I have been on social media now since January 2007. Like many others I started out with a personal Facebook page purely for posting photos from nights out, wedding pictures and baby pictures for family and friend to see.
Why social media influences our lives
I have been on social media now since January 2007. Like many others I started out with a personal Facebook page purely for posting photos from nights out, wedding pictures and baby pictures for family and friend to see.
This then evolved into joining Twitter to share my daily updates in 140 characters or less, which pushed me into using text talk, my biggest bugbear!
Following Twitter, I then joined Instagram to take the sharing one step further. Sharing my daily photos of my life with complete strangers felt so strange at first but now I can’t imagine not posting to share my life in squares.
By this point I felt well and truly in the social media bubble, but I didn’t stop there. I then set up accounts for YouTube, Pinterest, Google + (RIP) and Bloglovin’. They all became part of my dailt blogging life, although some allowed themselves into my life more than others.
Back when Instagram was so new, not many people really knew how to use it. It was all snaps taken on blurry mobile phones using filters in garish borders. Besides everyone posting their everyday lives, it was what was ‘the norm’. Which it still very much is for a lot of people.
Soon after, people became wise to the fact that Instagram was a brilliant way to get involved in ‘influencer marketing’. I hate the term influencer but that’s a whole different post!
This then led to people stepping up their Instagram game… Cue perfectly curated feeds, polished images and tagging brands.
With this updated world of social media, you either got on board or got left behind!
Although I work part time in an industry that is worlds apart from this online world, I still wanted to get involved.
When it comes to what I share on my feeds I am one of those people who chooses to mostly share the good times. It’s my feed so I get to decide what I share publicly and what stays behind closed doors.
What I choose to share is what pushes me to do more than I would in my day to day life, like a ‘normal’ person as I like to call them. Normal people who just use social media every so often, those who don’t check their accounts every day and who mostly choose to live their lives offline.
Due to the type of content I share online, I inevitably want to make it the best I possibly can and so I try to make my content stand out and will try to sometimes do things well and truly out of my comfort zone!
Take for example one of my recent posts on Instagram. I wanted a way of sharing a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Bloom and Wild. When I work with brands, I want them to remember my stuff and I also want people to not be put off because its an #Ad or #Gifted.
So I asked Alex if he had any ideas and he came back straight away and said strip down but leave your bottom half covered up and cover up your top half using the flowers!
At first I flatly refused as I didn’t want to share nudity on my feed because that’s not what I am about, but after running out of time I gave in . Now I can honestly say I was really pleased with the results.
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It’s things like this that I am referring to when I say, ‘out of my comfort zone’!
In an ordinary world would I choose to share a half-naked photo of me to complete strangers just because… Absolutely not, but then I’m not just a ‘normal’ person who uses social media.
Another perfect example of this is when Alex creates content too. By now most of you will know that we often will create content together and I love that he is involved in my world as well.
There are certain situations that will make Alex uncomfortable and perhaps there are things Alex has done that maybe he shouldn’t have.
I knew that our recent trip to the Maldives would be a make or break situation for Alex’s fear of the sea and sure enough, one afternoon we were out snorkelling and came far too close for comfort to a Stingray. We got within one foot of it and he quickly realised what it was and literally legged it to the closest water villa and didn’t even look back to check if I was okay. After he calmed down, I told him he should film it to include in our video and after a pep talk, he started to realise that I was right.
He ended up getting back in the sea to follow the Stingray where he even attempted to get a selfie with it!
Had it not been for the fear of a lost opportunity to get this footage, then Alex would have missed out.
So it’s for these reasons that social media plays a big influence in our lives. It pushes us to do things we might not ordinarily do. It might sound silly that we do these things to get a shot or some footage, but the result is always satisfaction that we’ve taken a little risk that ends up paying off.
But best of all it gives us the chance to capture these moments, that we will definitely have forgotten in years to come, in a unique and mostly fun way!
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