Josh Falcone – General Assignment Reporter
The use of social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest is growing everyday, and 18 to 29 year olds are the number one group of users according to a Pew Research Center poll, and this is true among Southern students as well. Political Science major Christian Spencer is one such user, he said he enjoys Twitter best, but does not use it to inform others on his life.“I like Twitter the best. I don’t use it to give people updates about myself but to get news and information from it,” Spencer said.
Kyle Tamulevich uses many of the popular social media websites.“I use a lot of the various social media applications, I am on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,” the political science major said. “I usually check my Facebook feed a couple times a day. I just want to see what people are up too and sometimes it is convenient for getting breaking news, especially on my phone when I’m out.”
Tamulevich said he uses Twitter on a regular basis in part to connect with famous people, and also to find news as well.“I tweet regularly and I like it because I can follow people I like, like certain celebrities or athletes, and sometimes interact with them via their account, which is cool. Twitter is another great place to find out about different news stories,” he said.
Having signed up for an Instagram account last year, Tamulevich said he just started using the service. “I just started using Instagram and haven’t really done too much with my profile. Out of all of the different social media sites, I would have to say that I like Instagram the least. It seems to me to be a bunch of posts of food and selfie photos, I’m good with that.”
According to a DigitalInsights.com article on social media statistics in 2013, Facebook had over 1.15 billion users, Twitter had over 500 million users, Instagram had over 130 million users, and Pinterest had over 70 million users. Of the over 1.15 billion Facebook users, 751 million users access the site from a mobile device and 23 percent of Facebook users check their account at least five times or more a day in 2013. 60 percent of Twitter users access the site via a mobile device and the average number of tweets per account is 208. Instagram users on the average have 40 photos, and more than five million photos were uploaded daily in 2013. Pinterest users were more 69 percent females in 2013, and food was the top category with 57 percent discussing food related content, according to Digital Insights.com.
With the increase in social media use, many older people are beginning to use the websites, something that the younger users might find annoying, but Spencer said he does not care. “I don’t friend any of my older relatives but will accept their requests,” he said. Having his older relatives friend or follow him on social media is of little concern to Tamulevich as well. “I really don’t mind being Facebook friends with my older relatives, and I have sent a few friend requests and have accepted plenty more,” he said. “I don’t really have anything to hide from anyone, so it isn’t a big deal to be friends with my older relatives.”
When it comes to the games that are available on Facebook, Spencer and Tamulevich both do not care for them. “I don’t play any Facebook games,” Spencer said. Tamulevich said the Facebook games are an annoyance. “I cannot stand all the games that are Facebook, and I try to block all of them, but they seem to have a new one every week, so it is tough,” he said. “I hate when my newsfeed is nothing but friend’s game updates, sometimes that is where having my older family members on my friends list can be annoying, because a lot of them like to play them.”
According to CareerBuilder.com, 37 percent of employers are checking out potential employee’s social media profiles before making a decision on hiring them, and 65 percent of those that are checking out potential employee’s profiles are doing so to see if they present themselves professionally.
Tamulevich said having something on one of his profiles influence a future employer to not hire him is a concern.“I definitely worry about potential employers seeing my social media accounts in the future and having that ruin my chance at being hired,” he said. “So I try to keep my Facebook profile clean of negative images of me and posts that might be looked at in a harmful light by a potential employer. I also stay away from tweeting anything with inappropriate stuff in them, I heard that even if the tweet is deleted it can still be found because it is saved or something. I don’t want anything to come back and haunt me.”
Spencer said this was a concern but that he also stays away from posting anything harmful.
“I don’t worry about employers looking at my profiles because I don’t really post anything. That is the concern though and part of why I don’t,” he said. “Something can be misinterpreted and some posts that people make are inappropriate and could be harmful later.”
