Social Media or Self Promotion

What is the difference between social media and self promotion? At this point you can not tell. From the time social media became popular in the 2000's, the Myspace and Facebook era, a lot has changed. Social Media used to be a way of sharing your interests and life with your friends and family. A lot of us would use Facebook to post pictures from a school dance or a family vacation. This was simply to keep people updated on big events in our life. Now a days it seems as if social media is a platform to promote yourself and your image to the world.

The "influencer" business is growing bigger and bigger. Average people are sharing their interests, not to keep their peers in the loop, but to promote a lifestyle to attract companies and businesses. A lot of brands will pay social media users with a significant amount of followers to promote their product to bring in more customers. Now there is nothing wrong with that, but this isn't something you would see ten years ago. 

Social Media influencers make it look so easy to make millions of dollars a year simply sharing products online. As a result you see average people trying to gain followers by posting content that the public wants to see. Which isn't your family vacation pictures or your school dance pictures lets just say that.

People will post their entire lives on social media through stories and pictures. It's almost as if people who follow you think they know everything about you. Where you eat, hang out, travel, hang out with, etc. This can seem like an invasion of privacy sometimes. 

A big difference with social media now compared to back then is the impact your posts can have. Having a social media account comes with consequences. Anything and everything you post is there forever. You have to be careful what you say and post. An example of this is the current helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant. TMZ released a story on the incident before the Bryant family was even notified. This negatively impacted the image on TMZ. With stories like this one you have to look at your values and the impact it can have on a business.

Social Media is going to grow as a money making platform in the future. It has made it so easy for businesses to interact with influencers and other users in order to promote products. It is what most of us see now a days especially with Instagram and Youtube. People's lives are going to be more public whether that is for better or for worse. 

It will be interesting to see the long term effects of social media considering it has only been a decade since it became popular. Looking back on how it has already transformed from a friend to friend platform to a platform where you can connect with people around the world, we can only imagine what is to come.