The Power of a Follower

Barack Obama follows me on Twitter. Yes, the 44th President of the United States follows me on Twitter. It's a verified account and everything. He has followed me since I signed up for the social media site in 2008. Back then, I was a lonely, awkward middle schooler who was way too obsessed with famous people for my own good. So I made an account on the up and coming website Twitter in order to keep up with their lives. Needless to say, I was surprised when I got the notification saying @BarackObama started following me. I doubt the POTUS was charmed and inspired by my pointless tweets, rather his social media team saw my account as some sort of benefit to his social media presence. Nevertheless, I told everyone I knew that the President himself follows me.

Even though I know Barack is not personally looking over every one of my stupid tweets, but it is still a source of pride for me. In this day and age, it is so easy to feel unimportant. There is such a constant stream of information and events to which everyone has access that many people feel insignificant underneath all that is happening. Our images of ourselves are dictated by the images we are constantly surrounded by: photoshopped and branded images of models and famous people representing everything we should hope to be. We feel we are not good enough, that we are lacking something. As a result, we get lost in self-consciousness, wishing we were someone else or someone more important. Social media is the easiest way for us to make our mark on society: anyone can do it, all you need is internet access. Social media allows us to create an image of ourselves that is similar to how society tells us we should be. It's empowering and fulfilling to gain new followers, get likes, receive friend requests, etc. It tells us we are important. The identities we have formed based on societal standards are worth something if people retweet us and like our posts. Participating in social media is participating in the new age religion of branding and the internet. We actively create new identities in the image of this religion and base so much of ourselves on the community there. Through this religious activity, we become empowered and confident in terms of today's society.

Barack Obama doesn't care what I have to say, and he won't respond to my DMs, but him following me is assurance that I'm being a good member of the church of social media.