These days, everything vintage is On Trend™. So as our fall 2019 interns wrapped up the semesters, they decided to reflect back—way, way back—to the not-so-golden-age of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram sharing.
They’ve come a long way since their cringe-worthy social posts from their middle and high school days, and we’re proud to say they’re now quite social media adept. Their glo-ups to smashing posts have made them absolutely Chatter-worthy. Let’s take a look at their transformations, shall we?
Stephanie Cao, Graphic Design/Multimedia
I’m a four-semester-year-old Junior Blaster studying advertising with an art direction concentration. This will be my last blog here, I swear. They say whatever you post on social media is there forever. Well, guess what, I’m the type who tends to delete and/or archive everything I post.
Before:
Middle School Steph’s Facebook posts were cringey, so I ended up deleting my Facebook so that people wouldn’t discover my dark past. Facebook was my outlet for keeping memories of my life in bulk from photo albums to vlogs. Instagram, though, was my “finsta” where I would post random things about my life before I archived everything.
After:
Now, the tables have turned. They say Facebook is dying, but it’s still relevant in my life, along with Instagram. My Facebook has become less of my creative outlet and instead a place for me to reshare memes related to my life.
Instead, Instagram is now my creative outlet, but it got a facelift from being my “finsta” to my “rinsta”. Gone are the random posts and close-up images of my face making meme-ish faces. Now my Instagram feed is filled with quality photos, and my stories are filled with all my creative content.
Bridget Curtin, Copywriting
I’m a graduating senior English major at Temple University with a creative writing track. I used to find social media intimidating and maybe still do—but I’m making it work…maybe.
Before:
Some of my favorite social media memories from vintage Facebook are my angsty song-lyric quotes with zero context whatsoever, and when Facebook included “[Name] is…” in every status update, essentially rendering my posts to read, “Bridget Curtin Is Merry Christmas!” But my ultimate favorite and traumatizing social posts are from my #Twi-Hard Life when I fangirled over Edward Cullen, forever preserved on my Facebook timeline.
After:
Nowadays, I’ve abandoned Facebook for the ‘Gram. I’ve delved into a little world wide web photography and community of writers. Engagement, ya know? Despite writing countless captions for CBM clients, I still stress about writing my own. So, I let the pics do the work. However, I am now an expert at writing social copy for apartment buildings and healthcare services thanks to ChatterBlast.
Ally DeVita, Graphic Design
I’m graduating in less than 10 days from Temple University with a degree in advertising on the art direction track.
As a middle schooler, I was quite the persuader. After weeks of nagging and one of my trademark PowerPoints, I convinced my parents to let me get a Facebook account. Though I didn’t want to believe them, it was definitely too soon.
Before:
Even as a young tween, I was really interested in photography and design. I was unbelievably proud of my first selfie, and it even scored three compliments in history class the next day. Not only were my images (not) star quality, but my editing was (also not) cute as a button and inspirational—doodles included.
After:
Gone are the days where you could find my latest oversaturated, funky edit on my Facebook page, and in comes the era of my new personal favorite social platform: Instagram. CBM has taught me all about layout design, interesting content, and what makes a good feed. While still edited, my photos have taken a more subtle approach and are focused more on the content of the image; family, friends, travel, shameless photos of myself. While I still love Ally circa 2009, I’m happy to have, dare I say, glowed up.
Kaitlin Gentile, Account Management
I’m a senior Temple University Communications student. (Editor’s note: She’s also a triplet.)
Halfway through high school, I stopped using Twitter, which you will soon see was probably for the best. I got tired of it and lost interest in the whole “let me update you about every second of my life” concept. But, as soon as I started to intern for ChatterBlast, I jumped back onto the Twitter saddle and gave it another shot.
Before:
Okay, it’s time to expose my past self.
Before interning at ChatterBlast, my social channels were in desperate need of guidance. Let’s start off with my 2014 content, which was pretty…original? Let’s be serious, it’s impossible not to cringe while reading these tweets. Backpacking through Target? Dear Santa? Who let me have a Twitter?! Not only do my old tweets not make any sense, but there are also no visuals or hashtags included in either one. What an amateur.
After:
Thanks to ChatterBlast, I have learned that my weird sense of humor is okay, as long as it’s executed properly. While my topic isn’t necessarily relatable, it tapped into a cultural trend at the time, which made it relevant. It also used visuals to help my tweet stand out from the clutter of Twitter. The only thing that could make this tweet better is a hashtag, but for the most part I’d say that my Twitter game is finally seeing better days.
Ty Kiser, Research and Analytics
Hey everyone, I am senior strategic communication major with a minor in digital media engagement at Temple University.
For starters, I completely want to apologize for what you are about to witness. This is going to be a bumpy ride because this gives a whole new meaning to cringe-worthy content. Anyway, here we go.
Before:
The first post was an experience I actually had in a Hollister that was actually pretty embarrassing at the time, but I learned to laugh about it. I believe I was in 7th grade when this happened, and I guess I found it interesting enough to post it to Facebook. The second post happened when I first got Instagram when I was in high school. I was in Disney World and I got my face painted like a zebra. I figured this would be entertaining enough for social media, so it made it to my Instagram.
After:
My social posts nowadays are a lot less cringey. I post relevant and fun things that are happening in my life such as my engagement to my fiancée or our traditional Christmas pineapple. Thanks to what I’ve learned at ChatterBlast, the things that I post these days are things that others find interesting and engaging.
Celeste Rosato, Research and Strategy
Hey all. I’m back for another semester as a Junior Blaster. I’m (still) a junior advertising major with a dual concentration in account management and media planning at Temple University.
Let’s get to the tea, sis. I’ve always loved (and hated) social media. Once you learn the balance that’s needed with it, it’s a pretty great place. When we decided to do this blog, I was instantly triggered by some cringe-worthy posts I knew I had to expose. These posts were on Facebook, for the world to see.
Before:
Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking either. Why did I feel the need to hyper-edit and layer captions to the actual picture? No clue. Did I think it looked absolutely amazing? Definitely. I used to post to Facebook quite often, but fear not, I now post on average one to two times…per year.
After:
I’ve happily switched over to Instagram, my one true social love. Over the years my pictures and editing styles have changed quite a bit—and for the better. Thanks to ChatterBIast, I believe my Instagram content is approaching its peak. I’ve learned how to optimize the platform for all its glory in a way that’s creative, consistent, and shows who I am.
Kenny Wooten, Video Editing
I am a senior film major at the University of the Arts. I think I am the first UArts ChatterBlast intern thus far, and as far as I am concerned, I am keeping up with all of the Temple interns. I think? I hope? (Editor’s note: Yes, Kenny, yes you are.)
Fortunately for me, the worst of my social media (Facebook) past is now deleted. However, my cringey YouTube content will exist forever—because I can’t remember the login information to delete anything.
Before:
I cannot believe I was 14 years old when I made this!
From science projects, I moved to gaming videos.
After:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqxK3_k_q4s
Gaming really sparked my interest in film and editing. So I decided to go to art school. Currently, I make vlogs, short films, and somehow I got into acting? Here is a film I made with my friends earlier this summer. It’s nice to see that the cringey stuff was worth it. Shoutout to CBM for seeing past my cringey-ness and allowing me to express my creativity in a more mature way.
(That wasn’t actual weed, btw.)
***
Thank you to all of our superstar fall 2019 interns for their enthusiasm and hard work. All of #TeamChatterBlast will miss having them around the office, but we can’t wait to see what they do next!
