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How much do we shape-shift across social media?

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How much do we shape-shift across social media?

Like the spaces we frequent in the physical world, each social app serves a different, fairly obvious purpose. If LinkedIn is a job fair of some sort, Instagram is a playground, or a party — both of which can be simultaneously bright, loud, and exhausting. The distinctions between these platforms are very much known.

But these are places we go to everyday, and in each, we shift. We flick through a handful apps everyday, the more prominent ones arguably being TikTok, Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. On some, our tone may be nonchalant; on another, indignant. These are emotions expressed daily, sometimes concurrently, with different interfaces displaying alternative views, moods, even personas.

How much do we actually do shape-shift across social media? Turns out, a lot.

Samara Madhvani, who owns a boutique social media consultancy(Opens in a new window), says that what she shares on TikTok is vastly different from her posts on Instagram.

“Most of my friends don’t use [TikTok], so I feel like I can post more freely without being judged,” she tells Mashable. “It’s a great space to experiment with different kinds of content, that I would probably never share on Instagram.”

Similarly, brand management and development specialist MaryKate tells Mashable that she shows her “full authentic self” solely on Snapchat.

“Snapchat is for [my] innermost thoughts,” she says. Meanwhile, she uses Instagram to post “photos of things, travel and the occasional selfie”. TikTok is for more niche interests, where she posts “drone footage or animal footage”. Twitter is a point of conflict, where she feels more filtered.

“I feel like each social media platform is a different part of me,” she says.

At their core, these apps are intending for users to be on display, in whatever curated form they desire. Apps like BeReal have attempted to offer a different side to social media, with the premise that users can be their most authentic selves. Yet, it’s another platform that is, in reality, asking something of the user: who are you in this moment? What do you and to show?


“When you look at our behaviour on social media as a whole, our personality on a platform depends on how we perceive its usage.”

– Ria Chopra

Ria Chopra(Opens in a new window), a writer and journalist, says that she is guarded about her personal life and selective when it comes to posting across all platforms.

“The sides of my personality I choose to show differ from platform to platform,” she says. “When you look at our behaviour on social media as a whole, our personality on a platform depends on how we perceive its usage. LinkedIn is perceived by me to be a professional space, so I’m professional there. Instagram is for personal connections, so I’m more likely to put up birthday posts there, while Twitter is more stream-of-consciousness, simply because of that’s the kind of stuff I see there and believe it’s for.”

Being human means having to change, situationally and socially, on the daily. This isn’t news to any adult. Who you are at work may be a far cry from who you are at home. What you show to your closest friends can be deviation from who are you with your siblings. For Black people and people of color, code switching is even more habitual(Opens in a new window), particularly in the workplace where bias based on factors like speech(Opens in a new window) has long had a negative impact. These ever-so-subtle shifts that take place are near instinctive for most. But when this applies to the internet, too, identity can be in constant flux.

For many users, this is a natural aspect to having more than one social media account. It’s almost a given: an exercise in construction and curation(Opens in a new window), for numerous reasons.

Being a woman or a marginalized person on social media comes with its own set of complications, for instance. These are ones that can largely hinder what a person chooses to share and speak about on public platforms. Seyi Akiwowo(Opens in a new window), author of How to Stay Safe Online(Opens in a new window), addressed this extensively in her guidebook to the internet. “The idea that online platforms are neutral is a fairy tale. It’s not a few bad apples ruining the experience for the rest of us. The very DNA of these platforms is in conflict with the best interests of a large number of their users,” Akiwowo writes. “Women and girls across the globe are walking on eggshells because of the fear of online abuse.”

Research by Plan International in 2017(Opens in a new window), which Akiwowo cites, found that 43 percent of girls aged 11 to 18 admitted to holding back their opinions on social media for fear of being criticized. Self-censorship, while admittedly an issue for all on social apps, is heightened when it comes to young girls who are doing so for their own safety online.

“Women can post on almost any topic — animal rights, climate change, healthcare — and abuse usually follows,” writes Akiwowo.

Then there are the lesser but significant factors everyone faces – like who your followers are and whether your account is private. These will also play a natural role in choosing how to behave on a certain platform. This is perhaps what led to the surge of “finstas” — which now seem near extinct — a few years ago. These “fake” Instagram accounts allowed for privacy and exclusivity, but are now a dated concept, shadowed by integrated features like Instagram’s Close Friends and Twitter Circle. The demand for these also alludes to the greater desire to post and interact in different ways, even in the space of a singular app.

Madhvani believes that total, complete authenticity is a far reach on any platform. “Even a comment or a like on someone else’s content will leave a digital footprint,” she says. “Today, everything that people post is somewhat curated. At the end of the day, you’re posting and sharing for a purpose whether it’s to look a certain way or to get more followers or even sell a product.”

Alex Quicho, head of futures at trends agency Canvas8(Opens in a new window), suggests there is a positive side to the transformations we undergo on apps, saying that social media can play a role in “trying out different facets of one’s persona”.

“Today’s crop of users are less concerned about projecting a stable image or personal brand,” says Quicho. “We’re seeing many Gen Zers adopt an exploratory attitude to how they appear on social platforms: seeing these false personas as creative and constructive.”

In this vein, having different sorts of social media can provide paths to traverse identity and to explore different interests. The possible trouble is not in utilizing these purpose-driven platforms. Instead, there is potential for burnout in these spaces(Opens in a new window), which is already a dangling possibility(Opens in a new window) for anyone who uses social media.

