The power of Vlogging

What's up y'all! For proper introductions, My name is Vincent, also known as VC by my friends. I am a senior Management major and Communication minor at TLU which is why I am creating blogs of course. As far as introductions go this is as good as it will get. 

For those of us who have our friends or family talk to, we commonly get asked the question, "How was your day?" If you haven't, imagine me asking you, how was your day today?  There's two ways we can answer this question. The first is simply stating how our day went within a sentence. 

good! 

oh it was terrible! 

it was just a regular day. 

The other choice of course, is to actually talk about your day. In the 1700's to roughly 1950's era, Lee Humphrey's discusses in his book, The Qualified Self, Social Media and the Accounting of Everyday Life, that this was a time of publicly sharing diaries with family and friends regardless of the material. Humphrey's goes on to later state that the 1950's to pre 2000's was a period of using a diary for actually holding secrets like what everyone thinks a diary is used for, but from the 2000's to now everything and everyone has gone back to open book. How does the concept of a diary go back to being public? 

My opinion? technology. 

The creation of cell phones and internet allowed for the development of applications on phones and websites on the internet, which is basically what pushed this need for social interaction everyday whenever people are away from each other's presence. Because of this, people got creative. 

Social media was used for posting to let people keep up with each other and what is going on in their lives. Let's focus on the most famous youtuber Felix Kjellberg, otherwise known as PewDiePie 

This is one of the first ever posts by PewDiePie on his instagram. "Everything is [finally] ready! Moving to Italy today! :D". Before fame? there is no way this gets 100,000 likes. Even though this was the normal instagram post in June of 2012 when it was posted, it does not warrant thousands of likes as a regular person right? 

Fast forward 8 years and millions of followers with fame later, and you get this. Look at the difference in basically everything. Picture quality, content, captions. Why such a transition? Of course, having come 8 years from where you were previously adheres to obvious ideas that a person grows out of their old self and into a new "me". However, how much change comes when the growth period comes with having the most subscribers EVER on youtube and becoming one of the most famous people on planet earth? 

George Herbert Mead explains his concept of "I" vs "Me" when it comes to perceptions. After reading this, it can be summed up to say that the "Me' of Mead's description is centered around what is acceptable to people, or your followers on social media that requires well-thought publications to platforms that everyone can see. The "me" is an idea of playing a background in fitting into the overall majority. The "I" however is the opposite and deals with being more unique in comparison to norms of society and what is expected of a person. "I" is standing out as a person who doesn't fit in to what social media platforms are trending with 

The focus of this blog wasn't around PewDiePie and his success through vlogging on youtube, HOWEVER his success on youtube and being completely open to answering the question "how was your day?" through vlogging his life started to affect who he had to become in order to keep his fame. Being open with his life allowed for people to want more of him, which shifted his perspectives in comparison to Mead's "I" vs "Me". Felix was no longer an "I" kind of person, and become PewDiePie to suffice the public eye, or being "Me". 

Is Social Media Just a Worldwide Diary?

 

Hi. The name is Cassiddi, but most people just know me as Cass. I'm a sophomore at TLU studying for my Athletic Training degree. This is my first blog here (now is the time to click away and spare yourself) and I'd figure I'd just introduce myself. I'm still new to this whole blogging thing so bear with me. :)

Have you ever really noticed how much of your life you put on social media? I mean seriously. It is so easy to find out every little thing about someone from a few Instagram or TikTok posts (creepy thought, I know).

Now you may think, "Cass, everyone knows that they post a lot on social media. That's the point. For people to see it." Well, thanks captain obvious. What I really wanna know is if you ever think about how social media has become a living diary for millions of people across the globe?

(Never really thought about it, huh?)

Since we were kids, a diary was always been just this secret thing where we wrote in and locked away. We wrote about the crush we had on the class clown names Chris (I feel like we all knew a Chris), the embarrassing time we passed a note in class and got caught, the time James kissed Suzzy while dating Marissa (I actually don't know a James, Suzzy, or Melissa myself), or even about everything we did since we woke up this morning. But think about all the different types of posts you scroll past on social media every day:

Vlogs. 

Storytimes. 

Workout routines.

Instagram posts.

OOTDs (outfit of the day for those who don't know). 

GRWM (get ready with me).

All of those are things we used to keep locked in diaries that were hidden in sock drawers, for only our eyes to see. Then we took to social media and it became ideal for everyone to know what's going on in our lives.

Take Elyse Meyers for example. 24-year-old social media influencer, mother, and wife. I found her on TikTok a year or so ago and followed her immediately. Her TikTok is full of funny storytimes, random thoughts, embarrassing moments, and things she's learned about life so far.

Elyse Myers' TikTok Page

Her content, to me, is similar to the original diaries in history than that of a typical youtube vlog. See, early uses of diaries included women's accounts of their and their families lives, meant to be shared and enjoyed with others.

She uses her "online diary" to connect with people through personal anecdotes, lessons she's learned, and an accepting, fun, loving presence.

 Of her most recent videos, Meyers has posted a short epiphany of when she realized she isn't sure how exactly water works. She simply drinks throughout the day hoping she won't dehydrate or drown herself in the process. (I should definitely drink more water...) In another, she discusses her time becoming one of her high school mascots and how she had to go through a whole secret induction process and continue keeping this secret from everyone in school as part of the tradition. She even posted an uplifting video just 2 days ago about how one of the best things she has ever learned for herself is that it is ok to grow and change your opinions of yourself and of things you have thought in your past. It doesn't make you a hypocrite.

Other creators, like 20-year-old, coffee addict Emma Chamberlaine, create daily vlogs. Whether it's just a video of her cooking or a quick car drive and a day out, she has found a way to connect with her viewers and make them feel like they are just chilling with a friend.

(click here for her youtube)

Chamberlain's "online diary" consists of a more 90's - early 2000's diary vibe. Typically what we hid beneath our pillows was a chronological recollection of our day and the gossip of our daily lives. Chamberlain simply publicized it. From videos about her anxiety to errands she may run to a day out with the girls, she has set herself up for a full view into her life for anybody who wants to take her up on it. The only difference between her life and the ones we held in the fluffy, pink, heart-locket diaries, is ours was a "secret." (<--- I put "secret" in quotes because everyone knows you had the diary. Trust me.)

Early diaries were used for social purposes. For women to share about their lives and the lives of their family and community. Later diaries were used in secret, to gossip and have something to keep for ourselves (except for those of us with nosey little brothers). Social media has referred us back to the original ways of the world: a way to share any and every aspect of our lives in any way we please to anyone, anywhere in the world.

So what do you think? Is social media just a worldwide diary?