The Changing Times of Social Media

Disclaimer: This article is all my opinions backed with nothing except my experiences. Disagree? Great, write it in the comments. I wish I was one of those people that was cool enough to be on MySpace, but my dad was too concerned about online trolls to allow me to be on that site, so I was a late bloomer on social media and didn't get a Facebook until senior year of high school. Despite my late start, social media has changed vastly since I began roughly five years ago. Facebook used to be the mecca of all things social media and nothing else mattered. I'd say Facebook is being dwarfed these days. Maybe not by one other site taking over its reign or its universal appeal, but Facebook isn't quite the end-all-be-all that it used to be. Here's the evolution/devolution of every social media site on my plate:

Facebook: When I joined Facebook, all my friends were already on it, and now 97% of everyone in my age bracket is on Facebook. While that's a whole lotta people, I don't see Facebook as that big of a deal to me anymore. It's a part of my life, but not as consuming or entertaining as it used to be. Since everyone's on it, there's too much happening and I feel like I can't concentrate on anything in particular anymore.

Purpose of medium: I use it to keep track of friends, sort of like a rolodex. It also serves as my photo album, as I never take pictures anymore. Do I post my feelings on there? Hellz no and you'll bother me if you do. It's too wide of a network for you to be splattering yours emotions everywhere. Keep it in check.

Award: My first love. Facebook will always have a piece of my heart but it isn't my primary concern anymore.

Twitter: I actually joined Twitter right when it came out, and then quickly deleted it. I didn't understand it and I had no one to follow that I knew. Then I took a social media class that forced me to get Twitter. And I HATED IT!! People were just whining all the time and sending out stupid links and for the life of me I could not figure out why anyone would be on it. Then I took another social media class and refined my list to useful, newsworthy sources and next thing I knew, I loved Twitter. I love the simplicity. Coming from Facebook, where there's so much happening (events, groups, messaging, posts, polls, etc. etc.), I embraced the condensed nature of the medium.

Purpose of medium: I use Twitter to entertain me, as well as gather news. I follow friends, but mainly I like Twitter for news and entertainment. In good fashion, I use Twitter most to keep abreast of social media and technology changes.

Award: My favorite and most-used.

Instagram: I just got Instagram when I got a smart phone post-grad. AND I LOVE IT. It's a place to put those pictures that are too chummy for Facebook. My entire family is on Facebook, but none of them are on Instagram. I also love Instagram because it's low thought. You never have to read anything. You can just look at pretty pictures and keep it moving.

Purpose of medium: Another photo album that doesn't need to be seen by an entire Facebook network.

Award: The most atheistically pleasing

Foursquare: I am even more of a n00b on Foursquare. And you know my thoughts on it: nice try, but did not materialize like anyone would have hoped. None of my friends are on it, nor do I particularly like checking in places because I am terrified of someone stalking me.

Purpose of medium: I only stay on this social network for two reasons:

1. My boss told me I had to be on Foursqare

2. It helps my Klout score (and for no good reason, I am somewhat obsessed with my Klout score)

Award: Most likely to encourage stalking

Pinterest: I used to be OBSESSED with Pinterest. Absolutely obsessed. I pinned the shit out of everything. I'd waste hours making boards. Then I got bored and gave up and never went back. The end of that. It's probably for the best, as I was becoming a recluse planning my future wedding, babies, and closet on a budget that I will NEVER have.

Purpose of medium: Organize a fantasy life that you will never have and then feel sorry for yourself that you will never have any of it, until you read your "quotes" board and convince yourself that it will all work out in the end, since you're a strong person, or whatever that inspirational quote you pinned a few weeks ago is telling you.

Award: Most like meth, or at least I'd assume, as I've never done meth, but basically the most addicting social media site you can use.

Vine: I've never used it, but I've seen some Vines before and it bothers me that people think they're hot shit because they're "Vine Famous" and then announce it in all of their videos, like being Vine famous is something worth bragging about, when in reality it just means you have no life and dedicate yourself to taking videos of yourself all day.

Purpose of medium: To make videos of yourself to amuse complete strangers with all the strange faces and weird bodily noises you can make.

