When we were in middle school, I'm sure that none of us expected Instagram to become the force that it is. None of us expected it to become a job for some people, a career for others.

None of us expected to be able to troubleshoot problems with the various companies that we give our money on Twitter. Help hotlines extinct? I don't believe it.

None of us expected to look at the time and remember that we forgot to snap our streaks.

But social media is so much bigger than even those things.

Social media is what made Kylie Jenner a near "self-made" billionaire. Social media is how we've seen Nicki Minaj promote her album for the past five months. These are both examples of social media being a driving force in profit for those that take advantage of it. Think about it. Where would Kylie Cosmetics be without the company's largely-followed Instagram page? Or without the infamous Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge that swept Twitter for a month two years ago? I guarantee that the company would not be reaching billionaire-status as it is now.

Influencers are the biggest example of the way that users of social media can benefit from it. Here we have these beautiful women, who take great photos of themselves or their body and make money from it. I promise that I'm not knocking it, I actually admire it. These pictures lead to endorsement deals, free stuff, reality tv, and eventually, a whole brand.

Viral media is also a large source of revenue for its creators. When YouTube content goes viral, those creators get paid by their views. It's very lucrative, but also not an easy industry to break into.

These things are how social media has become a driving force in the economy of this generation. We spend most of our time absorbing the content and act as the consumers for the people we see. Mind-blowing, right?