Chopra says that she is increasingly “cross-posting” across platforms, in an endeavor to integrate content and show her comprehensive self.

“It’s unconscious, but maybe that’s my bid to be more ‘me’ everywhere. So I’ve posted my tweets on LinkedIn, my Instagram posts on Twitter, if I want to. And it’s paying off — I feel more authentic knowing that I’m reflecting a more holistic sense of my personality everywhere,” she explains.

Let’s face it: authenticity and social media are hardly interconnected. Some social media users are increasingly pursuing this concept, seeking to be themselves on platforms designed to allow the opposite. But living in the digital age — with an influx of apps at our disposal — means having to have more than one public face: a near constant metamorphosis.



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Early Facebook for Scousers that was the 'best thing ever'

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Early Facebook for Scousers that was the 'best thing ever'

Back in the noughties, Paul’s Boutique bags were at the height of fashion, Girls Aloud were named the winners of Popstars the Rivals and Mean Girls …

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San Benito County Sheriff’s Department stalls kidnapping by non-custodial parent

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Seal courtesy of San Benito County Sheriff's Office.

Stocken man allegedly fled with two children to avoid San Joaquin County Child Protective Services.

Information provided by San Benito County Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page

On March 24, the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office posted a news release on its Facebook page saying on March 23 Commander Yerena saw a suspicious vehicle near State Route 25 and San Felipe Road in Hollister and performed an enforcement stop. Checking records, he found the male driver had been reported missing from Stockton and the adult female passenger had a felony warrant.

Yerena found that the two children (11 and 13) also in the car had allegedly been abducted by the male who is their father but does not have custody.  He had allegedly fled with the children to avoid Child Protective Service (CPS) who had taken three other children into protective custody following the arrest of their mother in Stockton.

The children are in the custody of San Benito County CPS who are working to transfer the girls back to Stockton.

The male said he was “headed south” with the children but could not explain where they were going. The Sheriff’s Office is unaware of what charges the mother is facing or what charges San Joaquin County will pursue against the father.

San Benito County Sheriffs Department stalls kidnapping by non custodial parent

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Facebook layoffs: Former Meta recruiter claims she got paid $190,000 a year to do ‘nothing’

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Facebook layoffs: Former Meta recruiter claims she got paid $190,000 a year to do ‘nothing’

A former Meta recruiter has claimed that she made $190,000 a year for doing “nothing” at her job, amid the company’s recent layoffs.

In a recent video posted to TikTok, Maddie, @maddie_macho, reflected on her time working at Meta for six months during 2021. Her post was also shared only days after Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta’s next round of layoffs, cutting more than 10,000 employees.

The clip, which was titled “Getting paid $190k to do nothing at Meta,” started off with the former job recruiter explaining how her company wasn’t hiring new workers while she was there.

“We weren’t expected to hire anybody for the first six months, even the first year,” she said. “That really blew my mind. Like ‘perfect, I’m just going to ride this out for a year, obviously I didn’t make that.’”

Regarding what she did all day, Maddie said that she was “learning”, as Meta had the “best onboarding and training” process that was “very thorough”.

She poked fun at how her “expectations” at the beginning of her job was to be “taking it all in”, before questioning some of the meetings she had to do.

“But the most that we did, this is the crazy part, is we had so many team meetings,” Maddie claimed. “Why are we meeting? We’re not hiring nobody. Just to hear how everyone else isn’t hiring anybody. And also, I was on a team where everyone was new, so none of us were hiring anybody.”

After noting that her co-workers and boss were just “trying to figure things out” at the job, she continued to make fun of her responsibilities at the company.

“I really miss it,” she added. “I wasn’t doing s*** pretty much. Um, that’s nice.”

In a follow up video, she shared why she got fired from Meta, after she first started working there in September 2021.  According to Maddie, when her TikTok video about the company’s benefits package went viral, people who worked at the company reached out to her and said that they loved it.

However, Maddie said that Meta wasn’t too pleased about the content on her account, as she claimed that she later got a write-up for posting on her story about how “challenging” her job could be. She claimed that while she stopped talking specifically about Meta, the company later went through “20 of her TikTok” videos and asked her if they thought they were “appropriate”. She said that she then decided to quit, a day before she was fired.

As of 17 March, Maddie’s videos have more than 210,400 views, with TikTok users in the comments poking fun at her time at Meta.

“See I wouldn’t have been telling anyone I wasn’t doing work lol,” one wrote.

“Getting paid 190k to do nothing is wild,” another added, while a third wrote: TEAM. MEETINGS…gotta block my damn calendar so I could have a day w/o meetings.”

Other people expressed how they could relate to Maddie’s work experience.

“I had the same experience for 4 months. Easiest paycheck ever lol,” one wrote.

“Same here!” another added. “I was making a lot of money at Amazon and didn’t hire anyone. Collected an $80k sign on and a volunteer severance.”

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg announced that more than 10,000 people were let go from Facebook and that Meta would also be leaving 5,000 empty jobs unfilled.

The business magnate said that at least some of those staff will be fired from Meta’s recruiting team and indicated that the others may be from non-engineering roles. He gave no indication of which staff may be let go and said affected staff would hear about their future in April and May.

He noted that the layoffs were part of a “restructuring” and Meta’s “year of efficiency” and that they may not be finished until the end of 2023.

“This will be tough and there’s no way around that,” he wrote in a memo to staff. “It will mean saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success.”

This decision also came after the company already laid off about 11,000 people in November.

The Independent has contacted Maddie and a representative for Meta for comment.

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