Power of Social Media

The most powerful message I received while completing this assignment was from Cameron Russell, model. She said she hoped our biggest take-away from her talk was the importance the “power of image in our perceived successes or failures” has. I could not have agreed more with her and actually never thought of how impactful this was. It is so pertinent in our world of social media where everything people do is “posted”! Upload a picture to Facebook or Instagram because you are doing something fun is overly annoying! Yet, fun at the same time. We are judged by what we do, how we look, rather than the type of person we are. Most of what is “known” about us by others is social media-based, unfortunately.

The images that accompany text can change your perception of what you are seeing. You may feel more excited to learn about whatever that company or image is portraying. The article, “The Power of Pictures in Social Media” gave a prime example of how one company sold metal boxes but posted pictures of amazing scenery and it got people to work for them because it promoted travel and scenery, etc. I thought this was genius!

The idea that “image is everything,” I believe, is only becoming more prominent in our society as we frequent and employ social media more often. I’m not sure I agree with this statement. However, unfortunately, it is true in so many ways. Cameron Russell proved this point exceptionally well in her TED talk about how she was perceived as being happy because she was blessed as a model. I had mixed emotions when I heard her speak about her insecurities. Do I really feel badly for you because you are skinny, rich, beautiful, and travel the world while wearing beautiful clothes? My answer is an overwhelming, “NO!” At the same time, who am I to minimize someones feelings? I understood her saying that she was insecure and felt pressure to look beautiful every day and that she knew she would be judged based on her looks all the time.

I constantly see advertising as a new avenue of social media. While I believe it has many benefits to acquiring business, I feel it can mislead our youth. Teens are so caught up in social media and are very easily influenced as it is. I think, business-wise, social media can be bad for teens. I envision them seeing the picture of the tanker in Alaska and thinking they can just travel the world and ship boxes for a living. At the same time, social media is forcing CEO’s and businesses to focus on that aspect of their profession. More students are interested in graphic design, site creation, and other social media-related professions as a profession of interest.