Blog Post 3: Preparing for social media to my 10-year old self

Dear Robert or Roberto or Robster the Lobster, it’s yourself,

I’m not sure you will be ready for this but here it goes. You probably know the term social media. If not you probably know Facebook (at the time) right now and probably playing backyard monsters or Farmville. Having mom’s permission to create an account and having the ability to make posts and photos to share with your friends & family. Well, you are about to encounter a new world besides Facebook.

As you grow up, you will encounter many types of media ranging from Youtube to Twitter Instagram to Snapchat and many more that you probably haven’t heard yet. This will play a huge factor in your pre-teen and teen faze. Trust me.

At first, you might not see social media as an essential part of life. As you can see all your friends in person and hang out with them instead of talking on the computer. It’s not essential at the moment. Also, you are probably had classes talking about the dangers of cyberbullying and the internet during lab times. But overall you should be fine as long you don’t search up crazy stuff.

Highschool or even middle school social media will play a huge role in your popularity and “branding” of you. It will start developing of how others will see you, creating friendships and enemies, creating study groups or drama. A good example would be Instagram, as it is one of the biggest social media platforms during your time in high school. Where you will see peers especially the cool kids creating a “mirage” of living a perfect life. But don’t compare yourself to them, because it creates an unhealthy persona and you should just be yourself.

As you grow up you will become more self-aware about the power of social media and all of the opportunities. During the time at university, you will become a graphic designer creating visual arts ranging from print to creating media posts on social media and videos. You will get opportunities from companies and schools that you never thought you would get the chance to talk to. You’ll be turning people’s ideas into reality and either seeing it thrive or fall.

You will start to grasp how social media and marketing operate during your studies. How these courses and education gained to use these platforms to their fullest potential and into your favour. Using them to gain an advantage over the competition (aka your peers/friends). But you will need to be careful as everything have a Darkside. Thanks, RTA 902 for teaching me the key ideas to building a personal brand on social media and making it successful.

This might seems a lot to take in. But overall, enjoy the moments you can, documents those moments and share them with your friends. Social media is not a bad thing. Use it.