In the month of June alone, I have already spent at least 10,000 minutes on Odyssey. This fact indicates the broadening amount of time I am browsing social media. Not only that, it demonstrates the downfalls of a model that requires each content creator to both write and distribute their own articles. But what makes the platform even more detrimental is that in order for our perspectives to be heard, we must immerse ourselves in an audience that loves to criticize opinions and critique decisions of millennials regularly (and might I add, unfairly).
The desire to fit in certainly distracts us from our original mission. That is, to share what matters to us on a platform where our content can find its most relevant audience organically. According to Dominique Escandon, "... that would just be one of many examples of Odyssey’s thoughtful engagement with its audience to maximize the potential connections that it can make across college campuses and the United States."
Social media's reputation is a ruined one. Shelby Kenrick writes, "At first, it was all fun. Being able to chat with friends online and keep up with people from far away. Uploading photos with funny captions (because everyone reads those...) and thinking up witty things under 120 characters that I could tweet. But before I knew it I wasn't doing all of those things for just myself, I was doing them for everyone else too."
Emma Fish notes, "our first reactions to a problem are to let our voices be heard and see what everyone else thinks. In a way it's comforting. It's therapeutic. But it can be damaging and useless if it's the only thing we're doing." Known for destroying lives, many millennials have found these platforms obsolete. However, "Odyssey is a business that relies on shares in order to thrive." 75 percent of its readers arrive to the site via social media.
It became clear that in order to keep the unprecedented freedom only Odyssey can provide its writers, we had to overcome this fear. Those who stayed found their obsession with page clicks, views, and followers would soon fade. "I'm no stranger to criticism towards my writing, and before I started working here, I would have let that get to me," recalls Nicole Michels: "But now I know that everyone has an opinion and they're not always going to agree with me, and that's okay."
As our writing reached places we could have never imagined, we realized we were where we belonged. "I didn't think I would be able to consistently produce articles at the level of quality the Odyssey community expects week after week," Jared Starr proclaims: "Once I started, though, the ideas started flowing naturally."
And once we understood Odyssey's vision, it inevitably led to us achieving our goals. "I have had the opportunity to reach the masses with my writing, which is awesome in itself. Odyssey has also helped me sharpen my writing skills in more ways than I could have imagined," Hunter Gellman explains.
In my very first post, I declared I would not waste this opportunity. That I would enlighten readers to sensitive subjects. And explore new ways to tackle topics. Well, guess what? I have done just that. So I guess you could say that Odyssey's vision is also my own. Actually, no. I change my mind. It is everyone's. It is #OurOdyssey.
Inspired by Ian Callahan's: "Our Shared Vision: Reflections From Odyssey Originals."
And based on the opinions of:
