VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR // TWITTER KILLED THE VINE STAR

Once upon a time...

My first “computer” was a portable navy and orange “laptop” called MiMoMo that I had when I was six years old. It had about three pixelized games, and zero ability to search the web. But I used to play it when I would get put in timeout, and I thought it was a mighty fine way to cheat the system and play games even though I was supposed to be feeling guilty for whatever I had done.

Since MiMoMo, I have never had a classroom without at least one computer, and I don’t remember a time without internet access at my house. We had “Computer” as one of our “Specials” in Elementary School, and I used to sit in our little classroom and write sad emails to my friends while making fierce eye contact to watch their face when they read whatever I had written. I like to think of this as my most prehistoric example of social networking.

I got my first cell phone and digital camera when I was in seventh grade, and a student-issued laptop at the start of high school. Of course I also had my trusty graphing calculator, that I used to sneakily play games on like I did with my first computer in the back of class (Block Dude is THE coolest game).

But I consider the true beginning of my digital story to be when I got my first smartphone, and as a result, gained access to social media. Right now, I have Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, Yik Yak, Pinterest, Vine, and LinkedIn under the “Social” tab on my phone. I actively use Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Here is a fun fact about me: I do not and have never had a Facebook.  

My social media journey began just before my Sophomore year of highschool, on August 17, 2012. The first thing I ever posted was a picture of my beloved family dog, Tucker. I think my real first post was something else, but I shamefully deleted it sometime within the last four years.

Since posting this first Instagram post, I have made sure to keep the world updated on all my most instrumental moments (see below):

   

If you look closely (you don’t have to look that closely), you can see that in three out of the four of these pictures, are photoshopped. One is a parody of Kim Kardashian (far left), another of The Beatles (second from left), and most recently, of Monica Lewinsky (far right). The second from the right actually a picture of me skydiving. With each of these “fan creations” or parodies, I place myself in the context of popular culture. “Any creator – whether media company, fan, academic, or activist – produces material in the hope of attracting audience interest” (9). Admittedly, the goal of these little photoshop escapades is to be funny, to interact with current events and popular culture, and to engage with my friends who follow me.

I composed my first tweet the same year as my first Instagram post (2012). It says “@KenzieHueter is my most favorite person in the entire world!!!!!” I posted it in the middle of the afternoon (12:20 PM to be exact) on December 28. The only person who liked the tweet was my own mother. To be fair, I think Kenzie liked (or favorited) it back then, but she has since deleted her Twitter account. Since my first tweet, she has lost the position as my most favorite person in the entire world, and I have tweeted 1,864 (!) more times. I scrolled back to my earliest tweets and I was mortified. One of my personal favorites is “#superdorkstatus”.

Some of my more recent tweets:

As mentioned in Spreadable Media, “Twitter quickly enabled individual marketers to build their personal brands, to connect with one another, to demonstrate their social networking abilities, and to share their ‘thought leadership’” (30). In both Twitter and Instagram, I like to think that my more recent posts reflect a growing understanding and connection to my friends and family. Social media is a type of personal branding – we wonder how our followers perceive us with each new post, we are constantly reminded what employers will think when they scroll through our accounts, and ponder the perception of strangers when they see a retweet from an account they don’t follow.

One of the coolest (and most horrifying) parts about social media is that it is essentially a continuous diary, keeping track of our thoughts, feelings, and interactions over a period of time. Spreadable Media calls the documented nature of social media, “a textual trail of the conversations audiences have about a brand or media property which may be archived indefinitely for all to see” (75).

Last August (2015), my friend went to school for a year in Scotland. When he left, we had only known each other for a few months. But social media allowed us to stay in touch and develop our friendship while he was away. We communicated using texting, social media, and weekly skype visits.

Here is a screenshot from Skype, showing running documentation of some of our communication. I also included a dorky little video I took on Snapchat during one of our weekly chats. Though this example is on a much smaller scale, “we are seeing some spectacular shifts in the flow of information across national borders and, as a consequence, in the relations between the peoples of different countries” (40). Kody and I were able to stay in touch and he became my best friend while he was living in Scotland, despite the months and miles that separated us.

However, these few examples hardly tell the story of my complete digital story. I use social media to connect with friends and family, and often use it as an outlet to express my sense of humor and my love for people who are close to me. Yet, I still struggle to find a balance between posting things that I like and things that I know my audience (my followers) will like too. Unlike other platforms, social media has time stamps and quantifiable information received through the amount of likes, retweets, comments, or followers received after each new post. We know how our media is perceived. And as a result, we do not post for just ourselves.

I would like to dedicate this story to all of my loyal social media followers (there aren’t very many of you) who have supported me from the beginning. I feel truly #blessed to have all of you in my life. And to those of you who have read this story, here is a little snapchat I posted last night. I took it myself using my phone timer. Enjoy.

I didn't realize how many pictures of myself I posted until I wrote this story. But as a representation and reflection of spreadable media, this post is undoubtedly an example of self-promotion, an attempt to spark dialogue, to create social connections, and to be a part of our larger classroom community :) 

“Yet, even if we agree that some degree of self-promotion plays a role in all communication, we must likewise recognize a desire for dialogue and discourse, for solidifying social connections, and for building larger communities through the circulation of media messages” (60). What a convenient quote. 


*logs off*