Found this great stat on Mashable that supports what I’ve suspected for awhile.
In a study conducted by SDSU and Youth Pulse among college students, a majority 57% agree that their generations use of social networking sites is for self-promotion, narcissism and attention seeking.
While not commonly seen as a positive attribute, narcissism and self-promotion in this case is more reflective of Gen Y’s desire to express their individualism and as a way to get noticed in an increasingly crowded and connected world than it is of any inherent selfishness (despite what older generations may think). Ultimately, what it boils down to is that social media can be a great tool for personal and professional branding.
Not using social media to position and sell yourself is to let a great opportunity go begging.
Having said that, I do believe that social media is making people more neurotic and self-conscious especially when you consider the obsessive checking back for comments (i.e. approval seeking behaviour) that occurs after a new post, photo, video, etc. But that’s a subject for a different post.
Edit: Tidied up a few language issues throughout the post that I missed on first pass.
