before we begin I’d like to ask you to
raise your hand if your users of at
least one social media profile platform
be it Facebook Instagram yeah all right
as you can see being on social media is
really common it’s actually so common
that nearly 1/3 of our 7 billion
population are users of it this means
that you can theoretically influence
2.46 balances people of you through your
posts now keeping this thought in mind
imagine the following scenario it’s a
very boring day you’re stuck at work
you’ve got nothing to do so you begin
scrolling down your Facebook page
suddenly you see your friend Mia’s new
profile picture and you’re completely
shocked by this picture because the last
time you saw me as she looked completely
different she looked like this Wow I
know now – how many of you have you has
this ever happened you’ve seen or you’ve
learned something new about a friend
that you no longer talk to from one of
their social media accounts yeah I mean
imagine if it wasn’t for their post on
social media you would have no idea what
has happened to this friend and the same
thing goes back to you if it wasn’t for
your social media posts people have no
idea who you become or how you’ve
changed but this is exactly what the
beauty of social media is you can use it
to influence your friends perceptions of
you as well as you can show people that
don’t know you so well who you really
are so that people have the right
opinion at you so today instead of
criticizing social media like the
majority of people do our instead talked
to you about how social media can
actually be beneficial to our own selves
as well as your own society I will talk
about how we can use social media to
create the first impression that we want
others to have of us to show people are
interested they honest that they don’t
necessarily know about as well as to
influence people about major global
issues so now that we’ve established
that Facebook is the window to your soul
for the world why not start using it to
create the first impression that you
want others to have of you let’s say
that you’re moving to a new place or a
new job or you’re even switching schools
most likely people in your new place or
job or school will be aware of your
upcoming arrival and they’ll try to find
you somewhere on the internet so that
they can get a sense of what kind of a
person you are personally I’m extremely
guilty of doing this the second that I
know which people are coming to our
school I looked them up on social me
and I base my opinions about them right
up there and right here is people’s
chance to to influence my or anyone’s
understanding of who they are before
others have even met them based on what
you’ve checked based on what you’ve
shared be inspirational quotes party
photos or even memes people will judge
you and they’ll create some kind of an
opinion about you before they’ve seen
you in person so depending on what you
want people to be thinking of you the
first time they see you start posting
content that shapes you into that kind
of person for example let’s say that you
want to be seen as social and outgoing
by your future friends then start
posting pictures of you at events
pictures with you pictures of you with
friends or picton start posting things
on your friends profiles that way your
future friends will be thinking of you
what you want them to be that’s your
social and I think that establishing
your personality on social media will
not only help people have the right
first impression of you but it will also
help you make friends more easily down
the road once other social people with
similar interests see that you’re like
them they will be much more open to
starting a conversation with you the
first time they see you in person
the second way that you can use social
media for your benefit is to show people
your interests that they don’t
necessarily know about as well as you
can use it to express yourself let’s go
back to your friend Mia she moved across
the country you no longer keep in touch
with her but you kind of do get a sense
of what she has been up to through her
social media posts you noticed that she
has recently posted many things about
how much she loves indie music and what
big of a fan she is a bit now but the
funny thing is that when you knew her
and when you were friends with her she
used to absolutely hate it
but from these posts you can tell that
her music taste has absolutely changed
and that she’s a fan of indie music
right now this could act as a way for
you to pick up a conversation back with
me and see exactly what she has been up
to and eventually you might become
closer again and be friends again as you
can see from this scenario being active
on social media and expressing your
interests and your passions and what you
like can help teach people that don’t
know you so well who you really are this
can eventually lead to new conversation
openers with strangers and quite
possibly those changers can one day turn
into friends the third way that you can
use social media for
a benefit is to influence people about
major global issues unfortunately it is
21st century and we’re still fighting
major global issues such as
discrimination poverty and climate
change yet the rise of social media
actually gives us a voice that we can
finally use to win these fights anti
discrimination campaigns such as hashtag
Amazon in New York City hashtag black
lives matter have won viral over social
media platforms and have made many
people stand up for equity environmental
pages such as these ones are being
created all over Instagram and Facebook
with the goal to raise environmental
awareness about our suffering
environment as well as offer all the
lifestyle changes that we can make so we
can decrease our environmental impact
there are so many other great examples
of social media initiatives but it is up
to you to decide which you choose truly
matter to you and you should begin
voicing for change towards them on
social media
simply starting a hashtag campaign
starting a page or even voicing opinion
your opinion are all powerful ways to
which you can influence people to do
something about a problem facing us so
if social justice is right at your
fingertips why are you still not taking
advantage of achieving it and before I
conclude my talk I would like to
acknowledge some of the skeptic opinions
that some of you may have the may be
holding you back from using social media
to its fullest potential we’ve heard
countless stories about privacy issues
cyber bullying and hacking all these
issues are obviously really dangerous
ones but there are of course ways to
reach you can protect yourself from them
if you ever receive any kind of a
request from a profile that you don’t
know or it seems a bit off either it has
an appropriate content it has repeated
links and all that stuff simply don’t
accept the account also keep the content
only visible to your friends as well as
that secure passwords for all of your
accounts so that complete strangers
don’t have access to your personal
content if you ever begin receiving
weird messages or threatening messages
or you became being cyber bully simply
block and report those accounts and
that’s me and probably most importantly
don’t ever share anything that makes you
feel uncomfortable or that should remain
private because after all social media
is about expressing what you like and
what you’re comfortable with so
basically if there
one thing that I want you to walk away
from this talk today is that social
media is probably the easiest and
quickest way through which you can
influence people the truth is we’ve a
human nature a judgemental creatures and
will continue to judge no matter how
much we try not to so we might as well
just shape people’s opinion of us into
the kind of opinions we want them to be
even better yet not only can we use
social media to create the self image
that we want others to have of us but we
can also use it to empower people
towards making an important change in
this world so what are you waiting for
go ahead and post
[Applause] [Music]