Meet Darius Henry also known as HD. I have known Darius since the 9th grade and he has been one of my best friends since. I knew he would be one of the most interesting people to talk to about their life on social media. Here’s what he had to say:
Photo Source: Instagram
Me: What social media platforms and apps they have used now and in the past?
Him: “Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram and Snapchat. I use Instagram more now than I did before and Facebook less.”
Me: Do they use their real name(s)? Have they ever used aliases or created fake accounts? Why?
Him: “I have an alias on Facebook and never created a fake account. I created an alias on Facebook because people I didn’t know were adding me and I wanted to separate them from my friends. Prior to creating a fan page I had already added people on my Facebook and didn’t want to sift through the ones I knew and didn’t know, plus Facebook has a cut off for the amount of friends you can add, like 5000 or so. Every other of my social media accounts are under my rap name.”
Me: What different personas do they construct in each of these platforms and how do they relate to aspects of their experiences in life?
Him: “I’m the same person in all platforms, all my posts tie into me. My Snapchat is more personal and my Instagram and Twitter are more for business. Snapchat is more in the moment, like if I’m out side and I see a really dope view and I take a picture versus Instagram where it’s more like a presentation to the world. I would never create separate pages because I probably wouldn’t be on social media if it wasn’t for what I do. HD needs social media, Darius is good without all that.”
Me: Do the digital personas they construct help them cope with the problems they face or do they create new problems? In what ways?
Him: “Neither. If it created problems for me I wouldn’t be on it. HD needs social media, Darius is good without all that.”
Me: Have you ever been bullied or criticized for what you do through social media?
Him: “Yeah I have in the past. Negative feedback makes you want to react but I’m now at a place where I understand people more. My first reaction isn’t to react but to understand why.”
Darius is a musician who uses social media to interact with his fan base. His use of a wide range of social media platforms has allowed him to promote his brand with his fans from the Americas, to Europe, to Australia. In the interview, he says that he uses social media for his business and less for his personal life, “HD needs social media, not Darius.”
Cyberspace is place where we can be any version of ourselves, because it allows us to exchange ideas, have conversations and participate in communities we would not normally have access to. Turkle says, “We have the opportunity to build new kinds of communities, virtual communities, in which we participate with people all over the world, people with who we converse daily, people with whom we may have fairly intimate relationships but whom we may never physically meet (p. 9-10).” Not everyone is a successful musician who gets to tour around the world like HD, which is why cyberspace works in our favor. We can virtually meet people and form friendships through the Internet with people we do not know. We can create different personas from the ones we show our real-life friends. We can be whoever we want online.
Creating friendships online can sometimes be easier than in person for some people. Conversations may flow easier and there are ways to make up for the lack of emotion that face-to-face contact has. According to Athique, “participants in online forums were seen to compensate for the lack of social cues by expressing themselves in new ways… (p. 69).” Some of these ways included emoticons but now they can me anything from memes, gifs, bitmojis (personal emoji), etc. Cyberspace is a virtual world that has created opportunities for individuals to advance their personal and professional selves.
- Have you used social media to start or advance your career in any way?
- Social interactions through media can have negative impacts in our lives if we allow it to overpower our face-to-face communication. What are the consequences of “taking social media too far?”
It was really interesting to learn about your friend and how he uses social media to promote his music. I also looked at his instagram which was interesting and lead to listening to his music. In just that I realized how important social media can be because it got me to check out his art.
Your question “Have you used social media to start or advance your career in any way?” is something I think about doing all the time. I want to work in marketing / advertising and all my friends are within that field. I hear about “personal branding” almost 10 times a day and know I need to work at my online presence more since agencies like to see how well you use social media personally in order to see if you can be trusted to take on an account. Its interesting how some industries want people who are social media savy in order to hire them.
This is a positive example of how social media can help build a brand and be used to promote it. Many people talk about the negative effects of social media but they forget to give it the immense amount of credit it deserves to help us achieve our own personal branding. If you are a business owner or a musician, it is the perfect way to get your foot in the door and put yourself out there.