ASB social media content has been at its peak with cute, entertaining videos calling for student participation in spirit wear and fundraisers. The reels are viewed by thousands and this method of projection should be working, so how come it seems like very few students participate?
The answer could be that Instagram has stopped being an effective way to reach our student body. Posts get buried into a pothole of unrelated content or disregarded when we engage in other reels. Because ASB’s goal is to build school culture, it might be worthwhile to rethink Instagram as the primary tool to promote events and return to more direct methods to reach the student body personally.
One of the most compelling reasons why Instagram isn’t effective is simply because students may not have accounts. A study from Pew Research Center found that in 2022, only 62% of teens had Instagram.
With the age restriction of owning a personal account set to 13, many freshmen may not have accounts. It’s not a necessity to have the app—students won’t be completely clueless if they don’t, but it paves a social divide for those who aren’t online.
“It’s hard to know what’s going on for spirit wear,” sophomore Aanya Manuskhani said. “Sometimes I see a lot of people wearing spirit wear that I don’t wear because I don’t know.”
Even for students who do use Instagram, the platform’s algorithm can be a roadblock. Instagram prioritizes content based on past interactions, meaning that if you haven’t liked or commented on ASB’s posts, they might not appear at all on your feed. This leaves pending updates at the mercy of Instagram’s engagement-driven system rather than reaching students who might be interested.
Using Instagram daily is not a healthy solution. Coupled with the research that show the dangers of social media to student mental health, Meta, who owns Instagram, recently removed third-party fact-checking and loosened its Hateful Conduct Policy, leaving marginalized groups such as LGBTQ+ students vulnerable and exposed to bullying. It is counterproductive to invite students on a platform where they could become ostracized by content in order to feel a sense of belonging in our school community.
Furthermore, following Mark Zuckerberg’s recent problematic appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he spouted concerning rhetoric about companies needing more “masculine energy,” and Meta’s suspension of policies aimed to increase fair treatment of people who have been underrepresented in tech jobs, many users are expressing a desire to leave Meta platforms altogether.
ASB needs a more accessible approach. The 5-Star App is currently undergoing a soft roll out to track student attendance at dances or sporting events and to run ASB elections. Aside from an easily reachable event calendar, the app’s notification feature allows students to receive updates without relying on other platforms, eliminating the dangers of social media. Other platforms include Canvas, ParentSquare and a consistently updated ASB website, all of which are free and widely used.
ASB works hard to plan events that bring students together, but if the message isn’t getting through, the problem might be the method. Changing the way the messages are received could bring about a reality where students are involved in the highs of a thriving school culture and not scrolled in the depths of social media
