A journalist acquires, and is taught, tools just like any other man or woman within their occupation. Hairdressers have styling tools, construction workers have hardware tools and journalists have multimedia tools.
In today’s generation, social media is the first item a journalist pulls out of their toolbox. However, for myself, social media is the tool that never gets pulled.
As a student studying journalism in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, keeping up with news and social media is so common that they even have classes on how to do it.
I’ve taken the basic news reporting class and the ethics class, and even though I love writing, I know my articles suffer from not being shared on social media.
The main reason why my articles do not get shared is due to having no platform to share it on. I do not have Twitter nor Instagram, and my Facebook account hasn’t been used in years.
No, I do not need the gratification of getting 100 likes on my photo or my nonexistent followers paying me compliments. It makes me feel more secure knowing I can find that within myself.
Entering the last few months before my graduation, I now come to realize that social media can be used more for business. Building your brand, putting your name out and creating job postings are all on these million dollar platforms.
Due to anxieties and fears, I steer clear of social media because I do not want to see the next death on the news or the tragedies taking place surrounding my community and world.
Of course, it is important to know what is going on and to be an informed citizen. We all have to stay safe and aware. I am learning what is best for my anxiety because I am not nervous when I do not know a question on a quiz about current events. It makes me nervous to watch the news and have my mind create millions of unrealistic scenarios running rampant before trying to sleep.
I understand having these platforms to grow on and share the work that you’ve put endless time into. I get that in this society, thousands of jobs revolve around social media coordinating and marketing.
It is my personal choice not to post my work because I know my articles mean the most to myself and the others I share it with personally. Maybe it defeats the whole purpose of having published articles on a freelancing gig, but writing is an outlet, not just a business.
It isn’t that I don’t want to share my work to my friends or family, but at the end of the day it belongs to me and I am content with knowing that, whether other people do or not. Same goes for my writing. I’d love to get my voice out there and show the world how much effort I put into writing, but if you’re reading this, maybe I’m already there.
