Almost every single teen in the World uses social media. Why? They want to interact with one another, without texting. For Cross Country and Track runners however, some of them use social media in a slightly different way. Don’t get me wrong; they love to use social media to talk to friends, or to “flirt”, as some would say, but they have other uses.

Preferred Social Media Sites

Social Media is everywhere. The four most popular social media sites according to teenagers are Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Snapchat is an app on iPhone and Android where you can take a picture and send it to people you have on your contacts, but the picture disappears 10 seconds after the person receiving the picture opens it. Instagram is another iPhone and Android app that can post pictures but these pictures are not sent to anybody specifically and they never disappear unless the person who posts the picture deletes it.

Some teens prefer to use the social media site called Twitter. A Cross Country and Track runner, Jordan Webster, from Mandarin High School says that he would prefer to use Twitter. “It is easier to use and I can get more thoughts out rather than Instagram,” states Webster in an interview. “More of my friends and followers also use twitter more than Facebook.” However, Webster also states that he posts his running success on Instagram because most of his running success is shown by pictures and it only requires a caption to post it. “It also gets more hits on Instagram because of the 1,700 followers I have,” adds Webster. The average amount of followers for teenagers today would be around 800-1,100, so Webster is above average on the follower count. “More people see my pictures and pay attention to it as it gets between 120 and 150 likes per picture.” You can follow Webster on Twitter (@jordanweb96) and Instagram (jordanwebster96).

Purposes for All of These Social Media Sites

The number of purposes for social media websites is infinite! We “runners” use it like anybody else. We also use it for sharing our race dates, posting about our team, giving shout outs to other team mates, communicating with other teams by wishing them luck or just asking about their stats. Normally, if they have a decent picture of themselves running, they post it to a social media site.

Runners use social media more for running related things than they think they do.

A Mandarin High School Girls Cross Country runner, Kelsey Meltzer, says that her favorite social media site is Instagram. Her purpose for using Instagram is to post pictures of her teams success, and to see how other teams in her area are doing. “I love posting pictures with my running friends or post meets,” states Meltzer in an interview on Saturday.

Do’s and Don’ts

Although social media is fun to use, you must have some guidelines and do’s and don’ts. What you do on social media can affect you, believe it or not. What you do online can be seen by your boss, coach, school, and even college recruiters, which could ruin your chances of getting into college. Some people are aware of that and have no worries when they tweet because they don’t ever tweet absurd things.

Meltzer says, “I usually don’t worry about my guidelines to what I post because it’s all normally based around running or my family and friends.” Meltzer also says that she would never lie on social media or ever come off as biased. You can follow Kelsey on Twitter (@kelsmeltz) and Instagram (@kelseymeltz).

Webster tries to limit his opinons on social media because not everyone likes his opinion, but that’s what opinions are for. However, his don’ts are very important. “I don’t act cocky or rude online. I like to appear as friendly because I am a friendly, nice person!”

Being nice to people can take you a long ways and Webster realizes that. “I try my best to stay out of drama or arguments over social media as well.”

Social Media is fun, and you can use it at your own free will, but always remember that once you post something, it is always on there whether you delete it or not. Don’t let a 140-character post ruin your future.