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How do you leave a meaningful impact online?

So I want to pursue a career in social media. Social media remains as a goldmine of opportunity, even 10 years after the creation of arguably the most prevalent platform, YouTube. These platforms are filled with just normal people whose lives are entirely transformed by virtue of being entertainers and content creators for massive online audiences, and I think I should seize my opportunity to jump in before further legislature and regulation and whatnot become established enough to create barriers to entry.

However, I still wonder myself if I'll ever actually make an impact on people. Even if I garner a significant following online, I have a hard time believing that I can leave a meaningful legacy for the folks at home who may simply watch me for a quick laugh and then move on with their lives.

So the question is: How would you create a legacy in the digital age?
#entrepreneurship #social-media

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Kate’s Answer

Hi Louis,
This is great that you want to make a meaningful impact on people's life! Social media is a great channel, where you can express your views and really provide some food for thoughts to others.

If you really would like to follow this path, it would be good to ask yourself these questions:
1) what are your beliefs in life?
2) which change would you like to bring to the world?
3) what do you consider as a meaningful legacy? How do you measure it?
I'm interested in this phrase "I have a hard time believing that I can leave a meaningful legacy for the folks at home who may simply watch me for a quick laugh and then move on with their lives". Why do you think quick laugh and entertaining people is not impactful? People in general have a lot of problems and choices to be made in life. And when they scroll social media they look not only for useful stuff, but mostly for relaxing and having fun. Btw, we all learn better in games :)
4) What do you want people to feel/think/do after they engage with your content?
5) Online is very connected to offline. What can you do offline, how can you bring the change so you can communicate about it on social media?

And at last, we all influence people's lives sometimes even without knowing it. Be yourself, do whatever you find important, keep to your beliefs and values, believe in yourself and be happy. By being happy, pursuing our own dreams and just doing what we want to and what we can we inspire others. Good luck!
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Ken’s Answer

Why limit the sharing of your legacy to such a small spectrum of the universe, when you can reach out with a wider approach, which will reach and benefit more people? By properly identifying a career path which will most effectively allow you to use your personality traits and interests, progressing and developing and making meaningful contributions within that career area, and creating and maintaining a real life two way interpersonal networking presence (rather than the interpersonal disjointed opportunity presented by the internet alone), you can leave a lasting legacy to the world as a whole. During my many years in Human Resources, I have developed some tips, which will allow you to create and leave such a legacy.

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Irene’s Answer

Louis,

You can leave a meaningful by succeeding (in your career, for example), and by helping others achieve their objectives.

What do you currently do online?

What are the topics that you like addressing?

What is your target audience?

Your peers (the people next to you) how do they feel about it? What is their feedback?

If you blog about specific topics, for example food disorder - searching about it and writing in a way that would be appealing to your peers can be a start. You could follow up by giving advises, interviewing survivors and share their story in a way that motivates others.
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