Honestly where can I begin? It's so hard to explain why I love something so much when there are so many different reasons. I guess the underlying theme, the motif if you will, is that no matter where you are in your life the internet is always there. Now you may be thinking: 'What the actual fuck?' and you do have a right to feel this way. BUT, what I am talking about can be understood in a plethora of ways. Whether you're at the highest high or the lowest low, the internet almost always is a place that can make you feel stoked, find something to accompany your crying, enforce you're 'turnt up nature' or quench any type of thirst you may be feeling (*lets minds wander*).
It may or may not come as a secret to my readers that I haven't had the easiest life, but I don't complain about any of it to anyone except for my father and my best friend. I really wouldn't want it any other way to be honest. But when I say the internet helps you when you're at the lowest of lows, really applies to me before anything else. This topic is so complex that I don't claim to expel all of my emotions and thoughts about internet culture here, but I just want to feel that cathartic feeling for a moment.
I have such an undying, unbelievable passion for current events, politics, fashion and beauty. This should come as no surprise. Whether five or 5,000 people read this blog, I hope to inspire people with it. I went into Journalism and got my degree because I have an amazing love for writing and giving the people what they deserve, knowledge. They have the right to know whats going on.
Back to my love for the internet. Being that above mentioned passions can all be easily combined and found on all media, I've always experimented with print, online, radio, TV. Anything else there could possibly be. I have never discounted anything and I never will. I truly hope that print journalism never dies. But while all of this is true, the connection with constant access to up to the date information inspires me to no end.
While there are lines to be drawn between blogs and news sources, often times I feel its evident that they do play off of each other. If I, at any time, am able to have access to both a credible news source and a blog at the same time, to me, that seems like the most powerful thing in the entire world. Think about the social media platforms that bring readers and curious minds to these news stories. Why do you think publications and websites that are the biggest news sources in the world are on Twitter?
Following journalists on social media is the best thing that you could possibly do to educate yourself other than reading. This is much different than just following a news source because you get the raw, unedited thoughts of the journalist from the field at times. Take for instance the unfortunate events of the second Malaysian Airlines plane that went down recently. When I had heard about the event, I immediately took to Twitter, scoured for journalists that were there on scene and was able to see photos, read first-hand accounts and then juxtapose those thoughts and ideas with what was actually happening on news channels.
Don't have a television in your room? Unable to see things happen live on TV? Where do you turn? To the internet. Often times reputable news sources will offer live coverage of exactly what they are streaming on live TV, right on their website. This is how powerful the media can be.
Moving away from news for a moment (as I can go on forever), we turn to the world of fashion and beauty. Although they are completely separate worlds, they bleed together in many different facets. Blogs are the most amazing thing in the entire world when it comes to the world of fashion. Whether its runway you crave or street style, there is always something for you. Fashion culture dominates social media with its up to the minute style insight whether its an Insta-vid from backstage at fashion week, an OOTD post, an 'Inside this Chic Fashionista's Brooklyn Apartment' feature or a fantastic interview with a designer. It's so simple to get lost for HOURS in your bloglovin' feed catching up on the latest and trust me, I've done it.
There's really no better feeling than following designers, socialites, insiders and models during fashion week. Do you want to know what type of bra the models were wearing during Marc Jacobs? Make sure you follow Kendall Jenner, she'll be sure to let you know. Cara Delevigne will inform you on the latest from DKNY, Burberry, Chanel and others. Curious to see who is wearing what in this years Victoria's Secret fashion show? Check out all of the models on their Instas. There really is no stopping you when it comes to finding out anything you want to know when it comes to fashion. The fashion world is your social media oyster.
Beauty. Where can I begin. While some of the things I said above about fashion can be said about beauty as well, nothing compares to some of the beauty brands and how well they run their social media sites. When I think about fashion social media, I think the brands do great on social media, but the bloggers tend to outshine the social media footprint. With beauty, it's the other way around for me. Two of my personal favorites right now are Benefit Cosmetic's Instagram and First Aid Beauty's Twitter. I cannot explain how much I love them, but I will try.
Benefit is great. I love how they create UGC so easily with contests, post quotes to keep people motivated, makeup tips that you can take for yourself or share with someone else and a whole lot more. Perhaps the best thing about their Instagram is the colorful nature. Nothing makes me happier and puts me in a better mood, than seeing bright vibrance and Benefit delivers this for sure. First Aid Beauty makes me happy on Twitter because they deliver the best customer service possible. Their social media management team is the best. I have mentioned them on multiple occasions and I think almost every time I mention them, they either favorite, reply or answer my tweets. Not only this, but sometimes when I'm going through my timeline, I see RTs from other blogs that they've done and I get to discover other blogs to become obsessed with. This is the way the social media world works.
I will definitely do another post to follow up on my thoughts here. I want to also talk about YouTube and how YT culture is probably the best out there as well. I hope you found inspiration in this post to become more active online, better your knowledge, become obsessed or whatever! Think of the internet as immersing yourself in a world full of things you love. A place where you can bring it all together. You can get access to everything that makes you happy, all at once. And in that, there is power.
Send me a tweet and let me know what your thoughts are on internet culture. Be sure to stay tuned for my follow-up post full of thoughts that I may have missed, as well as my thoughts on YT culture. -Brit.
