Under the Influence

Earlier in this blog journey, I wrote a post about myself. It was a story crafted to project how I wanted readers to see me. The same goes for social media. Everyone’s social media tells a story; a story they carefully craft to include the parts they want people to see. And each social media site is a little bit different.

My Twitter and LinkedIn are curated to be very professional. My Facebook is a pretty good breakdown of my life for friends and family to stay up to date about what I’m up to. My Instagram focuses on flattering pictures of me showcasing my fun travels and events. I Snapchat my good friends the funny things that I do all day. I even have a TikTok to watch all the funny videos my friends send me.

There’s a lot of talk about TikTok (formerly muciscal.ly) as the new Vine (rest in peace). I personally identify as part of the Vine generation, who were in high school when the six second videos took the internet by storm. My friends and I STILL talk in Vine references and quotes, but we’ve started to add TikTok trends too.

So social media is an important part of our lives. I’m so intrigued by the impact of social media on the generation that grew up with it. I didn’t have most of my social media until I was in high school while nowadays most kids in middle and even elementary school can create accounts. Social Media is so important that it has become influential in how we live our lives. Enter social media influencers. That’s right, posting on social media has become at least a job if not a potential industry. Last semester I did a whole story on what it means to be a social media influencer and why the way we tell our stories online is something to be watching. Check it out!