The Latest and Greatest ... Here to Stay?
Let’s face it - our generation has been sucked into the world of social media, and is not coming back out. It’s no question that communicating and sharing online has become the longest ongoing “trend” that defines this generation. New trends always seem to be coming and going. But what even is a “trend”? A trend can be a song, clothing style, or even a popular way of capturing a photograph - pretty much anything that is considered to be “the latest and greatest.” Yes, these trends can be shared and become well-known through radio shows, television, or even through a casual conversation. But, a huge thank you easily goes to the Internet for creating (and spreading worldwide) an unreasonable amount of these popular trends.
When you hear the phrase “social media,” your first thought that comes to mind is most likely Facebook or Google, right? Think back to just a few years ago, before social networking was even a “thing.” Before Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube, it seemed like the only way (or at least the most popular/”trendy” way) to communicate online was through Instant Messaging (IM). Thinking back, not only was this time known as the evolving of social media, but a huge question comes up: how the heck did we survive without it? As “socializing” through the Internet more than in person only seems to increase more and more each day, it’s almost unbearable to imagine living without the Internet now.
Featured for this week’s interview on “Hashtag: Typical Trends,” sixteen-year-old blogger Nicole Belair reveals a lot about her thoughts and views on how people use these social media web sites to share their own photographs and their own ideas. Nicole also mentions how a lot of users post and repost a lot of the same things or “trends,” which is contributing to defining this generation of people, technology, and how people use technology.
The amazing and obvious thing about social media web sites today is the numerous amount of activities and ways of sharing you can do with them, from sharing thoughts through statuses and tweets to uploading videos and podcasts. Along with all of these overly used features, there is something that will always be “trendy”: photography.
It’s been around for years - from the cameras during World War I to the $800 HD Canon 5Ds of today, there’s something about photography that everyone finds admiration in. And, luckily, anybody (people, dreamers, photographers, hipsters, whatever) has the ability to share what they capture with the world because of the amazing thing we call social media.
Although Tumblr users may believe that David Karp created the site for insecure teenagers to go on to procrastinate 24/7, Karp really had the goal of creating a site for bloggers to have easy sharing ability all in one place. Since its founding in 2007, Tumblr continues to have a “trendy” and unique way of social networking. It’s clear that the site has become a fun way for users to not only share pictures, videos, and other features, but also to be themselves and not be judged.
If you have never heard of the app Instagram, there’s no doubt that you are living under a rock. When it first came out in 2010, it knocked the charts’ own socks off. Like Tumblr, it has become extremely popular thanks to its unique photo sharing ability. But, unlike Tumblr, this unbelievably successful app has become “trendy” due to its cool photo filters. While Tumblr users mostly take their own photos, edit them, and upload them for “notes” (“likes” and reblogs), Instagram users have fallen in love with the app’s simplicity. Users can capture photographs right from the Instagram app on their smartphone and send them into the black hole of social media.
Although there are an endless amount of social media web sites used for sharing, writing, and uploading, users can agree that there’s so much more to Tumblr and Instagram than just pictures.
Choosing to talk to Nicole Belair about trends, Tumblr, Instagram, and the unique importance of photography in this generation was not a tough decision. Nicole may easily be one of the biggest hipsters you will ever know. The “Tumblr nerd” and social media fanatic that she is only continues to keep her inspired, independent, and even noticed by others. Her love for sharing her own creations and admiring others’ has become a large part of who she is. Plus, her passion for photography was definitely evident during this Q and A session.
While talking to her, it became more and more clear that social media, photography, and the trends that we hear about every day are no doubt controlled by us. Nicole and many others would agree that photography has become and will always be a large part of our world as a whole and individually.
Bottom line: photography is an incredible thing. For many years, from black and white photographs to multiple editing softwares, people with access to cameras (along with computer technology and smartphones) have the ability to make nothing into something. You can capture anything and everything with the amazing technology of today.
Throughout our conversation, I soon discovered that Nicole and I both believe that photography and blogging is a simple yet fun way of expressing oneself. Whether a photograph is describing how you feel about something, or you just like the color scheme of the scene, capturing photographs is unquestionably a “trend” that everyone has used.
Like most other teenagers of this generation, the high schooler also has a very large amount of knowledge when it comes to the topic of social media. It was easy to talk to Nicole about her personal thoughts and uses of social media due to this strong understanding of how to have/use a blog, how to keep an active quality blog, what users typically post, why it is amusing to post, and how people use photography on these web sites in general. By growing up in this generation, there’s no question as to why and how her mind contains so much comprehension on the large subject.
Interview with Nicole Belair
Q: I know you often use Tumblr and Instagram, and I think you might agree that you often see some of the same things or trends like “throwback Thursday,” “outfit of the day,” stuff like that. What do you think are some of these trends?
