popular

Cheerleader, football players, movie stars, rock stars, these are the types of people that come to mind when I think of the word popular. Looking back on my high school days, I'm not even sure if we had a "popular" crowd. Our cheerleaders certainly weren't the creme de la creme and I don't remember our football team being aces either. If I remember correctly the cool kids were the ones smoking and partying. I had my go at cheerleading, but found it wasn't for me. I then turned to making money, that was more my speed. Landing my first retail job showed me a whole new world of "popular". Mall life was a bit like high school with new crushes to be had, new cliques to identify, and new friends to make. My first retail job was at Express. My managers were the coolest twenty something chicks and I aspired to be like them. They would slip me sips of their Chi Chi's daiquiris and margaritas at our after work hang outs. We would eat nachos and gossip about other mall employees and customers. I loved mall life! I got to wear cool clothes, hang out with the older "cooler" crowd, and get free records from the guy at Record Mart who had a crush on me and took me to see bands like the Cure and Howard Jones. In the years and jobs that followed there was always a clique or pecking order and establishing your place was the first order of business. As I got older I realized all one had to do to find their place was just be good at your job. If you were good, people left you alone. Today we have social media. A cyber monster based on friends and followers in which to gauge our self worth. A veritable playground for narcissists and egomaniacs. It is also the best advertising and marketing tool for businesses. In today's high tech world social media is a must. It is a way to buy, sell, and communicate. Unfortunately it has established this false sense of reality. All of a sudden we have all these "friends". Have you ever walked by one of your "friends" and they never even noticed you or looked at you then went right on with their business? It's a surreal feeling to know everything about this person yet when met face to face they don't recognize you. Instagram is another monster only this one demands followers. So instead of friends we have make believe "disciples". All these people clamoring to worship pictures of your life and swooning over the little snippets you allow to be seen as if we've suddenly become deities when we weren't looking. I mean really, it's not that often we show our "real" life through our devices. Who wants to see selfies of age lines or gained weight or messy houses? "Friend" or "unfriend"? To follow or not follow? We check and recheck our status and base our identities on how popular we've become through social media. Instafamous! It's all so funny to me. When I first learned about Facebook I stayed far far away. I was worried about everyone knowing my business. Business being the operative word. When my young employee started posting pictures of my little shop and my wares, I was tickled by the response. All of a sudden I had a whole new world to conquer that had never heard of me. The economy being as it was or still is for that matter, this was my solution to lagging sales. As my "friends" grew so did my income. Then along came Instagram. This was an even more direct way to boost my business. Hashtags opened that elusive portal to other vintage dealers, decorators, crafters, and collectors. I use this venue to primarily promote my business especially in my own city. I love having followers from all over yet they're not likely to just pop into the store and buy something. Interpersonal communication being so important in this techy world, I make a point to meet and greet my friends and followers when possible. Pictures are great, but don't always show the real person behind the camera. Communication and relationships are key to me. It's how I've always run my business or done my jobs. I enjoy my brick and mortar because with it I'm a part of the community. A real community not born from images. I've established my place in this town. I have personal connections with most of my customers and value the conversations and face to face stories of their lives. With my social media I am able to connect with people near or far yet I am most partial to my local customers. They are the ones walking in the door on a regular basis and keep me around year after year. Without them I am sunk. So yes, social media is fantastic. It is necessary to growing any venture. I am even guilty of a selfie or two. Do I base my self-worth on how many friends or followers I have? Of course not. Do I use this instrument to make life better for my little family? Absolutely. Do I care about being popular or famous? Not a bit. I enjoy what I do and strive to always do it better. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy this socially acceptable voyeurism, yet in this false reality it is nice to remember that life is real not filtered. Good night world.