<aside> 📱 somedia is a social media platform that highly values transparency and the firmly believes in the right of users to have full control over their content feed.

</aside>

By providing a summary of the Terms & Conditions in a consumable and familiar format, the user will be able to have a greater understanding of their rights and privacies. Our algorithm is specially designed to not only identify patterns for the types of content that is the most popular, but also the content that has been incorrectly censored, allowing for continuous improvement of the algorithm. Content will be recommended based on the user’s personal preferences, creating a more personalized as well as a more representative experience. Notifications will only be sent out for Direct Messages, because we want our users to use the app on their terms. A timer will also be included in the app to allow for purposeful use.

We chose this topic because, as teenagers, we see firsthand how social media can negatively impact it's users. In a generation where social media is a requirement to stay up to date on current events and make valuable connections, it has the potential to foster new opportunities, but also be mentally draining. A lot of the issues with social media stem from harmful developer practices such as addictive algorithms and a lack of clarity in the terms and conditions. These algorithms are not only extremely addicting, potentially harming teenage users, but can also perpetuate societal bias and suppress voices that should be heard. Using a lot of these social media apps, knowing that they unfairly suppress certain users made us feel like we were part of the problem, and so we wanted to propose a solution that addresses address algorithmic bias, a lack of focus on mental health, complex terms and conditions, and privacy concerns: somedia.

"We want somedia to be an experience that users enjoy and feel good about."

Our focus on ethics and mental health distinguishes somedia from a typical social media app. Features such as a breathe animation on app startup and feed customization through settings allow users to have freedom over their content, creating a better user experience. We want somedia to be an experience that users enjoy and feel good about. High levels of transparency with our algorithm as well as with our incentives for creating the app ensure that the user is not the product, as with many social media sites, but the customer.