This infographic was created using statistics from various sources around the web. My original objective was to create an image that was both appealing and shocking to those who view it. In the process of trying to do so, I ran into some numbers that seemed crazy to me. The best example of this is that the average American spends 5 years and 4 months glued to their screens engaging in social media. That is 2 years more than we spend eating or drinking, you know, those things that are essential to our own survival. All that time equals out to about 2 hours per day. Of those 2 hours, around 35 minutes are spent on Facebook. Individually, each statistic I found was surprising. However, when they are viewed collectively, they begin build a bigger, more understandable conclusion. That social media has become a dominant fixture in society.
One thing that truly caught me off guard was how evenly spread Facebook’s usage numbers are across all age groups. Though 33% of its users are under 24, nearly 4 in ten people over 65 also have an account. This was shocking to me as social networking is perceived to be a youth movement while the statistics show that the elderly are involved as well.
While Facebook is clearly the powerhouse among the platforms, one company topped the juggernaut in a very important are. Instagram is, to my surprise, considered to be the fastest growing company as they experienced a 5% growth every quarter in 2018. Twitter also stood out in the amount of content created by its users with 200 billion tweets per year. Overall, the numbers were overwhelming in their indication that social networking has become an immovable force in the way we create, consume, and communicate.
I recall not having a phone of my own. Though that may seem like an unspectacular statement, to me, it is shocking. I remember a time before social media. In the near future, that might be unimaginable. As our technological capabilities grow exponentially, we begin to rely on our devices more and more. I am no different. Though I have memories predating social media, I cannot imagine life without it. These services give everyone a voice, keep people connected, and provide plenty if information and entertainment in the process. However, social media can be a treacherous place for those that are not aware of the ramifications of such an open platform. Being able to say what you want, when you want, can be empowering, but it also comes at a risk. Those who are conscious of both the good and the bad that the internet can offer and use this understanding to create a positive online image, are preparing themselves for success as individuals, and professionals.
Photo by: Tracy Le Blanc (pexels.com)
One networking service on which this is especially evident is twitter. It seems as though everyday a celebrity is in hot water for tweeting something controversial. These posts are usually clearly impulsive or just plain ignorant, as if the words slipped out in the middle of a conversation. This, of course, is not possible. In order to tweet you must first open the application, hit the write icon, type out your thought in under 280 characters, then hit the tweet icon. On top of all of that, twitter gives even the dumbest social media users one last chance, asking if they are sure that they want to tweet that. Of course, this all seems obvious, but that is at least five opportunities to think about what you’re saying, and how people will receive. Personally, I think it is important to use every single step to consider what I am about to say, because I am about to say it to the world.
Social media has become a part of
our societal identity. We have begun to lead two differing lives; the one in
real life, and the one on the internet. This is because it allows us to control
our image more than we can in reality. Or at least we think it does. However,
we can only control what come before we post. After that, what we send out can
be saved, sent, and talked about as long as we leave it up. It has become
common for tweets from seemingly forever ago to come back with a vengeance. Something
that may have been the product of a young and dumb mind or an opinion that has
since changed over time can be a huge detriment to anyone’s profile. It is vital
to maintain an active awareness of what you have said, and keep in mind when
posting that things may look different in the future. Posts sometimes convey
very little context, and you may never get the chance to explain yourself to an
employer, a fan, or anyone viewing your content.
By avoiding making costly mistakes
by being careless online, it is possible to create the best version of yourself
for others to see. This can be helpful in your personal life, allowing people
to see who you are and who you want to be, and positively affecting future
interactions with them. It can also aid your professional image as employers,
clients, and coworkers are able to see what you can bring to the table and how
much you can be trusted. Now more than ever, online branding is significant to
the quality of life we live. Social networking can play a major role in this,
and it is not going away anytime soon.
Though social media carries risks, it
has become nearly unavoidable and its benefits are far too good to pass up. By
being mindful of what you’re putting on the platform, who can see it, and the
relatively infinite nature of its existence, negative consequences can be reduced
or even eliminated. In a world where nearly everyone has a voice, sometimes the
most useful strategy is to be silent.
I had a flip phone until eleventh grade. That’s not to say that I am any different than the others who were born in the final years of the nineties. To some, this may even seem natural. However, in today’s day and age of technological dependency, I would be seen as a proverbial caveman. Now I don’t mean to sound like the old timer who walked ten miles to school, uphill both ways. However, the amount of exposure of technology and its byproducts to kids can be appalling to me at times. It seems as though children at younger and younger ages are receiving IPhones and IPads. In most cases I have witnessed, the items have not been used for the betterment of the child’s development, or to keep them safe; in my experience, the technology has been used to keep the kids out of their parent’s hair. I can understand why this sort of thing happens, the temptation that such a simple and effective solution might provide. Still, I wonder what types of unknown risks may be at play.
Source: Pixabay.com | User: natureaddict
I once worked a summer in childcare, where I caught a glimpse of how kids really interact with the internet. From Jake to Logan Paul, and from Pewdiepie to Dude Perfect, online personalities have clearly become a major part of our youth culture. Catchphrases, clothing, and even certain behaviors are replicated. This is not done just because they want to look and act like these celebrities, this is done because these kids want to be these celebrities. While I realize that it’s completely normal for the younger generation to idolize successful people, I know I did with sports figures in my early years, I also believe that the connections these creators make is much more personal and intrusive.
After some
of the youngsters finally convinced me to watch some of the content put out by
their favorite channels, I committed to doing so. The experience was relatively
unsettling to me. The videos felt like long, complex advertisements for other
channels, their own merchandise, or outside products. These advertisements were
not like normal commercials in that they were nearly seamlessly integrated into
the content and the messages much more personal as they speak directly to the
consumer. Methods like this felt very exploitative to me. People that kids
trusted were tell them that if they bought their clothes, did their dances, and
sang their songs then they would be a part of their ‘crew’, or ‘army’. Building
a sense of community around merchandise is problematic in that it is targeting
the malleable minds of young children. The separation between advertisement and
content is hazy on these platforms and the novelty of it all means that there
are very little restrictions on how far the guerrilla marketing can go.
This is very interesting to me because it is closely tied to Marketing/ Ad & PR. I can see from a business point of view how these mediums might be enticing. However, the ethical dilemma and brand reputation issues that have already been exposed- with personalities making poor decisions- and ones that might arise in the future when the issues are brought into the public eye. I expect that conversations on this topic will become more and more frequent in the coming years, especially in the fields previously mentioned. Technology is an incredibly useful tool to marketers everywhere, and personal devices are certainly one of the most direct connections to consumers ever created. However, as they did with radio and television, regulations will come, and businesses will need to adapt. In this case, sooner might be better for children in such an aggressive and opportunistic economic climate.
