Communications and Media

Popularity refers to the quality of something being enjoyed, liked, and accepted by a large part of the population. There are a number of factors that contribute to the popularity of something. Although the reputation comes from people, it can be directed to various objects which include movies, songs, books, foods, and activities (Wieman).

Collective attention is one factor that has been singled out as making things popular. This is based on how ideas are spread and decisions made. When an object is new, the people who first get to know about it determine how popular the object becomes. If they find it interesting, they pass it on to others; on the other hand, if they are not happy with it, they end up keeping the information about the novel product to themselves (Antonius 301).

Information cascades also play a major role in determining the popularity of something. Human beings have a reputation of being greatly influenced by the information cascade imitating the actions that have been taken by others. For example, when people decide to download something from the internet, they usually check the number of downloads made before and make their choice based on this. The quality of something, as well as its attractiveness, also plays a major role in determining the popularity. If something is of poor quality, people will not like it; for this reason, its popularity will be reduced.

The degree of exposure of an object also determines its popularity. Good exposure can be attained by showing the products to famous people or displaying them in the social media. It gives the product more followers. The attitude of a group towards something is also very significant in so far as reputation determination is concerned.

The reputation of a media offering says a lot about the character, attitudes, choices, and preferences of the people in the community where the offering is popular. It also says a lot about the cascade of information in the community as well as the extent of collective attention among the people.

The level of popularity could also be a source of information regarding the quality of the work that has been done to come up with the offering. As it has been stated previously, poor quality things will not be liked from a general point of view. In situations where the popularity of the media offering is low, it could imply poor quality of the work.

Popularity is a social phenomenon, and for this reason, we could learn a lot about the feelings of the people towards the offering. High popularity means that the group feels good about the product, and they must have given it more attention making it even more popular.

I usually use popularity ratings to determine what I will attend to. However, I do not always check the popularity ratings before making a decision. The main reason why I sometimes rely on popularity ratings is the belief that something must be good for it to be liked by many people. This rationale is based on the principle that the quality of an offering impacts greatly the popularity.

I believe that the following popularity trends is a way of identifying myself with my society. It gives me a sense of belonging when I share similar views with other members of the community. By knowing more about what the community likes, I learn how to co-exist with other people in a harmonious manner.

On the other hand, I am cognizant of the fact that thinking of the masses could be based on misinformation, therefore, be flawed. At these times, I decide to disregard popularity as a basis for decision-making. This might make me look out of place but at times, failure to attend a media offering based on the likes of the society could lead to one missing some crucial information.

In conclusion, there are myriad of factors that affect popularity of something. For this reason, popularity says a lot about a product and is often used by people in guiding their decision-making.

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