How do you use social media?
My use of social media has evolved over the years. Good ol’ MySpace was my first experience with it. But then, once Mark Zuckerberg defeated Tom (what was his last name anyway?!) and Facebook became the social media platform to use, my posts became very frequent and very similar. One of my friends from high school pointed out one time that I only ever post about cleaning my apartment, knitting, and grading papers or doing lesson plans. And he was right. The Timehop app that I downloaded that shows your social media posts on this day in each of the past years, proves that I really did complain a lot about cleaning my apartment…didn’t have a dishwasher there. Lots of posts about knitting and crocheting, and complaining about school work.
Thankfully I have evolved since then. Now, I am trying to revive my Instagram account so that I can build a following of people who don’t know me in real life and are following me because they’ve read my blog or seen something I’ve posted on Threads…Instagram’s version of Twitter. I’m sorry, X. On Instagram, I try not to post things that are too familiar. For example, today, I took a selfie with my husband when we had come home from Mass. I posted this Easter picture of us on Facebook rather than Instagram. I continue to maintain Facebook for the details of my life that are more appropriate for friends and family to see.
I did get angry at my mother recently and chose to use Facebook for posting exclusively political content. As in, the type of posts that are directly opposed to the orange man she voted for and has argued with me about in the past. I had noticed that she seemed to only interact with me by commenting on my posts, rather than calling or texting. So I posted more on Instagram and posted only anti-Trump things on Facebook, just for her. And just to piss her off quite frankly. I never used to post political things because I know my friends and family have different political views and I used to want to just keep things on an even keel where my content was concerned. I’ve gone back to posting “normal” stuff on there. She has since discovered my Instagram account, to be fair, in a moment of weakness I told her how to find me on there. But I am not opposed to unfriending her on Facebook and blocking her on Instagram. It depends on which way the wind blows on any given day I suppose. I’m working on that in therapy. Since I’ve been learning a lot about my boundaries, mainly that I’m allowed to have them, I see now that social media is another “place” where I may need to have them.
I mentioned Threads. I’ve been pretty active on that lately. It’s such a warm, welcoming community of people there. If you get your algorithm just right, you really do find the most supportive people. Except for a few who desperately needed me to know that I was going to hell for being Catholic.
In general, I would like to use social media to build a following for my writing. At least with Threads and Instagram. I read on some website that when you send query letters to publishers, they may want to know about your social media platforms and what kind of following you have. I got a little carried away with that idea and actually ordered business cards from VistaPrint with all of my social media and blog information on it. I have a t-shirt that says “I’m writing someone’s future favorite book. How cool is that?” I figured if I were to wear that in public (which I have), I could give out a business card if someone asked me about my shirt. Hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know that I would be brave enough to promote myself and even give out one of those cards if someone actually asked.
I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been using social media lately. I think if I had more time to devote to it, I could really put in more of an effort to get a following going. I have around 630 followers on Threads, but I know I need to post more on Instagram. Only a few of my followers there aren’t family or friends from my “real life”. But, I’m an 80s kid. Well, technically 90s. It means I grew up in a time before social media existed, so making it a routine part of my life for purposes other than doomscrolling those short videos/reels for an hour at a time is something I’m not used to. I’ll get there eventually.
Speaking of which, if you want to follow me, accept this shameless invitation to my Instagram account:
http://I’m on Instagram as @orangeturtle22.
My handle on Threads is the same as Instagram. Also, is it even still called a “handle” anymore? Oh gosh…social media was not made for old people. But again, I’m getting there.
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