reciprocal hegemony is capitalism. The philosophy of capitalism has opened the ground for the rapid growth of these three social media platforms that offer a similar and balanced cyber-social experience. The hegemonic relationship in this study is more related to TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube corporate actions through the various features displayed, which has succeeded in forcing its users to follow whatever creations or feature limitations have been prepared by the three social media corporations. TikTok eventually achieved hegemony through the massive data set of TikTok users. The amount of data has become the driving entity (hegemony) of Instagram and Youtube to build the same features so that they can take advantage of chances formerly enjoyed solely by TikTok. The triggering reason for this reciprocal hegemony is capitalism. The philosophy of capitalism has opened the ground for the rapid growth of these three social media platforms that offer a similar and balanced cyber-social experience. The virtual world ideal, by showing all components of the public situation, allows each individual to demonstrate "personal branding" towards themselves as a new identity that is watched and enjoyed by the public without the involvement of huge businesses. Corporations allow every individual in society to freely express their identity. Social media is a business that has an impact on the establishment of a new online community identity.
CONCLUSION:
TikTok eventually established hegemony through the massive data set of TikTok users. The amount of data has become the driving entity (hegemony) of Instagram and Youtube to build the same features so that they can take advantage of chances formerly enjoyed solely by TikTok. The triggering reason for this reciprocal hegemony is capitalism. The philosophy of capitalism has opened the ground for the rapid growth of these three social media platforms which provide a comparable and balanced cyber-social experience. The public then recognizes virtual reality as a viable option. An identity that always follows trends to make movies and publish them to social media accounts defines an open society by making all private things such as family life, romance, employment, and friendships public. The virtual world ideal, by showing all components of the public situation, allows each individual to demonstrate "personal branding" towards themselves as a new identity that is watched and enjoyed by the public without the involvement of huge businesses. Corporations empower every individual in society to freely express their identity. Social media is a business that has an impact on the establishment of a new online community identity
REFERENCE
Rima Firdaus*, Bramantio, Rizal Agung Kurnia, Feature Wars on Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Youtube: Media Hegemony VS. Cyber Society, Int. J. Sci. R. Tech., 2025, 2 (5), 384-392. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15425998
10.5281/zenodo.15425998
