Health & Fitness
Navigating Social Media for Everyone
A simple guide to navigating social media for the every day person.
When it comes to social media, it can get overwhelming pretty quick. Once you've mastered Facebook, it changes; after you've set up your Twitter account, Instagram comes along.
Here's a simple guide to navigating social media for the every day person, without getting overwhelmed. Find out which social media account is best for your needs and how to use it, without throwing your smartphone out a window.
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Probably the most widely-used social media account, Facebook is a necessary evil for a lot of people. We love it, but we also hate it.
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What it's good for: Connecting with friends, family, high school classmates, college roommates, and those people who you met once or twice at random events and want to actually get to know better.
What it's not good for: Updates from businesses and/or news organizations. The Facebook algorithm is just not set up to show you these types of updates unless the business or organization pays for it, and many don't. So don't depend on Facebook for your news or coupons.
How to lifehack Facebook: There are a few ways to make Facebook work for you so you won't hate it so much. Always see your friends' statuses with these tips and tricks; and keep your Facebook private.
It's been around for awhile, but Twitter still seems to confuse people. Don't fear the Twitter. It can be awesome. Let me tell you why.
What it's good for: News updates, connecting with celebrities, businesses and other organizations.
What it's not good for: Connecting with your friends and family.
How to lifehack Twitter: First, let's explain Twitter briefly — Twitter is a series of short, 140-character messages sent via the Twitter system. If you sign up for a Twitter account, you can choose to "follow" other accounts and they will send out these brief updates. You will read them. You can also send out your own brief messages. That's Twitter in a nutshell.
Now, let's lifehack it! Follow accounts that you are interested in and then click on your Following list, the URL looks like this — https://twitter.com/following.
Take a look at those accounts and see how you can separate them into groups. These groups are called "Lists." You can see that I have several lists associated with my account — https://twitter.com/mastersonbooks/lists. Some of these lists are ones that I created, and others are ones that I am following. Now when you are on Twitter, instead of looking at one long feed that is overflowing with tons of posts, you can navigate to your lists and look at your Twitter feed based on topic.
Another way to manage your Twitter feed is to utilize the "mute" function. If there is someone in your feed that is driving you nutty, just mute them. Some apps on your phone will allow you to mute them for a day, a week, a month or forever. The Twitter web site will allow you to mute them forever, and then put them back on your feed when you're done being upset with their posts. You could unfollow them, but if you don't want to be that drastic, just mute them.
It's got photos, it's got filters. 'Nuff said.
What it's good for: Seeing photos of your friends, family and celebrities.
What it's not good for: Seeing photos of your friends and family. Because, seriously, they post a lot of food photos. Repeatedly.
How to lifehack Instagram: Just connect your Instagram to your Facebook and/or Twitter through the settings and you're good to go. When you use Instagram, your photos will automatically shoot out to Facebook and Twitter. And then you can visit your Instagram feed when you feel like it. Although most of your friends and families will do this too, so you probably won't open this app very often.
Google+
Does anyone use Google+?
What it's good for: I'm honestly not sure. I have a Google+. I've never used it.
What it's not good for: Um. I don't know.
How to lifehack Google+: If anyone uses it, let us know.
The social network that helps you get a job.
What it's good for: Connecting with past and present co-workers, and creating an online resume for anyone to see.
What it's not good for: Connecting with Aunt Edna or Grandma.
How to lifehack LinkedIn: Make sure you complete your profile in a professional manner. This is a resume, not a Facebook profile or a Twitter account. You want to present yourself in a way that you would want anyone looking for a future employee to see you. So find a great headshot of yourself, preferably not the one of you holding a beer and sticking out your tongue, and post it to your profile. Fill out the profile using all of the prompts, writing each piece of the resume carefully. This is going to be seen by everyone.
Keep in mind that there is one privacy setting you want to check. When logged in, go to your picture in the upper-right corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will show you the options available. Click "Privacy & Settings." Within these options, click on "Turn on/off your activity broadcasts." This will allow you to choose whether your job changes, or if you are following a company, is visible to others. This is helpful if you are looking for a job while currently employed.
The important thing about social media is to use it to your advantage. Don't let it take over your life. Use it when you need it, use it when you want, but don't spend so much time using it that you don't stop and smell the roses every once in awhile.
If you have a question about other social media, leave a note in the comments and I'll write about it in a future post!
This post also appeared on my site: DanielleMastersonBooks.com.
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