Social Media is the main source of interaction in today’s age. Sometimes social media can be scary and demeaning, but overall social media is something substantial and it is growing every day to become safer and more positive. Social media is used to communicate with friends and family but also enables people to network, build relationships, and boost confidence.
With social media, no matter where your friends or family are you can see what they post. Apps like Instagram and Facebook connect with people you may have not seen in a while. When browsing the app you may see that a distant cousin just got back to town from Hawaii, or that Great Aunt Lucy just got a new puppy. With social media people no longer feel obligated to call and check-in with those family members that aren’t seen often. When using Facebook, I get to interact with all the family I never see. For example, my grandma that lives in Florida is on a cruise ship almost every month so I never get to see her. With Facebook I get to check-in on every exciting activity she is currently doing and comment on how fun it looks. Me and her are constantly hearting each other’s post and interacting through Facebook. We never feel obligated to call each other because we know our lives are busy but we still are up-to-date on what’s going on.
Networking is the biggest advantage in social media today. A hashtag or a tag can easily bring an audience to you. Let’s say a real estate agent wants to branch out to other agents in their area and bring more clients to them. One “#RealEstate” can connect new people to this agent’s page, which can lead to even more people. When it comes to any job, social media helps brand and dive into deeper connections. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are huge when it comes to networking. When converting an Instagram page into a business account it automatically shows tips on how to build a platform and brand content. Instagram also gives statistics called Creator Tools, which shows account insights. Insights include how many accounts the page has reached and has engaged with. These tools also show the rate of new followers; a deeper look at this will also help he creator see top cities, gender, and ages reached. Apps like TikTok and Facebook have similar features. I use Creator tools when on Instagram to see which posts attract more people, and what type of people I am attracting. When posting activities I am doing I can see who interacts with it and I can base my content off of that. A few weeks ago I posted a picture of me doing yoga with a goat, my followers being into meditation and self-help like I am, they interacted with this post more than usual. They wondered what I was doing and why in the world I was doing it, I used these interactions to attract people to another account I was paid to promote. By promoting this group I got paid and later on was hired for another company to help grow their platform. When it comes to networking, social media is the biggest aid to reaching a specific audience and growing a career.
Using social media like any teen today, it might even come as a confidence booster. One selfie or “Outfit of the day” post can reach multiple friends at once and suddenly they are all hearting the post and complimenting the picture. Social media makes people feel good about themselves because they are constantly seeing relatable content and other people who are just like them. Social media allows you to flaunt a picture shamelessly. On my personal Instagram and Tiktok I post selfies almost every day. Like most teenagers, I post selfies because I feel good about myself and I know my friends and family will compliment me. On Tiktok I always see girls just like me that don’t always have their hair done, or sometimes aren’t the best at a sport. Tiktok’s content makes it comfortable to share your thoughts and feelings. I used Tiktok to share my journey through my job last year. I posted relatable content including how it felt being the only girl working at the auto parts store, and I posted about my paid student-teaching internship I was working while still in high school. My posts being something people could relate to in some way brought of attention and I felt way more confident in myself. Social media today has become way more casual and honest. Unlike five or six years ago, people are allowed to be themselves.
Social media today is much safer than it was a few years ago, regulations on bullying and harassment stop accounts from bringing others down. Hate comments and slurs are taken down almost immediately for people to feel comfortable in what they share. For instance, if Tiktok sees any form of harassment online they will quickly take down your video and sometimes even ban your account for a sum amount of days, if not infinitely. My sister recently was getting bullied online by a group of girls, these girls constantly were making videos calling her names and slurs. After a few days Tiktok took down all the girls’ accounts and banned them from making new accounts for 30 days. Random accounts saw these posts and reported them as well as making videos of their own to make my sister feel better. Social media now versus when I started on social media has become a safer spot for teens to interact.
Social media can become a job, or even a side hustle. Or maybe just a chance to show off some personal pictures to family and friends. Social media brings people together and builds new relationships. Overall, social media has become an outlet for all different types of people to come together as one to connect making it a positive impact in this day and age.
