SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT

Throughout my time abroad, social media is a huge part of my everyday life. I think of it as a way of documenting all the memories I have made, the places I’ve visited, and staying connected with the people I’ve met. To begin with, before coming abroad I already spend a lot of my time on social media weather it was posting my own pictures or just scrolling through Instagram looking at what my friends where posting. I use different social media platforms for different things. I would say the one that I use the most at home as well as abroad is Instagram. Every time I have traveled to a new country; I always make sure to post an Instagram picture there. That way my friends back home can see what places I have traveled to as well as for myself, I think of it as my own digital travel journal. Not only on Instagram do I post photos, but also I use Instagram’s story feature a lot. While traveling I always make sure to take pictures of all the cool and exciting landmarks I get to see and add them to my Instagram story. Then, I always make sure to create a highlight for all the pictures I took while traveling to each different country. Unlike snapchat stories, your Instagram highlights are saved on your profile for your followers to go back and view. I also use Instagram when eating out abroad. Most every restaurant I have been to while in Barcelona or when I am traveling, I always look up their Instagram page or location to look at pictures of the food. This is a good way to help decide where to go to eat, and what to order as well. I found that it helps me a lot while in Barcelona because sometimes I can’t understand the Spanish menu, but by looking at pictures of the food on Instagram it can give you a better idea of what you are ordering. Instagram is also a place where I get a lot of inspiration for the photos I have taken while abroad. Overall, I feel as if my digital identity is most prominent on Instagram, and believe that my narrative is shown through posting at least one photo in every place that I have traveled. When it comes to Snapchat, this social media platform I mainly use just to keep in touch with my friends from home. Snapchat in my opinion I feel like is more of a casual type of social media. I do post snapchat stories just like I do on Instagram, but these stories are more casual, like selfies or videos of when I go out at night, which all expire in 24 hours. However, I make sure to save all the snapchats I have taken to my “memories”, unlike Instagram story highlights, snapchat memories are only there for me to see. I like this feature because I get to save all the snapchats I’ve taken and look back on them. I still consider snapchat to have an impact on my digital identity since I am using it every day just like I use Instagram. But instead of posting photos for everyone to see, I mainly send individual pictures to my friends at home, as well as staying active in snapchat groups. I feel like snapchat is my best way to keep in touch with my friends at college and at home. Facebook is another social media platform that I use while abroad. Although I do not use it as much as Instagram and Snapchat, I am still an active user. Usually when I am home, I am actively uploading pictures to my Facebook. However, I although I planned on actively posting pictures on Facebook while abroad, I unfortunately got my phone stolen 3 weeks into living in Barcelona causing me to lose most of the pictures I took the first month abroad. This resulted to me not having an IPhone for the second month of study abroad. Therefore, I could not take pictures for myself that entire time. Luckily, my friends I was traveling with let me log onto my Instagram and snapchat on their phones, as well as took pictures they could send to me when I eventually got an IPhone again. So even though I don’t have many photos from the beginning of study abroad, I plan on uploading all of the pictures I have to Facebook all at once when I get home from Barcelona. Facebook is also something I always have to use when using Wi-Fi at different places while abroad. In order to get access to Wi-Fi, normally places require you to like their page on Facebook, or even share that you are there. The social media platform that I probably use the least while abroad, would be Twitter. Even at home I am not really an active user on Twitter. Although I did used to use it a lot while in high school, I now only really use it when I’m bored or want to look at funny memes. I do not feel as if it has a significant impact on my digital identity. In conclusion, I feel as if my digital identity has definitely changed while I have been abroad. I post a lot more content online while here more than I do at home. Social media is a great way to be able to share photos and allow myself to document my journey while being abroad.