Social Media Metrics: Building and Breaking Up Your Self-Image
Social media platforms are growing and becoming bigger, making online engagement more diverse than ever before. With more access to information, it generates more conversations and opinions, bringing forth the question: How much time do people spend on social media? And how does social media affect our self-worth?
The total time people spend on social media is a rising figure, and it continues to grow. Teens spend up to 9 hours a day on social platforms, while 30% of the total amount spent online is now designated to social media interaction. Distributing content on the Internet creates reams (or, rather, spreadsheets) of information. As creators, you have access to the data points about how your IP is received and acted upon.
As content advances, becomes more universal, and more social, it is presumptuous that part of it matters to you. You find yourself posting more frequently and connected with web-based social networking. But also questioning yourself, “What do people really think of my post? Do they like it? Do they hate it? Do they even bother to read it?” Social media metrics has unwittingly challenged our sense of self-worth and our overall understanding of value.
Today, all kids praise and solely follow one golden rule: If you didn’t post it, then it didn’t happen. It seems rather easy and simple, but the pressures are very much there. The need to look good 24/7, to come across as adventurous through countless Instagram posts, and the more people they know the cooler that they are — this applies to a network of millennials.
Content publications are no longer just for content publication. For teens, content sharing is for a much bigger purpose — the views, likes and followers that comes from it. Social media structures and influences the form of how and when publications are made. Instagram users are peculiar when it comes to this. The unwritten rules of Instagram are as followed — 1) Post at peak times 2) Never post twice a day and 3) Keep a consistent follower-following ratio.
But what does all of this really mean and why does it matter? For those that care about gaining followers and likes, then this means everything. Teens are willing to pay for likes, and followers on their posts. Instagram users are actively seeking in management apps that track, check, manage their followers/followings by breaking down who is following you, who unfollowed you, who don’t follow you back. These stats are merely just numbers. To teens, an unfollow on Instagram may question your relationship with that person. Does this person not like me or did I do something for them to unfollow me? Are we even friends? Social media holds the power to bring together people who share the same interests, humour, and ideas. But we know that what we see online may not necessarily appear the same in reality, as everything is fixed to meet the new conceptualization of social media. The reality of it all is that teens are aiming to impress their followers, people that they might not even know — a fan base of strangers while opening a door of false sense of belonging. We use social media to get attention, but what if what we curate goes unseen? The point is when we don’t get what we want, we end up disappointed.
Today, many teens have at some point of being active online felt rejected or insecure because of social media metrics. If a posts doesn’t get likes, they automatically assume “What’s wrong with me” and regret ever posting it. Social media forces people to play a specific role, by masking themselves to be someone that will anticipate for more likes, views, and followers. And teens are willing to change how they look, what they do, and who they know for their social status and online popularity. Even if it means demoralizing themselves to impress others.
22% of teens feel bad about themselves if their photos are ignored and 27% feel stressed about how they look in posted photos. Social media has been associated to higher levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, envy, narcissism, and decreased social skills. And it’s no surprise that users who are obsessively checking on updates from their social media account are linked to one of these affects. My biggest fear is that society will lose its diversity and become homogenized. As more and more teens conform to the rules of Instagram, how they post, what they post, and when they post will become identical.
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