Back when social media was first starting to become a constant in our lives, there was a distinct contrast between sites used for sharing personal stories and those used to promote a business. In today's Gig Economy, those site are one and the same. As more people strike out on their own to develop small businesses, sites like Facebook and TikTok which began as purely social platforms are now places to build a clientele. In several cases, the line between personal and business has vanished completely with the rise of the Influencer, where the person themself becomes the product. Through sponsored content, individuals, small businesses, and large corporate entities can benefit from one another like never before.
Social media utilized purely for personal stories usually takes shape as either stories meant for loved ones or stories created for fandom spaces. Personal photos, videos, or blogs meant to keep friends and family in the loop mostly take place in spaces like Instagram and Facebook and are geared towards major or daily life events. Such platforms have taken the place of calls to Grandma or holiday letters. Posters' faces and names are shown and posts are written in a casual manner. Fandom spaces thrive much more in anonymity. The focus is on the fandom itself more than the fan. Posts usually consist of photo collages, reviews, film clips, and various forms of fan art. While fandoms are very active on Instagram and Facebook, they thrive in fandom-centric spaces. TikTok, Twitter, and Tumblr are the fans' domain.
Of course, all of these spaces have also become lucrative platforms for both independent and corporate businesses. Big name companies like Wendys have keyed in to millennial and gen z markets by hiring witty social media directors to create viral trends or jokingly clap back at rival franchises. Large chains have been able to build upon their brand mainly via Twitter, which relies more heavily on brief, catchy written messages over imagery. Where smaller businesses thrive are Instagram and TikTok, where the photo and video-driven format can better showcase a service or product that does not have brand name recognition. These image-heavy platforms, alongside YouTube, are also where influencers find their largest audiences.
The ways in which I personally use social media have changed over the years. I was already a young adult when Facebook came on the scene and was an avid user of MySpace and LiveJournal as both a way to keep in touch with high school friends and to journal. As fandom communities grew in online spaces, I shifted to a less personal approach to posting and that is still what makes up the bulk of my own posting and consuming habits to this day. Becoming heavily involved in a fandom requires a certain level of anonymity for many. Firstly, the focus of a good fandom account focuses mainly on the fandom, not the fan. Secondly, it can be a brutal place and sharing too much of oneself in highly dramatic fandom spaces--and most fandom spaces can be highly dramatic--is begging for a huge headache at one point or another. At one point I was moderately famous in a small fandom circle for creative output and was later relieved that only a few close friends I had made knew anything about me. Following a large falling out between two factions (in which I was thankfully uninvolved), I took a large step away from the creative end of social media and became more of a consumer.
Nowadays I still post content, but low views don't discourage me. I'm far happier engaging with small numbers of people and largely steering clear of drama, although we all love a little drama now and then! I am planning on venturing once more into influencer-dom in order to build clientele for a future business. My past experiences, niche as they were, taught me the ins and outs of being well-known in internet spaces, and I feel as though I can navigate them far more confidently now. As always, I strive to keep different aspects of myself compartmentalized on the internet. I made true, long-lasting friendships from social media, but I'm well aware of the power of parasocial relationships.
No comments:
Post a Comment