Blog 011 — How Social Media Can Make You Or Break You

Chris Ulbrich
Aug 26, 2017 · 4 min read

In 2017, If you don’t have a Facebook and/or Instagram, you are essentially living off the grid. I say both because some under 20-year-olds don’t have facebook, just Instagram, but everyone from 20–60 probably has a Facebook. When it comes to Snapchat, Tumblr, Reddit, Musically, Medium or Anchor, they come and go with the tide. You have to ask someone if they have those, but FB or IG everyone has one of those.

Since we now live in a mobile first world, these apps were designed to work best on the phone and make everyday use easy. Some people still think social is a fad and doesn’t realize the monetization capability. The incredible ad targeting is slightly scary in how well companies can find you. FB can target an ad by location, age, gender, income, and things you like or don’t like. It’s too easy… and the price to market on these platforms is small compared to traditional marketing.
But enough about how well algorithms can hunt you down.

All of these social apps are now your tv stations. From an entertainment and marketing perspective. FB is CNN, IG is MTV, Snap is E, and Medium is Fox. Not literally, but that’s now where the world is going. People consume news and entertainment from social and less and less from TV. No wonder media makes such a big deal about everything; it’s all because they need the ratings back. People are entertained by other people on personal channels instead of traditional media.
“This” is a great example. If you are reading this, back when the newspaper was a thing, I would need to be a reporter or accredited writer to get in front of people, but instead, with one post to FB, you are now reading this instead of the newspaper or watching tv. And for free. Beating free is hard. But now with the ease of entry, there is significantly more competition. But the best part of the competition is the products have to get better to stay alive.
Capitalism is cool.
If the government were the only ones that could blog, it would be real boring. Imagine the only reading material we had were Trump’s tweets. (I should take that back they are actually really entertaining)

The point is, it’s a mobile first world. The apps are the stations. People are now businesses. Influencer marketing is getting easier to quantify, and there is no hiding. If people think they can keep their personal life separate from their work life, or social media life away from anything else, they are nuts. Your FB is now your resume. Anything you write on your old paper resume is a waste because it’s getting fact checked by your media pages. Employers or basically anyone interested in meeting you can check a digital run down of you in second from their pocket.
This is either exciting or scary.

If you are scared, you might be a crappy person. I’m not talking about people’s personal information being leaked or someone hacking you. I’m talking about how people can find out about your personality and see who you are. If you are lying on your social, people will be disappointed with you, and this leaves you with no credibility.
If you are happy about people getting insight to you before you meet them, then you could be a genuinely good person. Social media just reveals who we really are. Over time no one can hide. This could be really good; it could encourage people to be better versions of themselves. Those who say, “they would like me if they only knew me” now have a chance in this world to meet people without even having to be in the same room.

A lot of people believe social media is a place where everyone fakes their life. Only shows the perfect pictures and edits everything to a tee. Shows the highs, but never the lows. This is true, but a problem once you actually meet the person and find out how disappointing their life really is, and it was all just a front.

This blog is an interesting example. We have all teased my grammar together which has been fun. If I were to front on this, I would have every post edited by someone more qualified than me, and I could look like a better writer. But that’s not what it’s about…That’s not what social is about. It’s about being who you genuinely are, and people always connect better to your real self.

Long run, the truth always wins. Play for the long run.

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Chris Ulbrich

Fitness | Ballroom | Business

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