Social Media in Wanderlust Writing Assignment

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Social Media in Wanderlust
Most people especially millennials have become obsessive with their image online, and many of them are doing everything to perfect their life on social media. Social media has become a designation where most of them shed their lives and wear a new one perfect in its presentation. Some have tried extremities in their pursuit to outdo others in the same and attempted many things some of which have cost them irreparable damage to their lives. There is a cold competition of the most ‘perfect’ depiction of self on the social media platforms, and most people have been investing to win in this unwinnable game. Rather, they have created a new trend of wanderlust. Wanderlust is (Cambridge dictionary) is the wish to travel far away and to many different places. Travelling has become the infinite source of pictures to post on social media after extensively exhausting what is ‘postable’ of our lives. As more people become addicted to likes, comments, and growth of followership on social media, wanderlust has exploded, and the pursuers of its glory coined many justifications for it. The key motivations for the ever-increasing wanderlust amongst many people are fear of missing out, heavy advertising and promotion of beautiful destinations, and seeking admission to a higher social class on social media platforms.
The fear of missing out (FOMO) has become the leading motivation to influence people to become wanderlusters. Most people ‘fear’ being left out on some experiences and they often go to great lengths to ensure they have had the experience. Other people want the experience to outdo their peers, friends, family in the experiences they have had or in the very least have a similar experience. According to CITATION Eri16 \l 1033 (E. Barker), ‘when you’re caught in the loop of FOMO you tune out the real world and tune in to the fake one.’ Since it is humanly impossible to experience a experiences, the individual who does not want to miss out find himself/herself in a never-ending pursuit of these experiences. These individuals who have been bugged with FOMO and are frequent social media users find nearly all destination enticing and worth of travel. Whenever social media users log into their social media accounts and see and or read what their friends have done, they also want to do the same. They want to belong to the exclusive club of the people who visited ‘this and that’ place.
The fear of missing out creates a need out of a desire to copy what another person did and most people’s choice to travel is to ensure they are not left out. Social media posts have a commonality of trying to show off to ones’ peers and show how good your life is. FOMO is driven by the awareness of favorable and self-relevant experiences taking place in one’s surroundings CITATION Hay16 \p 468 \l 1033 (Hayran, Anik and Gürhan-Canli 468). Everyone wants the glory of being at the top or at least not being the only person who has nothing to show for his or her life. Travelling is now less driven by individual desires of exploration and having fun, but the instagrammaility of the destination. According to CITATION And181 \l 1033 (Arnold), ‘what were once very remote destinations attracting only the most hardcore travelers are now being inundated with tourists. For many, the goal is to capture that perfect Instagram-worthy shot.’ The true ideals of traveling have become to rank higher in the social media social status which often is not a true representation of self. Additionally, there seems to be a homogenous picture of experiences which everyone seems to lust for. The authenticity of the experience has been sucked out by the need to conform to the ascribed classes an individual has given himself/herself on the social media platform. Other people have become hooked to the pleasure they derive from their posts such as likes and comments. Thus, in the pursuit of chasing the elusive goal of belonging to a new social class especially on the social media, many people have become infected with wanderlust which offers a temporal solution to a deeper-seated problem of their esteem, priorities, and goals. Thus, most people experiencing FOMO seek admission to new social classes in the cyberspace or in real world by showing your peers and other people that you also experienced what other people had.
Many social media users admit that they feel inadequate when comparing their lives to the content posted by others and think that their friends and or followers on social media have a better life than them. According to CITATION Bob18 \l 1033 (Deutsch), ‘Social networks to make room for people to expand their identities, not just their interests or location knowledge.’ The main reason for these ‘feelings’ and motivation for trying to show the world a better version of oneself is to assume a new identity on social media which cannot be attained in real life and uplift one’s social status. Faking life on social media is a symptom which shows there are many things about the individual which he/she is not happy or comfortable with and the life which he/she wishes he/she had. Social media has become the destiny to overcompensate for the things most people are not happy about in their lives. Through posting their fake lives of magical destinations, they spark interest in other social media users to attempt to ‘improve’ their lives. In a bid to outdo other social media users in showcasing the best lives or in the very least trying to replicate the life of other social media users, the wanderlusting bug infects them. They travel aimlessly looking for perfects spots to take pictures and selfies to post on their social media accounts. Wanderlusting has seen tremendous growth in the age of social media, and it is largely caused by people seeking to spice up their lives and seek to gain higher social status.
Advertisers and marketers have perfected the art of presenting their products which have captivated and influenced many people to take up travel to their destinations. Every social media site has millions of pages and advertisements platforms used by the marketer to promote their products especially hotels, motels, fancy places, etc. The efficacy of social media advertising can be summed up by CITATION Car17 \l 1033 (Miller) quote, ‘now you’re less than 10 clicks away from seeing an image on Instagram to purchasing a ticket to go there.’ They package these places as the best place to provide holiday destinations for an individual and or family or a group of friends. The advertisers and promoters have gone to nitty-gritty and now they recommend ‘destination marketing organizations of small regional destinations need to pay greater attention to social media and its delivery systems including smartphones’CITATION Pab16 \p 335 \l 1033 (Pabel and Prideaux 335). They invest I aggressive marketing with enticing offers such that most people consider buying into these experiences. The list of places to visit is inexhaustible and once an individual starts on the journey to visit all these places. They fear missing out of the possible experiences they may have seen other people have in the same places and they start to find ways to get the experience. Since a person can only be at one place at a time, they continually move to bag more experiences for themselves, and most of them post them on social media where they seek ‘validation’ of their experiences. Social media has offered marketers of tourism and hospitality industry a platform where they try to reach more customers by showcasing very irresistible images of their destinations which hook seekers of experience and ultimately become wanderlust. Additionally, when the wanderlusters continually post their travel experiences on social media in the best light possible in a bid to heighten their experience to their followers which further evokes the desire to travel. Though there are professional influencers who market brands on social media for money, most do it for free when they post pictures and describe their holidays and travel experiences on social media.
Social media has birthed a new phenomenon of traveling social influencers. Travel social influencers is a niche in social media marketing spectrum which entails marketing in exchange for free and or subsidized travels for the influencers CITATION Bar18 \l 1033 (S. Barker). The influencers use whichever means necessary have garnered huge following on social media and then use their followership as a bargaining chip to travel organizers, destination marketers, etc to get free stays and travels and in some cases cash rewards. The influencers serve as pre-trip information sources and advertisers and promoters have capitalized on them to reach new clients. CITATION Pab16 \p 337 \l 1033 (Pabel and Prideaux 337)It is an industry that has influenced many people to travel or at least develop the wish to travel to these destinations as they evoke a sense need to experience what the influencers recommend on these destinations. They are often more effective forms of advertising for travel companies and they encourage the influencers to feature several and or more pictures of their destinations and engage with potential customers to try these destinations. CITATION Chr15 \p 613 \l 1033 (Christou 613) notes that ‘marketers should make judicious use of key opinion leaders, who are viewed as authorities in specific areas, to speak on behalf of the company’s social media brand.’ These influencers contact travel destination companies, hotels, organizers etc and request to be allowed to visit their destinations with all expenses paid for. They typically target prestigious hotel and request several days stay in exchange for ‘posting’ the destination on social media. The remuneration standards are varied and some ask for money on top of the free stay or free tour with the organizers. It is mild advertising and the influencers ask for free stays and or some money in exchange of featuring these destinations on their social media. Some destinations have fo...