My Social Media Manifesto

Social Media is undeniably a part of all our lives. There’s no getting around it. Even if you yourself do not have social media accounts, the people around you do. Your granddaughter is probably checking her Instagram right now. Your mom is posting about how proud she is of you on Facebook as we speak. Your friend just accepted a friend request from a mutual coworker. You are reading this on this type of social media right now.

So now I have some questions for you… Have you ever thought about how we all interact on social media? Did you ever think to have a plan for how you would act as you surfed the internet? I think if we all had structure to our interactions online, and really thought about how we would contribute, and what our beliefs are about social media and the internet, many things would change. We would see more personal updates from family, we would see more support from friends and family. We would connect more easily with those with whom we have not spoken to in a few years. Fewer hurtful words would be said. Going online would not be as much of a waste of time. You may not have concerns with some of these things, and that’s fine, but I have seen how I could improve my social media persona. I have also been asked to write about this subject for a class but I think it goes deeper than that.

Today, I want MY personal manifesto for social media to be known. It is rudimentary but I know it will help me think about how I interact with you and others online in public internet spaces. If you stop to take time and do something similar I believe you will definitely benefit for the better.

To start off…

My Beliefs:

On social media, I should…

• Be real- I don’t want to portray something that I am not. I want to share my victories and some sorrows.
• Positive- Even when I share content that is serious or negative, I want to point it to a higher ground, see the light in the darkness at some point.
• Fun- I am a funny person! I love making people laugh!
• Worry-Free- I promise not to over-advertise personal ventures or repost too often or spam out my feed. That’s a no-no
• A Way To Reach Out- I want to use my accounts to reach out to old friends better, people  have not talked to in a few years.

My Goals:

I want to…

• Post at least Bi-Monthly
• Uplift others
• Make my content/posts useful
• Connect personally with friends and family better
• Make it personal- I want to put my heart into whatever I put out for others to see and read.

Wisdom:

I have had a few years on social media. I know what I like to see and I know what I don’t. I don’t think my preferences are too different than others. Fewer ads, less reposted memes and gifs, more real updates from real people about real life, and good friends who are always still there for you. Be the kind of social media contributor that you like and see in others! Social media can have a huge impact especially since it is becoming ever more prevalent in our daily lives. Choose Wisely.

These are a few values I have thought about and believe will help guide my interactions and  hope it has given you something to think about as well. Thanks for the read and see you soon!

Dance Showcase Poster

Here is the first advertisement I was able to have published. I won a contest among the many graphic design classes in high school, so my work was plastered all over the place at school, online, and in the community to advertise this dance production. The show is kind of a big deal in he Rocklin area. There are two high schools that are highly competitive in sports, including dance. Both schools have nationally recognized teams and many girls in high school are highly involved in dance instruction. I think that that area had an exceptionally high volume of dance participants, so it was cool that my poster was selected to represent our schools production. It was also interesting because the highest level dance team from the opposing nearby school also participated in our schools presentation as well, so it was a piece that tied two rival schools together. I’m really proud of this piece because when I first started conjuring up ideas for what the poster should look like, I was just messing around and playing with fun ideas. The fun idea seemed to work and when my instructor saw it, she immediately saw that it was above the others. Not to toot my own horn but it looked pretty awesome compared to the other creations. I was surprised to find that my fun idea was now posted on every blank wall around the campus and it was a different feeling that i liked being able to say “Hey, I made that!” when others commented on the poster. Overall, it was an interesting building experience!

Journal 1 First day of the Semester

Today was a great day for communication! Everyone was getting to know each other in all our new classes. It was my first day back in school for Winter semester at BYU-Idaho and I was a lot more at ease than I was for my first day ever of college. I interacted with some students in my classes, just getting to know new people. I talked to one guy in my Writing for Comm class and he told me how he liked to watch indie films, any films actually, and that he was into making films also and that he wanted to major in doing that. He told me where he was from and a few other cool facts about himself. I thought this was an interesting interaction for the day just because this person was so different than me and that I got to learn something about them that was important to them. It was cool hearing about the most recent movie he watched, called “Blue Ruin” and how it was about a revenge triangle and had some “dry” undramatized violence in it. Overall it was great getting to know a little more about this person I had just met! There’s my most noteworthy observation of communication for the day.