*DISCLAIMER: If you are not Gen Y or younger, this entire post is probably going to come across as a spoilt brat complaining*
This is a continuation of these two threads http://www.australianfrequentflyer....w-travelling-status-changes-people-68442.html http://www.australianfrequentflyer....discussion/how-do-you-explain-your-68061.html
about how we are able to travel and how other people in our lives do not.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my social media usage recently. I travel a lot by most people’s standards, purely for leisure. Approx 8 interstate and 4 international holidays each year. Domestically its usually Y, but since discovering this site 4 years ago, its only been J and F internationally. My first ever J trip, to Europe (thanks to USDM) 3 years ago was incredibly exciting. I proudly and carefully checked in on facebook at every lounge I could, posting photos of champagne and my boarding passes showing how clever I was. At that stage I got a lot of feedback, all positive, about how wonderful it looked, how lucky I was and how much I should enjoy it. I hadn’t had an overseas holiday in a year due to starting a new job and everyone seemed happy for me.
Since that trip, I’ve continued sharing a lot of details about my travel on facebook (and now Instagram) but using more of a ‘do I think anyone would be interested in this’ test. I’ve adopted this test because I’ve seen others upload hundreds of very dull photos (like 16 similar photos of the same bridge or building) and I think ‘no-one is going to be interested in this, so why upload it?’. I do admit to the occasional boast photo of boarding passes showing premium travel. While there’s still interaction and interest from family and friends, it has definitely reduced. I’ve also learnt from other peoples travel that no-one wants to hear things like ‘I’m so glad I’m here and not where you are – I don’t miss home at all’ and ‘I’m so lucky to be in this position’. Instead I find positives like ‘first time on XX airline – really liked the food – would recommend’ or ‘I definitely want to come back to XX city – beaches are beautiful!’ What I have found interesting is that although a photo might not receive much interaction, when I run into people in person almost everyone mentions seeing it. Some are supportive in a ‘you always seem to be on holidays!’ way while others drop snide remarks like ‘do they let you get on the plane if you don’t check into the lounge on facebook?’. This seems to come mostly from jealousy that their situations aren’t as fortunate as mine. I actually had an entire group of friends report a photo of 2004 Dom in TG F to Facebook last year at once as inappropriate as a joke!
What I find particularly ironic is that these people who make these snide remarks when I go overseas every 3 months, when they finally go on a holiday for the first time in years (in Y of course), they are uploading every single detail of their travel (One of the group who reported my photo above checked in at the airport this morning – ‘off to Bali!’). This proves my position of thinking 'if you were able to do this you'd be sharing it just as much as I do'.
So, I’ve greatly reassessed how much I share. I would love to provide every detail, every benefit and every experience but I know a lot of people in my life are sick of it. I know the ‘if you’re happy why do you need other people to know about it’ eternal question is very true but I still think there are things people I know would be genuinely interested in. I want people to know what I’m doing but I don’t really know why. The general rule for the people in my life seems to be:
1. Those who travel regularly in Y share little;
2. Those who occasionally travel in J or F share every single detail of it they possibly can; and
3. Those who travel regularly in J or F share little.
My current policy is that I only put something on facebook if I think its something friends and family would find genuinely interesting or funny while my Instagram is more premium travel adventures related as most of the people who follow me seem to be interested in that and I figure if you’re not interested simply unfollow me – its not like deleting my phone number (my Instagram is clearly labelled as ‘I like travelling – these are my travel adventures’).
Do you share your travel experiences on social media? Has this changed over time? Do you have a rule? Do people say they’re sick of hearing about it?
This is a continuation of these two threads http://www.australianfrequentflyer....w-travelling-status-changes-people-68442.html http://www.australianfrequentflyer....discussion/how-do-you-explain-your-68061.html
about how we are able to travel and how other people in our lives do not.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my social media usage recently. I travel a lot by most people’s standards, purely for leisure. Approx 8 interstate and 4 international holidays each year. Domestically its usually Y, but since discovering this site 4 years ago, its only been J and F internationally. My first ever J trip, to Europe (thanks to USDM) 3 years ago was incredibly exciting. I proudly and carefully checked in on facebook at every lounge I could, posting photos of champagne and my boarding passes showing how clever I was. At that stage I got a lot of feedback, all positive, about how wonderful it looked, how lucky I was and how much I should enjoy it. I hadn’t had an overseas holiday in a year due to starting a new job and everyone seemed happy for me.
Since that trip, I’ve continued sharing a lot of details about my travel on facebook (and now Instagram) but using more of a ‘do I think anyone would be interested in this’ test. I’ve adopted this test because I’ve seen others upload hundreds of very dull photos (like 16 similar photos of the same bridge or building) and I think ‘no-one is going to be interested in this, so why upload it?’. I do admit to the occasional boast photo of boarding passes showing premium travel. While there’s still interaction and interest from family and friends, it has definitely reduced. I’ve also learnt from other peoples travel that no-one wants to hear things like ‘I’m so glad I’m here and not where you are – I don’t miss home at all’ and ‘I’m so lucky to be in this position’. Instead I find positives like ‘first time on XX airline – really liked the food – would recommend’ or ‘I definitely want to come back to XX city – beaches are beautiful!’ What I have found interesting is that although a photo might not receive much interaction, when I run into people in person almost everyone mentions seeing it. Some are supportive in a ‘you always seem to be on holidays!’ way while others drop snide remarks like ‘do they let you get on the plane if you don’t check into the lounge on facebook?’. This seems to come mostly from jealousy that their situations aren’t as fortunate as mine. I actually had an entire group of friends report a photo of 2004 Dom in TG F to Facebook last year at once as inappropriate as a joke!
What I find particularly ironic is that these people who make these snide remarks when I go overseas every 3 months, when they finally go on a holiday for the first time in years (in Y of course), they are uploading every single detail of their travel (One of the group who reported my photo above checked in at the airport this morning – ‘off to Bali!’). This proves my position of thinking 'if you were able to do this you'd be sharing it just as much as I do'.
So, I’ve greatly reassessed how much I share. I would love to provide every detail, every benefit and every experience but I know a lot of people in my life are sick of it. I know the ‘if you’re happy why do you need other people to know about it’ eternal question is very true but I still think there are things people I know would be genuinely interested in. I want people to know what I’m doing but I don’t really know why. The general rule for the people in my life seems to be:
1. Those who travel regularly in Y share little;
2. Those who occasionally travel in J or F share every single detail of it they possibly can; and
3. Those who travel regularly in J or F share little.
My current policy is that I only put something on facebook if I think its something friends and family would find genuinely interesting or funny while my Instagram is more premium travel adventures related as most of the people who follow me seem to be interested in that and I figure if you’re not interested simply unfollow me – its not like deleting my phone number (my Instagram is clearly labelled as ‘I like travelling – these are my travel adventures’).
Do you share your travel experiences on social media? Has this changed over time? Do you have a rule? Do people say they’re sick of hearing about it?
