“Behind the Scenes with Alaina”
Welcome to the very end of my semester-long capstone project. If you’ve made it this far into my writings, you might as well stay till the very end just to say that you made it. The purpose of this project was to apply a communication theory (in my case CPM) to some aspect of life and talk about it in a creative way. By this point, you probably know that I chose to apply Communication Privacy Management Theory to people’s social media habits, but why did I choose the topic/format/theory/audience that I did? Look no further, I’ll tell you.
I chose to center my project around social media because social media is a huge part of my life and it has been for a while. While I was a bit young to be on social media during the peak days of MySpace and the release of Facebook, I was there for the release of Instagram, Vine, AskFM, Pinterest, Linkedin, Tiktok; almost any social media you can think of, I was one of the first to sign up. I plan to take this passion of mine into the professional world with me after I graduate by going into social media marketing, content creation, and copywriting. While I haven’t been able to secure a position yet in this cutthroat job market, (if you’re reading this, 8 years of experience is NOT entry-level) I know that day will come soon, and I simply cannot wait. Sorry, I got a little distracted, we were talking about social media. I figured that doing a project that surrounded something I am passionate about would allow me to talk a lot (which I love to do) without losing motivation, and I was right.
The reason I chose CPM as my framework theory was actually because it was the only theory that I had any experience with coming into this class. My previous experience with CPM came from my interpersonal communication class with Dr. Antos last year. She shared her research with us to have us analyze it. Since her research centered around the interactions of people living with eating disorders and how CPM influenced their disclosure habits, (you may recognize this research from blog 1) I became very familiar with CPM. We also had to have an idea of what we wanted to focus our project on pretty early in the semester without actually having learned much about any of the theories, so I chose one that I had a little knowledge about and based my entire project around that thinking it would give me a head start into the project early on, and again, I was right. I wish I could say that I had some sort of epiphany about communication theories before selecting my topic, but that just was not the case. Not to mention, CPM and social media kind of go hand-in-hand, don’t you think? I hope that by now, after reading about all my research and my very compelling arguments about the relationship between CPM and social media that you agree. In all seriousness, Communication Privacy Management Theory influences just about everything we disclose on a daily basis. It’s the reason for the little white lies we told our parents growing up. It’s the reason we say (or choose not to say) what grade we got on the assignment, and it is definitely the reason why we post what we do on social media.
Despite this being quite literally the culmination of everything that I have worked so hard for over the last 4 years, I decided to keep it casual for two main reasons. The first of these reasons is my own sanity. It is SO much easier to talk about a topic when you aren’t worried about having to sound like an academic. The second reason is accessibility. For this project, I decided that my imaginary audience was to be the general public. In my head, I have hundreds of dedicated people excited to learn all about Communication Privacy Management Theory and for whatever reason, chose my blog to find out how it relates to their lives. In all seriousness though, I am a firm believer that the reason knowledge is so polarized, meaning the privileged always seem to have it and the underprivileged do not, is because of the nature of education. If all textbooks were written with easy-to-understand and accessible language (see: my entire project), maybe more people would go through the effort of learning about more things (yes, this is a dig at our textbook which is NOT easy to read) and we would be a more educated society overall. I also believe that the ability to explain complex concepts in simple terms is the sign of an intelligent person as opposed to having to sound like the smartest person in the room at all times. Despite knowing that this project will likely stay between myself, Dr. Morgan, and God, I want my hypothetical audience to know that I have their backs and will always try to put my information in easy-to-understand language with applicable examples.
As far as formatting is concerned, I chose a blog for similar reasons. I think that a blog, as opposed to a longer paper, is a great way to present information that is easy to digest for the broader public and keep it casual. Nobody wants to sit and read a lengthy paper if they can avoid it. Presenting information in smaller snippets breaks it up, making it easier for my audience to stay interested and open to absorbing the information. A blog format also worked really well for my personal writing style because as an ex-english major, I absolutely despise writing long papers. Keeping blogs to about 750 words is perfect for lazy writers like me, so it all just really worked out.
This project will forever have a piece of my heart. It really has been a great time being able to describe to my (imaginary) audience the phenomenon that I have noticed during my endless amounts of time being chronically online of people changing their personal narrative on different social sites. Not only have I been able to share my experiences, but this project has also given me a way to present my findings in a way that makes me seem like an academic rather than a girl who spends too much time on social media. Thanks again for joining me on my wild ride and allowing me again to share a large part of my life.
Sincerely,
Your local neighborhood (non) social media influencer.
