Hello and welcome back to my blog!
I am excited to return to documenting my creative journey and wrestle with some imperative issues in my Social Media class this semester. Social media is an area that has a special place in my heart. Not only have I watched social media grow and change into the huge media outlet that it is today, but I am a social media manager so I basically live, breathe and eat social media. |
| Photo courtesy of Pexels.com |
Navigating the Over-saturated Waters
There are a plethora of social media platforms today: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest and the list goes on. For my own personal desires, I use Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat every day. I do use Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest almost daily as well, but I do not personally find these platforms to be very useful for my everyday life. When I was in middle school, Facebook was the star social media platform and I used it religiously. Now, I only get on Facebook if I absolutely have to. I think the main reason I don't use Facebook anymore is the ridiculous amount of advertisements that are on the site now and the fact that Facebook's main audience seems to be in the realm of my parents' generation.
Amusement to Employment
Up until the end of last year, I only used social media for my own personal enjoyment. I would scroll Twitter, Instagram and Reddit mindlessly just trying to find something to provide comic relief or an interesting article to expand my knowledge of various subjects. Now, I use social media drastically differently because now it is my job. At the end of last year I was brought onto the Panhellenic Council here at Creighton University as the VP of Public Relations. This means that I manage the Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for the Panhellenic Council on a constant basis. This is not the only group that I manage social media content for. At the beginning of 2018 I was given the position of Publicist for the organization Erace The Hate. This means that I manage the Twitter, Instagram and Facebook on a constant basic too. The Instagram for Erace The Hate is on a pretty strict posting schedule with three posts per day, seven days a week. This is where the constant intake and output of social media content for me comes into play.
All Angles of the Beast
Now that social media has a more permanent, structured position in my life, I view it quite differently. There are many things that I love about social media, like how it can reach people from every category or demographic, how it is constantly changing and how it has changed the way consumers interact and view businesses. However, there are also many things that I do not like about social media such as the pressure to be always online, the veil of perfection that people can hide behind, and the rapid decrease in offline connections. Also now that social media is my daily job, I now often find it hard to use social media for my own personal enjoyment. I am thinking too much about what brand I am trying to represent, what product I am trying to sell, the target audience and various other analytics.
There is Still More to Learn
Even though I seem like an expert in social media sometimes, I still have much more to learn. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge on how to be more effective with my social media use through this class. The world of social media is always changing and it is a full-time job just keeping up with the feed.
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