In Defense of Social Media
I never intended to use social media professionally. Honestly, when I started college, social media managers were barely a thing. Social media was something I stumbled into. My first real assignment was managing social media for the MBA program I was in five years ago. That led into a marketing and social media position with my diocese and it’s summer camp. That, in turn, set me up for my year in communications for the Anglican Communion where I focused primarily on executing a social media strategy for the office. And finally, that was a key experience in landing my position current position in alumni relations, where alongside all our engagement and event work, I also focus on engaging our alumni and celebrating the university’s community in a virtual space, some which, as it turns out, has been a highly valuable professional skill in the wake of COVID-19.
Over my months working in social media through the lens of alumni engagement, I’ve been struck by the power of social media to bring people together. My work has encouraged alumni who graduated decades ago to continue to foster a relationship with each other, and their alma mater. As 2020 came to a close, a colleague in fundraising and I took social data as we crafted segmented appeals to augment our push for year end giving. This same data helps me refine our social media strategy for the alumni association Facebook page, crafting content to amplify fundraising efforts as our divisions zeros in on the last months of a years long fundraising campaign. It’s an often overlooked tool, but time and time again, I’ve seen just how important social media can be -- particularly in a world that needs to be virtual, at least for the time being.
COVID-19 didn’t just provide a new perspective on my professional relationship with social media. It provided a unique lens through which to view my personal use of this technology. Since becoming part of the Facebook empire, Instagram can now recommend you follow accounts that belong to people you are friends with on Facebook, which is how I stumbled into following my friend Meredith last winter. When we were 16, Meredith and I participated in the same mission trip to Lima, Peru. Since then we’d remained friendly, running into each other over the years at diocesan events or the summer where I worked and her younger brother was a camper. But it was since this last winter that our friendship really picked up speed. I’d taken on floral watercolors as a hobby, and Meredith’s account (anyone interested in beautiful watercolors should give @sketchandshadow a look - her work is breathtaking!) was dedicated to just that. By watching her technique, choices of colors, and the ability to ask her for advice, my own art improved. Our shared love of art (and Jesus!) fostered a much deeper connection than we’d had in the past.
Speaking of floral watercolors, throughout the pandemic, social media has been a source of inspiration and a window into beauty and art. Like so many people, when we fled inside our homes, I turned to creative pursuits to channel anxiety and fill time. I’ve discovered a whole world on Instagram that is committed to finding beauty in the simplest things in life. These artists, photographers, and creatives inspire me to continue to flesh out my own artist voice in my writing, watercolor, and photography. These kindred spirits speak to my affinity for fairytales and love of make believe. They seem to look at the world as I do, filled with a beauty and magic that can never be truly explained but worth trying to capture nonetheless. As the winter of COVID drags on, they remind me that beauty and grace exists, and it's always worth seeking out.
Even before the pandemic, social media helped me remain connected to friends all over the world. I’m lucky enough to have made close, lasting friendships wherever I live, and since I graduated high school, that's been rather a lot of places. As much as I would love to drive across the mountains every other weekend to spend time with my friends from my camp years, that just wasn’t feasible, much less jetting across the ocean to London as much as my heart longed to. Then COVID hit, and I couldn’t even go visit my friends in town. Social media became my window into their lives, and theirs into mine. I’ve been able to keep up with a childhood friend as she got married last summer while teaching and publishing poetry in Oklahoma. I’ve been able to admire my Norwegian third cousin’s hiking trips across the fjords. Facebook keeps me updated on another long time friend and her recent move to Fairbanks, Alaska with her toddler and husband. Most days my closest friends and I exchange Snapchats of our work or grad school updates or a certain gorgeous and melodramatic cat. Social media helped me stay in touch with long time family friends in New York City, London, and Germany, and to feel connected to their lives, especially when I have no certainty as to when I will be able to see them again. In a time when a pandemic prevents us from coming together, these platforms keep me present and active in the lives of people I miss the most.
Social media can be a lot of things. It can be addictive. It can be toxic. It can be stressful and overwhelming. In response to these criticisms, platforms have created tools to help correct for negative presences online, particularly in the age of cyber bullying, such as the ability to block accounts, mute content, or unfollow other accounts. That, of course, doesn’t do anything to dampen the allure of the infamous “scroll.” I’ve intentionally taken time off of “the ‘gram” myself, whether to get space from my own toxic experiences online or to better focus on the moment. For all the negatives, it can be a lot of good, too. And the existence of those negatives has changed how I use these platforms — tracking my time on the platform, regularly unfollowing old accounts and friends if I’m no longer interacting with them, and most of all, reminding myself that it needs to be fun. If it becomes stressful, then something needs to change in how I interact with social media, whether that means unfollowing an account, limiting time on the platform further, or even taking a little time off. Like any complicated relationship, social media works best with boundaries.
As complex as it is, social media is a powerful tool connecting me to a world far beyond the walls of my apartment. And like many things, it’s something I need to be flexible and graceful with myself and my habits. That said, it doesn’t come close to replicating what spending time in person with people that matter to me. To see each other and laugh without the use of emojis is something I hope to never take for granted once the worst of the pandemic passes. Until then, though, after balancing the negatives and the positives of social media, I’ll choose the ability to create and see beauty, and to connect with friends and family around the world every time, so long as I keep grace in perspective.