A: Okay, the first thing that comes to mind is sunsets and sunrises.
Q: You just see those all the time?
A: Yeah, it’s kind of like an overload! Definitely celebrities and stuff ‘cause I mean especially lately with the whole “man candy Monday” and “woman crush Wednesday.”
Q: So why do you think that these trends like “woman crush Wednesday” attract people so much? Or why do you think people like those pictures and want to post them?
A: Well I know that guys specifically hate “man candy Monday” obviously. But I don’t know, I think it’s just part of that social thing where people just want other people to know an uncomfortable amount of information about themselves like their celebrity crushes.
Q: [laughs] Okay, that’s interesting! Same with other things like even just a picture of a sunset, why do you like to post that? Why do you think people like things like that?
A: I don’t know. I think it’s just a good quality picture and even if you’re proud of a certain picture you wanna share it with everyone. And even if they don’t care, it’s nice to think that they care about what you’re up to and even where you are (if you’re on vacation, for example).
Q: Do you post any of these hashtags or other popular trends yourself?
A: Yeah, I’m big on sunsets and beaches and nature. And I definitely participate in “throwback Thursday” and all of those.
Q: What types of pictures do you take on Tumblr? Do you pretty much do the same thing on Tumblr and Instagram, or do you use one for something else?
A: Tumblr I use more for how I’m feeling, I guess, just because it’s so much bigger than Instagram. There are more things that you can just post that more accurately describe how you’re feeling as opposed to where you are in the world.
Q: Okay, that makes sense. So what’s an example of something that you would post on Tumblr instead of Instagram, or vice versa?
A: Say you were going through a heartbreak or something, and you go on Tumblr. There are plenty of pictures and gifs (which, as you know, are like moving pictures) that you can find from movies that are of people that can accurately describe exactly what you’re going through. It’s almost therapeutic.
Q: I agree with that. So what camera do you use (for Instagram you probably just use your iPhone, I assume)?
A: Yeah. For Tumblr, I either use my iPhone 4S or I have a Nikon D5100.
Q: Okay cool! Do you edit your own photos that you post?
A: Yeah, usually I kind of mess around with them, but I don’t use Photoshop or anything. I just use iPhoto and just kind of enhance them a little.
Q: So tell me more about Tumblr. What kind of blog do you have? What types do you follow?
A: I’ve been through so many types of Tumblrs. I started off reblogging whatever I wanted, whether it was my favorite movies or attractive people or cute animals, anything. You name it, and it was on my blog. And then it became more of quality pictures, so there was a lot of color and bright, vibrant things. But it was kind of hard because it was so strict; people would unfollow you if you didn’t post exactly what they wanted. Now, I’m kind of back to doing my own thing. It’s mostly just photography and landscapes and nature or celebrities. It’s all kind of the same color scheme. There’s a lot of earth tones.
Q: As a response to that, do you think that you post specific photos because you like them or you think other people will like them?
A: I think it’s a combination of both. Obviously I’m going to post what I want to post, but not if it means other people are going to be uncomfortable.
Q: Tell me more about your Tumblr background. How long have you been using it? How many followers do you have?
A: I’ve been using Tumblr since July of 2011, and I have a little over 500 followers.
Q: Okay, great. So how did you get so many, and how did you get noticed?
A: Well, my friend actually started on it. He made my whole blog and everything, and he actually even started reblogging things for me just to kind of get me started. I was like “oh I’m never gonna get into it, I don’t have that much time” or whatever. But then I got hooked! I made a few friends and we would promote each other.
Q: Okay, so it’s basically by being an active blogger and updating your blog everyday?
Q: How do you think Tumblr and Instagram are different in terms of content?
A: I think Instagram’s really focused around high-quality pictures and things that have cool filters. Very over-edited, almost. Tumblr, like I said, is more of a place for raw feelings. It’s easier to just hit “reblog” to post something you already think is perfect, rather than taking a picture and trying to make it perfect.
Q: Okay, that makes sense. We talked about what you typically see on Instagram, like “man crush Monday” and “throwback Thursday.” But what do you usually see on Tumblr that always seems to be there?
A: There’s A LOT of clothes and people taking pictures of their own hair, or themselves holding something. There’s a lot of Pretty Little Liars and whatever huge TV show is on one specific night, that’s literally all you see that whole night. Also cute animals or funny videos.
Q: I agree. The last thing is tell me your thoughts about both Tumblr and Instagram. Do you think one is better for certain posts? Do you prefer Tumblr over Instagram?
A: Yeah, I would say I prefer Tumblr over Instagram, especially because, since Tumblr is a place where you can just rant to complete strangers, I kind of like that element more than trying to impress people that I know. It’s almost less pressure, and it’s more of like an escape. It sounds stupid talking about a social network like that, but it’s so true.
A screenshot of Nicole Belair's blog
