<cial media has had a significant impact on my Carleton experience. This impact began well before I arrived on campus, a time during which my Carleton experience was mediated entirely by social media. Shortly after committing to Carleton, I followed the example of many other incoming freshmen, joining the official group for my class on Facebook and composing an embarrassing introductory post.
From there, I was added to a couple of group chats with my fellow incoming freshmen, including a Facebook Messenger group, a GroupMe chat, and a Snapchat group (@samgoity, for those interested in snapping yours truly). While the Snapchat group had limited instances of activity, the Facebook Messenger group and the GroupMe chat were fairly active throughout that summer.
On one notable occasion, members of the Facebook chat discovered trolls posing as incoming Carleton students within the GroupMe chat, and we subsequently planned and executed some purging and trolling of our own. The ordeal was enormously entertaining and ultimately quite gratifying.
Meanwhile, I began to connect with Carls via Instagram. I Instagram stalked and followed numerous incoming freshmen during the time between my commitment and my arrival on campus. As a result, many of my interactions with these individuals began with something like, “Um, I think I know you from Instagram.” To this day, I think I follow some Carleton people to whom I have still never spoken in person.
Once I got to Carleton and found my rhythm, I joined several student groups on Facebook. I appreciated (and continue to appreciate) some of these groups, like “Overheard at Carleton,” for their comedic value, and others, like “Free & For Sale,” for their practical value. However, the most valuable of all was (and very much is) without a doubt “Carleton College Memes 2.0”. I submitted my first meme during New Student Week, and continued to submit until the day I was offered a position as a co-admin of the group, an offer which I was quick to accept.
I was recently interviewed for a summer internship position. To my surprise, my role as co-admin of Carleton College Memes 2.0 was the very first subject of conversation. I thought to myself, Did the interviewer really just greet me as “the meme king of Northfield?” As a matter of fact, he really had (obviously, that title was undeserved, but I wasn’t about to correct him). Once I recovered from the initial shock, we discussed the responsibilities of the position, as well as what my fellow admins and I look for in a meme (in my opinion, the ideal meme is original, current, relatable, and Carleton-specific).
I have yet to hear back from this particular internship offer, but I think the discussion probably didn’t hurt my chances. Social media has impacted my Carleton experience ever since I committed, and if you’re reading this on some type of social media right now, it just might be impacting your experience as well. I hope that you enjoyed the experience, as I know that I have enjoyed my own.