It wasn’t until the summer after my senior year of high school that I converted from a Motorola Razr phone to an iPhone 4s. I was instantly frustrated by my failure to keep up with the hot new apps and trending social media networks. As my peers talked of last night’s Instagram posts and even Temple Run scores, I couldn’t contribute, and became laughably out of “the know.” So, I reluctantly entered my freshman year of college as a self-pronounced Luddite. This was both ironic and hindering as I was, and still am, an aspiring public relations professional. The fear of being left behind in a world increasingly dependent on social media irked me to the core. Little did I know I was about to go too far on the other end of the spectrum, and it would be quite some time before I reigned myself in and started down the path of social media professionalism.
With time, I opened my mind to the fluidity and fast tempo of technology, and tried not to get bogged down in the “why?” of the social media world and instead tried to focus on the “what now?” Soon, I had fully succumbed to the social media world and obtained the Technologius Crazius virus- an infectious disease that most teenagers become victim to. I frantically downloaded every app and joined every social media page I could to keep up with the college masses. I couldn’t believe that the number symbol used in elementary school was a new verb: the beautiful hashtag. You could “hashtag” a food or “hashtag” an emotion on Twitter or Instagram and immediately join an entire subculture. You could quickly edit and post pictures on Instagram, so that everyone instantly knew what they were missing. I became very ill with the disease. It was a malady to me, but I was aware that it was the métier of many niche specific local SEO services. I preferred to Tweet at my friends instead of talk to them. I adapted the word “hashtag” into my spoken vocabulary and when I said “hashtag LOL” instead of actually laughing at something, I knew I had gone too far. Was it necessary to have both the LuLu and Tinder Apps, each used to rate the appearances of people in the immediate area, or even either? It was time to question what was good and what was evil-it was time for an intervention.
But in order to join the tech world as an able-bodied member, free from the new simplex that had corrupted my former media-free self, the proper antibiotics had to be taken. I didn’t want to fall blindly down the social media rabbit hole, fumbling for a potion that read “tweet me,” and drinking it merely because it was drinkable. No. Instead, I tucked my knees to my chest and cannonballed down with purpose, ready to concoct my own beverage of useful social media outlets. I decided my MSR internship was the perfect way to be directed towards the proper “do’s” of social media, leaving the “don’ts” back in Wonderland. So, I flew back to the West Coast and was ready for my social media makeover.
With dwindling storage on my phone, I deleted both dating apps, and instead downloaded LinkdedIn to boost my professional network. I recognized that Twitter was worthwhile as it had alerted me about the tragic events of the Boston Marathon and similarly the crash of Boeing 777 at SFO. As a compromise to not go fully over to the dark side of Twitter, I unfollowed @whitegirlproblems and followed @NewYorkTimes, thus beginning my social media cleanse. It went like this for some time, and is still going as such, as I learn how to build my social media resume professionally and purposefully.
Social media has the potential to promote all things new and relevant, but this doesn’t pertain merely to futile matters as I had once believed. At MSR, I have begun to realize it is quality over quantity when choosing how one participates in the world of social media. The use of technology varies incalculably between each age group, and it has been an embarrassing, but necessary struggle to conquer the art of business professionalism with social media. The magic of social media is mighty, but it is our own personal battle to use one’s technological powers for good not evil.