A social media footprint is the trail you leave behind when you post something on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, etc. It says something about who you are as a person.
"You are what you share." – Charles Leadbeater
A huge portion of the human race, including myself, (and maybe animals, too, I don't know) are on several social networks. The top three social networks I use are Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Each of these networks serves a different purpose in my life. For instance, Facebook is mainly to keep in touch with my close family and friends that are not from the United States. Twitter is used for random thoughts that I have. And Instagram displays my artsy side. Overall, my social media footprint demonstrations the amount of importance connection with my family means to me.
Facebook keeps my family informed on important events that have happened in my life, like starting college. Although I do not post as often, I always like to update a status or picture every now and then to notify my relatives that I am still alive, you know? Since that is where you get that information instead of calling to ask if you are doing well.
My relatives are all from different states and countries, ranging from Colorado to New Mexico to Mexico, and my friends are from Spain to Portugal to California. Having friends in Europe is amazing, and I am vastly grateful Facebook exists because it is great way to stay in contact with them. Though, one thing I like to do is keep my Facebook profile appropriate and "professional" because then, according to the whole world, I can better find a job. It does not bother me as much as it does everyone else to have family as Facebook friends because I use Facebook as a useful tool to stay in communication with them. For example, I posted when I started Avila University because it was a very important and emotional day for me and I wanted my family to know. I received many “Congratulations!” and long “I’m so proud of you” messages from several relatives and friends. Even though they are not physically here to give me a warm hug, it still feels good to have family congratulate me on an accomplishment.
My Twitter social media footprint shows that I can be a very open-minded person. Random thoughts that float through my mind get posted on Twitter. The majority of my tweets have to do with me being hungry and how college books are so expensive. One of my recent tweets went something like this: “College is so expensive, I think they’re even charging us for air.” There is no doubt on those tweets about college books because they truly are expensive. Another great example of a random tweet of mine would be: “There are free donuts in the library. Y'all know what that means.” That was posted about a week ago. I'm sure it was not a brilliant idea to eat four donuts, but oh well. I get told I look 12 every day, therefore, I tweet about looking young a lot and the perks and disadvantages about it. “I just got asked if my 15-year-old sister was my older sister.”
Instagram has to be my absolute favorite; it shows my creative side. When someone first goes to my Instagram page, there is mainly pictures of clouds. Nature interests and catches my eyes and once I get a hold of a camera, there will be about 30 pictures of the same flower but from different angles. In fact, when I went to Europe two years ago, I was able to take 5,000 pictures of pure beauty. I truly love capturing moments because there are some moments that will never be seen or remembered again. My Instagram footprint displays my creativity and love for traveling.
The inventors of all these social networks are geniuses. When people say these sites are a waste of time, I believe that if one knows how to properly use social media, then it is not a waste of time. I do agree that we are so focused on social media that we lose interest on what is going on around. We all just have to manage them more appropriately and limit the amount of time we spend every day on social media. We can't be too focused on something that will always be there.
