Reading Comments on Social Media as Entertainment
From era to era, entertainment has changed along with changes in the media used. With the smartphone, a lot of choices of entertainment media are offered. But unexpectedly, reading comments from content posts is also one of them.
Research on the motivation of readers of comments as entertainment was investigated by Athifah Nur Husna, a student of Communication Studies at the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII). The results of his research were discussed in a monthly discussion conducted by the Center for Alternative Media Studies and Documentation (PSDMA) Nadim Ilmu Komunikas UII on Thursday, September 9, 2021. “Some of my friends often show me the comments they read. I think it means these comments are interesting. And it can be a separate research topic,” said Husna.
Today’s media is so diverse that it offers a variety of entertainment options. They start from videos, sound clips, short films, blogs, and a wide selection of content on social media. But who would have thought that comments were entertainment in itself? Columns containing comments also eventually become material that can be seen by the public and impact their readers. And no kidding, this comment can be very long. “I have a resource person who can spend hours just scrolling through the comments,” said Husna, who turns out to be usually called Una.
In this research, Husna wanted to know the sources’ motives and level of satisfaction in reading comments on specific content.
From the research results, all of the informants stated that they wanted tattoos about the content. “Usually, there is additional information that people put out in the comments,” said Husna imitating one of the sources.
In addition to additional information and information, the informants also sought different views by looking at what comments were made by people in the column. Seeing these different perspectives helps them have an opinion on a particular topic.
And what is certain, reading the comments is a different entertainment for the readers. Reading funny comments, quirky comments, or even seeing blasphemies can be entertaining.
Not surprisingly, the speakers also received inspiration from slang trends, such as the latest and new languages, to be applied every day. “It’s fun if you can find a new language or term. You can practice it later when you are chatting with friends.”
