By Natasha Muhametzyanova, Contributing Writer

There was a time when having good social media skills meant you never forgot to update songs on your MySpace profile. Then, it got complicated.

Nowadays, plain social media presence is not enough. According to the business magazine Fortune, Facebook reported a 21 percent decrease in original posts in 2016. It is happening because the time of simple happy-birthday-grandma type of posts are ending, and other social media sites will soon follow.

Social media is evolving and asking more and more from its users.  If you want to get a strong following, be ready to make social media your second full time job.    

Start your morning with a quick Twitter scan. Pick up on a few buzzwords of the day and a couple of hashtags that are meant to save the world.

Let your close friends know you are alive by Snapchat. Send them a few pictures of yourself still in bed. Tip: you will look less tired if you use the right photo filter. How about a flower crown? Although, the classic screen licking dog filter would probably be better in the morning.  

Instagram is for loyal fans like that girl from your gym who always looks at your abs. It is also a perfect platform to show your haters how great your life is. It is the place to post the artsy vacation pictures, perfect selfies and don’t forget about those colorful Starbucks drinks. It is not cheap to be “Instafamous.”

The above descriptions might seem silly and grossly exaggerated, but we, as users, chose to move in that direction. We gave social media the power to become our main source of information and education. Social media then outgrew our expectations and turned into an indicator of our happiness, success and professionalism.

Your Instagram is not just a digital photo album that you share with friends and family as it used to be with Facebook. Now social media feeds have their own trends.

“Users can’t just post any picture they took. That would be a very bad Instagram account,” said public relations student Polina Peleneva. “They need to use filters that go well together and follow a specific color scheme. It’s not just about a picture looking good. All of the pictures should look good together, create an ensemble of sorts.”

Having such a stylized feed pays off. RollingStone rated 100 best Instagram accounts placing Kim Kardashian’s retro-style account first. British graffiti artist Banksy also made it to the top ten. Number seven on the list, he posts rarely but always incorporates primarily grey-blue filter and matte colors.   

So, why does it matter?

The lack of social media skills affects students’ chances to get internships and jobs. As a generation that grew up in the wake of social media, we are expected to know it all and adapt to every new app trending at the moment.

More and more companies ask applicants to share links to their social media profiles. No matter what career path you are choosing, your life is just one click away from a potential employer. So if you want to live up to the expectations, you’d better refresh those Instagram skills.    

Photo credit: Huffington Post