Following the Trends: a Steady Decline of Authenticity.

My social media presence differs from network to network, depending on what is socially "cool" or acceptable on that website. I really didn't realize that until Eric asked us how social media has framed us. I want to run you through each of my social media accounts, and give you an inside look into what I'm thinking when I post certain things, and how outside forces have effected that...

Facebook: So we'll start with Facebook, because I feel as though it is the biggest social media outlet that I have, and probably that even exists. Every once in a while I'll get a notification of something that I posted as a Facebook status in the past. Back in my middle school days, Facebook had more of a twitter like feel. People posted what they were feeling, or what they were doing. I feel as though I've seen less and less of that as the years have gone on, and because I've seen less of that, I've done less of that. For me, Facebook is just a dumping ground for things from other social media accounts. For example, things that I post on Instagram get dumped onto Facebook. I think the main two reasons that I even keep my Facebook account is because I get a lot of business off of it, and because EVERYONE has a Facebook, and it's great for looking people up. I think that if more of my friends still used Facebook as an active form of social media, the way that I present myself on Facebook might be different. I definitely pay attention to how my profile is presented, though, because I know that people will probably stalk me from time to time. For a lot of people, Facebook IS the first impression that you get of someone, before even meeting them. I'm really aware of that, and because of that I'm careful about what is in my "about" section, and what photos I allow to show up on my page. If I were being totally 100% honest, and authentic, I wouldn't filter these things.

Instagram: This is where I notice the most framing. I'm really careful about what I post on Instagram, which is funny because I have 1212 Instagram posts, to date. I've noticed that I've followed trends on how my Instagram photos are posted, what filters I use, and things like that. For example, there was this huge trend throughout a large group of people that I followed on Instagram, where it was "cool" to post your photos with white bars on the sides. Basically the idea was that you could post the whole photo rather than having to crop it into a square. Then people went through a phase where cropping them into squares was cool... things like that. Instagram has also effected the way that I photograph things, as a photographer. Simplistic shots with white or textured backgrounds is really popular, this is something that I've noticed through Instagram, and I've geared myself more toward that style of photography. I feel as though Instagram is becoming similar to Facebook, in that people use it to pre-stalk other people before they meet. I find myself posting things that exemplify the kind of person that I want to be, whether I am that or not. I post a lot of art, with quotes, and pictures of the adventures that I go on, because I feel like that makes me look interesting. I'm not saying that I'm' not those things, because I totally am, but I'm also a lot of other things that I DON'T post. I also notice myself looking at who, and how many people have liked the photos that I post. I have an average "likage" of about "60-80" people, and if I have less than that, I stress out a little bit, and wonder what was wrong with what I posted. So vain, I know, but that's our culture!

Twitter and Snapchat: I'm putting these two together, because out of all of my social media outlets, I'm the most authentic on these two. I  think the reason is, that less people see what I post than on any other social media site. I say whatever I want on twitter. I definitely subtweet at people all the time (unless they follow me, and I know that they'll know what I'm saying is about them.) I use twitter as a place to dump all of my thoughts, and say things that I wouldn't necessarily say to someone's face, or on another social media site, for more people to see. Snapchat is just fun... I love recording little snippets of my life, and I feel as though I catch a lot of funny moments through snapchat. I think it's less intimidating than more permanent forms of social media, because whatever I post on my story disappears after 24 hours. People can't look back on the things that I've posted like they can on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I definitely use both of these websites to express myself, and to effect the way that people see me. I think that I'm less of a trend follower on these two social networks, but I also feel like there are a lot less trends to follow through these networks.

I think that the fact that i even have ALL of these networks says something about me, because I feel like I have more social media accounts than your average person.
 

Wow. I don't think I've ever been so honest, as to what I'm thinking as i post things.... But it was definitely interesting to take a look through things that I've said, and wonder why I've said them, or why I have posted certain things. I think the biggest thing that I realized in regards to how I've been framed, is that I follow the trends, rather than walking to the beat of my own drum. I don't know how I feel about that. What does the fact that I let myself be so influenced by people mean about me as a person? What does it mean about me as an artist? Maybe it's time for a change.

Facebook Page Analysis

I've had my page since 2008, and I did not even know what Facebook Analytics was. I had never even tried to click on the tabs to find out what they did! It was really interesting to go through and look at this. It is definitely something that I will pay attention to in the future. I found that as I recognized the trends that were forming, I was better able to make decisions on what, when, and how to post things to get the most reaction from people.

 Posts: I tried to post one or two photos per week. I found that I had much more success with both my post reach, and my post likes when I tagged people in the photos. I also found a lot of success from sharing the posts to my individual page. The only thing that I noticed that really did not work, was only posting the photo. I got much less reach, and few to no likes if I didn't tag the clients, or share the image to my personal page.

Post Reach: As I noticed trends in the times that people saw my posts, I began to post things at those times to optimize the chances that they would be seen by more people. 

 I think that posting at the right time, and cross promoting to my own facebook page has a lot to do with the fact that as the project went on, my  posts were seen by more and more people.

People:
 I decided to take a look at all three categories. The percentage of men that my posts reached was slightly higher than the percentage of men who like my page, or engaged with the post. I thought this was interesting, but not surprising. I would guess that a majority of the men that my posts reach came from me cross promoting my page onto my personal page, and by tagging people in the photos. My people insights are spot on with what my target audience was.

 As far as where people were from, it was very consistent with who I listed as my target audience. Mostly people from St. George, with a few scattered throughout Utah.

*Side Note* Apparently NSW is a place in Australia, and I get a few Australian viewers.

 I don't find it surprising that more women engaged with my posts. This is something that I've found to be pretty consistent for as long as I've had this page. Maybe that will be my next experiment. How to attract more male fans, and get them to engage with my posts.

 The percentage of male vs. female fans that I have does not surprise me. I do think it's interesting that a majority of my page fans are 18-24, but maybe not surprising, seeing as I fit in that age category myself, and a lot of the people who like the page are my friends.

Visits:
I definitely see more page visits when I post things, but I get a lot more reach, and engagement than I do page visits. In retrospect, I wish that I would have researched what to post or say to get people to visit the page more.

 Likes, Comments, Shares:
I received a lot more comments and likes on posts when I tagged my client in the post.

Page Likes:

 I can definitely see a trend in that I gained more and more followers as I posted. I haven't much payed attention to the analytics in the past, but I feel that my page had sort of hit a plateau of likes, and as I started to post more consistently, I started to gain more and more likes.

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