Social Media Etiquette

On the topic of vacation photos this week, I mentioned that seeing them on my feed only makes me feel bitter because I am working and could not afford to do the same. I guarantee the person posting their beach selfie or a picture of their coffee while waking up in Spain did not mean to make others feel lesser. Or maybe they did. It got me thinking about how to curate content that people like, because, isn’t that the whole point?

 What I’ve put together is:

(a) Your post can’t be too showy- don’t brag about your trips or designer goods! It’s rude!

(b) Don’t be too honest/vulnerable - the beg-y sad posts just drag everyone down

(c) People want to see their ideal life- If I can see what you’re posting around me, what ‘s the point of looking at it online?

(d) Your content has to be relatable to your audience and seem like you can level with them.

As you can see, taking a picture of video that follows all of these rules in impossible. To figure out who has this whole social media etiquette thing down, we can only look to the influencers. If the top tier of social media accounting is having an abundance of likes and people who look up to you, influencers take the cake. Some of them even get large enough paychecks from their posts and sponsorships to not need a job and be able to comfortably live off their income from YouTube, Instagram, etc.

In an interview by Entrepreneur, influencer Connor Franta illustrates his YouTube channel as one that began with no specific intention but to have fun making videos. 7 years and 6 million subscribers later, he advises new YouTube creators that to succeed on YouTube, you must love the work and cultivate a community that you engage with online. He adds that new accounts should “focus on quality and creativity” as well as to be vulnerable with your audience. With fame comes responsibility and Franta warns that “the hardest part is knowing that there’s not really an end” , addressing the constant workload to make, edit, and upload new and exciting content. The photo attached displays some of his videos and the variety of his content.

People have written dozens of articles on how to gain a following or be successful on YouTube. Oberlo suggests that to create a successful YouTube channel, your videos should “educate and entertain” but that “your content shouldn’t be a sales pitch”. They also remind readers that you are in competition with other more developed channels. Primarily, this article tells readers to play to their strengths and stay true to you.

An article on LemonLight describes what people watch most in YouTube in 2019. Unsurprisingly, music reaches the most viewers. Other content listed includes gaming channels, beauty vloggers, and global channels. This reading suggests that fame-driven YouTube creators should be humorous, partner with influential creators, and add voice-overs to playlist videos so people remember who you are. Who knew there were so many implied rules to social media accounting?

All in all, to become successful in the world of YouTube, it seems that you must have a genuine interest in creating videos that audiences will relate to while keeping an eye on competing channels. Similarly to Instagram or Twitter, it’s a dog-eat-dog world on YouTube as well. To answer the question of what to post, it appears that creator’s personal interests often take the backburner to making content that viewers want. The process includes making content, looking at comments, making more content geared toward those comment, and receiving gratification when the content reaches a large audience rather than when posting.

Circling back to the annoying summer vacation photos, I can only think that regardless of whether you are searching for fame or not, your posts will not be perfect. Perhaps they shouldn’t. If any possible post will receive backlash for being overly showy, vulnerable, unrealistic, or average and boring, at the end of the day, the posts you make can’t rely on what feedback will circulate. Posting what you enjoy making/doing may be the key to doing it right.

This is a classic example of Mead’s theory of “Me” and “I”, having the 2 constantly struggling to balance one another. The dilemma of whether to sacrifice who you are to please others via social media is one both social media stars and everyday people experience.