i tweeted yesterday that “my only goal in life is to become a D list celebrity who is just famous enough to get verified on Twitter and have people hate me for it” (follow me on twitter too why don’t cha) and even though i meant it as a joke just to get more likes, it’s probably the most accurate thing i could have tweeted to represent what i want at this point in my life, and i feel like i’m not alone. this was also sparked by a bit in my favorite human, Bo Burnham’s, new comedy special on netflix (watch it right now too, you’ll thank me later).
the people of my generation are a group of individuals who were brought up thinking that we are special and that we have something important to say that we need everyone to hear. we are all looking for an outlet in which we can share whatever it is we can to whatever audience we have, which is why social media is booming and we just can’t get enough of it. i know for myself personally, the past seven years of my life more or less have revolved around how i look on social media. i want people to think that i’m witty and also that what i have to say matters, which is why my twitter and this blog are my favorite outlets. i can tweet nonsense like “fall in love with someone who looks at you the same way that Joe Biden looks at Obama” or “the fresh soy sauce stains on my new all white bedspread is a solid visual for my life” and people seem to enjoy it and follow me and think it’s funny. for this blog, i can write articles like my post of how i’ve changed over this year (here) or about rude adults in politics (here) and hundreds of people can read that and take my opinions and stories and apply them to whatever they might need to. both of these are instances where i’m “performing” for my audiences, and i get excited for it. i check my metrics for most all of my social media platforms weekly, if not more, because the more views i get or the more retweets i get, the more i feel like my content is good and the more my “audience” appreciates it.
some might see this as me talking like i have hundreds of thousands of people watching my moves as if i’m some sort of online celebrity, but i know that’s not true, you know it’s not true, and that level of following is not typical for many people, yet we all have the same feelings of wanting to grow and engage our “audiences” regardless of their size.
social media and online entertainment is something that has always interested me and is something i hope to in the future work in and with so obviously i go a little deeper into the never ending pit that is metrics and analytics, but we all do care to an extent about what our follower count is, what our views are, whatever. we are a generation of performers and for most of us, our social media outlets are our only outlets. so there ya go gen x and you baby boomers, that’s why we’re “always on those dang phones”.
not too shabby 