Why do we post on social media? For myself, all of my platforms are featuring personal accounts. Recently, I have decided that it was time to clean up my Instagram, make my account private, and really monitor my activity. I decided to do this because I have begun my post-graduation job search for the Summer. A few years ago, I was really involved in my social media accounts because I was following in the footsteps of one of my friends who some might say has "influencer status." Once I realized that I didn't want to be perceived in that way, I decided to take it down a step and just use social media for myself and keeping in touch with friends. This was probably one of the smartest decisions I have made because I was portraying a person that I'm not behind the screen.
Over the past week, we have looked into impression management, which is all about putting out our best faces and personalities out on the internet, even if they're not fully who we are. I wanted to share a post from when I was trying to grow my Instagram platform versus what I post now and reflect on the difference.
The photo on the left was taken at a New Years Gala themed party hosted by NBA player James Harden in 2020. As my friend and I were so lucky to be invited to this event, I still wanted to "show it off." Following this photo, I posted a series of photos and videos from the party as well. Yes, I loved what I was wearing and I would 100% wear that outfit again for a formal event, the motive behind posting this picture is embarrassing to me today. Whereas, the photo on the right was taken in September, 2021 when I went to my cousins wedding in Colorado. I wasn't trying to "model" or post a "professional-looking" photo. I simply liked the photo, so I posted it. Additionally, this photo portrays my true self, I'm genuinely happy and I'm at lunch in Colorado with my boyfriend. The difference in my social media usage and portrayal has drastically changed in the past 2 years.
I believe that it is so important to understand impression management because you don't want to give off the wrong idea to the wrong audience. For me, I don't want potential employers to look at my social media accounts and think that I am something that I'm not in real life. Therefore, I decided to unfollow certain accounts, delete several of my posts, and most importantly, only post what I would consider to be portraying my full self.
Lauren
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