Hey everyone! I'm Ashley Ochsenhirt and I am a sophomore communications major with a minor in graphic design! My three loves in life: tennis, my dog, and Netflix. You will more than likely be hearing about those a lot! I hope you enjoy reading about my stories and thoughts, and I would love to hear your feedback.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Social media is more complex than it appears.

As I walk into my social media principles class on the first day, I had a very open mind about it, but also considered myself as the "social media expert." This meaning, I thought I knew everything there was to know about social media considering I am a 19 year old girl who is obsessed with any sort of social media whether it be Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, you name it.

I begin to read the first chapter of, The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, and realize that I clearly have so much to learn. I then began to realize that I really needed to change around my own social media pages. According to the first chapter, optimizing your profile is key. These are just the basics that I'm realizing I need to learn, and I think a lot of the millennials like me should look into as well!

1. Pick a Neutral Screen Name
I feel like this is something I should probably work on. Fortunately, I have a unique name which is Ashley Ochsenhirt, and I know that nobody will have that screen name. However, it is very hard and long for people to try and type in if they are searching for me, so I use "ashleyox_". My reasoning for this name is actually pretty interesting because my last name is pronounced like "ox-en-hurt" so I figured if I used "ox" in my username, people will start to pronounce my actual last name right. I do have my whole name on my profiles as well just in case somebody did want to look me up by name.

2. Optomize for Five Seconds
This was a very short, yet interesting paragraph to look at. It is also something that I have never really thought about. Our mindset is simply looking at appearance and not really content. However, I personally think I need to work on my own Avatar, Biographical text, and Cover as discussed here.

3. Focus Your Avatar on Your Face
Now this is something I actually think I have gotten right on my social media. My profile pictures are always close up of my face and I am usually the only one in the picture. On my cover photo, like on Facebook, I have other people in it, but on my profile picture I like to use a professional looking picture of just me. I think it really tells a lot about how a person portrays themselves.

4. Stick with One Picture 
Here is just another example of something I would like to fix because now that I have read about it, a little light bulb in my head goes off. The picture I use for my profile picture should be the same throughout all of my social media sites. This will help people and even companies be able to recognize me on social media.

5. Craft a Mantra 
The tagline should always be added to a profile. By adding a few words to explain why someone or someone's organization exists, makes a mantra. For example: Nike, FedEx, Google, and Canva do a good job of portraying a mantra.

6. Tell Your Story
I agree with this paragraph because I think that social media really is a story of someone's life whether it is in writing or pictures. You get an idea of somebody's family, dog, friends, etc. As I mentioned earlier, a cover photo can be used to display another picture in a bigger form than your profile picture. This is a good place to show off more of your story, and I think I have been successful with that part of my platform.


These are just some of many things that make up social media. Things that I have never even thought or heard of. Honestly, I didn't realize how many things I really was doing wrong with my social media until I read this chapter. Thankfully I have a better understanding now and can change it to look more professional for future reference. So no, social media is not as simple as it seems and I am for sure not "the social media queen." Social Media is growing stronger and stronger each day, and is taking over everything. By having this good understanding of the fundamentals of social media, I can help myself in the future.









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