Olivia's Opinions

The Dodo, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment, Vogue, Tastemade, Buzz Feed; what do all of these information filled wonders of social media have in common? They're all on Snapchat. Snapchat is a beautiful thing, pictures that only stay on your screen for however long you will allow, they can be private of posted for all to see. What could be better? Oh, they have "news" stories that are new every day? Well, not exactly. Don't get me wrong, I love looking at The Dodo and Cosmo on Snapchat sometimes, but half of what's on those  every day has already been on there. Who likes watching re-runs of a show you only watch on occasion? At least three times a week I go to look at one or more of these subscriptions and they are the same thing every other day. When I'm bored, I don't watch old Wheel of Fortune episodes, and I wouldn't expect anyone else to either, so why would anyone want to read the same stories every other day? I can't be the only one who's

If you have never seen or at least know the basic idea of the musical Wicked , it is the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) and the Good Witch (Glinda) from the movie The Wizard of Oz (if you don’t know that, no one can help you.) In the story, Elphaba is an unpopular, disliked weirdo that, no matter what, sticks to what she believes, goes for what she wants and doesn’t worry what other people may think. Then there’s Glinda, she is a popular, pretty, perfect and bases every aspect of her life on how she can stay popular and make sure people always like her. Guy Kawasaki says in The Art of Social Media , “90% of gaining followers is sharing good stuff.” What does that mean, though? This just goes to the saying one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. One thing you share may gain you a bunch of followers making you a popular Glinda and another thing may cause you to lose followers and make you an Elphaba. My advice, be an Elphaba. Share what you want.

“Be valuable. Be interesting. Be bold. Be brief. Be visual. Be sly. Be found. Be active. Be distributed. Be a mensch.” – The Art of Social Media.  Be valuable , what does that mean? Value is different for everyone. Valuable to one person could be trash to another, so I don’t see how even Guy Kawasaki can describe how to be valuable. Be interesting , now there’s something most (if not all) people can agree on. Now, I’m not saying that everyone finds plants interesting (I know I sure don’t) but interesting is anything that peaks curiosity, so it can be any number of things. Be bold , sounds like a lipstick commercial. You have to be careful with this because sometimes bold can be misinterpreted as being insulting. Be brief , talk fast and affective. One word or saying can send a powerful message. For example: “Make American great again.”- President, Donald Trump. Be visual , there are more ways to be visual than just plastering a picture and hoping it w