Evolution of Facebook

Just scrolling through my Facebook feed, I find my mind wandering. Gone are the days when I put aside hours and hours of valuable time to spend on Facebook. These days, Facebook has become just something I check on every now and then when I'm bored. I very rarely post any original content (photos, status updates, etc.) unless I'm posting a link to a new blog post.

Categorizing my 100 posts, I found that the majority of my feed consisted of content from my high school teachers. Odd, but after graduation, one of the first things most of my classmates and I did was friend our favorite teachers on Facebook. Many of them have moved on my old high school and gone on to get married and have kids/grandchildren. I found the majority of the posts were photos of children or grandchildren. 

It's true, what used to be a teenage wasteland, has become social media for our parents and teachers. 

I find that about 50% of my feed consists of reactions to anything in the news - hard or soft. Today, there was a lot about the Oscars on my feed. Particularly in the Simmons sphere about Patricia Arquette's speech. This past week there was a lot of grumbling (complaining) about the MBTA.

I also noticed that there were a lot less status updates than I would have seen a few years ago. It looks to me like most people have figured out that status updates are what Twitter is for. 

Looking through my Facebook feed, it feels off to think about how attached my generation was to this social media outlet just a few years ago. It feels good to know that I am no longer as dependent. 

State of my "feed"

I use social media for a number of different reasons - social, to gather inspiration and to pass the time. I sometimes feel that I am a bit too attached, but I know that if I were ever to cut it out of life, I would merely be cutting myself off from society. 

My use of social media involves a lot of visuals. I always have my iPhone or my Nikon D51000 on me. I'm constantly snapping and sharing photos. I use Instagram and Tumblr the most out of every social media outlet. I even managed to find my current job through Instagram. I currently run Free People Boston's Instagram. So having to use it for work has certainly made using social media second nature to me. I use these two outlets as a way to gather inspiration for all aspects of life - style, food, trips, etc.

Social media is now the norm. It's how we connect with our friends and family along with big time corporations. How else would we know who Julian Edelman slept with or ISIS' latest attack?