Social media. It is so widely used and people are obsessed with it that one wonders what would happen if it all suddenly disappears? How will this new generation as well as us total adults who have learned to use it for gain and/or entertainment cope without it? I have accounts on some major social media platforms and I have experienced both happy and sad moments with them. There is Facebook where people have found long-lost family members and friends on; there’s Instagram where people impress and update their followers via their photos and videos; there is Twitter where regular people, celebrities and politicians have posted their thoughts and current stances on; there is LinkedIn for companies and their HR departments to post their vacancies on as well as for adults to list their degrees, skills, and employment backgrounds on; there’s Pinterest for people to place or categorize their interests on boards that they can label and return to for reference and/or inspiration; and then there’s Google-Plus for people with Google email addresses to socialize and advertise their works and products on and also to list their personal information unto. Those are just some of the numerous social media platforms out there that I have utilized as a poet, book reviewer, and Internet socializer.

With Facebook, I have 591 acquaintances there with the majority of them being my relatives and friends from my elementary and high school years. I also have people on there who I know from college, past jobs and from various Catholic parishes that I have been a part of throughout my life. Originally, I had more followers than the number mentioned, but I had to unfriend some who were inactive or who never make their presence known on my page: no likes, no comments, and no interaction whatsoever. I thought what’s the use of connecting when there’s no communication? I don’t like the thought of them looking at my personal life and information without ever stopping by to say hi and hello and how are you… It’s uncanny and creepy.

With Instagram I currently am connected with 259 people while 193 are followers. I think what’s brilliant about Instagram is that you can instantly post a photo or a video of yourself on there and a lot of people rather they are followers or not will look at it given that you placed appropriate hashtags on it. The thing about Instagram that makes me call it a “rich man’s social media platform” is that you have to have a tablet or a cell phone with Internet access in order for you to have an account on it. You cannot post photos, memes, and/or videos on it through your laptop or desktop. Because I have a tablet, I am able to have an account with Instagram. At the moment, I really have not gained any benefits from this platform and a few of my Facebook friends and families are connected with me on there.

With Twitter, at the moment, I follow 2,531 people and have 2,929 people and companies following me back. I don’t mean to brag but I have a lot of Indie authors who follow me on there. I guess the reason why they have connected with me is because I, myself am a published author with two poetry books available at Amazon online. Twitter has proven to be useful for me because I found my current job through it and I have discovered upcoming developments in the literary, music, and film worlds through it. If you don’t have a Twitter account and you are the individual who wants to know what’s going on in the world, I advise you to get one now because of that and the many other benefits I have not yet found out about (and eager to discover).

With LinkedIn, I have a total of 1,161 connections at the moment mostly of Pacific Islander people that I randomly friended to promote and sell my poetry books to because 1) I am a Pacific Islander (Samoan) myself, and 2) one of these poetry books of mine is a collection of Pacific Islander-themed poems and I think they are the suitable audience for it. Thankfully, that has not stopped people outside of this dynamic to request my acquaintance. LinkedIn has yet to prove its usefulness as I have listed all my career endeavors and educational background on there. Hopefully I will land a high-paying remote or online job through it but at this time I’m not keeping my hopes up about it.

With Pinterest, I follow 399 people and 282 follow me in return. Pinterest’ significance for me is that I can group my likes and influences on there so that I can always go back to them for inspiration and for spur of the moment usage. I have a board on there that is made up of very easy recipes and I have used these recipes to make some of the most satisfying meals I have ever had. One of them I am enthused to mention is the simple chicken-n-broccoli casserole that I made for my mom on last year’s Mother’s Day. The good thing about Pinterest is that you can find a variety of meal instructions to save that are catered to your personal needs. I found a lot that are diabetic-friendly, affordable and easy to follow. I also discovered many scrumptious smoothie and juice recipes on Pinterest whose ingredients or substitutes are all available at my local grocery place.

Finally, I run a poetry blog titled: Notes of a Hopeful Voice (it’s gone through a lot of name changes over its 6 years of existence) that had to be promoted on Google-Plus and therefore has earned me 75 followers. Not bad right? Well, to me it isn’t. They found out about me because whenever I publish a new poem to my blog, it gets seen by who knows how many people out there with Google-Plus accounts and whoever finds these works of mine interesting will follow me back. It’s always a nice feeling for me to assume that these 75 individuals were either moved or tickled by my poetry resulting in them following me for more.

The thing about all of this that mostly satisfies and amazes me is the fact that I have not spent an enormous amount of money in promoting my brand (yes I guess I could call it that, lol). Unlike so many others who have spent tons on promotion services, I think the most total I forked out for advertising myself is a mere $50-plus. Aside from that, I have been writing and publishing poems since my senior year in high school and some people (I suppose) like them and are then following my every effort (I guess?). Another thing that impresses me about all this is that I am a private, reserved person who is not a lively, active, all-out-there soul. I mean this may sound vain of me but consider it for a moment. The only downsides about all of this though I am depressed to note is that these tons of followers are not ordering and purchasing my poetry collections. Yes. And also there is what you would call “cyberbullying” where some people who may act as your fans or followers at first may eventually become hostile and relentlessly unfriendly. So nothing is perfect right?

But aside from these errs in this whole “me and social media” phenomenon (I like to think of it as that), Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google-Plus have been able to keep me company in my lonely, solitary life (not that I am craving friends or company or anything). When I need to talk to someone about what I am interested in, I just log in to any one of these platforms and I unleash my views and thoughts on them. Whenever I feel I am about to “die” from the “noise” of quietness, I just post a tweet or a status and voila! Someone always replies back, adding his/her thoughts to this tweet or status or just a simple “like” and my boredom and depression would fade away. So yeah. As a concluding note, social media has been mostly a blessing for me despite of the negative I mentioned but I wouldn’t want to see it cease from existence. I foresee it growing and evolving into something much bigger and much more technological than what it presently is. Have a great day now!