Award: Most annoying

Google+: Is this even a thing anymore?....

Purpose of medium: Wait so is it still around?...

Award: The Facebook with No Friends Award. It's tough to be social when no one is in that social network.

That Day I Spent Trying to Engage Famous People

Sometimes I get bored and read articles pertaining to my profession. I found this one awhile back that said that one way to get more followers and a higher Klout score is to engage with people that have more Klout than you. Duly noted. I never really acted on this advice until recently. I thought a less direct way to engage with people that will get my name known would be to use a hashtag that would make me famous. Obviously, I'm taking about the #InsertBandNameTODAY hashtag from the Today Show. (For those of you not familiar, every morning while the band plays, they show tweets that use the hashtag of the name of the band with TODAY at the end of it). After a week of trying to get my tweets on tv with no success, I gave up on that technique.

Then I moved to tweeting about products I liked, such as telling Panera I was craving a sandwich, or that Keurig coffee in the office was a real bonus. That got boring quick, as I'd essential get nothing more than a thanks.

So then I decided to aim a bit higher. I spent a day tweeting bands, celebrities, politicians, basically everyone about what I liked about them. I tweeted to one of the Congressmen that said they'd volunteer to not get paid during the shutdown. I tweeted to Ed Sheeran about one of his songs. I got nothing back from anyone. Then I got sad, CNN was on, and Jake Tapper came on with a bad looking hair do. So I tweeted about it.

AND HE RESPONDED THE VERY NEXT COMMERCIAL BREAK.

I felt like a dick. The poor guy is covering the government shutdown and instead of me saying, "great coverage, way to ask the tough questions," or something, he gets to look at his Twitter and see me dissing his hair.

Then I tried to mediate it and say that his hair doesn't look that bad. I threw in a smiley face for good measure, only then have instant regret for thoughts it seemed creepy that I just did that. Whoops.

I think I'll stick to not tweeting at famous people from now on in fear I might actually get a response.

Overcoming FOMO

In college one of my favorite articles I read was about FOMO, the fear of missing out. It's basically a feeling you get when you go on social media and see that all your friends are having so much fun and you weren't there. There's all these studies out now that back FOMO up, saying that social media and the Internet is causing kids to feel higher levels of anxiety (click here for an article that backs me up. and another just to up my credibility). Why I liked this article so much- and literally printed it out so I could always have it- was because I could deeply relate to it. I always felt like I was missing out. If I was invited to 2 different events at the same time, I would pick one and then sit on Facebook or Twitter the day after, waiting to see pictures and and status updates about the party I missed out on. I consistently felt like the other option was better no matter how much fun I'd have the night before, I'd always feel like I should have done the other thing.

Making decisions would be stressful, and then I'd have anxiety about it after, knowing that I'd be able to see if the other people had fun. One night I wanted to unwind after a rough week and relax, so I made no plans and decided to stay in. However, it was nowhere near relaxing. I kept checking in on social media and seeing how much fun people were having and I wondered why I ever decided not to go out. So much for relaxing...

Over time I built it up in my head that social media was this huge problem and that I'd never want to work in it because it is an evil empire. After getting a job where my title is literally "Social Media Specialist", I realize how wrong I was about social media.

Social media was never the problem. The problem was all in my head. This is how I needed to think about it: when people go out and take pictures, they hardly ever take sad ones and post them on Facebook. Even more, some of the best nights I've ever had were ones where we didn't take any pictures because we were literally having too much fun to do so.

Consider that people that tweet excessively are probably not doing anything else that would distract them from tweeting, while you're out there having a blast.

And lastly, who the hell cares? Remember that. If I had a great time, why should I be concerned if someone else had more fun? Why can't we all just have fun and not attempt to quantify it and compare it?

Social media is a great way to connect friends and families, consumers and companies, and strangers with similar interests. Just because someone tweets more than you, is tagged in more pictures than you, has a higher Klout score, or is Vine famous does not intrinsically mean that they are living vastly more exciting lived than you. It's just means they waste a lot more time trying to document their lives, while you're out there living it.