Social media is using you
It's everywhere around us these days. It's how we stay in touch with friends and family, how we get hired, how we date, how we get our news, everything!
These social platforms are all billion-dollar companies finding new and creative ways, every single day, to keep people on these platforms. At the start of the year, Statista projected total spend on social media advertising is projected to reach $219.8 billion in 2024. Insane.
We're being forced by society (corporations) to stay glued on these platforms. Most people, me included, have at least three different social platforms on our most used device.
I know you're probably not based in the United States but with the limited research available on worldwide statistics in this regard, Pew Research Center reported what percentage of Americans use the top social media apps every single day and the numbers are interesting…
70% of US adults use Facebook daily
59% of US adults use Snapchat daily
59% of US adults use Instagram daily
46% of US adults use Twitter daily
54% of US adults use YouTube daily
I'm writing this to force you to wake up. Mindless scrolling and mindless creating will ruin you by taking all your time and giving you nothing but occasional entertainment in return. I'll be breaking down how to let social serve you and your goals as we head into 2025.
Social media is social first and foremost
The quick way to know you're being used by these platforms without getting anything substantial in return is by asking yourself,
"how social am I being on social media?"
Are you just mindlessly scrolling and doing almost close to no socializing?
There's a word for people that do that in real life. And let me hold my hand when I tell you this - you're a stalker. You're observing, staring, watching and probably don't even have a profile picture. You're the textbook definition of a stalker.
The whole point of social media and content creation, is to make it a lot easier for creators and brands to start conversation with strangers. And this is true regardless of if you're just building a community, building a brand or just staying in touch with friends.
I absolutely hate it whenever I share a story to my close friends or private Instagram profile, purposely created for friends and family, and getting no form of interaction. No comments, no dms, nothing. And I know I'm not the only one who hates it.
We are social beings looking for ways to be social, and social media was created to solve that. Conversations are the goal. And if you can optimize your social experience to be one that prioritises conversations, you're on your way to completely transforming your life - no cap.
Becoming a super-version of your own self
There are two main ways social media can serve you, whether you're a creator or just a consumer.
Personal Development
Business Development
It can either be doing one or the other, but in most successful cases, it ends up doing both! It even sounds impossible. That there's something that you already use on a day-to-day basis, that can help you grow your business while also making you a better person, at the same time. And it's free (for the most part).
I'll share some pointers for how social can help you become a better person and in next week's email, I'll share how it can grow your business and the benefits of having both
Stop acting like a celebrity (you're not one).
When social first started, it was only the celebrities that had massive following. We followed our favourite artistes and actors because we loved their work. We followed their day to day activites on social because we wanted to taste what it felt like to be someone like them.
The problem with this is we think that the best way to be a person of influence is to be this perfect model or personality that is loved by many. We end up dressing a type of way, speaking a type of way, and communicating a type of way because that's what our brains equate successful brands to.
We could never be more wrong.
You're a work in progress. And that's okay. You're not some perfect ideal person on the internet, and it's okay to embrace that.
I typically say every piece of content I write is to help myself of the past. I write with care and love, just I would have wanted someone to also do for me.
For creators, this has to show in your content. And for people that just consume, it has to show in how you interact with content. The kind of comments you leave tell a story of how you see yourself. And people catch that.
2. Get 1% better every time you post
This point applies more to people looking to share their content with the world but are struggling with perfection.
You might cook up the perfect LinkedIn post and share it with a smile on your face, only for it to end up making no impact or getting any recognition. Nobody reads it, nobody connects, and then it disappears into the abyss.
The only way you're going to get better is by making steady improvements over time. And this can be in something as little as the quality of comments you leave behind, or the way you write your captions.
When you treat every share as an opportunity to improve, you approach it a lot more openly and with a healthy attitude. And the beautiful thing is, it compounds every time you share. You get better daily. And eventually you'd be unrecognizable.
This email is getting a bit too long, so I'll break it here and continue on next week's send. See you then!