My Social Media Journey | Crossing Over to the Dark Side

Posted on by Bethany Bourgault

I’ll be honest – I wasn’t always a huge fan of social media. It took some time (’til 2011, that is) for me to switch over to the dark side.

I’d always used Facebook as a place to learn about others, not for them to learn about me. (Which, I suppose, has turned out alright. I’m now one of those people that can find a person’s ancestry records and high school sports statistics using just their first-name-only Tinder profile.)

Then, when I joined Twitter in 2011, I started to see social media in a different light. I was exploring the idea of someday working in communications, and noticed that that’s exactly what Twitter was – a way to communicate. Just like Instagram, which I signed up for shortly later; and Snapchat, which came just a few months after than that.

I eventually started using Twitter to promote my work, whether that was a music video I made for a friend in high school, or the (now embarrassingly amateur) content I wrote for an online publication my freshman year of college.

I should have called that story, “Freshman Discovers Coffee | A Life Changed Forever.” Stay tuned for its sequel: “Senior Replaces Blood with Coffee |Far Past the Point of No Return.”

I’d eventually learn more about how to use social media to promote some of the better content I’d create, and how to use it in a professional setting (@YankeeMagazine). Now, I use Instagram to interact with a community of world travelers and Facebook to interact with just about everyone I’ve ever met. I even use Facebook Messenger far more than I text.

Moral of the story: even the late social media bloomers can learn to love technology. We just have to embrace “the dark side.”

 

 

3 thoughts on “My Social Media Journey | Crossing Over to the Dark Side”

  1. Hi Bethany! First off, the title of this blog post was very interesting. I have always been an early bloomer in the social media world, but it was great seeing your perspective. Many people are skeptical of social media and I’m happy you now “embrace the dark side”.

  2. I’m going to have to agree with Sharon! I always have such a love and hate relationship with social media and posting can be exhausting. I think that everyone has their own way of interacting and some might take longer breaks than others, and that’s okay. I loved how you talked about your journey from basically hating it to embracing what it can do for you. Keep up the good work.

  3. The dark side. Whoa. Nice title. I get what you mean though. It took me awhile to get into social media, I didn’t fully understand the concept at first. Now, however I can’t really imagine my life without it. It’s a great way to communicate with friends, see life updates and just share a little bit about yourself with the world. I will say that it can be a little superficial in nature but I believe it’s the next level of communication for us as a people. I love it. Can I get a retweet?

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