The ME-llennial Effect: The Ugly Truth of Social Media

   
   Social media has a dark side that we must recognize. Facebook, along with other platforms, has made people believe their lives are more important than they really are. As blunt as that sounds it is absolutely true. Social media was adopted by a younger audience at first. High school has always been full of drama and "who kissed who". But social media fueled that drama to reach beyond the hallways of school.

   First, people believe there lives are more important than they really are. Social media allows people to have a bio, status posts, pictures, videos, etc. on their profile pages. However, that has caused people to become self absorbed. Participation in social networks is skyrocketing and so is the time people spend on it. People have became ADDICTED.
  Social media addiction may not seem like a terrible addiction to have but it really is. Students grades are slipping, adults are getting fired, and other problems are becoming common. So what do we do? As a Digital Marketer you must not feed the addiction. In an earlier post, I discussed how Chive encouraged people to meet up outside of the platform itself. Lets do this. If we can get people to group together on social media, then to meet together in real life isn't that really the ultimate goal?

Social Spotlight: The Chive

Around March my friend recommended me downloading an called Chive. He, as well as their slogan, said Chive was "probably the best site/app in the world." The first thing that caught my attention was the half naked girls they showed. However, I found it to be way more than that.

Even though Chive does show half naked girls, called Chivettes, they are never completely nude. Plus there are way more categories to see. They show random facts, beautiful places around the world, "women's logic", and pretty much anything else you can think of. The biggest reason I decided to shine a spotlight on Chive is their sense of community. Chive is meant to bring people together in order to better the world.

They have a RAK, Random Act of Kindness, category in which you give to other Chivers or people without expecting anything in return. Lets say you see a car with the window down and it looks like its about to rain. You could put a trash bag over the window to keep it from getting wet on the interior. You'd then leave a note saying what you did with KCCO on it. KCCO is Keep Calm and Chive On.

Chivers are also meeting together around the country just to meet up and have fun. When you are on Chive you feel like their is still good in the world. Instead of Social Media making people more anti-social, Chive encourages people to be friendly, caring, and give back whenever possible.

Watching Out for Big Brother... And Not THAT Big Brother

George Orwell's novel 1984 was about a totalitarian future society in which Big Brother, the government,watches every thing its citizens do. Although there are current political issues that claim a true Big Brother-like government, I see another Big Brother emerging in social media. Big Brother could have a direct impact on your future professional career and overall reputation.

Although other platforms may have a Big Brother like presence, I will focus on Twitter because that is where I see the most activity of him. So who am I claiming to be Big Brother? A few would be @UGAMakeouts and  @GSUPassOut. These are twitter handles that focus solely on catching drunk people making out downtown and passing out drunk. Both are fueled by user submitted content.

Whats the problem? If you are able to make it onto one of these pages, then you have a problem. Your reputation is on the line. Those pages are made public for all to see so family, friends, and future employers can all enjoy in your embarrassment. And the number of retweets makes the reach of the photos grow exponentially
Many claim that this is invasion of privacy but they fail to realize all the pictures are user submitted and in public places for all to see. The only way to prevent your photo from making its way onto one of these pages is to be aware that they exist. By knowing you could end up on @UGAMakeouts for making out with a drunk person could prevent you from doing it. There really is not much you could do beyond that. Just know Big Brother is watching.