If you’re a mom of tween girls (or not), chances are you’ve witnessed the growing popularity of Taylor Swift. Born in 1989, 25 year old Taylor is captivating us on her latest world tour. When our family learned that her concert itinerary included the Bay Area, we promptly joined 100,000 local fans to get tickets for the August show at Levi’s Stadium. Although I cringe while thinking of the ticket prices, the live performance is still with me, and swiftly feeling priceless.
Nestled high in the nosebleeds, we experienced a Taylor who was larger than life even though in reality she was just a glittery speck on stage. She sang strong, danced flawlessly, and spoke graciously for two full hours of chart topping entertainment.
But what’s best about the concert is the feeling that the show never ended. Taylor’s persona is accessible online, and she seems to understand our society’s ubiquitous connectivity. At one point during the performance, she credited Silicon Valley and the local technology industry for making tools that help her connect with fans. She shares moments and interacts virtually, just like everyone else.
Except, she’s not like everyone else.
Contrary to the fans around me who were paying more attention to their image at the concert than the actual concert, Taylor had no trouble making the most out of every real life moment. The next day I started following Taylor Swift on Instagram to see if she posted any highlights of the evening, and have since become analytically curious about how she balances the details of her life over social media.
With a twelve year old in the house, I want to be aware of how people are portraying themselves online. Soon, my daughter may want her own Instagram account. She hasn’t requested it yet, but given many of her classmates are heading in that direction, no doubt we’ll be facing her own account creation sometime during middle school. Who will she follow? What will she post? What examples are appropriate for her newsfeed?
Following Taylor has helped me identify five characteristics about social media etiquette that I can reference for my tweens when the time is right. Now that I think about it, having my kids join this online journey could turn out to be fun (I hope). Here we go:
Be classy.
When the kids and I were talking about how much we enjoyed the concert, we noticed how Taylor Swift seems so cool and classy. For example, unlike Miley Cyrus, there are no pictures on her Instagram feed that I need to censor. There are no butts or innuendos. Instead, there are just photographs and videos of a Rock Star celebrating life, who also happens to have a fun group of friends and a really cute kitty.
Share information.
On Instagram, hyperlinks are not allowed in the text of a single post. The only place a hyperlink will work is on your profile. One day, I noticed how Taylor’s profile changed from www.taylorswift.com to a link for nominees of MTV Video of the Year. This simple update gave me current information about who was nominated for video of the year, cluing me into pop-cultural happenings that I otherwise wouldn’t know about. I found this information useful, because music videos became a conversation starter I could share with my girls.
Appreciate the moment.
Knowing the MTV Video Music Awards were pending, I tuned into Taylor’s Instagram feed again to find out if she won. Nothing showed up on the night of the awards. The next day, there were pictures from the previous night showing good times with her friends. The delay, I hope, was due to Taylor’s choice to live in the moment, focusing on her real life experience, and not on her social media stream. Juxtapose this to the Miley Cyrus Instagram feed, and you will see who was enjoying the moment, and who was exploiting the moment.
Lead with kindness toward others.
Scrolling through Taylor’s posts, it was really nice to see her celebration of special guests throughout the tour. She highlights others. She invites others. She emphasizes that the applause needs to be louder for her guests than it is for herself. Be kind and thoughtful to others. My girls, if you are reading this, let’s always keep this in mind.
Don’t be afraid to be authentic.
I think part of what has fascinated me about Tayor’s very unsmall social media following, is that she shares glimpses of her inner circles. While it’s possible a crew of marketing professionals is staging these glimpses, it’s also possible that Taylor herself constructs and authorizes every post. Whatever the case, it comes off as authentic…right down to the handmade knitted sweater.
So sure, I’m a 43 year-old mom who has fallen for Taylor Swift, quite possibly even more than my tweens. But in a world full of bad examples and destructive life choices, wouldn’t any mom be thankful that such a hugely popular icon holds true to setting a decent example? I believe that answer is yes.
Rock on, Taylor.
