By Susan Kemp
During my junior year of high school, I ditched every single school assembly. Feigning interest in things that annoy me is simply something that I’ve never been able to do. And it goes much past boredom—I become physically agitated.
You may not share my aversion towards pom-poms and shouting one’s graduation year in near-unison, but as art students in the 21st century, I bet a number of you are beginning to share my near-hatred for any lecture, seminar or panel on social media.
For me, it’s a matter of being constantly inundated with the same basic material over and over. Some go so far as to make their lectures generationally relevant, by including a list of do-not’s. These are usually revolutionary ideas like:
1. Do not use excessive profanity.
2. Do not post discriminating photos of yourself.
3. Do not post anything unnecessarily offensive, which will probably now be supplemented by references to the infamous UCLA girl.
Now this all might be true, but if you’re anything like me, these things are so obvious that it’s almost insulting to be constantly reminded. It’s kind of like being 13, and your mother still reminding you not to open the front door for strangers.
But here’s the thing: there is some merit to what these lecturers are saying. It’s just that the ideas are never developed in a particularly sophisticated way. We’re repeatedly told to “be professional,” and sure, that sounds reasonable enough, but what does that actually mean?
Many people leave knowing what to “not do,” but are left bewildered about what “to do.”
Maybe we can turn to success stories for the answers. We all know the stories of people like Justin Bieber and Drake—people who used YouTube and MySpace to prove that they had something worth investing in—but these stories still feel far removed from my own reality.
I don’t sing and I don’t expect people to stumble upon my Twitter thinking they’ve found the next best thing.
But we can still sell ourselves.
I recently read a New York Times article, and was surprised to see a SCAD student featured. Third-year advertising student Mark Manalasay won an internship over Twitter at Campbell Mithun, a Minnesota-based advertising agency. The competition, called “Lucky 13” selected their interns based on 13 tweets that the finalists wrote over 13 days.
One of the winners, Natalie Neal, said on her blog that, “The best way to break away from the 140-character restriction was to link to something else.”
Now this is something we should be hearing in these generic social media lectures. And this is what I mean by such lectures failing to develop basic concepts like “be professional” in a sophisticated way. What I’d rather them say is, “prove that you’re already a professional.”
For instance, Lucky 13 participants linked to commercials on YouTube with good art direction, news articles related to the field, images of their own work and strategies developed on Google docs.
They proved that they can access and use new media, they are actively creating work and that they’re invested in keeping up with what’s going on in the industry. And they did it all in 13 tweets.
I’ve seen so many people, myself included, who upon making their first Twitter account immediately tweet,
“What am I supposed to use Twitter for?”
If you have nothing to post, try re-tweeting or linking to other websites that you find interesting.
Your retweets, especially if a lot of them come from the same person or news source begin to develop your tastes—they may even go so far as to give an undertone of your political or moral belief templates.
This is what the generic social media panels fail to mention. Twitter, over time, becomes a collection of short notes, links and re-tweets that you found interesting enough to say or share. It can begin to develop a sense of who you are.
Maybe we don’t need to banish the mention of strawberry cream cheese from our Twitter feeds, but at least be aware that if the posts never go beyond this, then that’s all people are going to know about you.
To counter the do not’s of the dreaded social media lecture, let me create a list of #winning uses for social media:
1. Share photos or excerpts from your current projects. This shows employers that you’re a self-starter and in your free time, you’re choosing to be creative. Even if no one ever responds, if you do this consistently for an extended period of time, it will show dedication.
2. Retweet news stories or events (concerts, art openings, book readings) that you find interesting or that you’ll be attending, especially if they’re related to your field of study. This shows you’re actively engaging in the world and your community.
3. Remember the “social” part of “social media.” Respond to other people’s blogs, tweets, status updates. Show your ability to respond critically to topics and yes, the lecturers might be right—Twitter, is a great networking tool.
