How to Optimize Whatever You Want

The book "The Art of Social Media" will be the topic of many of posts on here and I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you all on the readings as I progress through the book. Today I want to complain about some parts of Chapter 1: "How to Optimize Your Profile" and how the author does not understand our generation well enough. In points three and four, he wants us to use one photo for everything and have it focus on our face. I get why that might seem like the move in regards to looking professional or establishing a brand for ourselves but I think it depends on the situation. Our generation loves to take pictures and share experiences more, so being professional or memorable is not always our main goal when it comes to using social media.

I love dogs and sports teams so I like to mix up my avatar from time to time to be something related to those categories instead of just me all the time. I am not embarrassed of my face but it does not seem like a necessity to have my face as a profile image everywhere to help grow my social media. Our generation loves funny people and follows people for a variety of reasons. If someone is unsure of my profile actually being mine from platform to platform just because the avatars are different then they can always confirm with me and ask if that is me before following. I understand the one photo idea but that seems kind of boring to me and makes it tough to choose which photo is the best one to select for all of my social media outlets. I want people to see different sides of me and to get a certain vibe from each avatar they see on my various social media platforms.

I wonder if the author thinks business and metrics are all that matters when it comes to perfecting social media because I think people use it for many reasons. Some people just want to express themselves and others just want a place to escape or vent. My Twitter page is a lot more silly and full of dogs compared to my Facebook page. My Facebook page is more tame and safe as I use it to update my family on my life in a responsible way. Also, my Instagram profile changes avatars constantly as I usually like to make it a profile image of me and my girlfriend or of me and my dog. Overall, I find it best to let each person optimize whatever the hell they want in their social media, hence my title. Let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree and thanks for reading.