Social Media - The Bane of My Existence and My Dream Career
…. Well, Kinda. My dream field is commercial advertising. While that’s not social media management or anything of the sort, these companies find themselves producing multimedia for multiple platforms - Print, TV, Radio… and Social Media. In a lot of ways, social media has unlocked new creative opportunities for advertising companies, in order to better take advantage of the strengths of the different platforms. The creative restrictions imposed by these problems make it both fun and annoying to create for different platforms… but I still refuse to film vertically.
I think my interest in commercial photography and editorializing social media came from how I began my social media experience. My parents didn’t let me create an Instagram until I was fourteen, around the same time I got into photography. As a result, I never utilized social media as it was “intended” to be used, but rather as a way to share my new hobby with friends. Five years later, I still use social media in the same exact way, although I think my photography has improved slightly.
The Next social media platform I began to explore was Youtube, and for a long time, I merely lurked on the platform, not liking, commenting, just watching videos and going about my day. As my interests expanded, I began spending more time on the platform and began to learn things from creators who were more experienced than I. The things I learned on youtube ultimately translated into better photography I’d share on my Instagram.
I group Snapchat and Twitter together because I use both of them pretty similarly - the difference is I follow gamers and political commentators on Twitter, and I use Snapchat to talk with friends who refuse to use iMessage. I don’t check them often, but when I do, I’m generally only on them to get rid of notifications. I don't particularly enjoy them, but I’ve consistently found that I can’t get rid of them.
….And finally TikTok. I refuse to download it, I don’t like the medium, I don’t enjoy the platform, and I don’t like the way it encourages people to copy existing trends, rather than create for themselves…. But I love how easy it is for creators to be discovered, it really caters to new creators in ways that Instagram doesn’t.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok have all come under fire for a variety of reasons, but most of these things don’t bother me. I have a history of removing services from my life when I don’t like things they stand for, or actions they take. Ultimately these platforms are free, and they have to make money to operate. If you don’t like their policies… find alternatives or stop using them. I stopped using google about 7 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school. I switched to a search engine called DuckDuckGo, which provided me the individual customization I liked while simultaneously not tracking you online. I stopped eating Chick-Fil-A three years ago. The anti LGBTQ+ stance the company has chosen to take isn’t compatible with my intentions as an ally, so I’ve chosen to take my business elsewhere. The only thing corporations understand is money, so if there’s something you don’t like about them, stop using the product or service. It’s the only metric they react to. The only thing I really hope to see from social media companies is a return of chronological timelines, I’ve found I’ve missed time-sensitive things because these algorithms show me what I think I want to see, instead of just showing me the world outside.